Our TubeDAC-11 (
http://shop.grantfidelity.com/Grant-Fidelity-TubeDAC-11-D-A-Converter.html ) is for feature+function+sound; among all three things there have to be some tradeoff to accommodate all at our desired price range.
Consonance D-Linear 8 (
http://shop.grantfidelity.com/Consonance-D-Linear8-Wireless-HD-D-A-Converter.html) uses the designer's own unique linear circuitry design (which is on a few of Consonance award winning CD players) and offer a wireless USB connection for un-matched convenience. If you use exact same signal, same type of digital input and exact same play back equipment, I think Consonance D-Linear 8 will win over TubeDAC-11. It is also a very high end headphone amp. Sound quality - Consonance has its own signature - less digital and very smooth. The designer also design very high end tube amps and enjoy vinyl immensely. These will all influence his tuning of sound on his products.
Yulong Sabre D18 (
http://shop.grantfidelity.com/Yulong-Sabre-D18-Reference-32bit-DAC.html ) is built on a completely different level of DAC chip - the final sound difference is very much related to what the chip can do, rather than what the circuit can do. The circuit is designed for the chip - but this is a straight DAC with no extra other features. There will be a matching headphone amp coming up from Yulong to match the D18, but the pair price will be around $1500. This will be well over Consonance D-Linear 8 price which will do both. But Consonance cannot decode 32 bit.
Choosing which one among the three is up to your listening habit and your budget. We all have what we want and what we can spend
For features, if you want to stay absolutely ahead of the curve on hi-tech DAC decoding, go with Yulong Sabre D18. If you choose a balance of high quality sound and feature and have $1k to spend, go with Consonance. If you like fool around with tubes and want to keep some leftover money for your loved ones, go with TubeDAC-11 for lots of fun.
The law of diminishing return on investment is obvious on these three products. DAC-11 runs at less than 1/2 price of Consonance D-Linear 8 and close to 1/2 of Yulong D18 (this is a very new brand - price is set to draw attention so mark-up is very minimal), but in no way the price difference should be interpreted as sound quality difference in a linear way.
Hope this helps.
Last but not least, you have to love the look of the equipment you own and have new comers blend well with existing setup. 3 products, 3 looks. Your choice
Inside China, Consonance D-Linear 8 has large following group across all age groups and both tube / solid state lovers. Yulong Sabre D-18 has younger following group - more reputation among head-fi'ers and mostly solid state users. Grant Fidelity TubeDAC-11 is not available in China (yet)
Rachel @ Grant Fdielity