Introduction

xDuoo is an audio brand operated by the Shenzhen xDuoo Technology Co., Ltd. (Yidu) company, that started out as an ODM (original design manufacturer) for various companies before launching its own brand nearly a decade ago. The brand has become synonymous with headphone and speaker amplifiers in particular, especially with the use of tube preamp/amplifier stages, in addition to audio players, portable DAC/amps, as well as cable accessories in the HiFi audio space. The last couple of years have seen xDuoo step more into the PC audio side with DAC/amplifier combo units using solid state and/or tube output stages. Today we examine its latest such offering in the form of the xDuoo TA-22, and thanks to SHENZHENAUDIO for providing a review sample to TechPowerUp!

The vast majority of headphone and speaker amplifiers today use fully solid state designs with the goal of reproducing an analog signal as cleanly and accurately as possible. Indeed, you will have noticed that everything covered to date from the likes of TOPPING, FiiO, S.M.S.L, and essentially every other brand has been a solid state device. You get the best measurements from reviewers who have access to expensive audio analyzers and you are also guaranteed excellent, non-colored sound from DACs and amplifiers at very reasonable prices too. Tube amplifiers, also referred to as valve amplifiers in some countries, are more old-school in approach and have a somewhat romantic association to them. These were left by the wayside for a while before undergoing a resurgence in the high-end audio scene with the emergence of flagship class headphones that cost multiple thousands of dollars. The general mindset has been that a tube amplifier is only really worth it in a similar price range yet that has not stopped Asian brands from coming out with products that cost far less. The xDuoo TA-22 is a combination DAC and tube amplifier that is one such example and we will take a closer look at it—both inside and out—in our review to see how it fares against the solid state competition. As usual, we begin with a look at the product specifications below so be sure to click the image twice to fully open it and go through all the details.

Specifications