[vince741]

Looks like the X20 is now available on shenzhenaudio.

 

[LancerFIN]

  Looks like the X20 is now available on shenzhenaudio.

$800 without USB free shipping. That's amazing price. USB is $70 extra.

 

[stuartmc]

 
$800 without USB free shipping. That's amazing price. USB is $70 extra.

Yes it is!  I seriously doubt that you will find a better DAC at under $1000.
 
I recently swapped out the stock cabinet feet for Black Diamond Racing Cones and sat them on Golden Sound DH squares all on top of a Townshend Seismic Sink.  Just like with the X12, it really puts the frosting on the sonic cake.  When I was taking the stock feet off, the screw holding the foot closest to the IEC socket was harder to unscrew then the others and sure enough, it had a small nut on the inside that attached the ground wire from the IEC to the chassis (just like the X12).  I had to open her up again and re-attach the ground wire.  To do that, I had to remove one of the transformers and uplug some of the power leads attached to the backside of the IEC socket. One of these leads to the transformer was not fully seated, so when I put it all back together I treated the connectors with some Stabilant 22, and also made sure there was a really good ground connection to the chassis....well.... who knows which thing was the true causative factor, or maybe a sum of all them, but I got the quietest, darkest background I have heard to date as well as the best soundstaging I have ever heard with my headphone set up.  

 

[Walderstorn]

Im patiently waiting for some1 to sell it in europe, after my h10 misshap im not buying international again.
 
@stuartmc did you ever had the Concero/Concero HD/Yulong d200/audio dg nfb1/yulong d18 so you could compare to any of these?

 

[Wynnytsky]

  yulong d18

By the end of the month I'll be running the U12 (then hopefully the Tanly) into both the D18 and the X20 in parallel
I'll be rolling the input selector on my preamp to A/B them.
 

  One of these leads to the transformer was not fully seated, so when I put it all back together I treated the connectors with some Stabilant 22, and also made sure there was a really good ground connection to the chassis

My friend swears by deoxit, but stab22 is priced like it should be illegal.  I ordered 5 grams of that stuff last night.  If it doesn't work I'll try smoking it.  But first I'm putting this schiit on evryting (usb, hdmi, rca, speaker, ac outlets!)

 

[Walderstorn]

Thanks mate, please tag me when u do a review or a quick-opinion about it.

 

[stuartmc]

  Im patiently waiting for some1 to sell it in europe, after my h10 misshap im not buying international again.
 
@stuartmc did you ever had the Concero/Concero HD/Yulong d200/audio dg nfb1/yulong d18 so you could compare to any of these?

The answer to that is no.  I had the X12, Meitner Bidat, Bel Canto Dac1, Sony SCD-777ES, Rega Apollo-R, and Aune S16. The Gustard X-20 bested them all.  I had a Monarchy 22, Theta Pro, EVS  and several others back in the day, but they weren't around for direct comparisons. 

 

[Walderstorn]

Thanks mate.

 

[Excellence 5]

  Is Gustard X20 also a preamp?
...

I'm trying right now, but i get no sound. I connected the X20U to my two monoblocks Xindak PA-1, with no result.
 
Anyone else here, maybe Stuart?

 

[Wynnytsky]

Jesus
I wouldn't start learning my way around the X20 while plugged in directly to those monster amps
 
If ASIO or WASAPI ignores the windows volume control and windows sends a login jingle, you could damage a tweeter
Which makes for a good tip-of-the-day.  On your audio render-er PC, disable all jingles by doing this...

 

[stuartmc]

  I'm trying right now, but i get no sound. I connected the X20U to my two monoblocks Xindak PA-1, with no result.
 
Anyone else here, maybe Stuart?

The X20U is not a preamp. It is a DAC only. It will only receive digital data for processing. There is no analog throughput. Now, if you want to use it as a DAC and run direct to your amps and use its onboard digital volume attenuator, then I suppose that would work fine.  The RCA output level is 2.3V and the XLR output is 4.6V. The digital attenuator goes from 0 to -99db.

 

[Excellence 5]

  Jesus
I wouldn't start learning my way around the X20 while plugged in directly to those monster amps...

Oh well, before doing that test i silenced the DAC down to -99db. So everything is back to normal here, with no troubles. But thanks for suggesting that option.
 
Thanks also to Stuart for his answer. I didn’t know how to find more information about the X20U.
 
Let me say that the team at Gustard (http://www.seowon-audio.com/) never answers to e-mails, which thing is a bit dissappointing.

 

[Wynnytsky]

you might be the first to give a speaker-fi account of the X20
 
please let us know what you think of the X20's resistive volume function vs your active pre
I wish I still had a slagleformer pre to run it through.  I suspect the gustard DACs don't need the boost from a preamplifier

 

[GioF71]

Nice tip
And another reason to NOT use a desktop operating system to run our usb DACs!

Jesus
I wouldn't start learning my way around the X20 while plugged in directly to those monster amps

If ASIO or WASAPI ignores the windows volume control and windows sends a login jingle, you could damage a tweeter
Which makes for a good tip-of-the-day.  On your audio render-er PC, disable all jingles by doing this...

 

[Triplefun]

You should be looking at the playback devices - not sounds. Which version of windows are you running and what is the source (Foobar, JRiver, JPlay, HQPlayer). The media systems need to be configured for ASIO (or WASAPI) output to the USB driver.