[Somnambulist]

Ordered. I sold some old clothes on eBay the other week so that took £60 off the price, then the sale of the D100 will take around £250 extra off, so all in all I shouldn't be paying too much for what seems like a respectable upgrade. Just hope it comes quickly!

 

[project86]

Quote:

Ordered. I sold some old clothes on eBay the other week so that took £60 off the price, then the sale of the D100 will take around £250 extra off, so all in all I shouldn't be paying too much for what seems like a respectable upgrade. Just hope it comes quickly!

I don't think you will be disappointed. 

 

[Somnambulist]

It's all your fault! Anyway, they've shipped it despite the money having not left my account yet, how nice of them. Hopefully it'll arrive before the weekend but you never know.

 

[Somnambulist]

18 hours and 50 minutes later, someone has a D18 all hooked up.

 

[project86]

Quote:

18 hours and 50 minutes later, someone has a D18 all hooked up.

Not that anyone is counting right?

 

[Somnambulist]

I didn't think it would come so quickly. It's a fair bit heavier than the D100, which was the first thing I noticed, and I like the fact the power button is on the front now, which was something that bugged me with the D100 as I had to always stick my hand down round the back of my desk to turn it off. Setting it up was a simple case of putting it down on my desk and connecting all the same inputs as I had with the D100 - the UK power lead, XLRs and optical to 3mm jack cable. The seller supplied me with a US power lead for some reason, as well as the stock Euro lead in the box, not sure why but hey ho..
 
I've been listening on and off for the last 5 hours and while I like to sit with stuff for a while, some instant, obvious things like the improved soundstage are standing out. I didn't think I'd hear even more details in the sound given the D100 was pretty impressive in that regard, but it certainly feels that way. Perhaps they were there already, but now they seem easier to isolate with the ear as everything has a little more space. I think given a little more room to spread my Focals out wider and create a bigger triangle, it'd be even more pronounced.
 
Also the little things... like the LEDs on the front not being ridiculously bright, and the embossed Yulong logo. Nice touches. The ventilation on the sides is also appreciated, and the all-silver look goes nicely with my Mac.

 

[kingoftown1]

Quote:

I didn't think it would come so quickly. It's a fair bit heavier than the D100, which was the first thing I noticed, and I like the fact the power button is on the front now, which was something that bugged me with the D100 as I had to always stick my hand down round the back of my desk to turn it off. Setting it up was a simple case of putting it down on my desk and connecting all the same inputs as I had with the D100 - the UK power lead, XLRs and optical to 3mm jack cable. The seller supplied me with a US power lead for some reason, as well as the stock Euro lead in the box, not sure why but hey ho..
 
I've been listening on and off for the last 5 hours and while I like to sit with stuff for a while, some instant, obvious things like the improved soundstage are standing out. I didn't think I'd hear even more details in the sound given the D100 was pretty impressive in that regard, but it certainly feels that way. Perhaps they were there already, but now they seem easier to isolate with the ear as everything has a little more space. I think given a little more room to spread my Focals out wider and create a bigger triangle, it'd be even more pronounced.
 
Also the little things... like the LEDs on the front not being ridiculously bright, and the embossed Yulong logo. Nice touches. The ventilation on the sides is also appreciated, and the all-silver look goes nicely with my Mac.

I'm sure it's been beaten to death, but how do you feel about the frequency response compared to the D100?  I've had my eye set on a sabre based DAC, and this is really one of the few that I'm looking at besides the W4S Dac 1
 
 

 

[Somnambulist]

I listen to mostly non-reference-y type music - jazz and classical are probably the least represented things in my artillery, so 86's comment that this DAC would probably suit this kind of music better than something ultra-analytical was a deciding factor. In terms of the highs, if they are smoothed out, my ears aren't complaining because I listened to the thing for hours and hours yesterday. I'm up for changing the fuse at some point though just to see if it really does make a difference, but because only because I'm curious and it's easy to do. I should probably find a shrill recording and see how offensive it is to listen to.
 
One thing I definitely like about the D18 compared to the D100 - the latter sounded great, clean, detailed... but the D18 seems to bring the recording to life a little more, probably due to the added space and depth (this is entirely through speakers). This seems to let you hear instrument properties a little better - things like drums seem to reverberate with a little more realism and pop out more when they're punchy on the recording. Things I liked on the D100 are present on the D18: listening to Cash's cover of Hurt, if I closed my eyes with the D100 it was almost giving me the 'here's there in front of me' trick, and I still get that with the D18. 
 
I also need to add some acoustic treatment to my listening space, as I feel this is robbing me of a decent amount of performance and a cleaner environment aurally means I can understand what I'm hearing better.

 

[slackman]

I also need to add some acoustic treatment to my listening space, as I feel this is robbing me of a decent amount of performance and a cleaner environment aurally means I can understand what I'm hearing better.

Acoustic treatment will probably make all the difference in the world.
It matters much much much more than which DAC you use.
If you made a DAC decision with an untreated room you may find you'd make a very different decision after treating the room.
Smoothed highs for instance will compensate a little bit for too much room reflexions (but nowhere near the level of treating your room), and after treatment you may find that clean transparent highs work very well all of a sudden.
Btw, make sure you do broadband treatment. Not thin egg box type foam, but 10-15 cm thick rockwool panels, and much thicker than this for bass absorption if your room has problems here (like in a small or concrete walled room).
It truly pays off to do this well. I can't think of anything in audio that has as big a bang for the buck as treating your room.

 

[project86]

Quote:

Acoustic treatment will probably make all the difference in the world.
It matters much much much more than which DAC you use.
If you made a DAC decision with an untreated room you may find you'd make a very different decision after treating the room.
Smoothed highs for instance will compensate a little bit for too much room reflexions (but nowhere near the level of treating your room), and after treatment you may find that clean transparent highs work very well all of a sudden.
Btw, make sure you do broadband treatment. Not thin egg box type foam, but 10-15 cm thick rockwool panels, and much thicker than this for bass absorption if your room has problems here (like in a small or concrete walled room).
It truly pays off to do this well. I can't think of anything in audio that has as big a bang for the buck as treating your room.

 
Agreed.....
 
 
My favorite room treatments are found at Machina Dynamica. Can you believe that the "Frog Jump in Water Sound Room Acoustics Tweak" is under $50? The mind boggles. 
 
 

 

[Somnambulist]

Can't. Be. Real. (O_o)
 
Quote:

 
Agreed.....
 
 
My favorite room treatments are found at Machina Dynamica. Can you believe that the "Frog Jump in Water Sound Room Acoustics Tweak" is under $50? The mind boggles. 
 
 

Slackman, I'm going to PM you and ask for advice.

 

[slackman]

Quote:

 
Agreed.....
 
 
My favorite room treatments are found at Machina Dynamica. Can you believe that the "Frog Jump in Water Sound Room Acoustics Tweak" is under $50? The mind boggles. 
 
 

Either you must be making a really really good joke or on this one I'm not following you..
If it's a joke it's great haha. since I can't tell if it's a joke.
 
But really that link you sent is complete audio nonsense of course.
 
 
 

 

[slackman]

Quote:

Can't. Be. Real. (O_o)
 


Slackman, I'm going to PM you and ask for advice.

Got it, I'll reply in more detail in a PM.
But the basic idea is to make you own broadband absorption panels.
They are kind of expensive if you buy them ready made. Those a pretty small (and often too thin) and you'd need a lot of them.
For the same money of a small thin ready made panel, you can make huge thick panels yourself.
I have a high ceiling and use 10cm thick 3.3 meter high 1 meter width panels made with rockwool, cheap wood and cheap fabric (my total cost for building one such panel is roughly around 70-80 euro). I've put those against the walls, looks great and works well.
For ceiling I've made smaller panels but equally thick.
I get away with 10cm thick panels because my ceiling and walls are either plaster walls with insulation material behind it or windows. If they were concrete walls I'd have to make them thicker.
Btw, in the Netherlands Rockwool was my cheapest and most available option, but in America it seems to be a certain density glasswool that is used most.
Check this forum for good advice and examples on how to treat your room and building panels (and diffusors etc): http://www.gearslutz.com/board/studio-building-acoustics/
There you'll find which density rockwool or glasswool to use, what kind of fabrics, etc.
 
The broadband absorption panels are the most important thing (and true bass traps if you have bass problems).
But on top of that you also need diffusion, especially if you have a rectangular room. Some people build diffusors, but bookshelves etc and even big plants work well too.
And finishing touch is simply a well furnished room with couches and curtains etc. (but don't use curtains on direct reflexion points, they only absorb the highs, also no furniture or walls close to your speakers, or inbetween you and speakers)
One last advice, don't place your speakers on anything other than stands (which you can also build yourself), and if the stand is made from a hollow material, fill it completely with sand. Also put the speakers well above the floor. You can well put them for instance 1.7 meter tweater hight above the floor and if you sitting place/ear hight is less high, angle your speakers downward a little.
Ohyeah and always point the tweaters directly at your ears. This is often to much in a non treated room, but if your room is well set up and your speakers good this is the way to go.
Once you've gotten this all right, then a good speaker system completely blows away typical "audiophile" systems at any cost, set up in normal untreated living rooms (like is most often the case).
Also blows away any headphone system in most areas
 
Edit: one more thing. don't sit on a leather office chair with high back or leather couch or something like that. the reflexions of those things are pretty strong and very bad so close to your ears.
only soft fabric low back seatings are ok. keep your head clear in all directions.

 

[Somnambulist]

Better not laugh about it too much or this thread will get closed like the other one where we were making fun of particle accelerator interconnects (yes, really).
 
Anyway, D18. Yulong, good stuff.
 
Thanks. I'm in the UK so not too far away from you. I thought DIY would be the way to go, it's not particularly hard, watching these vids. My walls are, lol, they disintegrate when you drill into them, plasterboard, I think. My Focals are pointed at my ears, ear height, on what are basically DIY Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizers knock-offs.

 

[project86]

I was merely joking about Machina Dynamica. At one point their "tweaks" were pretty out there, but just barely rooted enough in reality (or someone's version of it) to convince a few audio nuts that they actually did something
 
At this point I strongly suspect they have tipped their hat to us, revealing that it was a farce all along, without actually saying those words. I'm hoping the whole thing is a long term social experiment, where they can stand up and tell the truth soon, making the joke on Positive Feedback, 6moons, and all the others who took them as a serious company.