[OCC7N]

Happy fathers day...I have been thinking about another DAC for a while now. I was thinking Holo May KTE or Terminator Plus, but dont want to spend that kind of money now. I like the Musetec MH-DA005 too. The two that really intrigue me, especially at their prospective price points are Gustard A26 & R26. Now I like detail and soundstage so making a decision for A26 or R26 is a tuff choice. Coming from the 9038s in the Musical Paradise MP-D2 MK3 deluxe I am kinda leaning towards the A26. I also like the looks and a couple of the features of the A26. I am sure I could live with either, but I am not sure if the R26 would do it for me. I also use the Innuos Phoenix USB enhanser/decrapifier so I am not sure how the would play with the Gustards. ....or would the Gustards not really be a big jump in performance???

Happy fathers day to you too

I wanna keep it short and recommend you what @sajunky said. No matter what you buy please ensure you can return for refund.

I have burned too many fingers too many times.

 

[darcman]

Thanks for the advice

 

[Fluty]

And for that matter, real-life sounds different everywhere that it happens so really, there is no actual true standard of perfect musical reproduction fidelity. The same instrument, played by the same person could sound different on different days. As but one example.

Fair comment, however - for comparison - if you live with someone or know them really well, then you'll recognise their voice even in a totally different acoustic space. So it's not difficult to hear when (acoustic) musical instruments sound realistic, even in another venue.

 

[SoftwireEngineer]

Why I have chosen R26 over 26

Among several considerations, I thought about how natural music sound versus recorded and played back music.

When I have attended live concerts with acoustic, un-amplified instruments, I have never heard pinpointed (or holographic) sounds. A "sharp stereo-image" does not happen in real life. A singer in a concert hall or church far away will not be placed anything near precisely when using my ears. Why? Reflections from walls and ceiling masks the direct sound profoundly. A saxophone playing in the living room also throw off large amounts of reflections via the walls, floor and ceiling, which makes it very difficult to hear where exactly the saxophonist is standing. Often the concert experience will have a sense of distance (depth) and violent dynamics.

Instruments clearly coming from the far right or left? Yes, but not in the artificial way with speakers (or headphones) where it is clearly placed, and little sound reaches the ear on the opposite side of the head. If there are sounds coming that way in real life, it's typically from someone in the audience, not from the scene.

Sub bass? Not much, if any. Upper treble? I have never heard "extended highs" or "sharp" (as in lots of treble) sounding instruments, nor an "airy" sounding concert. The real concert experience sounds more like "rolled off treble", even though that doesn't "sound good" when sitting with your "high fidelity" stereo set. At least one important reason is that treble looses energy faster than mids and even more so than bass. So, in practice, the distance from musician / singer to the ears of the audience "rolls off" the treble. Another factor is that the recording engineer has the microphones placed close to the instrument or singer, and may add to that by turning up the treble because it adds definition etc.

If you compare the natural qualities versus what the reviewers say about the strengths of the two DAC's, it becomes clear to me that the R26 is the one that conveys the most real or natural sound. The A26 may sound more impressive, and it may reveal more subtle details, but I doubt it will sound more realistic - as in actual, real life.

EDIT:
Comment by pro orchestral woodwind soloist to my description above regarding live acoustic music.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/gus...ng-music-bridge.963630/page-398#post-17565716

I saw this earlier, while deciding between R26 and A26. Yes, you are right. But most often we are listening to studio recordings, where the instruments are closely miked and the sound engineer adds reverb (pushes the instrument front-to-back) and pans (left-to-right vice versa). So a DAC should be able to faithfully recreate this when you are listening on a headphone or in near field listening. You can play this recording on a big speakers, in a big room and then you will get the acoustic experience. Its just that we audiophiles are so obsessed with the sound and are listening so intently. We should probably relax, kickback and enjoy all aspects of the music - the composition, lyrics, instrument playing and the singing (Recently, I was able to enjoy Barbara Allen from Songcatcher album inspite of the synth drum being out of character in that album).
(BTW, I bought the A26)

 

[rafabro]

Anybody compared A26 to some hiend DACs?

 

[Vandal]

Hi guys, after going through this thread, I am a bit confused with the A26 and the R26 choice. Also, at one point, it is said both are best when used via LAN. Does this mean using it with a PC (USB cable) is not giving me it's best possible performance?

What would my best use case be with a PC as source?

 

[Jake2]

Hi guys, after going through this thread, I am a bit confused with the A26 and the R26 choice. Also, at one point, it is said both are best when used via LAN. Does this mean using it with a PC (USB cable) is not giving me it's best possible performance?

What would my best use case be with a PC as source?

Best bang for buck performance use case with the Gustard *26 streaming DACs IMO is the internal streamer, especially when used with some ethernet de-noise measures like optical Fibre Media Convertors and/or filters like the iFi LAN iSilencer. The internal renderer can be bettered with USB from a high quality source like a JCAT XE card or I2S or USB from high performing streamers/DDCs like the Holo Red and Eversolo, but you’re talking USD800+ vs less than half that for a quality FMC setup with linear PS…

 

[Vandal]

Best bang for buck performance use case with the Gustard *26 streaming DACs IMO is the internal streamer, especially when used with some ethernet de-noise measures like optical Fibre Media Convertors and/or filters like the iFi LAN iSilencer. The internal renderer can be bettered with USB from a high quality source like a JCAT XE card or I2S or USB from high performing streamers/DDCs like the Holo Red and Eversolo, but you’re talking USD800+ vs less than half that for a quality FMC setup with linear PS…

So basically I can forget about USB and optical.

Ok what would be the shortcoming of USB in this case for my knowledge if someone could please elaborate.

 

[darcman]

I didnt use a fancy FMC converter, I did try the LAN though. I dont do any streaming, I only use local files. I find the USB much much better...to be fair I do have expensive USB cables and I am also using the ultra expensive Innuos Phoenix USB decrapifier

 

[Vandal]

I didnt use a fancy FMC converter, I did try the LAN though. I dont do any streaming, I only use local files. I find the USB much much better...to be fair I do have expensive USB cables and I am also using the ultra expensive Innuos Phoenix USB decrapifier

For the R26 right? I would be looking at one of the Audioquest USB cables. Using LAN is complicated for me and I've never done that before. Wouldn't mind trying, but I'd like to start with USB and wanted to know if it's good enough for a DAC this price.

 

[darcman]

I ended up buying the A26 I liked the styling of the A26 better. For me it was a tuff decision A26 or R26. The A26 has supposedly better detail whereas the R26 has a bigger soundstage. Well in a perfect world you want both. In the end I decide maybe go for the detail and it might work better with my Primaluna Evo 400 tube preamp. I really like it and have no regrets as far as a DAC..I would still like to hear an R26 though. Maybe my next DAC will be a May KTE.

Well I will say this, I strongly recommended the A26 to a guy that wanted to upgrade from his 10 year old DAC. He has a pretty good streaming front end. Well he bought the A26 and he loves it. Not sure where you live, I ended up getting my A26 from a dealer on Amazon.ca for a $200 off sale price....for the price the A26 kicks a$$. The A26 is good for the money and it is good period. I have around 25K or 30K invested into my stereo crap and the A26 fits in nicely

 

[Vandal]

I ended up buying the A26 I liked the styling of the A26 better. For me it was a tuff decision A26 or R26. The A26 has supposedly better detail whereas the R26 has a bigger soundstage. Well in a perfect world you want both. In the end I decide maybe go for the detail and it might work better with my Primaluna Evo 400 tube preamp. I really like it and have no regrets as far as a DAC..I would still like to hear an R26 though. Maybe my next DAC will be a May KTE.

Well I will say this, I strongly recommended the A26 to a guy that wanted to upgrade from his 10 year old DAC. He has a pretty good streaming front end. Well he bought the A26 and he loves it. Not sure where you live, I ended up getting my A26 from a dealer on Amazon.ca for a $200 off sale price....for the price the A26 kicks a$$. The A26 is good for the money and it is good period. I have around 25K or 30K invested into my stereo crap and the A26 fits in nicely

Thank you very much. Although for the A26, perhaps the R26 would offer the same performance from a USB perspective (since you had no issues with your A26's USB).

Good to know that. I'm not totally sure about the A26's touch interface and since both are quite revealing (A26 more so) I'm still on the fence.

In Australia and buying off Amazon, I'm not sure I could get a refund, but the price difference is 40US$ between models so it's nothing.

 

[sajunky]

In the end I decide maybe go for the detail and it might work better with my Primaluna Evo 400 tube preamp.

If you want natural sound, tube amp pairs better with R2R DAC, but in a case of R26 it could be little difference due to use opamps in the audio path.

 

[darcman]

Thank you very much. Although for the A26, perhaps the R26 would offer the same performance from a USB perspective (since you had no issues with your A26's USB).

Good to know that. I'm not totally sure about the A26's touch interface and since both are quite revealing (A26 more so) I'm still on the fence.

In Australia and buying off Amazon, I'm not sure I could get a refund, but the price difference is 40US$ between models so it's nothing.

Ya the USB works great, I would imagine it must be the same for the R26. I have had my A26 up and running for near a couple months. Mine came with latest firmware. I dont think reliability is going to be an issue, I havent had any problems with mine. The pricepoint made the A26 R26 quite attractive, both have excellent bang for your buck. I forget which discussion it was in on here a couplys. guys were saying they liked the Denafrips Venus II 12th more. Ya Ya ok, but that DAC is double the price of the gustards. So I got a great DAC and I got a couple grand in my wallet. I dont have any regrets, the only other DAC that I seriously considered was the May KTE or maybe a Terminator plus. I just didnt want to spend that much money now. Those DACs are 4x and 5x the price of the A26.

On Amazon.ca the regular price difference is only $40 or $50 too. Both the A26 and R26 were on sale when I bought mine. The A26 was $200 off and the R26 was $100 off, so that made the A26 $150 cheaper. Even $150 isnt that big of a deal, but when you are on the fence as I was I went for the A26. Ultimately I guess it is best to buy both and return one. For me I just didnt think it was fair to the seller to buy both knowing that I would be returning one...and I didnt want the hastle.

 

[darcman]

If you want natural sound, tube amp pairs better with R2R DAC, but in a case of R26 it could be little difference due to use opamps in the audio path.

I dont have tube amps, just a tube preamp. What I was thinking was maybe the R26 with its somewhat softer sound might be to much of a good thing with my tube pre. I think the A26 has a wide soundstage, probably not as deep as it is wide. Of course wider and deeper would have been better. I like the detail of the A26 and I dont find myself saying I wish it had less detail. I may have liked the R26 better, but I dont have any regrets. I am enjoying the A26 daily and find it to be a super great value and worthy of being in my system. I may very well get a May KTE someday or not, I do thoroughly enjoy listening to the A26. The A26 sounds great and I can certainly live with it without remorse.