[Esprit]

When we will be able to have DSD256 on Mac with DA8?
http://www.exasound.com/Blog/tabid/74/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/139/DSD-256-Available-on-Mac-for-the-First-Time.aspx

 

[Elder]

  Thanks for letting me know. I have contacted Yulong but haven't got a reply yet. I don't think I will ever use the DSD feature and I am not using a resampler, so my songs are mainly CD quality (44.1 kHz).

You can get some free songs in DSD from Blue Coast Records:
 
http://bluecoastrecords.com/
 
http://audiogate.bluecoastrecords.com/
 
http://edu.bluecoastrecords.com/bbc
 
You have do sign up to login and be able to download samples.
 
If you like the samples you can buy more songs or full albums at http://downloadsnow.net .
 
Some samples are available on PCM and DSD.
 
Another nice source of free high resolution downloads, including DSD and DXD, is http://www.2l.no .
Open the "2L brand store" drop down list on the right upper corner and select "Teste bench HD audio file"
 
You can get more info about DSD at http://dsd-guide.com . There you will find links to more DSD samples and stores to buy music in this format.

 

[dfarina]

I just picked up a DA8,coming from a D18 there is difinatly more detail.I have always used the digital out of my ipod as a source,but decided to experiment with the USB input of the DA8.For the LIFE of me I can't get any sound to come through my laptop to the DA8,never mind DSD files.Three hours this morning and nothing,windows refuses to use the DA8 driver and finally when I forced windows to accept it still nothing,ready to throw this thing out the window!!:mad:......we'll not quite,but still frustrating

 

[EraserXIV]

Try these drivers: http://www.yulongaudio.com/en/down.asp
 
The one labeled 'JRiver New asio' worked perfectly for my Windows 8.1 system. It's actually mislabeled and are universal drivers, not only specific to JRiver and ASIO. It actually installs both a standard windows driver and ASIO drivers. Ignore the one labeled 'SABRE DA8 driver', those are old.
 
 
EDIT: Also, of course, uninstall any of the old previous drivers you may have tried before installing the new ones.

 

[dfarina]

Thanks for the suggestion,I uninstalled everything and installed the JRiver New asio,plugged in the UDB,all went well,windows said successfully installed.Problem is that it still does not work,in the device manager in the control panel there is a "!" on the logo beside "YULONG Audio 384K DSD DAC".That puts me back to were I started,tried to manually update the drive with no success

 

[EraserXIV]

That's bizarre, what OS are you using?

 

[dfarina]

I have found the problem,as per usual with computers it's can be a little obvious.I had it plugged in a USB3 port,tried the USB2 port on the other side and all is fine.Strange because the USB3 port should be reverse compadable with USB2,but it is what it is

 

[EraserXIV]

Yeah that's a bit strange, my system has all USB 3.0 ports and they work fine out of any of the ports. Happy to hear it works now, but just out of curiosity what computer are you using?

 

[dfarina]

Asus UX31E Ultrabook,tried updating the USB3 driver but that didn't help.

 

[EraserXIV]

Hmm that could be your issue. I have the UX31A and I remember the UX31E was fraught with USB driver issues which is why I waited until the UX31A came out. It very well could be a premature implementation of USB 3.0 by Asus, if I remember correctly, the 31E came out around the time USB 3.0 just started becoming more popular.

 

[dfarina]

Yep....that makes perfect sense

 

[dfarina]

Back to the sound,the DA8 does sound quite a bit more detailed than the D18 as previously stated,but by a larger margin than I had anticipated.I love the the warm sound of my LCD-3's,but to me the DA8 almost makes them sound harsh and a little bright?I only have about 30 hrs on the DA8 so maybe it will smoothen out,or maybe my ears(brain) will adjust to the extra detail over time?

 

[project86]

Yeah, give it some time - mainly for your brain to adjust to it. 

 

[dfarina]

After approx 70 hrs I am relieved to say things sound better.At first it sounded detailed but cold and sterile,the mids sounded harsh almost like there was distortion or something causing it to sound congested.Now it sounds much easier on the ears,mids are smoother and overall its more musical.I believe this is more than my brain adapting,burn in is a debated subject,but I am a believer.Any improvements with more burn would be terrific,gonna let it play for a week and see where it goes,looking forward to the results

 

 

[Elder]

I had the same impressions at first with my DA8 right out of the box. I can tell it improves with burn in. I experienced this twice as mine have been replaced by Yulong under warranty. You can expect a long burn in.