[reemo]

Ive posted my problem earlier but yes i have been lazy, i have been in a Yulong need and used it daily from the day i had it. I bought mine from ebay, where should i try to return it? Directly to Yulong Audio back to China or to the Ebay seller which probably has gone underground Yes i should have bought it from yulongs european agent, my mistake.
 
Heres the problem with my volume knob: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPIWEhJNolU&feature=youtu.be
 
As you can see it skips volume with one click from the knob. The unit itself works just fine. Sorry for the bad quality video.

 

[Elder]

I do not think your volume knob is broken. It sometimes jumps two steps instead of one. This is because you are trying to rotate it one by one click. My DA8 has the same behavior. This is caused by the volume control switch bounce. When you rotate the knob a switch "clicks" according to the direction you are rotating it. Sometimes the switch contact bounces as if it was clicked two or more times. This is a mechanical thing. The software has ways to ignore the bounces by ignoring "clicks" just after the first click for a while. This is called "debouncing". I believe Yulong is applying a very short debouncing time ore none at all. If he had applied a long debouncing time, it would affect the control with a fast rotation of the knob that would appear as responseless. So there is a compromise between precision and control. This is not an important issue. One to three dB in the volume control precision is not significant to the ear. What is important is the balance between left and right channels. The DA8 volume control is digital what prevent naturally unbalance between channels.
 
My advice: ignore the readings. Use the volume control as you were using an analog one, where you cannot see any attenuation reading (unless it was a step attenuator). Judge by what you hear. If you feel you are getting to adjust the volume to your liking, your are fine. If you feel, with your ears, you do not get to adjust the volume correctly, then you have a problem.

 

[Esprit]

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

 

[blackie333]

Hi all, new owner of DA8 here. My unit is still in burn-in - 90 hours passed just a while ago
Sorry for my english, not a native speaker, but I'll try my best to explain.
 
Brand new unit sound was quite raw with too much heights for my taste. Burn-in has helped a lot, sound got smoother with more bass, hope it will continue to improve.
 
Now the sound is very involving, with good separation, deep bass, clear and detailed midrange (voices and guitars sound very natural).
Issue for me are heights - they are still a bit dominant (more present) but not so clear.
Cymbal and hi-hat sound in rock music is not as natural as the rest, sometimes it's flat and irritating for my ears.
 
Is this normal, can I expect this to improve after more burn-in?
 
I am using Foobar(Sox mod oversampling to 176.4/192KHz) on W8 PC with USB connection(1+4 pins isolated), tried also optical input, but sound was not very different. Listening via Sennheiser HD595 for now, plan something better soon.
 
My second question is whether it's possible to use higher than 192KHz oversampling frequency(384KHz) on a Windows PC, ideally in Foobar? I haven't found the option yet and would be grateful for it.
 
Thank you very much for suggestions.

 

[reemo]

So my unit is not working properly since it should have only i db increase from the knob? Its not world crashing down problem but it seriously annoys me.
 
Should i return it and where since its bought from ebay? Other than that i have been more than happy with my combo HD800+DA8

 

[EraserXIV]

If you're talking about the db skipping by more than 1 sometimes when you turn the knob, that's something that all the units do. It was discussed earlier in this thread I believe

 

[Elder]

  So my unit is not working properly since it should have only i db increase from the knob? Its not world crashing down problem but it seriously annoys me.
 
Should i return it and where since its bought from ebay? Other than that i have been more than happy with my combo HD800+DA8

 

  If you're talking about the db skipping by more than 1 sometimes when you turn the knob, that's something that all the units do. It was discussed earlier in this thread I believe

I have my DA8 replaced because a more serious problem (with DSD playback) and I can tell you that my current unit's and the old one's volume control acts the same way. It looks like, by what I saw in your video, your unit's volume acts the same way as mine.
 
As I told you before, disregard the dB readings and enjoy your music. If the only problem is 2 dB step instead of 1 for a knob click, you will only notice this by looking at the display.
 
As you said, other than that you have been more than happy with your combo HD800+DA8. You already have great combo. If in the future you think your HD800 will deserve a better amp, you will never use the volume control anymore.

 

[Elder]

  Is this normal, can I expect this to improve after more burn-in?
 
I am using Foobar(Sox mod oversampling to 176.4/192KHz) on W8 PC with USB connection(1+4 pins isolated), tried also optical input, but sound was not very different. Listening via Sennheiser HD595 for now, plan something better soon.
 
My second question is whether it's possible to use higher than 192KHz oversampling frequency(384KHz) on a Windows PC, ideally in Foobar? I haven't found the option yet and would be grateful for it.
 
Thank you very much for suggestions.

I personally do not like sampling rate conversions. Sometimes it smooths the sound more than it should giving the impression of loosing something. If you think your DA8 is a little bit harsh in the highs, I suggest you trying upsampling to DSD128 using the foo_dsd_asio PCM to DSD feature. I recommend using the DoP DSD Playback Method. I believe you may like it. You may need a fast PC. Choose the PCM do DSD Method that sounds better for you and works best with your PC.
After completing some more hundreds of hours of burn in, try again the pure not resampled PCM to check if the sound balance fits better to your liking.

 

[blackie333]

Thank you for your advice, I have tested upsampling to DSD128 and it sounded really good (and differently from PCM), for me "SDM Type C" sounded probably best (least fatigue).
 
In between - after more burn-in (180 hours just passed) the sound of my unit became nearly perfect, the harshness of high frequencies is gone, bass is more punchy and detailed (bass guitar is back on the stage and kicking).
Not sure how much more improvement can be expected after more burn-in (as Teiki Arii suggests to wait up to 350 hours), looking forward to check after I return home from a short vacation.
 
In any case I can confirm really a significant change of sound quality of my unit after a full week of burn-in, now I'm really enjoying the music coming out
Questions about USB cable and headphones recommendation can wait a little, back to listening...

 

[Esprit]

USB cable? A Belkin Gold with power and ground pins covered by tape.
m2c

 

[uncola]

Esprit does that really work? I thout the power pin is needed when initiating connection

 

[EraserXIV]

Nope, no need for any of the power pins. You can cut them in the cable and it still connects and runs perfectly, I can confirm this.

 

[Esprit]

Esprit does that really work? I thout the power pin is needed when initiating connection

No, with Yulong (I use a Mac...), you can cover pins #1&4
 

In my cables I've covered with tape the pins of each connectors (A & B)

 

[gregjnjarvis]

Has anyone tested the new D8 yet?  I don't see any info about it anywhere, but I did notice it available on Grant Fidelity's website and from the numbers (and price), it may be a big upgrade over the DA8....

 

[project86]

  Has anyone tested the new D8 yet?  I don't see any info about it anywhere, but I did notice it available on Grant Fidelity's website and from the numbers (and price), it may be a big upgrade over the DA8....

 
 
One person around here has it that I'm aware of. The D8 (and A8) are limited edition releases, initially not planned for public release but Yulong eventually decided to sell a handful. It's not a "regular" product though.