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post #616 of 900
11/12/12 at 2:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by project86 View Post

 

I forgot to ask the fellow who has both green lights, if his units are silver or black. Maybe there is some difference based on color?

 

I received my D18 on October 25 and the power switch is still green. Btw, thank you (Project86 & mrcasey) for your postings which helped me to purchase both the U18 w/ external power and D18. I am pretty happy with my purchase. I guess that I live in the same city as mrcasey. Forgot to mention that my D18 & U18 are in silver color.
 
 

Edited by slau104 - 11/12/12 at 2:34pm
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post #617 of 900
11/12/12 at 4:27pm

I received my silver D18 at the beginning of September and it has a green power LED.

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post #618 of 900
11/12/12 at 9:57pm
That when Redco Audio Design Your Own cable becomes interesting because you can have any length, even short ones with a good choice of cable and great Neutrik XLR connectors for a very fair price.
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post #619 of 900
11/17/12 at 7:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheGrumpyOldMan View Post

I received my silver D18 at the beginning of September and it has a green power LED.

About the power light issue, this is the respnse I got from Rachel at Grant Fidelity:
"So far I see all D18 and A18 have green lights - haven't seen one with blue light yet but sometimes factory do make minor changes without telling us. This doesn't indicate any difference of quality though."
So that should clear it.
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post #620 of 900
11/17/12 at 2:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yahoe View Post


About the power light issue, this is the respnse I got from Rachel at Grant Fidelity:
"So far I see all D18 and A18 have green lights - haven't seen one with blue light yet but sometimes factory do make minor changes without telling us. This doesn't indicate any difference of quality though."
So that should clear it.

Funny, the D18 I got from them in February had a blue power light (silver chassis).  I also happen to like the blue bettertongue.gif

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post #621 of 900
11/17/12 at 11:56pm

I am in the race for a (black) D18,Allready have the green led A18.How can I be sure to get a green led D18...

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post #622 of 900
11/18/12 at 5:51am

I've been considering a D18 for a while but I have two "burning" questions.

 

1) Has anyone purchased a unit lately that has exhibited the buzzing sound that some of the earlier units were plagued with?

2) Has anyone compared a D18 with the original EE Minimax?

 

I'm also pondering (but for various reasons to a lesser extent) the PS Audio Nuwave, Anedio D2, Metrum Octave and Bifrost DACs.

 

Thank you

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post #623 of 900
11/18/12 at 6:12am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TT600R View Post

I am in the race for a (black) D18,Allready have the green led A18.How can I be sure to get a green led D18...

 

Not sure there is any way to know beforehand. Maybe ask the seller to open it and check for you? Some may be willing to do that, others may not, depending on the volume of business they do.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Turn&cough View Post

I've been considering a D18 for a while but I have two "burning" questions.

 

1) Has anyone purchased a unit lately that has exhibited the buzzing sound that some of the earlier units were plagued with?

2) Has anyone compared a D18 with the original EE Minimax?

 

I'm also pondering (but for various reasons to a lesser extent) the PS Audio Nuwave, Anedio D2, Metrum Octave and Bifrost DACs.

 

Thank you

 

1) Haven't heard any complaints of that since those early few.

 

2) I still haven't heard anyone comparing the two. Seems the original EE unit was incredibly popular, then everyone sold theirs and moved on, because I don't know anyone who still uses theirs. 

 

NuWave looks interesting (despite me not being a huge PS Audio fan), D2 is spectacular, Octave seems great too and somewhat similar to the D18, and BiFrost probably doesn't compete on the same level as those others. 

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post #624 of 900
11/18/12 at 6:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by project86 View Post

 

Not sure there is any way to know beforehand. Maybe ask the seller to open it and check for you? Some may be willing to do that, others may not, depending on the volume of business they do.

 

 

1) Haven't heard any complaints of that since those early few.

 

2) I still haven't heard anyone comparing the two. Seems the original EE unit was incredibly popular, then everyone sold theirs and moved on, because I don't know anyone who still uses theirs. 

 

NuWave looks interesting (despite me not being a huge PS Audio fan), D2 is spectacular, Octave seems great too and somewhat similar to the D18, and BiFrost probably doesn't compete on the same level as those others. 

 

The D2 is currently out of stock and despite mostly positive comments I'm under the impression that its might be on the cool side of neutral. No reports yet on the NuWave as there appear to be production delays. The Metrum is interesting but I've owned NOS DACs before and even though it doesn't have a typical NOS sound I'm still hesitant to go down that road again. On the other hand I'm in Canada so getting my hands on a D18 would be fast and with 30 day return policy.

The modded tube output on my EE DAC just died. I could probably find someone to fix it but at a cost.

I'm also tempted by the "warm yet detailed" sound of the D18 over the snappy, yet at times, unforgiving sound the EE.

On the other hand I don't want to spend $700 to achieve only marginal improvement(or less) over what the opamp output of the EE provides.

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post #625 of 900
11/18/12 at 7:31am
Thread Starter 

Well, being in Canada certainly makes the D18 an easier option should you choose to go down that route. For what it's worth, the only person I know of that didn't find the D18 to be a good fit was someone who needed to hear more flaws in his music (for a home studio application). He was impressed with the D18 for casual music listening though. 

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post #626 of 900
11/19/12 at 10:02am

+1 mine is also blue. I like the color, but it is definitely a little bit bright. I wonder if they switched to green to alleviate this for listening in the dark.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kingoftown1 View Post

Funny, the D18 I got from them in February had a blue power light (silver chassis).  I also happen to like the blue bettertongue.gif

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post #627 of 900
11/19/12 at 12:08pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sid-Fi View Post

+1 mine is also blue. I like the color, but it is definitely a little bit bright. I wonder if they switched to green to alleviate this for listening in the dark.

 

Maybe it's just me, but I find that most of my equipment is annoyingly bright. If I've got sound coming out, or tubes lit up, do I really need an LED blazing away so I know it is turned on? 

 

One thing I appreciate about my Analog Design Labs tube amp - it does have a power LED, but it's such a tiny pinhole that it is barely visible unless you really look. I wouldn't mind if all my gear was the same.

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post #628 of 900
11/19/12 at 12:19pm
I make neat little cut outs with electrical tape. Problem solved smily_headphones1.gif
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post #629 of 900
11/19/12 at 12:41pm

I had the same issue: while the green power ring is fairly subdued, the other LEDs were superbright. Since they are separate from the front panel (unlike some other devices I own), I opened it up, put small bits semi-translucent silk tape in front of each and put the whole thing back together, gently pressing the LEDs against their front panel opening. The result is a much subdued brightness, and it is impossible to tell the difference otherwise.

 

I chose the tape to make it easy to remove should I change my mind or sell it, however I have had equal success in other cases by drawing over the tips of the LEDs with black marker, layering it to achieve the desired toned-down brightness. Again, if done after removing the front panel, it will look very neat and does not require a lot of precision.

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post #630 of 900
11/19/12 at 1:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by project86 View Post

 

Maybe it's just me, but I find that most of my equipment is annoyingly bright. If I've got sound coming out, or tubes lit up, do I really need an LED blazing away so I know it is turned on? 

 

One thing I appreciate about my Analog Design Labs tube amp - it does have a power LED, but it's such a tiny pinhole that it is barely visible unless you really look. I wouldn't mind if all my gear was the same.


I have the black D18 with green power LED. It's brightness doesn't bother me compared to my annoyingly bright Matrix M-Stage. If I turn down the lights in the room and sit right in front of my gear with everything on, it seems like the M-Stage is some kind of flashlight pointing right at my face.

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Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Dedicated Source Components › Yulong Sabre D18 thread: reviews, impressions, discussion (full review added 2/5)