Yulong D100 DAC / Headphone Amplifier

[quadpatch]

Hey congratulations! I didn't find the amp too bright but even if you don't settle in to the sound (burn-in or whatever you want to call it) I have two suggestions for you. The first is rather lame - have you tried the 'sound mode 2' button, next to the input? It rolls off the treble but it's pretty slight. The second suggestion is that there is a dedicated headphone amp for the D100, the A100. I haven't tried this but I am very curious!

I have tried the D100 mkII with another amp. Another piece of Chinese tech that I recently reviewed for Headfonia (going to be posted soon apparently). It's a model 301 from a company called Shonyun. A two-piece design, one box for the power suply and one for the amp itself. It's a rather crudely implimented bit of hardware but it really boosted the sound of the D100 mkII to headphones. Anyway, I know there are loads of expensive amps out there, but I haven't tried too many yet and this is quite a good value one it seems.

 

[Inter_Voice]

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes I have tried mode 2 but as you said the difference is very miminal.

Actually I got a very good headphone amplifier which is Fidelity Audio HPA-200. Though some people said the price of this unit is too high I found HPA (which is UK home made) is extremely GOOD and the difference in SQ between the stock amp. of D100 is day and night

BTW the DAC part of D100 MKII, in general, is excellent but I consider it is not smooth enough expecially on vocals. I am not sure Yulong D18 is better or not.

 

[quadpatch]

Have tried many other DACs? I had a go with the Audiolab M-DAC, which like the Yulong D18 also uses the ES9018 Sabre DAC. The detail on that was amazing but I found it even less smooth than the Yulong D100 mkii. I did find a nice smoothness from some cheaper units like Arcam's rPAC and Epiphany Acoustic's EHP-O2D, but they tend to lose out to the Yulong in terms of detail rendition, authority and mostly transparency for me.

I have heard great things written about the Yulong D18 and A18 so I would love to try this out for myself. Rest assured that if I do I will be shouting about it here.

 

[Inter_Voice]

I also owned Fidelity Audio DAC-150 and TBH I found DAC-150 is a little bit better than Yulong though the price is a bit more expensive than D100. The SQ is more smooth and provides all the details. In addition DAC-150 has more inputs and can be used as a pre-amp. There is also a small remote control unit. Its headphone amp. in my opinion is much better than D100. The only draw back of DAC-150 is its sampling rate which is not as high as D100. BUT if you use it with a CD transport it is more than sufficient. In case after burning in there is not much improvement in D100 I may get rid of the DAC in the Bay and try the D18 when my friend goes to the far east again for his business trip. I am using AKG Q701 and Senn HD800 headphones.

 

[quadpatch]

That's very interesting, another DAC/amp that I have not heard of for a start. It seems to feature a similar DAC chip to the Yulong U100 too. As far as sample rates go I only have a few in the 24/96 range and nothing in 24/192 so I'm not too bothered by those kind of specs. Very interesting to hear about how you found the amps though! If you do end up going for the D18 please report back. I assume you realise that it's not got a headphone amp in it. It shouldn't make much difference to you with a dedicated headphone amp on hand anyway. Good luck in your quest.

 

[Inter_Voice]

The D100 II has been burnt in for a week and the SQ has some improvement but by not much. The brightness in both headphone amp and the DAC output have reduced by just a bit.

Last week I purchased a pair of XLR to RCA converter and it arrived today. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330782657666?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_989wt_1172

I then plugged the convereter into the XLR sockets and immediately I noticed that the SQ is much more smooth than the RCA direct output. Very unexpected indeed !!

The SQ from the headphone amp. is still a bit on the bright side even I switch to mode 2. BUT the DAC is now quite acceptable to me and I will leave as it is for the time being. TBH I have another headphone amp. and I won't use the stock headhone output from the D100II. I will consider changing the D100II to D18 in some future time after hearing more good feedbacks.

One more thing I like to mention is that I have changed the volume control knob with a solid Aluminium knob like this. It replaces the stock plastic knob. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260963855558?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_500wt_1156

Now the entire DAC looks and feels more professional .

 

[quadpatch]

Thanks for the update! Lots of great info there! I am kinda tempted by the metal volume dial for the Yulong, how easy is it to fit?

Have you managed to try any headphones with through the XLR outputs?... Actually I have no idea if you can do that, the output from there is not variable is it?

 

[Inter_Voice]

Thanks for the update! Lots of great info there! I am kinda tempted by the metal volume dial for the Yulong, how easy is it to fit?

Have you managed to try any headphones with through the XLR outputs?... Actually I have no idea if you can do that, the output from there is not variable is it?

The stock volume knob is very easy to take out. Just use a bit of force and you can easily pull the plastic knob out. There is no locking screw, just slide fit. The aluminium knob from eBay has a locking screw on the side and just fix it by tigthening the small screw on its side after sliding the knob in.

My headphone amp. has no XLR input but I know some amp. does. You are right both the XLR and the RCA of the D100II are set at their max. output level without volume control. You must NOT connect a headphone directly to it. It will most likely damage the driver coil of the headphones.

I use the D100II as DAC for my CD transport using optical input. I use the XLR to RCA converter to convert the balance signal back to unbalance output before feeding them to my main amplifier. As I said before, the XLR ouput is much more smooth than the RCA output. No brightness at all and it is very musical and transparant and most importantly no hearing fatigue on long time listening. I cannot tell why and may be it is Yulong's design for a purpose.

 

[quadpatch]

Thanks again for the info. I am very tempted by the volume knob... *hovers over the buy button on eBay*.

I have just ordered some male XLR - RCA cables and will try it with the Shonyun 301 amp which is already good out of the RCAs. Can't wait to try it

 

[Inter_Voice]

GOOD to hear that !!! Please report back if you can hear any differences between the XLR and the RCA. For me I can hear a very distinctive difference which is more smooth and no brightness.

 

[quadpatch]

I have been playing with the XLR cables and the new volume knob on the D100 II. I didn't notice any difference between the two cables but I am sticking with it so that I can output the D100 to a dedicated headphone amp and desktop speakers at the same time, which is very handy. The volume knob is nicer than the old one but I realised that the old one is actually metal when I took it off. I swear it felt like plastic when it was on the thing

 

[Inter_Voice]

Having listened to D100 for some time and compared it in every aspects with my heavily modded Marantz CD63 MKII SI my conclusion is that the SQ from CD63 is better than D100. D100 in general is a bit on the bright side though very clear and transparent.

I have requested my friend to buy me a Yulong D18 when he goes to the far east on his business trip sometime in Dec. Most likely I will sell the D100 in the eBAY when I have the D18.

 

[quadpatch]

Oh wow! I'm really jealous . Please report back with what you think of it when you get it. I assume it's just the DAC and not the amp as well right?

 

[Inter_Voice]

Oh wow! I'm really jealous . Please report back with what you think of it when you get it. I assume it's just the DAC and not the amp as well right?

Right just the D18 DAC and I have already had a really GOOD Amp. The Yulong HP Amp is not cheap which costs more than the D18 :wall: .