[OCC7N]

Just for the record: The R26 is a fully discrete design DAC. It's even called "R26 Discrete" for this reason. I hope you get to loan it and report back.

And yes, personal preference can't be ignored. The reason I chose the R26 over the R7HE 2020 (which was available, used locally) is and was resolution. My Reference 7.1 DAC is a wonderful DAC, but ultimate resolution and detail retrieval isn't it's strong point. It is a 12 years old design, so it won't compare well in that regard by today's standards. So, when upgrading, I wanted a considerable boost in resolution and jitter reduction compared to the Ref 7.1.

Its not fully. I see some opamps

Look at the outputstage.

 

[FredA]

Just for the record: The R26 is a fully discrete design DAC. It's even called "R26 Discrete" for this reason. I hope you get to loan it and report back.

And yes, personal preference can't be ignored. The reason I chose the R26 over the R7HE 2020 (which was available, used locally) is and was resolution. My Reference 7.1 DAC is a wonderful DAC, but ultimate resolution and detail retrieval isn't it's strong point. It is a 12 years old design, so it won't compare well in that regard by today's standards. So, when upgrading, I wanted a considerable boost in resolution and jitter reduction compared to the Ref 7.1.

The HE7 mkii would be this, but at a cost. Same sound, only cleaner and more resolved. Have you considered installing an hdmi input to your 7.1 (ask Kingwa to see if possible) ? I know two persons who drive a Master-7 using a di20/he, externally clocked. This cleans up the sound and improves staging, not subtle at all. The pcm1704k is gem.

 

[FredA]

Its not fully. I see some opamps

Look at the outputstage.

Could be for a DC servo control. Audio-gd uses opamps this way.

 

[sajunky]

Could be for a DC servo control. Audio-gd uses opamps this way.

Unlikely. I remember, someone was explaining that Gustard had one opamp per channel in the signal path attached to the ladder output, but the next stage (output buffer) is discrete. Soekris in 2541 do the same for conversion from single-ended ladder to the balanced output. It would explain why there are two stages of amplification instead of one.

 

[sajunky]

One very important things, the 2020 is nowhere as good using the usb input. You could call it muddy through usb.

Of course. It doesn't have isolation on USB port. Bidirectional isolator only came with 2021 model. It is why it can sound good or bad.

I think the reviewer had noisy USB source. But still it doesn't explain muddy sound. Noise would demonstrate as a harshness, it doesn't change sound signature, but masks it. I don't trust reviewers, especially this one. He maintains army of followers, it is seen in the comments section, sort the Amir's adoration society.

 

[OCC7N]

Could be for a DC servo control. Audio-gd uses opamps this way.

Really? Any examples?

 

[FredA]

Really? Any examples?

All dacs, pres, headamps, and possibly the power amps. This is quite common, either you do this or use dc-blocking caps.

 

[FredA]

Of course. It doesn't have isolation on USB port. Bidirectional isolator only came with 2021 model. It is why it can sound good or bad.

I think the reviewer had noisy USB source. But still it doesn't explain muddy sound. Noise would demonstrate as a harshness, it doesn't change sound signature, but masks it. I don't trust reviewers, especially this one. He maintains army of followers, it is seen in the comments section, sort the Amir's adoration society.

I know the r26 is really good. But the reviewer could be over enthusiastic. Still, it is a great value. The r8he mkiii is as i said possibly even better. Two very solid values, for sure.

 

[LarsHP]

Its not fully. I see some opamps

Look at the outputstage.

I looked and found them. They appear to be in the digital section (the compartment in the middle of the box which also includes part of the PSU), so no op-amps in the analog section, which is where it matters. The A26 has op-amps in the analog section, IIRC.

 

[OCC7N]

I looked and found them. They appear to be in the digital section (the compartment in the middle of the box which also includes part of the PSU), so no op-amps in the analog section, which is where it matters. The A26 has op-amps in the analog section, IIRC.

Wow this is actually pretty cool for such a small build. I am in the process of building my own Server/Streamer, I will definitly compare them when I can burrow it. If I did not spent all 2000 euro on the parts Im picking up, I would have bought is from audiophonics.fr with a refund option….definitly

 

[OCC7N]

is the R26 square or sine wave input?

Oooh its 50ohms right?

Dont have the cable. Hmm Im a 75Ohm fanboy.

 

[Jake2]

is the R26 square or sine wave input?

Oooh its 50ohms right?

Dont have the cable. Hmm Im a 75Ohm fanboy.

It can take both sine and square, but so far I prefer sine with the OCK-1 & 2. It’s 50 ohms as are the other Gustard DACs and DDCs, though as Martin notes on the MC thread his Gustard DDC & DAC combo sounds excellent with that pure silver Neotech 75 ohm cable.

Incidentally I don’t know what it is, but my system has suddenly hit its stride again this evening, something was off this last week. Perhaps it’s the Nilai finally breaking in fully or my latest AliX cable, who knows, Now it’s just rocking, great flow, silky midrange and a wide soundstage and that’s just YouTube music this evening. I reckon with quality power conditioning, grounding, clocking etc there’s probably a convergence between quality mid tier DACs like the R8HE mkII and R26. The latter’s inbuilt streamer is particular bargain I would say, as with every improvement to the DAC I mentioned it gets better too. So quite why I got an Afterdark Rosanna Diretta with 10mhz input as part of the AS group buy I don’t know, it’ll be quite the benchmark /acid test for the R26 internal renderer.

The R7HE MKII sounds like it is superb, would like to hear it one day.

 

[OCC7N]

It can take both sine and square, but so far I prefer sine with the OCK-1 & 2. It’s 50 ohms as are the other Gustard DACs and DDCs, though as Martin notes on the MC thread his Gustard DDC & DAC combo sounds excellent with that pure silver Neotech 75 ohm cable.

Incidentally I don’t know what it is, but my system has suddenly hit its stride again this evening, something was off this last week. Perhaps it’s the Nilai finally breaking in fully or my latest AliX cable, who knows, Now it’s just rocking, great flow, silky midrange and a wide soundstage and that’s just YouTube music this evening. I reckon with quality power conditioning, grounding, clocking etc there’s probably a convergence between quality mid tier DACs like the R8HE mkII and R26. The latter’s inbuilt streamer is particular bargain I would say, as with every improvement to the DAC I mentioned it gets better too. So quite why I got an Afterdark Rosanna Diretta with 10mhz input as part of the AS group buy I don’t know, it’ll be quite the benchmark /acid test for the R26 internal renderer.

The R7HE MKII sounds like it is superb, would like to hear it one day.

The OCK-2 is soo sweet yeah! I have stellar experience with square. Earthing one of the sine made a day/night difference. The black cable. Ordered another supra trico, as they are superb in my system and square is just amazing!



Im building a streamer myself with Afterdark X1 Ethernet card(75Ohm/10Mhz input)

Im excited about this build, as I put the processing away from the cpu and on the UAD-2 Solo(DSP) mastering eq.

 

[FredA]

Both Audio-gd and Gustard use opamps in their output stages. Audio-gd use them for DC servo-control, and Gustard most likely do for the same reason. First pic is from the original R8. Second one is from the r26.

 

[sajunky]

I looked and found them. They appear to be in the digital section (the compartment in the middle of the box which also includes part of the PSU), so no op-amps in the analog section, which is where it matters. The A26 has op-amps in the analog section, IIRC

There are 2 opamp chips on the ladder module, each next to the red block (WIMA) cap. This is undoubtly the audio path. On the photo (attached) traces for the ladder differential output are marked with yellow arrows. Orange arrows point to the traces from the opamp output, in the place one channel meets another.

What @FredA shows in the post above can be also audio path, not sure.