GUSTARD DAC-R26 Balanced Decoder R2R+1Bit Dual Native Decoding Music Bridge

[Jake2]

I try to build or buy the best cables I can afford, nothing boutique in my system, but all very decent stuff. I understand the importance and impact of every piece of wire and (yes) foil, but honestly have no idea how important this BNC cable is. But over time, every objectivist (it's just 1s and 0s) trope has fallen flat on its face. I'm sadly going to assume the same goes for the BNC

The ~$40 LMR400 recommended and reviewed by @FredA here who also has the $179 Gustard. Though it looks like the one he initially bought was a stiff 'hand formable' one which though sounding good was a bit more tricky to use. looks like he also bought a more flexible version of same a few posts down - <$20 - at those prices you could buy a few and try them out.

 

[FredA]

The ~$40 LMR400 recommended and reviewed by @FredA here who also has the $179 Gustard. Though it looks like the one he initially bought was a stiff 'hand formable' one which though sounding good was a bit more tricky to use. looks like he also bought a more flexible version of same a few posts down - <$20 - at those prices you could buy a few and try them out.

I tried only the stiff one. Also, I no longer have the u16. That said, the lmr400 is an awesome value.

 

[BShaw]

I'm not meaning any offense at all, but that cable is copper clad aluminum, not intended for anything like audio geeks, and yet there are people raving about it. This tells me that maybe for the first time in my audio ramblings, the cable might not matter as much. Maybe it's because the audio signal doesn't actually pass through the BNC from clock-R26?
Sorry if this is getting off topic.

 

[Palyodgree]

See a couple of pages of discussion of LHY OCK-2 vs Afterdark & Cybercraft (with a few R26 refs for good measure) over in the U18 DDC thread here.

Thanks Jake , I had a look I’m actually getting a AfterDark optical switch combination Giesemann 10m clock , we are having optical fibre installed next week by our cable provider . From what I’m getting out of my R26 I’m confident this clock will be worth it though a couple of guys over on U18 thread get very emotional and angry over what others spent their own money on ,,LoL

 

[Jake2]

Thanks Jake , I had a look I’m actually getting a AfterDark optical switch combination Giesemann 10m clock , we are having optical fibre installed next week by our cable provider . From what I’m getting out of my R26 I’m confident this clock will be worth it though a couple of guys over on U18 thread get very emotional and angry over what others spent their own money on ,,LoL

Those AfterDark switches looks pretty sweet, so alongside power I'm now focussing on the upstream network as well, the R26 is certainly good enough to justify it, but aiming a little lower to start - with the LHY SW-6 switch.

 

[Jake2]

I'm not meaning any offense at all, but that cable is copper clad aluminum, not intended for anything like audio geeks, and yet there are people raving about it. This tells me that maybe for the first time in my audio ramblings, the cable might not matter as much. Maybe it's because the audio signal doesn't actually pass through the BNC from clock-R26?
Sorry if this is getting off topic.

The do vary and the characteristics of the cable do matter (minimal imperfections in design and build so internal reflections that would muddy the clock sine signal definition are minimised), but confusingly it seems there's cheap cables that have desirable characteristics to perform well. I've had different results from three cables - I commented on my experiences in the Audio-gd DI-20 thread and I think linked it earlier in this thread.

 

[Currawong]

If you want to eliminate the effect of digital cables, the solution is to remove the noise coming in off the power to your components, including that put back in by wall warts. All the different cables do is shift the frequencies of noise being passed through. Now, of course, that is a huge rabbit hole. But that is why the network connection works so well (and optical) because they are noise isolating by default. This is how I can use those very slim $15 SDI cables off Amazon for S/PDIF and it's fairly just as good as any other connection with most DACs, because I have a power regenerator and all the wall-warts on a power filter board, with the whole lot plugged into a far power point, away from everything else.

 

[Jake2]

If you want to eliminate the effect of digital cables, the solution is to remove the noise coming in off the power to your components, including that put back in by wall warts. All the different cables do is shift the frequencies of noise being passed through. Now, of course, that is a huge rabbit hole. But that is why the network connection works so well (and optical) because they are noise isolating by default. This is how I can use those very slim $15 SDI cables off Amazon for S/PDIF and it's fairly just as good as any other connection with most DACs, because I have a power regenerator and all the wall-warts on a power filter board, with the whole lot plugged into a far power point, away from everything else.

I agree the power noise is an important factor. But in the case of coaxial cables being used with high precision external clocks I understand from my reading that the level of internal reflection of the cable is an important differentiating factor that can be minimised through high precision materials/manufacturing/assembly. As reflections from impedance mismatches between cables and components are a well accepted factor in lessening the precision of the clock waveform as received by the DAC so it stands to reason the level of internal reflections within a cable is also relevant. Certainly specialist precision testing cables have 'return loss' (in db) as a key specification - noted at a range various frequencies, the higher the better, with that exact stated aim - the minimise the reflected signal wave relative to the incident wave to improve measuring precision.

 

[Gandah]

Does the r26 have any lip-sync delay?

 

[Ichos]

Dear friends here is my opinion on the Gustard DAC R26.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/gustard-dac-r26.26186/review/29606/

Go buy one!

 

[Odezra]

Dear friends here is my opinion on the Gustard DAC R26.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/gustard-dac-r26.26186/review/29606/

Go buy one!

Nice review. I wonder did you have a faulty unit? Your experience with the streamer is the opposite of mine. I am running an ethernet connection from a google nest wifi router. Haven't experienced a single drop out or buffering issue in 2 weeks (while in comparison, my ifi zen has played up) and I find the sound quality superior to the other inputs.

 

[565321]

I have had 0 problems running through LAN with LMS since the beginning. The signal is error corrected to the door. What could go wrong?

 

[Ichos]

Nice review. I wonder did you have a faulty unit? Your experience with the streamer is the opposite of mine. I am running an ethernet connection from a google nest wifi router. Haven't experienced a single drop out or buffering issue in 2 weeks (while in comparison, my ifi zen has played up) and I find the sound quality superior to the other inputs.

I don't know but I guess that my unit was alright because most of the time it played well.
For the sound quality I insist, an external streamer always yielded better results.

 

[565321]

I don't know but I guess that my unit was alright because most of the time it played well.
For the sound quality I insist, an external streamer always yielded better results.

Maybe you should add "in my setup"

 

[Ichos]

Maybe you should add "in my setup"

As I wrote this is with more expensive dedicated transports.