[martin778]

Guys, riddle me this: Gustard R26 connected to an external 10MHz clock and to a streamer with a USB cable, I turn the external clock off while the music is playing - the pitch drops noticeably but everything still plays - screen on the R26 says EXT ERR (obviously) but it still plays undistorted music. I turn the clock back on - pitch immediately returns to normal.

I have a video showing this but have no clue as to why this happens and what exactly happens in such a scenario?

 

[greatestprateek]

If it is primarily for Qobuz music streaming with occassional other use (eg. Games or YouTube audio) I'd instead suggest starting with fibre media converters per the sticky on the first post of this thread to use and optimise the R26's internal streamer/renderer for music and pick up a cheaper DDC than the U18 (eg. Douk U2 Pro) to clean up USB audio for your other sources.

Can you help me with DDCs and jitter reduction but on Burson Composer DAC. I had R26 & U18, now sold both. But U18 was definitely giving more definition, less harshness & better bass on both R26 but also Burson DAC. My source was windows PC. Now I know PC is worst audio source. So I plugged in Burson to my iPhone via CCK. The bass is much better but I can still hear a tinge of harshness which wasnt there with U18.

If my source is going to be Apple music via iPhone/iPad wired through USB, what kind of DDC/Clock should I look for if I want to go full monty?

 

[Jake2]

Can you help me with DDCs and jitter reduction but on Burson Composer DAC. I had R26 & U18, now sold both. But U18 was definitely giving more definition, less harshness & better bass on both R26 but also Burson DAC. My source was windows PC. Now I know PC is worst audio source. So I plugged in Burson to my iPhone via CCK. The bass is much better but I can still hear a tinge of harshness which wasnt there with U18.

If my source is going to be Apple music via iPhone/iPad wired through USB, what kind of DDC/Clock should I look for if I want to go full monty?

Full monty DDC is an easy recommend - Audio-Gd DI-24HE. DI-20HE another class to the U18, DI-24HE another step up over the DI-20HE. Not sure it'd make financial sense though, as would cost almost as much as the Burson Composer DAC. But might if you intend to upgrade the DAC in time? Also limitation of your DAC is it only takes USB and s/pdif inputs no I2S, so with the Audio-GD DDCs which don't output USB, it'd be limited to 24/192 so would limit oversampling should you wish to try that in future. A cheaper alternative I can strongly recommend is the LHY UIP USB regenerator - USB in/USB out. Full monty USB regen option is the PhoenixUSB at 3x the cost of the Composer.

 

[Jake2]

Guys, riddle me this: Gustard R26 connected to an external 10MHz clock and to a streamer with a USB cable, I turn the external clock off while the music is playing - the pitch drops noticeably but everything still plays - screen on the R26 says EXT ERR (obviously) but it still plays undistorted music. I turn the clock back on - pitch immediately returns to normal.

I have a video showing this but have no clue as to why this happens and what exactly happens in such a scenario?

Sounds quite odd behaviour frankly if by pitch you mean higher or lower in pitch/frequency etc like slowing down playback of a recording. What I understand happens when the ERR message displays is the K2 clock synthesiser just repoints from the external clock input to the internal oscillator sitting right beside it on the circuit board, taking its reference frequency from which it synthesises the relevant frequency needed by the DAC for the sample rate class of the signal being played i.e. 44.1/48khz. I guess it's conceivable your particular K2 may behave outside spec in that very scenario but why/if it is technically possible that could occur I've no idea.

 

[greatestprateek]

Full monty DDC is an easy recommend - Audio-Gd DI-24HE. DI-20HE another class to the U18, DI-24HE another step up over the DI-20HE. Not sure it'd make financial sense though, as would cost almost as much as the Burson Composer DAC. But might if you intend to upgrade the DAC in time? Also limitation of your DAC is it only takes USB and s/pdif inputs no I2S, so with the Audio-GD DDCs which don't output USB, it'd be limited to 24/192 so would limit oversampling should you wish to try that in future. A cheaper alternative I can strongly recommend is the LHY UIP USB regenerator - USB in/USB out. Full monty USB regen option is the PhoenixUSB at 3x the cost of the Composer.

Thanks for the help.

In my country AudioGD is not available nor LHY. The ones I can buy are Singxer SU6 & Denafrips Hermes/Gaia.
Also if I want to stay in value for money/reasonable territory and get 80% of benefits rather than bleeding edge, which DDC or an additional clock he needed?

 

[greatestprateek]

A used Matrix Audio XSpdif is also available.

I think as long as I use the Burson Dac, I would not be oversampling.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

If your music is max at DSD64 or PCM24/192 go for a DDC via SPDIF.
More than that, recommend via USB usng a USB reclock/regen. Since Singxer is available, look for their offering: IP-1 PRO paired w/ a good LPS.

 

[rfgdelion]

After owning an AH90 I am now the proud owner of a R26. Not a crazy difference, but certainly an interesting upgrade. Especially, if you compare the price of a new AH90 + upgrade LPS vs een second hand R26.

Still have 2 questions:
Had great results in the past with power cables and amps. However, a well trained audio friend believes the impact is low and the R26 isn’t an amp but a dac.
> What is your experience?

- I cannot fully comprehend if I need to dig in deeper into the fiber conversion devices. I have a fiber cable coming into my home, going into a (I think) a modem that spits out a LAN cable to goes to my router > which goes into my R26.

> Is there a possible gain still as I do ‘start’ with fiber?

Side question:
> Any other people with experience with ah90 > r26 upgrade path and how would you describe it?

 

[BShaw]

After owning an AH90 I am now the proud owner of a R26. Not a crazy difference, but certainly an interesting upgrade. Especially, if you compare the price of a new AH90 + upgrade LPS vs een second hand R26.

Still have 2 questions:
Had great results in the past with power cables and amps. However, a well trained audio friend believes the impact is low and the R26 isn’t an amp but a dac.
> What is your experience?

- I cannot fully comprehend if I need to dig in deeper into the fiber conversion devices. I have a fiber cable coming into my home, going into a (I think) a modem that spits out a LAN cable to goes to my router > which goes into my R26.

> Is there a possible gain still as I do ‘start’ with fiber?

Side question:
> Any other people with experience with ah90 > r26 upgrade path and how would you describe it?

The fiber conversion is definitely worth it IMO. Easy upgrade and I have an extra full setup minus the fiber itself if you’re interested. 2 boxes and 2 lps, it’s cheap and eliminates all electrical hash! For me it was one of those “didn’t notice until it was gone” things.

 

[rfgdelion]

The fiber conversion is definitely worth it IMO. Easy upgrade and I have an extra full setup minus the fiber itself if you’re interested. 2 boxes and 2 lps, it’s cheap and eliminates all electrical hash! For me it was one of those “didn’t notice until it was gone” things.

But would I ‘need’ it given my described setup? As there is already a fiber optic cable before the conversion to LAN (via the modem and router).

 

[Jake2]

But would I ‘need’ it given my described setup? As there is already a fiber optic cable before the conversion to LAN (via the modem and router).

You don’t ‘need’ it, but you can most definitely audibly benefit from adding the 100% galvanic isolation of fibre AFTER your modem and router which are typically up there with PCs as the most electrically noisy devices in one’s audio chain.

 

[Jake2]

Actually I can go further and say if you want to optimise the sound quality of a streaming audio based system you do need to address noise in the network chain in your house. Whether by FMCs, or additional switches or Ethernet galvanic isolators like the iFi LAN iSilencer, or a combo of all three as I do.

 

[martin778]

Sounds quite odd behaviour frankly if by pitch you mean higher or lower in pitch/frequency etc like slowing down playback of a recording. What I understand happens when the ERR message displays is the K2 clock synthesiser just repoints from the external clock input to the internal oscillator sitting right beside it on the circuit board, taking its reference frequency from which it synthesises the relevant frequency needed by the DAC for the sample rate class of the signal being played i.e. 44.1/48khz. I guess it's conceivable your particular K2 may behave outside spec in that very scenario but why/if it is technically possible that could occur I've no idea.

It's like pitch changes with male singers starting to sing a bit closer to Barry White lol, what's even crazier is that it goes back to normal immediately after turning the external clock back on. When I turn it off again, the pitch drops again, it is 100% repeatable and always gives the same result.

 

[Jake2]

It's like pitch changes with male singers starting to sing a bit closer to Barry White lol, what's even crazier is that it goes back to normal immediately after turning the external clock back on. When I turn it off again, the pitch drops again, it is 100% repeatable and always gives the same result.

Cheers, curious indeed. What happens if you switch from EXT to INT mode in the settings whilst ERR is being displayed whilst in EXT mode?

 

[Deleeh]

I also have this problem when I use the Singxer Su 2 and switch to external.
Sometimes the R26 brings ext.err. after switching on.
When I switch it on/off it sometimes switches.
I have found that this usually only occurs when nos/pcm is on and dsd is off.
Also, when it brings ect.err the K2 is still activated.
So no need to worry.
When everything was running normally, Nos and Pcm were switched on and DSD off.
I switched between ect and int and noticed that the K2 chip was better than the Singxer Su2 tonally when I switched back and forth.
That's why I switched off ect. again one day if I have a better DDC I'll try again.
But I'll have another look at the exact settings on the R26, as I'm not at home at the moment.
I would recommend switching off ect. for now.