Member Reviews: Yulong D100

Intro   I was approached by the Malaysian distributor of Yulong (the ShenZhen YuLong Electronics Co. Ltd of China) about reviewing the D100 DAC/headphone amp.  I had previously given a relatively favorable review to the older and less expensive/ambitious DAH1 Mk II, which was sent by their China Distributor, Audiophile China.  However, I gave a not-so-great review to a different product sent to me by AudiophileChina (not a Yulong product), and AC reacted badly, and so I suppose the fact that the request came from their Malaysian Distributor may not be a co-incidence   But these guys were very nice to deal with.   This product already received a VERY thorough, and very favorable, review...

Summary:Read the pros and cons, otherwise: Very nice DAC with similar features to DAC1 + screen, power switch and HP mode switch. Possibly higher noise characteristics because of that.Input jitter elimination possibly as good as DAC1. In the boxManual, power/usb cable - pretty standard. Build:No complaints for the case box, never opened the unit though.Sound:I thought Benchmark DAC was highs-centric and mids being somewhat recessed. D100 is mids centric to me. Good details on mids and highs, nice bass. A bit of a fake soundstage feel (if you heard K702 compared to other headphones, then you'll know what I mean). I think people often mistake treble amount for detail and...

Skylab already linked to my review, so I'll just summarize here:   I find the Yulong amp to be very neutral and transparent sounding. I've owned various models in the $1,000+ range including Benchmark DAC1, Grace Design M902, and Lavry DA10. This Yulong competes well with those units and is even superior to some of them in certain aspects. The headphone amp, while not quite on the level of the DAC section, is still quite good, and you'd need to spend a significant amount of money on a standalone amp to get much improvement.   Bottom line: if you are in the market for a DAC on the level of Benchmark/Lavry/Grace, and are willing to sacrifice some brand name prestige, you can save...

  You probably have already seen my initial impression on the D100 if you read through the excellent review thread started by project86. It's been about a month now after I posted it, and I still enjoy listening to my D100 and love it even more now.   I use the D100 with my headphones, headphone amp and computer speakers, and the source is my laptop. The DAC section is very detailed and analytical sounding which I like because it shows you exactly what the recording is like. The AMP section is quite good as well. In fact, to my ears, the difference between the build-in amp and my Glimore Lite is subtle, at least on my K701s and HF2s....