[milkdudd]

Please share the brand name of these silver cables

These are the interconnects I use. I use one each set of 0.5 m and 1 m of the XLR red ones. I use the long set from a dac to preamp, and the short set from preamp to power amp

https://silversonic.com/products/interconnects/revelation/

This is the USB cable from the same company. Not solid silver but still a terrific cable. I have two of these and would probably sell one if anyone's interested. Send me a PM if so

https://silversonic.com/products/digital-cables/mirage-usb/

Speaker cables I use are Clear Day Cables, also solid silver but unfortunately no longer manufactured as the owner of the company (the great Paul Laudati) passed away a couple of years ago. They do come up for sale used from time to time however. The only time I've heard people say they prefer a different cable, the price was always at least four times as much. Hope this helps

 

[moonfishing]

Well.. honestly it is a bit annoying for many of us, who promptly throw away the stock cords and use current/new aftermarket cables. Please note, I am a CS and EE Major and know the scientific basis behind this. I have learnt a lot (years ago) from Steve Nugent (of Empirical Audio), Chris (of VHAudio) and the share from Zu guys on the software they use for designing their cables (Maxwell 3D, I think).

Yeah so asking for myself and those of us who don’t have spare $500 cables lying around—how did it impact the sound?

 

[SoftwireEngineer]

These are the interconnects I use. I use one each set of 0.5 m and 1 m of the XLR red ones. I use the long set from a dac to preamp, and the short set from preamp to power amp

https://silversonic.com/products/interconnects/revelation/

This is the USB cable from the same company. Not solid silver but still a terrific cable. I have two of these and would probably sell one if anyone's interested. Send me a PM if so

https://silversonic.com/products/digital-cables/mirage-usb/

Speaker cables I use are Clear Day Cables, also solid silver but unfortunately no longer manufactured as the owner of the company (the great Paul Laudati) passed away a couple of years ago. They do come up for sale used from time to time however. The only time I've heard people say they prefer a different cable, the price was always at least four times as much. Hope this helps

Awesome, I prefer silver cables too. Speaker and RCA were silver, now that I moved to XLR I am looking for a good deal on silver ones. I actually started my audiphile journey more than 20 years ago with DHLabs T14. Based on my trusted reviewers and my own testing I am sticking to the Streamer input of the A26 (even though my ifi Zen is still connected to the USB)

 

[SoftwireEngineer]

Yeah so asking for myself and those of us who don’t have spare $500 cables lying around—how did it impact the sound?

The whole hobby is about high-fidelity. You will get more real tone and soundstage. There is something about live music which is not easy to recreate with a recording. It is probably the impact/dynamic range and harmonics. Better cables will get you there. If you can tell the difference between two DACs, you should be able to tell the difference between cables. I have a Focal Elear. It was the biggest jump from few hundred dollar headphones to audiophilia.
(BTW, you dont have to spend too much on cables. You need to look at some design parameters and choose. For eg. The Zu Birth power cord is one central ground wire and 4 wires twisted around it. If you are handy you can make good cables for cheap)

 

[moonfishing]

The whole hobby is about high-fidelity. You will get more real tone and soundstage. There is something about live music which is not easy to recreate with a recording. It is probably the impact/dynamic range and harmonics. Better cables will get you there. If you can tell the difference between two DACs, you should be able to tell the difference between cables. I have a Focal Elear. It was the biggest jump from few hundred dollar headphones to audiophilia.
(BTW, you dont have to spend too much on cables. You need to look at some design parameters and choose. For eg. The Zu Birth power cord is one central ground wire and 4 wires twisted around it. If you are handy you can make good cables for cheap)

Thanks! Obviously there are a ton of places you can spend in this hobby so part of the fun is figuring out how to prioritize the spending. This is really all I’m looking for.

 

[REXNFX]

I agree cables won't transform a system from a bad to good, but (hope this isn't bragging, it's not my intention) running all silver cables, especially XLR interconnects has transformed my stereo room from very good to (in my humble opinion) mind blowing. Did I want to pay $480 (on sale, from regular price of $600) for half meter long interconnects? Hell no. Am I glad I did? Hell yes. And I do agree that power cables, DDC, external clock and fuses, etc all contribute to the final result

Would you be interested in posting a smartphone video of your system on Vimeo with and without tweaks? I love your enthusiasm and would like to get a taste of what you're hearing.
Cheers!

 

[terlino]

Good morning
I made a very serious mistake.
I installed the R version firmware on the Gustard A26 version.
I tried to reinstall the right version by doing the upgrade procedure but the DAC is no longer detected by Windows.
Of course the ethernet connection doesn't work and I don't know if connected via USB it will work. I'm afraid not.
Can I do something to fix it? Other than cursing me?

 

[darcman]

Wow sorry to hear about that...I hope it turns out to be an easy fix. Maybe shoot an email to Gustard or whereever you bought it.

 

[Zaurux]

This is the streamer firmware (1.42) ?
If the SD card is no longer visible via Windows, the only solution is to remove it from the machine and rewrite it.
But I'm still surprised that it's possible to install the R version ... that would mean that you've installed the A26 drivers (in the A26 firmware package) and then fetched the R26 firmware file from another package.
You can't use the R26 drivers to recognise the A26..
Remove all the drivers from your Windows. Retrieve the complete A26 firmware package and reinstall the correct drivers included.

 

[terlino]

Tried with another computer without any driver, but unfortunately it is not seen.
The strange thing is that if I turn it on while it is connected to the USB mini for the firmware, if I remove the cable Windows emits a sound like if I unplug a peripheral, but neither from Whale nor from the tool to do the upgrede is seen.
In USB the computer sees it, so all other inputs should still work except the ethernet connector

 

[sajunky]

@terlino. Thinking that if Gustard allowed crossflashing, it may do it again in a reverse situation.

Remove all drivers (with USB cable disconnected), then install R-28 drivers. Then plug USB cable when asked, but flash the unit with A26 firnware when you can see SD card.

 

[terlino]

Thanks for the suggestion, but sadly they both have the same driver

 

[sajunky]

Thanks for the suggestion, but sadly they both have the same driver

What happen when you insert empty SD card of the same size, then power on a DAC? If empty SD card fail to appear, then I have no more suggestions.

 

[terlino]

I have not inserted any SD card, I don't even know how to do it

 

[Zaurux]

The A26 and R26 do not have the same internal cards. They do not use the same drivers.
I was never able to access the A26 with the R26 files until Gustard offered a 1.41 and then 1.42 update, with the correct drivers.
Can you tell us which files you used and what procedure you followed ?