[zoidbb]

Yes this is what draws me to A26 to begin with.

Seems unbelievable something like this exists, but it seems actual owners who have listened to it (not just reading measurement tests) have nothing but praises.

As I come from a Sabre DAC history, without experiencing AK or R2R DACs yet, it seems A26 is a good next step.

My questions now are:

1. Is D400EX good enough? (It shares the same chips as A26?)

2. Does any other R2R DACs at this price point offer what A26 can offer? (Ares 2?)

I have pretty much every AK4499EX product available. Topping E70V, SMSL D400EX, Shanling H7, A&K SP3000, and tomorrow arrives Gustard A26. I’ll be doing a shoot-out between all of these in DAC form (the H7 and SP3000 have line-out). I’ll keep you posted.

 

[integrator]

Hi all.
I used In my audio stuff long time ago USB isolator Intona 7054.
Today i tryd to add it between Rpi4 and A26.
And i have a accent on the bass registr.
Funny, but it’s not a joke….

 

[Nkam]

I really want to try this DAC but the designers over there seem to make so many mistakes when making a first iteration.


not much experience it seems

 

[integrator]

Intona

 

[Nkam]

Intona

I have the Intona 7055-c and it’s great but the Ifi galvanic 3.0 is better for some reason

I don’t know why

 

[sajunky]

I have the Intona 7055-c and it’s great but the Ifi galvanic 3.0 is better for some reason

I don’t know why

Wait few months, it will be a bunch of inexpensive products based on new chips from TI an AD. The existing chips do a job, but are limited to the USB full speed. TI evaluation board is already available on online retailers. Mass production of chips will follow.

 

[kmustangt88]

New gustard a26 owner (monday), i have many dacs previously weiss 501, ifi signature pro, Holo Spring 3 kte……..the Gustard easily holds its own here so far….. im doing alot of a/b comparison with two sets of speakers i have (monitor audio 500 7 series, bmw 804) and the different dacs, my amp is a peachtree nova 500….. so far this is an amazing dac for $1500.

 

[milkdudd]

I have pretty much every AK4498EX product available. Topping E70V, SMSL D400EX, Shanling H7, A&K SP3000, and tomorrow arrives Gustard A26. I’ll be doing a shoot-out between all of these in DAC form (the H7 and SP3000 have line-out). I’ll keep you posted.

I think you meant AK4499EX?

 

[zoidbb]

I think you meant AK4499EX?

Yup, typo.

 

[technomagus]

I have pretty much every AK4499EX product available. Topping E70V, SMSL D400EX, Shanling H7, A&K SP3000, and tomorrow arrives Gustard A26. I’ll be doing a shoot-out between all of these in DAC form (the H7 and SP3000 have line-out). I’ll keep you posted.

My a26 arrived earlier in the week - still waiting for a set of XLR interconnects but first impressions are positice

 

[zoidbb]

I have preliminary results using headphone amps with my d8k pros. Later tonight I will post results using estats, d8k pros, and speakers using my Purifi class D speaker amp.

D400EX is much quieter owing to its lower voltage output, E70V and A26 both do 5v out balanced. To volume match, I had to reduce the output of A26 by 10dB and the output of E70V by 8dB, using Roon's DSP volume control.

E70V has flatter imaging, smaller stage than the other two, and It struggles with heavy reverb, sort of truncating it at the edges rather than letting it expand outward properly. D400EX and A26 do not have this issue. A26 exceeds either E70V or D400EX in separation, at all points. This is particular noticeable in poorly-mixed tracks where everyone and everything seem to be in the same spot on the stage, where E70V and D400EX seem to blend things together A26 still maintains some good separation — even within the same pitch range.

E70V has a hollow quality to vocals, both male and female (but mostly female), the other two do not. Instead, D400EX seems to render a sort of rough edge around female vocals. A26 renders vocals seemingly perfectly, even on vocals that are particularly gritty — no smoothing over here.

E70V and D400EX both struggled to render the proper depth to acoustic instruments on tracks with proper, on-stage acoustic instrument recordings. This was not the case for "booth recordings" where such effects are added in post. A26 did not have this struggle.

 

[zoidbb]

Nevermind on more results, i did a quick pass and all that switching to a speaker amp and/or estats did was make the same differences way more noticeable.


After initial testing I decided not to compare the SP3000 or H7, as H7's DAC output is just /terrible/ and SP3000 is /great/ but wasn't so incredibly good that it made sense to compare its insanely pricey $4k butt to the rest of these. A26 easily competes with SP3000 at a fraction of the price.


A26 is the best of the bunch, but the most expensive (but is it really, with the built-in streaming?)
D400EX is second best, coming very close to A26 except for a couple of issues like slightly crunchy edges on vocals and inferior separation on poorly-mixed tracks.
E70V is obv the budget buy here, and it competes /very/ well.

If you need a baller streamer in your DAC, go A26. You won't regret it. If you have cash and want the best, also get the A26. If you're on a budget, get the E70V. The D400EX sits in a weird spot here where despite being very close in quality to the A26, I almost can't recommend it because the A26 has such great streaming capability. That said if you /really/ can't splurge on the A26 or /never/ need streaming, the D400EX is a great DAC.

 

[HFFan]

If you need a baller streamer in your DAC, go A26. You won't regret it. If you have cash and want the best, also get the A26. If you're on a budget, get the E70V.

@zoidbb thanks so much for writing these comparisons and recommendations. They are very helpful.

The D400EX sits in a weird spot here where despite being very close in quality to the A26, I almost can't recommend it because the A26 has such great streaming capability. That said if you /really/ can't splurge on the A26 or /never/ need streaming, the D400EX is a great DAC.

The "streaming capability" is what is making my decision hard right now, so I am curious what others think about the following:

1. A26 does not support "Tidal Connect" and AlexaCast. Tidal Connect and AlexaCast are really important to me, because even I have Roon (integrated with Tidal), it is still faster to search, play, find playlists directly on Tidal and Amazon Music apps so I can start playing immediately.

2. Then there is the cheap Wiim Mini/Pro that support Tidal Connect and AlexaCast at $100/$150. If I am forced to go for Wiim Mini/Pro, then the streaming capability that A26 provides is no longer added value, so I might as well just get the D400EX that is "almost" as good as the A26.

3. On the other hand, if I really want a good streamer with the best components and cleanest transport, I should probably step up to the streamer-only Volumio Rivo (supports Tidal Connect) and Roon. This also makes the built-in streaming capability of A26 redundant.

4. Everything seems to suggest getting a better streamer like Rivo and also saving money by going D400EX, instead of A26. But then, there is the issue of "crunchy edges on the D400EX and inferior separation" so in the end the best quality is still the most expensive option of Volumio Rivo + A26, despite the duplication of streaming capabilities.

5. In any case, the benefit of separate streamer is not having to rely on the streaming capability of A26, because "DACs come and go" but a good streamer stays. It might be easier to sell and upgrade to separate DACs in the future by getting a cheap/good streamer like Wiim Pro or Volumio Rivo or even the midrange Bluesound Node,then change/upgrade DACs later.

I guess only one question left. What other downsides does D400EX have, aside from its "almost as good" SQ, crunchy vocals and inferior separation. If there are more negatives found, maybe it makes going for A26 a much easier choice for me.

 

[zoidbb]

@zoidbb thanks so much for writing these comparisons and recommendations. They are very helpful.


The "streaming capability" is what is making my decision hard right now, so I am curious what others think about the following:

1. A26 does not support "Tidal Connect". Tidal Connect is really important to me, because even I have Roon (integrated with Tidal), it is still faster to search, play, find playlists directly on Tidal app so I can start playing immediately.

This is a bummer, I don't use Tidal Connect so I wouldn't have any experience in this regard

2. Then there is the cheap Wiim Mini/Pro that support Tidal Connect at $100/$150. If I am forced to use Tidal Connect on the Wiim Mini/Pro, then the streaming capability that A26 provides is no longer added value, so I might as well get the D400EX that is "almost" as good as the A26.

This is definitely a good alternative solution. For me, the Wiim's limited connectivity, wifi bandwidth, and the need for an extra power dongle outweigh the price difference between A26 and D400EX. That said, I don't use Tidal Connect, so that missing feature isn't a bother for me.

3. And I really want a good streamer with the best components and cleanest transport, I should probably get the streamer-only Volumio Rivo (supports Tidal Connect) and Roon. This is another case against the built-in streaming capability of A26.

The Rivo has been on my radar too. If you need Tidal Connect, this is a great option -- way better than the Wiim offerings. That said, that's another $1k -- at that point you're spending $500 more than the A26 /and/ have a second box. I was going to go this route if the D400EX beat the A26, but it didn't.

4. Everything seems to suggest getting a better streamer and save money by going D400EX. But then, there is the issue of "crunchy edges on the D400EX and inferior separation" so in the end the most expensive option might be Volumio Rivo + A26, despite the duplication of streaming capabilities.

I'm not convinced the Rivo is a better streamer, outside of having a slightly broader feature set. If you really can't live without Tidal Connect, perhaps it might be better to get the E70V and a Rivo for now and wait to see what other companies release AK4499EX DACs in the future. The chip is still very new, we have yet to see what's truly possible.

5. Another benefit of not relying on the streaming capability of A26 is "DACs come and go" but a good streamer stays. It might be easier to sell and upgrade to separate DACs in the future by getting a cheap/good streamer like Wiim Pro or Volumio Rivo or even the midrange Bluesound Node.

This is true, and might be more reason to go with the cheaper E70V for now alongside a more expensive streamer, then upgrade the DAC side /later/ after more AK4499EX options have come available.

I guess only one question left. What other downsides does D400EX have, aside from its "almost as good" SQ, crunchy vocals and inferior separation. If there are more negatives found, maybe it makes going for A26 a much easier choice for me.

No other downsides IMO, you're still going to want a different volume control with any of these options (they're all digital volume control, which significantly reduces SQ).

 

[REXNFX]

This is a bummer, I don't use Tidal Connect so I wouldn't have any experience in this regard



This is definitely a good alternative solution. For me, the Wiim's limited connectivity, wifi bandwidth, and the need for an extra power dongle outweigh the price difference between A26 and D400EX. That said, I don't use Tidal Connect, so that missing feature isn't a bother for me.



The Rivo has been on my radar too. If you need Tidal Connect, this is a great option -- way better than the Wiim offerings. That said, that's another $1k -- at that point you're spending $500 more than the A26 /and/ have a second box. I was going to go this route if the D400EX beat the A26, but it didn't.



I'm not convinced the Rivo is a better streamer, outside of having a slightly broader feature set. If you really can't live without Tidal Connect, perhaps it might be better to get the E70V and a Rivo for now and wait to see what other companies release AK4499EX DACs in the future. The chip is still very new, we have yet to see what's truly possible.



This is true, and might be more reason to go with the cheaper E70V for now alongside a more expensive streamer, then upgrade the DAC side /later/ after more AK4499EX options have come available.


No other downsides IMO, you're still going to want a different volume control with any of these options (they're all digital volume control, which significantly reduces SQ).

Which streaming services do you use, are you connecting via upnp with a phone app? Using Tidal this way doesn't always guarantee gapless playback.