[kosq83]

I just realised that there is a popping sound when you switch the amp on from being in the pure dac mode, nothing ear /can breaking, buy there is the pop sound.

 

[Ggroch]

I looked at the manual and it does not describe the pop when sources come on.   It does strongly recommend several times that you keep the volume all the way down when switching things.
 
On reason is that, at least on mine, the output level of the DAC line out increases by like 300% when you turn off the amp and switch to DAC only mode.   That is a very strange design choice.
 
On the upside....it sounds great.  

 

[kosq83]

Give it back of You can. I still don't have mine home, but I remember now that the pop sound is only by turning Amp on. I switching between inputs doesn't make any explosion.

 

[Ggroch]

Give it back of You can. I still don't have mine home, but I remember now that the pop sound is only by turning Amp on. I switching between inputs doesn't make any explosion.

Thanks,  yes I did exchange it and the new one arrived today.  Also bought a SquareTrade 3 year warranty which will get me my money back if it dies within 3 years.
 
It sounds great,  musical, detailed but silky smooth.  Love it. 

 

[kosq83]

So does it mean there is no exploding pop sound while changing inputs anymore? Fantastic !

 

[Ggroch]

I have heard no exploding pop yet when the Optical signal kicks in. Only tried it a couple of times, so I think the other one was defective.
 
However, I like the features, build quality, and sound enough that if it turns out that the popping was a "feature" rather than a defect, I will work around it by not plugging in phones until the optical stream is going.    
 
The experience made me more skeptical of reliability, as did the fact that the Amazon Marketplace seller (SHENZHENAUDIO) did not respond to my questions. One of the Amazon reviews mentions problem getting help from this vendor and Yulong.
 
So, I bought the warranty extension which will at least get me a refund if it dies.   Buying from Grant Fidelity if you are in the US is probably the safest bet, but they are at $699...$200 higher right now. 
 
What I like:
1. The sound (primarily through the headphone jack) is fantastic.  Smooth, musical, detailed, all the nice stuff.
2. It handles a very wide variety of headphones and iems really well.  I have lots and they all sound excellent.
3. Love the Digital Volume control....having 80 steps means that I can get a very precise volume for any of my phones without having to use a sensitivity switch.
4. Construction quality and appearance: classy and retro, thick metal front panel and metal knobs,  steel chassis not as thick but just fine.
5. LCD Readout
6.  Ability to handle just about any kind of signal and digital source
7. Fully balanced if I ever need that.
 
At the $500 price I do not see a lot of alternatives that match it.  Perhaps Grant would have matched the price if I'd contacted them.
 
There seemed to be a lot of interest here the 1st 6 months it was released, then a major drop off.   Have users moved on, or are their better alternatives?   I do not see many dissatisfied owners on the thread.   Perhaps its just that many of the Chinese manufacturers have only brief popularity here and then fade. 

 

[liamstrain]

 
the output level of the DAC line out increases by like 300% when you turn off the amp and switch to DAC only mode.   That is a very strange design choice.
 
 

 
Not that strange, it takes it to a line level output. 
 
I only run mine in DAC mode these days (from USB source) - the amp was getting weird, I don't know if some caps blew or what. Too old to send back at this point, and I'm fine with it as is.  My main current issue is with my main computer, it now only sees a 96K input from USB, instead of the 384K it used to. But with my other computer it's fine, so I suspect something changed on the computer end, not the D200 end. 
 
Similarly, I suspect the pop when the optical kicks over is a computer issue, not the dac, but I could be wrong. Does the new one do it as well? 
 
The only other item that comes close at that price, is the Matrix Mini-i. But I quite like the D200

 

[escalibur]

Has anyone tested this DAC with Windows 10? I'm curious are the drivers working fine without any issues?
 
ps. I'm considering upgrading my current Audinst hud-MX1 to this one.

 

[kosq83]

Sorry no help from here - I'm like a dinosaur, still W7 onboard..

 

[escalibur]

It's ok. I just ordered O2 ODAC rev.B so it doesn't matte - for now.

 

[AxelCloris]

  Has anyone tested this DAC with Windows 10? I'm curious are the drivers working fine without any issues?
 
ps. I'm considering upgrading my current Audinst hud-MX1 to this one.

 
I can test for you in the next few days. My new-to-me D200 will be arriving today and I'll be connecting it to a computer running Windows 10.

 

[escalibur]

Cool! Please do. I'm sure there is a lot of potential Windows 10 users considering this DAC.

 

[kosq83]

Axel just give it a good burn in before pulling your hair out listening to it for the first minutes out of the box.

Enjoy Mate!

 

[AxelCloris]

Axel just give it a good burn in before pulling your hair out listening to it for the first minutes out of the box.

Enjoy Mate!

 
I'll probably give it 15-20 minutes to warm up, but I'd hope it'd be fully burned in since I traded for it with another Head-Fier. It may even get a lot longer to warm up depending on how my schedule goes the next few days.

 

[Villy]

Hi guys, I have the pleasure to be the new owner of Axel's D200.
 
Right away I made me an adapter cable to use the XLR outputs as headphone outputs (followed Andykong's directions in post #22, page 2). It has been mentioned already, still I wanted to report that there is indeed a notable difference in sound compared to the standard output on the front. Well worth the effort, highly recommend to anyone with rather efficient headphones (and balanced cables of course). For the less efficient headphones, like MrSpeakers' Alpha series, the sound quality is there but the amp can't really drive them very loud, though they can still reach loud level. I will likely get an amp and use D200 as standalone DAC, but nonetheless the sound from the balanced outs is very impressive, especially considering that the amping function is secondary to the DAC in terms of implementation and that is quite understandable.
 
Anyhow, like many others I also think that D200 is very good value thx Axel for deciding to part with it!