[Sid-Fi]

My D18 has gone from Guangzhou to Hong Kong - almost here in AZ...

 

[Sid-Fi]

Any additional impressions?
 
My unit just updated from Hong Kong to Los Angelas. I wonder if it might get here on Tuesday.

 

[project86]

Quote:

Any additional impressions?
 
My unit just updated from Hong Kong to Los Angelas. I wonder if it might get here on Tuesday.

 
I think you'll have fun with it. Especially feeding it with your AP2/PP combo - the D18 likes a clean source and really scales quite high. 

 

[Sid-Fi]

Thanks project86. I really appreciated your review.
 
My Yulong D18 is indeed on the delivery truck this morning. It popped up on DHL's tracking on Saturday in Ghuangzhou China, went through Hong Kong on Sunday, and is in Phoenix on the truck today - wow. I am extremely impressed with the business model. Grant Fidelity provides VERY professional, prompt, and thorough customer service on the front end, and then the actual product arrives direct from China in just a few days. Then there's Yulong's design and manufacturing of course.
 
I can't wait to break it in and post impressions. I will be comparing it with Marantz SA8004 over the next couple of weeks. At $999, that should be a good price point/point of reference for comparisons.
 
 
Quote:

 
I think you'll have fun with it. Especially feeding it with your AP2/PP combo - the D18 likes a clean source and really scales quite high. 

 

[project86]

I agree - the shipping time is almost unbelievable considering how far it needs to travel to reach us.
 
If I ship something to the East Coast (I'm in California) and expect those speeds, I pay a significant amount to do so. Yet somehow Grant Fidelity offers low prices with half-way-around-the-world shipping built in. It makes no sense, but I won't complain!
 
I'm curious to hear your comparison of the D18 to the SA8004. I've been comparing the D18 to a Cambridge Audio 840C ($1499) and the results are impressive. The 840C, once heralded as the best CD player available for under $5K (an assessment I don't necessarily agree with, but worth mentioning), is not better than the Yulong D18. Different, yes, and perhaps a better match in some systems, but certainly not better.
 
The D18 is more visceral, more rhythmic, with a sense of ease that the 840C can't match. The Cambridge unit is a touch more airy and "ethereal" for lack of a better term. Both sound great but I personally prefer the D18. 

 

[Sid-Fi]

My Yulong Sabre D18 has arrived. Here are some un-boxing pictures to provide a sense of the packaging, size, and looks. I'll refrain from posting any significant impressions until it has a chance to break in for awhile, and until I get pretty familiar with it.
 
For now, I'll mention a couple of things that stood out. It is smaller than I expected. Despite being small, it has a very high-quality chassis and feels very solid and substantial. Upon first listen--using my Woo Audio WA22, Moon Audio Silver Dragon balanced interconnects and headphone cable, and Sennheiser HD 650--it sounds extremely precise and resolving. Micro-details seem to reveal themselves effortlessly. It also has a very smooth and polished sound as it has been described. My first, and indeed very early, impression is that it will live up to the hype and be a very welcome addition to my listening station.
 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sid-Fi]

That's interesting that you compared it to the 840c recently. One of the temptations I had was to sell my Audiophilleo 2 and PurePower and get the Cambridge 851c instead for a $1,000 more than the D18. In the end, I really wanted to keep such a strong computer interface for the convenience factor of being able to use my FLAC library and HDTracks. I though the D18 would probably be good enough to make it a better value for me now.
 
I'll be sure to do some comparisons with the Marantz and post impressions. Your findings sound pretty exciting compared to the 840c. Do you plan to post impressions in the near future?
 
 
Quote:

I agree - the shipping time is almost unbelievable considering how far it needs to travel to reach us.
 
If I ship something to the East Coast (I'm in California) and expect those speeds, I pay a significant amount to do so. Yet somehow Grant Fidelity offers low prices with half-way-around-the-world shipping built in. It makes no sense, but I won't complain!
 
I'm curious to hear your comparison of the D18 to the SA8004. I've been comparing the D18 to a Cambridge Audio 840C ($1499) and the results are impressive. The 840C, once heralded as the best CD player available for under $5K (an assessment I don't necessarily agree with, but worth mentioning), is not better than the Yulong D18. Different, yes, and perhaps a better match in some systems, but certainly not better.
 
The D18 is more visceral, more rhythmic, with a sense of ease that the 840C can't match. The Cambridge unit is a touch more airy and "ethereal" for lack of a better term. Both sound great but I personally prefer the D18. 

 

[project86]

Quote:

That's interesting that you compared it to the 840c recently. One of the temptations I had was to sell my Audiophilleo 2 and PurePower and get the Cambridge 851c instead for a $1,000 more than the D18. In the end, I really wanted to keep such a strong computer interface for the convenience factor of being able to use my FLAC library and HDTracks. I though the D18 would probably be good enough to make it a better value for me now.
 
I'll be sure to do some comparisons with the Marantz and post impressions. Your findings sound pretty exciting compared to the 840c. Do you plan to post impressions in the near future?
 
 

 
I know some folks who are very pleased with the 851C so I think it's win-win either way. Different boxes, different functionalities, all good results. 
 
I went with the 840C rather than the 851C because I really only use it as a transport most of the time. I sold my Lexicon and Marantz SA-1 (both way more expensive than the Cambridge) because I didn't really make use of their SACD or DVD-A capabilities. And also I like the 840C as a somewhat recognizable source for comparisons. People have hardly heard the Marantz or Lexicon so those comparisons didn't help much. But I still usually use the 840C with an external DAC.
 
I don't get your question though. Which impressions are you referring to? I already posted my thoughts of the D18 in the first post of this thread. And I probably won't spend much time talking about the 840C except when I'm comparing it to other units. 

 

[Sid-Fi]

Okay, so much for waiting a week or two for some early initial impressions like I expected. I am completely shocked at how good this thing is! The improvements I am hearing out of the box are dramatic compared to both my former Audio-gd NFB-10WM and the Marantz SA8004 I currently have borrowed from a friend, and I don't use the term dramatic lightly. I expected to have to work to discern some of the differences, but they are readily apparent.

Several improvements are jumping off of the page right from the start. The background is VERY black and quiet, and detail retrieval is impressive - well beyond either of the units I mention above. I am hearing much more quiet subtle background layers and details in my music that seem to pop out effortlessly. This is significantly improving the level of immersion I'm feeling while listening. The sound is still very enganging and smooth, not at all analytical somehow. Of course, my Woo Audio WA22 tube amp is at play as well here.

Another significant improvement is that the D18 is more...visceral, to borrow a term from project86's post above. This word seems perfect. The D18 is very fast, has excellent pace and speed, and the percussion really snaps. The music just feels so alive and comes out and grabs you. This is particularly impressive considering that I am using Senheiser HD 650, which can be described as slow as sleepy at times. I find that silver cabling and my Sophia Princess rectifier have helped to alleviate that though.

Another improvement so far is that bass on my HD 650 is much more textured and refined. The bass has much richer tone and is very well controlled. I imagine the extra detail retrieval capability of the D18 is really helping here. The lower frequencies stand out very clear from the mids and doesnt blend into them. The overall frequency response seems to be fairly flat and accurate.

The only area that where I am not yet noticing an improvement for my Audio-gd NFB-10WM is the size of sound stage. The NFB felt a little more open and wide. However, my unit has less than five hours on it, so I wouldn't expect it to fully open up for awhile.

Hope the initial impressions are helpful.

 

[Sid-Fi]

When you mentioned that you had been comparing the D18 and 840c, I got the impression you were working on a write-up. That's all I was referring too. Your post clarified this nicely.

Which impressions are you referring to? I already posted my thoughts of the D18 in the first post of this thread. And I probably won't spend much time talking about the 840C except when I'm comparing it to other units. 

 

[preproman]

Quote:

 

 
Do you have the D18 connected to the WA22 with balanced connections? 

 

[Sid-Fi]

Yes, I have it connected using Moon Audio Silver Dragon v2 XLR interconnects.
Quote:

 
Do you have the D18 connected to the WA22 with balanced connections? 

 

[preproman]

Quote:

Yes, I have it connected using Moon Audio Silver Dragon v2 XLR interconnects.

 
 
So the XLR outputs are coming from a true balanced circuit?

 

[Sid-Fi]

Yes, the Yulong D18 is fully balanced and so is my Woo Audio WA22.
 
Quote:

 
 
So the XLR outputs are coming from a true balanced circuit?

 

[polaron-Fi]

You can buy the yulong here :
 
http://www.audiophonics.fr/yulong-audio-sabre-d18-dac-32bit500khz-coaxoptaesebu-p-6500.html
 
In a few days, it will be in your house. This company is 100% reliable.
 
I wish you all a good day.
 
Guys from europe, of course...!