This is about a very good DAC with unexpectedly good service.
After hearing Mike Galusha's Auralic Vega I was smitten by the overall sound quality of the DAC, particularly on DSD. I have been using a Lindemann 24/192 DAC, and it is, for the money, a very good sounding DAC, particularly after tossing the supplied wall wart and using a quality LPS. However, I could not get the wonderful sound of the best DSD played on Mike's Auralic out of my head...audionervosa at its finest.
I could not afford the Auralic, which would have been my first choice as I believe it to be an outstanding DAC, period. I followed the experiences of many of you in this Circle in the search for a DSD DAC that would not break the bank. After listening to the Teac UD-501 and Mytek DSD DAC, I took a leap of faith and bought the new Yulong DA8. As it was $500 under my budget and was a a Sabre DAC, my preference. So I thought I would share my initial experience (not a review) with this nice piece of kit.
I ordered a silver one through Grant Fidelity and then wondered whether my granddaughter would be driving before I received it....she is 4. To my surprise it came the same week! Mike Galusha stopped by to downloaded the drivers for Windows and make sure it was set up properly. Mike is one hell of a nice guy and a genuine DIY wiz kid.
As it turned out Mike has the same high end analyzer that Yulong uses to measure the DAC'S published specs. Now I was going to see if the very fine specs published on the site came even close....now I had Yulong set up for a fall.
Mike took the DAC to measure it. Okay, wrong again, Mike's measurements with the analyzer were almost identical overlays. A $1299 DAC from another country that didn't have Lewis Hamilton as a native son, or produced his FI car or introduce the world to "you meet the nicest people on a ....." and meets specs was quite amazing.
I planned to let it burn in for a few days. I did something I have never done which is to plug it into the wall instead of the power conditioner
I have back problems and while under the assault of sciatica simply did not want to crawl on all fours to plug it into the conditioner. And voila! Rolling brown outs and the Yulong was no longer Yulonging. Back to Mike's for a diagnosis, (I stopped my pain medication and prednisone for my back just to punish myself).
Mike's testing lead him to believe it was the USB Board. Of course this was not the ubiquitous XMOS, but an Italian board made by Amanero in Italy. OK, finally I have a problem that will not lend itself to a quick resolution. I am eight thousand miles away, and knowing Mr. Yulong's English exceeds my Chinese by orders of magnitude and the part originates in Italy (Ducati owners you know the fear), I figure I have finally hit an impasse.
Snark,snark, exactly why would they rush to the aid of a customer without a warranty claim, (yes, I maintain a semblance of integrity) and if so when would I get the board and how badly was I to be taken to the cleaners? If you haven't caught on by now I have become cynical in my old age. Wrong again
One week later a new board shows up DHL for what is essentially a wholesale price with $10 DHL shipping cost. Unbelievable!!!!!!! I install it, and all is well. Into the conditioner and ready to go.
The point of all this is merely to illustrate the following; chauvinism is not a virtue, honest people of integrity exist everywhere and the DAC has 300 hours on it and performs flawlessly. This is a top notch company I would do business with again in a heart beat. I'll follow up with how it sounds after a bit.
