Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
having owned two of these units for a year more or less, I'd like to share my experience with the XDuoo XD-05:
Initially, as a new owner, I reported yet another "very happy best ever heard price performance" story. However, I am now less enthusiastic about this product. Over time, and in comparison with other headphone amps, I found that this amp's sound has a significant flaw in voice reproduction at all volume levels. Female voices in particular do sound quite grainy, unnatural, and for some time I was wondering whether these flaws are in the recordings. Later, I stumbled across some blog posts, suggesting to use the DAC section only, paired with an external amp. And, wow, what an improvement! Not only the female voices issue, but bass reproduction, reduced overall stress level at high volumes, so much improvement.
So I suggest to all XDuoo XD-05 owners, if you use this product on your desk (and not for portable use), do yourself a favor, and try routing that line-out at the back into an external, more capable amp. The XDuoo XD-05's DAC sounds great.
Other than that, there are several functional flaws. People already mentioned the USB male connector design issue. I personally don't face that issue, since I picked the right cable, and mostly non-portable use. One other problem bothers me quite frequently: The amp's output protection relay (?) cuts off the signal when the device starts charging (I usually have the charger permanently connected). The signal does not return, and one needs to turn off and on again. This defect is reproducible on both units I own. Not an issue when using an external amp, since the line-out is not affected.
And while I love the physical volume knob, the volume pot actually exposes quite a channel imbalance at low levels. One unit more than the other.
I suggest to the manufacturer to do some homework for the next product release: Get rid of that clunky USB connector, fix the amp-mute upon charging issue. Improve the amp section. Better quality control / selection for the volume pot.
And don't get me wrong, I still like this little gadget. The XMOS+DAC sections alone are worth the price I paid (USD 140...150). I love the display, the overall design, the volume knob. Very enjoyable product, but not without flaws, and not audiophile "best ever heard" as some people keep saying.
Cheers, and happy listening!
By and large agree with your comments, I've not had the channel balance issues you've seen, but I do try to keep my input levels low enough that the XDuoo's volume knob is 50-70% rotated because many small linear taper pots track more closely as their resistance decreases.
Changing the pot on this unit looks to be a PITA, and getting a unit that will both fit the board and track accurately won't be cheap - adjusting your gain structure to avoid the issue us easier & pretty much free.
There's a reasonable cure for XD's spitty midrange graininess, Bursin Audio of Hong Kong makes a drop-in quasi-discrete opamp that (barely) fits in the XD - it makes an impressively significant improvement in both soundstaging and tonality. It's not cheap @ $60 USD, but for what it does is a decent deal:
https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/supreme-sound-opamp-v5/
I normally sneer at most audio-foolery as an efficient way to separate Orthodontists and Venture Capitalists from their excess earnings, but a very hard-headed friend who buys Burson opamps by the tray to rebuild studio gear lent me one - it didn't return & I bought him dinner.
Cheers Jim
Jim
Not sure how discrete the Bursons are - my hunch is integrated logic IC's with output transistors.
You can build an opamp with the topology of choice - HP used Nuvistor-based opamps in their last generation tube oscilloscopes....
Cheers Jim