[Jaybo]

^^ Methinks you're missing the point.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

  ^^ Methinks you're missing the point.

+1
Seems like some people assume that posters here have full time job that pays their bills by running all sort of tests imaginable just to satisfy random browsers curiosity.
 
Get your butt up, spend some money and time and do some testing for yourself if what is posted here is not up to your *standards*. Geez.

 

[ULUL]

99% of the time, I just let such comments go by - not worth responding.  Actually been years since I responded to negative comments like this.
 
But this one time, will comment.  Not has the reviewer's comments been very helpful to me, he has also been very helpful privately with some additional information. Two Thumbs Up for Project86's reviews. 
 
UL
 
Quote:/img/forum/go_quote.gif

  I have read some reviews about Yulong DA8 vs other DACs in this thread, but I have read nothing about testing procedures:
- no comparisons between inputs
- upsampling or not,
- which software, PC or MAC/Linux?
- Symetric ouputs or not...
That is not very serious for listeners  and readers to make up their mind for choosing or making the skills understandable of this DAC... Disappointed, I am... Waste of time... Keep in touch for further tweaks about DA8, nevertheless...
Best regards.

 

[DarKen23]

Like this:

 

[brunk]

^ LMAO ...just don't tell him it's not a DAC 

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Is there any detailed explanation on what exactly and how DA8 filters do?
Similar to AURALiC Flexible Filter Mode Explanation.
 
The manual is quite terse on that.
 
Same goes for Jitter Eliminator.

 

[brunk]

  Is there any detailed explanation on what exactly and how DA8 filters do?
Similar to AURALiC Flexible Filter Mode Explanation.
 
The manual is quite terse on that.
 
Same goes for Jitter Eliminator.

Someone posted this link earlier in the thread and it has a wealth of info on the ESS9018 DAC, including filters and jitter eliminator.
 
http://hifiduino.wordpress.com/sabre32/

 

[Andrew_WOT]

 

  Is there any detailed explanation on what exactly and how DA8 filters do?
Similar to AURALiC Flexible Filter Mode Explanation.
 
The manual is quite terse on that.
 
Same goes for Jitter Eliminator.

Someone posted this link earlier in the thread and it has a wealth of info on the ESS9018 DAC, including filters and jitter eliminator.
 
http://hifiduino.wordpress.com/sabre32/

Thanks, LOL, I should have read that link myself before posting it.

Yep, seems like it controls roll off, there are some graphs as well. Good stuff.

 

[brunk]

 
Thanks, LOL, I should have read that link myself before posting it.

Yep, seems like it controls roll off, there are some graphs as well. Good stuff.

Yep, and more importantly it also affects impulse response, which is why im finding the "slow" filter to be on 99.99% of the time now because of significantly less pre and post ringing. I find the highest khz in the "fast" filter to be an unacceptable tradeoff in regards to ringing. a non-oversampling DAC has a perfect impulse response, but significant tradeoffs in several areas, thus my future challenge of DIY'ing a decent NOS DAC with analog filters  I'm sure it'll be nothing like a Metrum HEX, but it will be fun and very educational.

 

[Esprit]

In this review of the Weiss 202 there are the measurements using slow or sharp filters:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/weiss-dac202-firewire-da-converter

 

[ULUL]

Question. 
 
Apparently the DA8 has active rear RCA and XLR output even when the headphone amp is running. 
 
So is there any qualitative difference from the rear rear outputs when the headphone amp is on or off once output level is matched? 
 
Thanks,
UL

 

[Viper2005]

Question. 

Apparently the DA8 has active rear RCA and XLR output even when the headphone amp is running. 

So is there any qualitative difference from the rear rear outputs when the headphone amp is on or off once output level is matched? 

Thanks,
UL

Yes that is for the preamp function.
Running it with Amp Off is like running at 100% volume of preamp.

 

[buchignani]

I have now had a DA8 for a couple of weeks and have been giving it a hard workout, listening to it carefully with both phones (HD 580) and speakers (big DIY three ways), and comparing it carefully against other things and in various combinations.

I must say that this effort has left me a bit confused. Instead of starting with the details let me begin with a conclusion: I wonder whether all the discussion seen here and elsewhere on how modern DACs ‘sound’ largely reflects differences between the audio stages of these devices, rather than anything much to do with the digital side of things.

Here’s what has led me to this query. The first systematic thing I did was to compare the DA8 playing flac files from my desktop to a cd playing simultaneously on the cdp I had hooked up at present.  The latter is a Rotel RCD-971 that I had heavily modified. I was fortunate that the levels of these two turned out to be exactly the same, so that I could switch between them seamlessly. The result: I could hear no difference at all between these two, either with phones or speakers. So I tried comparing the Rotel’s audio out to the DA8 driven by the Rotel’s digital out. Again the levels were, helpfully, exactly the same. In this instance neither I nor anyone else I dragged in could hear any difference whatsoever; neither could they say which source was started with. As my preamp switch moves seamlessly from one source to the next I found that sometimes folk did not even know I switched from one to the other.

This puzzled me a lot, as the mods I did to the Rotel were done recursively: change something, listen, change something else. I am sure there was no large placebo effect then as I worked towards a better sound; the changes made a difference, I am sure. So I began to therefore think that the virtually identical sound of the Rotel audio out and the DA8 out was a bit of an accident of where I finally stopped moding the Rotel.

So I hooked up my venerable unmodified Meridian 508.24 to compare its audio out with the DA8 driven by the Rotel. Again, I found no difference between them listening on the phones. Listening with speakers there was a small difference. I had to give a very slight edge to the Meridian—a certain additional clarity in lower level instruments, reverb, etc.

So in the end are we largely talking about the sound of DAC audio stages (and of course things that affect it, such as power supplies)?

FYI, I used the same integrated amp throughout, a Bryston b60r. Comparing things with phones I used either the Bryston internal headphone amp or a heavily moded (well, nearly unrecognizable) Meier Codra, which IMHO is a bit better than either the internal DA8 amp or the internal one in the Bryston.

FYI x2, I am pleased with the DA8 overall. It syncs with everything I have sent to it and does exactly what it is supposed to do. My primary use for the DA8 is pretty obscure, at least in these forum parts: being driven by a monster real time digital sampled piano (IvoryII). Works great in this usage, where as a player I very satisfied with how it sounds.

Thanks,  Norm

 

[brunk]

@buchignani - Thank you for your impressions! One thing I do notice that may be your problem why it all 'sounds the same' on your headphones. That's your answer 

 - the headphones. I think your rig's fidelity is greater than what your headphones are capable of. 
 
Welcome to Head-Fi by the way!

 

[buchignani]

  @buchignani - Thank you for your impressions! One thing I do notice that may be your problem why it all 'sounds the same' on your headphones. That's your answer 

 - the headphones. I think your rig's fidelity is greater than what your headphones are capable of. 
 
Welcome to Head-Fi by the way!

Thanks for the welcome!
 
I am not so sure about whether the actual headphones used is that much of an issue. Headphones can sound radically different from each other. Whether one set of headphones can allow you to distinguish some things (whether you like how it distinguishes it) that others can't is a quite different issue.
 
Really crummy earphones can distinguish astonishing things in certain instances.  I started out down the DIY road a very long time ago, as a kid doing amateur radio; hell, being a little conservative, virtually no amateur radio equipment a real person ever saw in those days had a transistor in it. It was also conservative regarding headphones, which we used all the time. While around the ear 'audiophile' earphones were around, no one I knew used them yet for amateur radio. We dug incredibly weak signals out of the noise (resolved them, if you will) using what I think are termed moving iron drivers of much, much lower fidelity than those horrid little throwaway things the airlines give you.
 
By the way, I have an update. I have now compared the Meridian 508.24 audio out to the DA8 using the Meridian as a transport. I think that slightly improves the sound heard through the DA8 over using the Rotel as a transport--but this is recollection based. In this fairly rigorously controlled simultaneous A-B test I definitely could hear a little difference between the two both with phones and speakers. The difference was again quite small but definitely in favor of the Meridian.