[integrator]

This review is good and very professional.
But…..little “bent out of shape words” Tharbamar is prefer to say not realy good to be protect R26. R26 have bad UP accent in UP MIDDLE range. R26 very poor play Hard and Heavy rock. R26 like red lipstick and parfume….R26 super good for look inside the record, not for professional listening. Jazz, Vocal, small bands, and around this very impressive. R26 for people with TUBE amps, Big Horn speakers ets..
A26 still correct for all. My personal resume A26 is good for professional pupose. Solid amps, monitor speakers is best partners for A26.
Please dont kick me out to hell)) Sorry…

 

[sajunky]

A26 still correct for all.

Yip. If he wants sound to be corrected....

Correcting sound can take may directions, you follow one, it takes a time just to realise that it was not good. You look for a different DAC that sounds better on one particular song, but will fall again on the other. It comes to HQPlayers, parametric equalisers, different cans, it never ends, as it is a structual bond on correcting everything, even a good sound.

Poor recording sounds good on R2R, but it takes a week or two to detoxify our brain. Actually I rediscovered my entire old library. Poor recording, but, but "my guitar gently wheeps", bringing memory back. It takes a time to restore natural templates, after that enjoying music takes preference, no matter how recorded.

As you notice, I am not the audiophile type, don't jump on me.

 

[nicks25]

Received my A26 yesterday along with the OCK-1. Will connect the A26 up - still waiting on a BNC cable for the OCK-1. Will play a Roon playlist on repeat to get some initial hours on the A26 - probably for 2-3 days. Will post my impressions of the A26 after that.

 

[Kaere]

I don't know why you said the R26 is not suitable for the bad records.
I listen all type of music, and the R26 sound very well.
If you want a little hint of Heat choose a Pontus II

 

[sajunky]

I don't know why you said the R26 is not suitable for the bad records.
I listen all type of music, and the R26 sound very well.
If you want a little hint of Heat choose a Pontus II

I didn't. Audio GD R2R owner.

 

[milkdudd]

As someone who uses and loves the Gustard A22 dac, the A26 (which I didn't know about until today) is very welcome news. My love for the A22 at least doubled when I first set the filter to the LOW-d SHOT setting. Takes it to an entirely different level for me. On other threads I have asked people to try that setting before making a final judgment of the dac. I will have to investigate if the A26 has that filter available. With all that said, have any of you gone to the A26 after using the A22? If so did you consider it a worthy upgrade? I should mention that I use the C18 and U18 in front of the A22 with purple fuses in each. I like that the A26 would allow me to run a second BNC cable from the C18. One to the U18 and one to the A26. As the A22 doesn't have the clock input I don't have that option now

 

[bodiebill2]

Moving the 'pin 15' discussion here as it is about a 'shortcoming' of the A26 (similar as for X26 and R26). Most modern DACs recognize whether the incoming signal is PCM or DSD without needing the DSD flag on this pin, but the Gustard and SMSL DACs require it.

My post:
I am revisting the idea to enable DSD in the following setup:
streamer > USB > Audio-GD DI20HE > I2S > Gustard A26
The A26 expects a 'flag' on pin 15 to let know whether PCM or DSD is sent. However the DI20HE does not send any signal on pin 15. In this setup the A26 always assumes that PCM is playing, so it means I can not play DSD this way. I do not want to discard the DI20HE as it does a great job.
Then I figured, what if I have a breakout DC cable at the source end of the I2S cable, to which I can apply 3.3 VDC to send this flag manually. Of course the breakout DC cable should also have a ground. Where to attach this?
I asked four custom cable manufacturers but only one would consider making such a cable (Phasure). None of them are sure whether it will work.
Before I dare to order something like this, I would welcome any views on this little potential project.

@sajunky then replied:
GND: pin #17
+3.3V: pin #15 (with 1k Ohm resistor in series, 10nF ceramic capacitor to ground (pin #17)
The additional components protect DAC from voltage spikes.

The only cable manufacturer that would consider making such a cable reacted to this suggestion along the lines of:
That will never work, taking a random pin with says GND and having 3.3V over data lines.
Another approach could be the following: the 3.3V could be for a GPIO (General Purpose Input-Output) in the DAC that has 3.3V applied before playing starts. You could ask Gustard where this GPIO resides on the board. If you apply 3.3V to that it might work.

Also @OCC7N pointed to a section in the R26 thread where someone had the opposite problem (no PCM/only DSD in a similar setup) and shorted pin 15 to solve that:
From my findings if you short pin 15 to ground (pin 17 in my case) it forces the R26 to play everything as pcm. That means no dsd, although let me test to see if it will still play dsd but display as pcm. Also, I completely took out the pin 15 conductor from my I2S cable and it still registered as dsd and would not play. So from my experiment it seems that no pin 15 conductor/signal triggers dsd mode. And shorted pin 15 to ground triggers pcm mode. And probably the dsd direct mode doesn’t work, but I’ll check tonight when I get home.

I think I would like to discuss this a bit further before doing anything silly.

 

[sajunky]

@bodiebill2

A different case with R26 indicate that DSD pin is floating if not connected. It looks like Gustard guys didn't care about. It may even switch between PCM and DSD at times during playing, resulting cracks or a continuous noise.

Use a circuit below. Rough values are given, not critical. Switch will force DSD on a high position and PCM on a low position.

 

[HFFan]

Received my A26 yesterday along with the OCK-1. Will connect the A26 up - still waiting on a BNC cable for the OCK-1. Will play a Roon playlist on repeat to get some initial hours on the A26 - probably for 2-3 days. Will post my impressions of the A26 after that.

Hi @nicks25 congrats on your new A26.

I'm eagerly waiting for your first impressions. This DAC is already in the shopping cart, waiting for additional confirmations before pulling the trigger

 

[bodiebill2]

Hi @nicks25 congrats on your new A26.

I'm eagerly waiting for your first impressions. This DAC is already in the shopping cart, waiting for additional confirmations before pulling the trigger

I can heartily recommend it, in spite of my little qualm above.
The A26 is a top tier and versatile DAC.

 

[HFFan]

I can heartily recommend it, in spite of my little qualm above.
The A26 is a top tier and versatile DAC.

Is it generally accepted that A26 provides more "technically better" sound than R26?

I am used to Sabre ESS DACs but curious about AK and R2R so I think the A26 or D400EX is a good entry point, but Gustard is also a Roon endpoint so it suits my needs.

My question is, how am I supposed to know I like sound profile of A26 or R26, without a demo or testing it? Hopefully someone can provide more insights.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bodiebill2]

Is it generally accepted that A26 provides more "technically better" sound than R26?

I am used to Sabre ESS DACs but curious about AK and R2R so I think the A26 or D400EX is a good entry point, but Gustard is also a Roon endpoint so it suits my needs.

My question is, how am I supposed to know I like sound profile of A26 or R26, without a demo or testing it? Hopefully someone can provide more insights.

Thanks in advance.

How about silky precision? Resolution without the pitfalls.

 

[HFFan]

How about silky precision? Resolution without the pitfalls.

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?)

 

[nicks25]

Hi @nicks25 congrats on your new A26.

I'm eagerly waiting for your first impressions. This DAC is already in the shopping cart, waiting for additional confirmations before pulling the trigger

I have about 50 hours on the A26 at this time.

1. My previous DAC was a Denafrips Ares II with an opticalRendu streamer. I had a single Fiber Media Converter connected to the opticalRendu. I used the USB interface with the Ares.
2. With the A26, I am using the LAN connection and have two Fiber Media Converters in the chain.
2. I added an OCK-1 clock to the A26. There was no clock in my prior setup.
3. Roon is common to both the A26 and the Denafrips.

I no longer have the Ares II so I cannot switch back and forth between the two but my initial observation is that there is more 'meat on the bone' with the A26. It sounds more analog as the Ares sounded a little sterile to me. I am not sure how much impact adding the clock has impacted my impression.

After I get some additional hours on both the A26 and the OCK-1, I will experiment with switching between the internal clock and the OCK-1.

Hope this helps.

 

[HFFan]

I no longer have the Ares II so I cannot switch back and forth between the two but my initial observation is that there is more 'meat on the bone' with the A26. It sounds more analog as the Ares sounded a little sterile to me.

Glad to hear high praise for the A26, from an Ares II owner, which was supposed to be really good as it is.

I am not sure how much impact adding the clock has impacted my impression.

So curious to know too.

Hope this helps.

Thanks sharing your user experience.

These positive reviews of Gustart A26 have suspended my intention of Volumio Rivo + SMSL D400EX DAC with exactly the same chips as A26.

But all other components of A26 may contribute to better performance though, despite the same chip. I wish I could do A/B testing between these 2 systems.