[Matthew Willims]

Never tried the WW USB though someone who’s opinion I trust (another cable maker) tried the WW, Curious and Gothic and decided they wouldn’t bother with their own USB line after trying the Gothic. Says a lot.

 

[JaMo]

Out of interest, have you had a chance to compare the U18 with a Mutec MC3+USB…. In particular one modded to be powered by a linear power supply?

I have done some testing now.
All testing (almost) is done with the master clock (REF10 SE120) connected and active on the dac (Audio-gd R7HE Mk2) MC3+ USB and the U18.
U18 is connected to the dac with I2s (hdmi https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/4000255873784.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.5b266c37XEDRgK Version 0,5m Plan 4 for DSD") .
The MC3+ USB is connected to the same dac with a good AES/EBU cable (1,0m DH LABS 110 Silver Sonic AES/EBU)
All cables and the rig itself is well burned in so the result is valid.

The U18 has matured now and sings very good that it competes and are equally good as the MC3+ USB with LPS. In fact the U18 is a tad more spacious already, this after two weeks with power on and playing music. The silence "black background" has gone to blacker and is now equal to the MC3+ USB. I also get a more precise separation of the instruments with the U18.

I have to higher my judgement on the U18 a bit more at this time. I have also tested the U18 on its internal XO's and Yes they do the job fine but with a good master clock (EXT XO) this little box really shines. So this new K2 clock synthesizer works very well.

So to wrap it up... The U18 connected with HDMI out and with a good master clock it wins over the MC3+ USB AES/EBU and BNC out on the same master clock. The MC3+ USB converts DSD to PCM. The conversion is very good so nothing to complain about. The U18 plays DSD material natively with excellence.

The MC3+ USB is a Pro gear (~USD1300), the U18 (USD499) isn't but it behaves like it. I have nothing on the negative side to say about this new DDC from Gustard. I like this box a lot. Buy it and let it burn in fully and connect it to a good master clock.. The R7HE Mk2 dac is a very good dac to use for this testing and to play all formats (PCM, DSD) beautifully on. And if You like me and a few more guys here, have the option to connect the dac to the same master clock, You are spoiled.

Later I will test AES/EBU and RCA outputs on the U18, but it it will be done next weekend. Now it's music time in my home.
Have a nice evening.
/Jan

 

[mantraone]

Never tried the WW USB though someone who’s opinion I trust (another cable maker) tried the WW, Curious and Gothic and decided they wouldn’t bother with their own USB line after trying the Gothic. Says a lot.

yes sound interesting, but depends in wich way the Gothic sound better then other because in my experience sometimes is difficoult speak in absolute value really depends in which system we go to test the cable. As example with solid state amplification is better if the cable make sound more "analogical" and flud but the same cable in a system with tubes amplification could be too smooth. And the same appens in my system the WW sound better than the Audioquest Diamond USB, by I fully agree with my friends with solid state amplification (Gryphon) prefer the Audioquest... So, it's importand undertand why one cable is better than anoter and not just "better".

 

[Matthew Willims]

yes sound interesting, but depends in wich way the Gothic sound better then other because in my experience sometimes is difficoult speak in absolute value really depends in which system we go to test the cable. As example with solid state amplification is better if the cable make sound more "analogical" and flud but the same cable in a system with tubes amplification could be too smooth. And the same appens in my system the WW sound better than the Audioquest Diamond USB, by I fully agree with my friends with solid state amplification (Gryphon) prefer the Audioquest... So, it's importand undertand why one cable is better than anoter and not just "better".

Aye, I’ve plenty of experience in this with speaker cables, RCA’s and USB cables between my two systems. I’ve not run I2S before so that will be interesting. I ran a Duelund pure silver coax cable with my previous Mutec with fantastic results.

For whatever reason my system seems to respond well to silver digital cables, though copper for analog.

 

[cglin222]

I took the plunge and got the u18 and c18 with it’s on sale last week and used some coupons
Though immediately I can tell that u18 is at least equal or better than singxer su6 (after 2 days)
I hooked up the c18 also and while I let both device turn on so far, I can tell a bit difference when using internal vs external clock
Since I can press the ref button to switch
With the c18 I do feel more organic voice and more life like with more instrument separation but it’s subtle but I am not sure if it’s placebo
I’ll need my wife to do the button press and do a blind test on me
But u18 is definitely a keeper for me, probably will sell my su6…
Just hope c18 gets better

 

[Matthew Willims]

I took the plunge and got the u18 and c18 with it’s on sale last week and used some coupons
Though immediately I can tell that u18 is at least equal or better than singxer su6 (after 2 days)
I hooked up the c18 also and while I let both device turn on so far, I can tell a bit difference when using internal vs external clock
Since I can press the ref button to switch
With the c18 I do feel more organic voice and more life like with more instrument separation but it’s subtle but I am not sure if it’s placebo
I’ll need my wife to do the button press and do a blind test on me
But u18 is definitely a keeper for me, probably will sell my su6…
Just hope c18 gets better

It will. OCXO clocks all need a certain amount of time to warm up and stabilize..... Likewise if you physically disturb it, takes time to stabilize. My AfterDark Emperor Double Crown takes about a month to stabilize after initial power on for example. It's about even with the Cybershaft OP20 though performance may in fact be better with a Farad Super3 LPS powering it.

I'm super keen to receive my Gustard U18 and get it into use. It hasn't left China yet. Also waiting on a new Gothic Audio Semperfi "The Outsider" USB cable and a secondhand WireWorld Silver Starlight 5-2 for I2S

 

[mantraone]

I took the plunge and got the u18 and c18 with it’s on sale last week and used some coupons
Though immediately I can tell that u18 is at least equal or better than singxer su6 (after 2 days)
I hooked up the c18 also and while I let both device turn on so far, I can tell a bit difference when using internal vs external clock
Since I can press the ref button to switch
With the c18 I do feel more organic voice and more life like with more instrument separation but it’s subtle but I am not sure if it’s placebo
I’ll need my wife to do the button press and do a blind test on me
But u18 is definitely a keeper for me, probably will sell my su6…
Just hope c18 gets better

interesting but just one comment: if you switch from internal to external clock during the riproduction the uman brain will try to cancel the differences, my suggestion is listen first 20 sec of a track or segment of similar time, stop riproduction, mote setting to external master clock and start again the same 20 sec of a track. Repeat the comparison also from external to internal and understand if the difference are the same in the reversed sequence

 

[mantraone]

It will. OCXO clocks all need a certain amount of time to warm up and stabilize..... Likewise if you physically disturb it, takes time to stabilize. My AfterDark Emperor Double Crown takes about a month to stabilize after initial power on for example. It's about even with the Cybershaft OP20 though performance may in fact be better with a Farad Super3 LPS powering it.

I'm super keen to receive my Gustard U18 and get it into use. It hasn't left China yet. Also waiting on a new Gothic Audio Semperfi "The Outsider" USB cable and a secondhand WireWorld Silver Starlight 5-2 for I2S

In my test only the Wireworld silver starlight 7 it's a big step with my DAC Rockna Wavelight and Gustard C18 interface, zero noise, dinamic and fluidity like no other cable.

 

[Matthew Willims]

In my test only the Wireworld silver starlight 7 it's a big step with my DAC Rockna Wavelight and Gustard C18 interface, zero noise, dinamic and fluidity like no other cable.

I might be able to afford the latest Wireworld, though not the prior Silver Starlight 7. That was about 4x the cost.

 

[mantraone]

you mean the "Silver Sphere HDMI"? I never compared in my system, but I read that the I2S performance is the same of Silver 7.0

 

[Matthew Willims]

you mean the "Silver Sphere HDMI"? I never compared in my system, but I read that the I2S performance is the same of Silver 7.0

Cheaper though I believe

I have done some testing now.
All testing (almost) is done with the master clock (REF10 SE120) connected and active on the dac (Audio-gd R7HE Mk2) MC3+ USB and the U18.
U18 is connected to the dac with I2s (hdmi https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/4000255873784.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.5b266c37XEDRgK Version 0,5m Plan 4 for DSD") .
The MC3+ USB is connected to the same dac with a good AES/EBU cable (1,0m DH LABS 110 Silver Sonic AES/EBU)
All cables and the rig itself is well burned in so the result is valid.

The U18 has matured now and sings very good that it competes and are equally good as the MC3+ USB with LPS. In fact the U18 is a tad more spacious already, this after two weeks with power on and playing music. The silence "black background" has gone to blacker and is now equal to the MC3+ USB. I also get a more precise separation of the instruments with the U18.

I have to higher my judgement on the U18 a bit more at this time. I have also tested the U18 on its internal XO's and Yes they do the job fine but with a good master clock (EXT XO) this little box really shines. So this new K2 clock synthesizer works very well.

So to wrap it up... The U18 connected with HDMI out and with a good master clock it wins over the MC3+ USB AES/EBU and BNC out on the same master clock. The MC3+ USB converts DSD to PCM. The conversion is very good so nothing to complain about. The U18 plays DSD material natively with excellence.

The MC3+ USB is a Pro gear (~USD1300), the U18 (USD499) isn't but it behaves like it. I have nothing on the negative side to say about this new DDC from Gustard. I like this box a lot. Buy it and let it burn in fully and connect it to a good master clock.. The R7HE Mk2 dac is a very good dac to use for this testing and to play all formats (PCM, DSD) beautifully on. And if You like me and a few more guys here, have the option to connect the dac to the same master clock, You are spoiled.

Later I will test AES/EBU and RCA outputs on the U18, but it it will be done next weekend. Now it's music time in my home.
Have a nice evening.
/Jan

So, it sounds like the U18 has ended up a touch better than the modified Mutec which is an excellent result.... How close do you judge it is now coming to the AudioGD Di20HE? I recall you saying previously is was close but no cigar?

 

[JaMo]

So, it sounds like the U18 has ended up a touch better than the modified Mutec which is an excellent result.... How close do you judge it is now coming to the AudioGD Di20HE? I recall you saying previously is was close but no cigar?

I have to come back on this, the coming weekend. And yes, You've read me right

 

[hontored]

To JaMo,

did you by chance hear the matrix X-spdif 2 ? Do you think the U18 would be an improvement ?

 

[JaMo]

To JaMo,

did you by chance hear the matrix X-spdif 2 ? Do you think the U18 would be an improvement ?

Hi, No I haven't had a chance to listen to Matrix X-SPDIF 2, so I cannot comment on it.

By the way.. I haven't been too well this weekend, with a cold, not worse than that but it have had a negative impact on my hearing so my plans to listen and test different outputs and doing a full comparison U18<->DI20HE, was sort of ruined and I have to give it a new try when I am fully cured.

 

[hontored]

Hi, No I haven't had a chance to listen to Matrix X-SPDIF 2, so I cannot comment on it.

By the way.. I haven't been too well this weekend, with a cold, not worse than that but it have had a negative impact on my hearing so my plans to listen and test different outputs and doing a full comparison U18<->DI20HE, was sort of ruined and I have to give it a new try when I am fully cured.

I wish you a rapid recovery.