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

[Forgisound]

Keith Jarrett Koeln Concert likes to ring. Especially the HiRes 96/24 recording. Now I tried 44/16 PCM to 768/32 upsampling and DSD256 upsampling. It rings a lot more when Roon is doing DSD upsampling. So I'll stick with PCM.

 

[camrector]

Keith Jarrett Koeln Concert likes to ring. Especially the HiRes 96/24 recording. Now I tried 44/16 PCM to 768/32 upsampling and DSD256 upsampling. It rings a lot more when Roon is doing DSD upsampling. So I'll stick with PCM.

That’s my piano reference album !!

 

[Chodi]

Too bad Roon doesn't know how to use nVidia GPU.

Much better approach is HQPlayer. It will use Roon and avoid the Roon upsamplng. You can try it on a free trial if you like. I've been using it for several years. HQPlayer will also let you offload part of the load through Nvidia CUDA.

 

[Forgisound]

Much better approach is HQPlayer. It will use Roon and avoid the Roon upsamplng. You can try it on a free trial if you like. I've been using it for several years. HQPlayer will also let you offload part of the load through Nvidia CUDA.

I used HQP with another i7 computer. But it was a mini PC and the sound wasn't that good. This PC cannot run HQP because the CPU does not have some instructions. So I ordered a better CPU. However, on that Mini PC, I liked the sound of the Roon better. I'll try it on this one when the CPU arrives.

 

[nicks25]

I use the free virtualisation program UTM on my MacBook to run a free copy of WindowsXP, which is painless to install, as UTM have the working OS's linked on their site. This allows any mainboard driver software updates to be installed via the USB-C port on the rear of the R26. I physically remove the sdcard in the R26 for any firmware updates for the internal streamer (latest Gustarender 1v4) and use Belena Etcher on my Mac to flash the sdcard.

I had read your previous post and was aware of the UTM option. That has certainly worked for you but that also requires that you have a version of Windows available to install. You are obviously technically proficient so it doesn’t seem like a big deal to you. My real issue is that is shouldn’t be this difficult to update firmware.

Edit: I see that Windows XP is free so that means you don’t have to purchase a copy of Windows. Sorry for overlooking that.

 

[duffer5]

Okay, let me open this can of worms. Is there a difference in the audio "quality," between FMC's and associated cables. If you look closely at the offerings I feel that many of the FMC's that claim "audiophile," quality are merely "private," branded FMC's from either TP-Link or Gtek or maybe StarTech. Could this be one of the rare occasions in audio that it there is no difference between high cost and low cost components of the FMC as long as you are matching the correct protocols between the pair of FMC's. The only "quality," variable I see is adding a quality LPC on the "clean" side of the setup.

 

[camrector]

Okay, let me open this can of worms. Is there a difference in the audio "quality," between FMC's and associated cables. If you look closely at the offerings I feel that many of the FMC's that claim "audiophile," quality are merely "private," branded FMC's from either TP-Link or Gtek or maybe StarTech. Could this be one of the rare occasions in audio that it there is no difference between hight cost and low cost components of the FMC as long as you are matching the correct protocols between the pair of FMC's. The only "quality," variable I see is adding a quality LPC on the "clean" side of the setup.

Bingo!

 

[labeelen]

Okay, let me open this can of worms. Is there a difference in the audio "quality," between FMC's and associated cables. If you look closely at the offerings I feel that many of the FMC's that claim "audiophile," quality are merely "private," branded FMC's from either TP-Link or Gtek or maybe StarTech. Could this be one of the rare occasions in audio that it there is no difference between hight cost and low cost components of the FMC as long as you are matching the correct protocols between the pair of FMC's. The only "quality," variable I see is adding a quality LPC on the "clean" side of the setup.

Best advice imo is to experiment and trust your own ears. As an example: when I added an LPS and FMC the sound of my R26 improved. However when I added an LPS to a traditional switch and FMC in the chain of my Singxer sda-6 (switch->RPI4->usb->Singxer) the sound degrades (probably as the sda-6 DAC already has excellent galvanic isolation buit-in). Adding an LPS to the RPI4 in that scenario however does improve the sound.

 

[Dandoudou]

Edit - as you're using wifi as your primary LAN/internet connection you don't need a second ethernet adaptor, you should be able to configure your existing ethernet port as a bridge.

Nice one. And good question, to which the answer (at least to the first part of your qn) is yes - if you add a second ethernet port to your Mac, say a USB to ethernet adapter, you can configure it to 'bridge' the LAN directly to another device, in this case the R26.

Edit - as you're using wifi as your primary LAN/internet connection you don't need a second ethernet adaptor, you should be able to configure your existing ethernet port as a bridge.

I tried using a second ethernet port on the Mac with a USB adaptor, but it does not work. (It works on my PC.)
I also tried to use WiFi and Ethernet at the same time (Wifi for the internet), and (Ethernet for streaming), but it does not work.
I reached the conclusion that macOS can not manage two networks at the same time, but maybe I'm wrong.

With what setting you made your Mac managing WiFi and Ethernet at the same time?

 

[camrector]

I tried using a second ethernet port on the Mac with a USB adaptor, but it does not work. (It works on my PC.)
I also tried to use WiFi and Ethernet at the same time (Wifi for the internet), and (Ethernet for streaming), but it does not work.
I reached the conclusion that macOS can not manage two networks at the same time, but maybe I'm wrong.

With what setting you made your Mac managing WiFi and Ethernet at the same time?

1. Connect the Ethernet cable to the streamer.
2. Launch System Preferences from the  Apple menu and click on Sharing.
3. Click on Internet Sharing from the left menu.
4. Select the pull-down menu next to Share your connection from: and choose Ethernet.

 

[Dandoudou]

Launch System Preferences from the  Apple menu and click on Sharing.

I don't see a "Sharing" panel in System Preferences (My Mac is on Ventura).
Are you sure that this is its name?

 

[Dandoudou]

After a full month of breaking in, I get the best results with the LAN input with the following up samplings:

With Roon: PCM & DSD > Upsampled or modulated to DSD512
With Origin the sound of PCM is better than Roon (its DSP is better) : PCM > DSD512, DSD > Bit-Perfect (Origin does not modulate DSD)
With HQPlayer, the best sound is when PCM is upsampled to 768 kHz, and DSD modulated to DSD512.

I use both NOS on, and DSD Direct on.

 

[camrector]

I don't see a "Sharing" panel in System Preferences (My Mac is on Ventura).
Are you sure that this is its name?

 

[nicks25]

I don't see a "Sharing" panel in System Preferences (My Mac is on Ventura).
Are you sure that this is its name?

On Ventura, Sharing may be under the General tab.

 

[Jake2]

I reached the conclusion that macOS can not manage two networks at the same time, but maybe I'm wrong.

With what setting you made your Mac managing WiFi and Ethernet at the same time?

As I said after reading the Audiophilestyle recommendations I tried this briefly, but like you, could not successfully get it to work, either bridging the ethernet adaptor or wifi. I assumed this was due to my Mac OS inexperience (the M1 is my first Apple Mac, also on Ventura). I intend to try this again when I get home mid Jan, but if you're able to solve it before then that'd be great!