[slwiser]

I just got my Xin Reference in the mail yesterday and boy am I pleased....

I can't say enough about how it sounds out of the box....

It is very small and tucks just behind my iMod 5g with the Super Cotton Dock.



Things to note...

iMod is in the Treadz case from iFrogz

The Ultrasone Edition 9 quarter inch connection is direct into the portable Xin Reference, no adapters needed.

This unit has both eight and quarter connections.

It can power both at the same time.

The thickness of the amp and iMod together is about 1.5 inches.

The sound is bloody scary good, almost unbelievable out of the box.

Output from this amp using 4 AAA batteries is 250 mA at 6 volts.

The capacitor is a 22,000 uF for those interested. (edited)

Battery life is estimated to be at least 200 hours.

The bass is deep and powerful right now...into my UE9s.

Clarity is excellent in the mid-range and highs into my UE9s.

Best of all this unit cost which is very reasonable.

Here it sets beside a iBasso T2 for a size comparison with a quarter in the background:

[stlblue]

How do you think it will rate, once burned in, compared to "full sized" can amps in the $300-$400 range? I'm using ATH W1000's, directly out of an Apogee Mini DAC.

[slwiser]

I hate to say. I have a ATH-HA5000 that I am wondering if I need to keep?  Just kidding, but it did crossed my mind.  The Reference is not as good as the AT-HA5000  but would I really miss it based on the differences?  Don't know.

[slwiser]

How do you think it will rate, once burned in, compared to "full sized" can amps in the $300-$400 range? I'm using ATH W1000's, directly out of an Apogee Mini DAC.

Someone else said this "Even out of the box with no burn-in it sounds better than any other Xin amp I have had including my LE with >200 hours on it so it should end up fantastic after full burn-in. It is also giving my EarMax amp at 10 times the price a good run for the money, not quit there but too close for comfort. ...."

here: http://www.fixup.net/talk/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2289&whichpage=11

So I am not the only "crazy" talking about how it compares to their home amplifier.

[slwiser]

Potential correction to the first post.  It seems that the large cap may not be a Blackgate afterall.  But who cares with it sounding like it does.  Dr. Xin made the best sound that could be made so the cap put in it must perform better than a blackgate would have. Otherwise I am sure he would have use one.

[stlblue]

hhhmmm, I really like having the amp built into the mini-dac...I wonder if there would be a way to have a Reference board installed into my Apogee (or just have the existing amp in it modded)? If I had a Reference installed, wonder if I could still run cans balanced from the back of the mini-dac?   

[slwiser]

I have no ideal to what is possible with DIY on this question.  But this unit is so small...0.9 inches thick.  About 2 inches wide and a total of four inches long with the control nob but the interconnects would add some space on the front.