[Clemmaster]

@project86: did you try the Taboo with any Hifiman headphone?
 
The Zen Taboo is advertised as the best headphone amp for Audeze LCD-2 and 3. I fear it would be too bright together with the 5LE 

.

 

[Kendoji]

I've been using the Taboo III with my HE-500 for quite a while now.  It's good.  

 

[project86]

  @project86: did you try the Taboo with any Hifiman headphone?
 
The Zen Taboo is advertised as the best headphone amp for Audeze LCD-2 and 3. I fear it would be too bright together with the 5LE 

.

 
Once, briefly, I heard it with the HE-500 and LCD-2. Quite good I'd say. 

 

[Bjorn2379]

Hi Project86, I like warmth with a lot of clarity. I like to use my headphones for music, movies & games so I guess something more laid back.

 

[Clemmaster]

Hi Project86, I like warmth with a lot of clarity. I like to use my headphones for music, movies & games so I guess something more laid back.

 
Warmth + lots of clarity is what the SA-31 is all about. It is not a tube amp, but it is a "flavored solid state". VERY good stuff with the HE-5LE.
I actually just received my second one today. I felt like downgrading from the EF-6 for the HE-5LE and (probable) HE-560 because I missed the SA-31 sound so much.

 

[Bjorn2379]

Thanks Clemmaster, I might put it on my list but I want a tube amp though.

 

[reemo]

My DA8 came today! First impressions are awesome and how can i lived without it? Sound quality wise it crushes my Auzentech Hometheater HD what ive been using before couple of years. I had worries if 150mw would be enough power to drive HD 800 but it seems to be enough. I've been wanting more bass and yulong delivered, now i have more layers of bass, mids and highs compared to sound card. As for the sound it seems to got some balls in to it, of course HD 800 bass is clear but it now feels i just have more.
 
Ive been testing only with handful of songs but im convinced that my money is well spent and i immediatly noticed sound improvement. With HD 800 seems to bee good match for me but don't have any experience with other dacs but it sounds like i don't need any.

 

[Priidik]

Congratulations!
Wait until it warms up , then it gets even slightly better.
I feel i got even more layers of everything with balanced drive through XLR-s. Great suggestion by John and others. 
Everything feels less compressed, not so much of an improvement in sound-stage size, but accuracy.
Also uncompressed means more layers. Bass quantity suffered maybe a dB or two but quality is better, low end sounds more realistic.
    Didn't believe it could have such a impact. 
I am sort of a skeptic if it comes to cables, but original HD800 cable is ~ 1 ohm per side, it feels like a lot. 
Maybe the DIY cat5E cable is improvement over the stock, i surely hope i am wrong for the sake future SE amp configurations.

 

[reemo]

Yeah thanks im getting more excited day by day, ive read about warming it about 100-150hours, but seriously yulong sounds like im listening totally different headphones straight out the box. Can't wait until its warmed. Couple things to mention are that volume knob is really unaccurate. Sometimes it skips 2db, i would like it to go 0.5db all the way and adjusting with one click equals 0.5db. Now it goes 0.5db, 1db and 2db with one click almost randomly. I know that some point it starts to go with 0.5db adjust.
 
Another thing is remote control would be nice add but not a deal breaker.
 
For the looks it beats any dac unit ive seen yet and the size is perfect, ok the display has limited viewing angles but damn it looks cool. I went with black since i have a somewhat a black theme going on here. Silver might have been more "my precious, my sweet yulong precious".
 
Im yet to test DSD music since there isn't that much content out there that i would like.

 

[teiki arii]

Hello everyone,
here is a review of Jack, one of my friends who for the first time listened to my audio system..
 
 
"Hello everybody,
 
I would like to share with you about Magnepan panels, because I realized , just yesterday , a very, very nice Magnepan 3.7s listening .
A friend of mine, after listening to my system based on classic loudspeakers (PE Leon Nobilis ), wanted me to discover his sytem.
The latest listening that I had with Magnepan panels go back to more than fifteen years ago and had not left me a lasting souvenir. So I went backwards being practically convinced, prejudices are hard to overcome, that these panels lack in bass extension,  in dynamic and in timbres. I all got wrong !
Listening room must be sixty square meters with a high ceiling . No acoustic treatment ( what a pity!) but good damping anyway.
44,1KHz CD Files songs are mainly played ​​with a Macbook Pro early 2011 connected to a Yulong full discrete AZP OPA DA8 DAC linked by USB plug (without any power supply) , and some CDs on a Cayin CD player quite revised ( with full discret AZP OPA and Duelund capas) .
Amps are mono blocks Threshold (renovated SA/6e), the preamp is a VB Audio Analogue Bellini which is doing well, although I was afraid that this was the weak link. XLR and LS cables are Odeion Omega. 
The speakers are pretty pinches inward to 1.50 m from the rear wall , separated from each other by about 2 m. But most of all, listening position is  very closed, only 2 meters from panels and that really stunned me. But I must admit that it was not a sticking point .
 
On listening : actually a  solo piano is in the room. Everything is there: physically " palpable ", explosive dynamic , fair tones , accurate notes, 3-D imaging, a bass extension subjectively very low and that really surprised me. I did not expect at all, I must confess : mea culpa . Prejudices are hard to overcome. It is sometimes good to reconsider your positions.
Whether on doublebass with voice ( Musica Nuda ) , or on jazz quartet (Eddie higgins quartet ) or on vocals with orchestral accompaniment ( Brel, Youn Sun Nah , It F and others) , no complaints , everything is realistic at his place.
I tried to find the flaw in vain......... but, no, I have not found anything wrong. I have over 25 years of "business" listenings, I was enough lucky to listen to a very high standard of many systems. I must admit this one is very, very close to the highest step.
You shall understand in a nutshell , all my prejudices on the panels are gone although I am aware that in order to optimize their functioning must artillery be heavy. Finally their large size limits their use in a living-room.
You can count me among the new converts. I swear not to speak ill of said panels .
 
And finally a big thank to my friend who introduced me to a beautiful audio system."
 
 
Jack's audio system:
- Vitus Audio CD Player (12.000 euros)
- Modwright Preamp 36.5 (13.000 euros)
- Mcintosh 402 Ampli (9.000 euros)
- P.E. Etienne Léon NOBILIS loudspeakers (9.600 euros)
- PS Audio Audio Power Plant Premier Power Generator (??€)
- finite element Pagode Référence Master HD07 (6750 euros) with cerabase x4 (475 euros)...
 
 
My audio system:
- source: Macbook Pro with Yulong DA8 DAC (Full AZP discret OPAs) by USB (without USB external power supply) and Cayin CDT-17A (Full AZP discret OPAs)
- preamp: Audio Analogue VB Bellini preamp, 
- Ampli: Mono Blocks Threshold SA/6e (renovated), 
- Loudspeaker: Magnepan 3.7
- Cables:  XLR and LS Odeïon Omega
 

 

[Esprit]

Couple things to mention are that volume knob is really unaccurate. Sometimes it skips 2db, i would like it to go 0.5db all the way and adjusting with one click equals 0.5db. Now it goes 0.5db, 1db and 2db with one click almost randomly. I know that some point it starts to go with 0.5db adjust.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/673033/review-yulong-audio-sabre-da8-reference-dac/885#post_10139726

 

[igormsk]

volume knob is really unaccurate. Sometimes it skips 2db, i would like it to go 0.5db all the way and adjusting with one click equals 0.5db. Now it goes 0.5db, 1db and 2db with one click almost randomly. I know that some point it starts to go with 0.5db adjust.

There are 80 steps in the volume control. 
According Yulong: from -60dB to -20dB every step has an increase of 1dB, from -20dB to 0dB the value is 0,5dB
 
Mine works this way - yours seems to be defective.

 

[rajeshgeorgy]

Hi,
 
I have the DA8 connected to an OPPO BDP 103 with a coaxial cable. When I play SACDs, the DAC shows the message as no signal. The player itself is reading the disc and I can hear songs when the player is directly connected to the Tube Amplifier Cary Audio Sli 80. Likewise, the DAC reads signal from all normal CDs. Please keep me posted. 

 

[Esprit]

There is no way to reproduce SACD with a DAC.
It's an hardware copy protection issue, since the SACD was invented.

 

[project86]

  Hi,
 
I have the DA8 connected to an OPPO BDP 103 with a coaxial cable. When I play SACDs, the DAC shows the message as no signal. The player itself is reading the disc and I can hear songs when the player is directly connected to the Tube Amplifier Cary Audio Sli 80. Likewise, the DAC reads signal from all normal CDs. Please keep me posted. 

 
This, unfortunately, is common. It's an SACD thing, not an Oppo or Yulong issue. From the Oppo website:
 
"The SACD license prohibits digital output from "unprotected" digital interfaces. The digital optical and coaxial (S/PDIF) interfaces are considered "unprotected" by the license because no data encryption is used. For this reason all SACD players on the market, including the BDP-103, do not allow digital output for SACD over optical and coaxial. You will need to use either the analog or HDMI output for SACD."