The (new) HD800 Appreciation Thread - Page 79

 Ugh. Well I need to get rid of the Bifrost first and have had ZERO interest in it. It's pretty much brand new. Oh well. Maybe I'll sell some more gear and get a real decent $1k-1.5k DAC... Seems to be plenty in that range.

Note, price doesn't justify performance sometimes. You'd have to choose carefully, and listen for yourself if possible.

Wait until you can find something affordable with the Sabre 9018 and a good design. All respect due the Concero, but personally I need optical input so it's not for me. I'm thinking of selling my bifrost/lyr as a combo and picking up the Yulong Sabre 18, which seems like a marvelous VFM DAC.

DAC chip doesn't mean anything if implementation is crap. Also, just because a DAC doesn't use ESS 9018 chips doesn't mean it's inferior.

You're quite right about that, and I should not have put it that way. I should have said that all of the Sabre 9018 based DACs I have seen reviews for are great performers and some, like the Yulong are an excellent value for the price. If you don't think you'll need USB, you could do worse.

@TooPoor - Are you using USB on the Bifrost you have or optical/coax? I've found that no matter if I'm on the Mac or PC I switch between throughout the day the s/pdif interface performs much, much better than USB. If you've been using it via USB you might want to give it a try to see if it helps. I have a similar predicament on the horizon with a Decware taboo iii on the way in a couple of months and so I'm interested in where your DAC hunt takes you. If I'm not mistaken you not too long ago had a Lyr too right?

Hi,

 

Does anyone try the HD800 with Yulong D18 DAC before?

 

I just don't understand the Concero love.  Just looks like a lazy design that's banking on their previous hype.  Ie the circled area is the DAC and output.  Everything else is input.  That it's either powered by super noisy USB or equally noisy SMPS doesn't help.  Also if paying attention it's a Sabre, but it's the budget chip with onboard I/V and resulting poor spec.

 

 

 

Lots of love though so something in the recipe must be working for it.  Just doesn't pass the sniff test for the asking price for me.

Try listening to it.

 

It didn't pass the sniff test for me either, but after the family reunion picnic we all asked for seconds. ;)

 

*shrug* perhaps mine shipped with a magic elf inside? No idea. But it's a strong competitor at this price tier regardless... just passing along what I've found. 

 

This is the Head-Fi mantra which not surprisingly relates to the other... sorry for your wallet.  In all seriousness though it's not my job to ignore what I see, drink the koolaid, spend my money and bank that my gut is wrong /shrug

 

If you like it, have at it.  But something like this I would only pull the trigger on if I could audition it on my rig or used where I wouldn't lose anything if the hype is just that.

 

 

Yup^^   Just may sound good.  However, going on design or as we like to say here on head fi "implementation".  I've found more times than not - you get what you pay for.  Not saying the DAC is not good.  However, I won't pay to play.  I need to have a pretty good feeling about the design / implementation before I jump.

 

Just saying.  That's just me..

Well, the guy was Director of Productions at ESS. Maybe that says something. 

Yea. Invicta....

Sounds fantastic.

I just wonder if it's woth it over a Level 3 Lampi, PWD, Master 7, etc.

 

 

A bud sold off his Invicta in favor of the Hilo..