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

[Luvdac]

The sw6 is nice. Gustard has the N18 fiber switch coming out Oct/Nov I was told for a couple hundred less.
These switches just don’t make much sense to me. I can see them on the “dirty side” of the network, then fiber to the DAC. I just can’t see the logic hooking up all my network components, computer and my Dac into the same switch.

I just ordered the sw6. Currently i have two cisco meraki switches that have been modded with upgraded power supplies and clocks by audiophool.nl
Both are 'cascaded'. The first one receives the network from the home via one of the optical slots and connects to the second switch thru its second optical port. The second switch is close to the server and feeds the server ( jcat xe net card) via copper ethernet. The server feeds the dac via jcat xe usb card. Previously i ran the system with just a single switch but with the second one in the loop, the sound is an epiphany.
With the sw6, I hope to use it closest to the server and use the ock 2 as its master clock. So i will end up with the ock2 conducting the dac, server and sw6 switch.
Lets hope it pans out!

 

[sajunky]

Maybe you're speaking about something like this? https://isoteksystems.com/products/evo3-isoplug/
These are great and have been tested and measured by the guys at Alpha Audio and came out on top in their plug-in filter comparison. They will clean up noise either near the appliance in question, or you can just use them near your hifi gear by plugging one into the same receptacle your gear is tapped into, or at the first outlet of a power strip. I'm about to purchase another one.

At the source. @camrector: can you hear?

Deploy IsoPlug around your home to stop Differential Mains noise created by personal computers, fridge freezers, microwave ovens; in fact anything with a power supply that is connected into the wall sockets around your home. Simply plug into the wall sockets next to these appliances for immediate effect.

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Note that such devices only reduce differential noise. Not a common mode noise.

 

[BShaw]

At the source. @camrector: can you hear?

Deploy IsoPlug around your home to stop Differential Mains noise created by personal computers, fridge freezers, microwave ovens; in fact anything with a power supply that is connected into the wall sockets around your home. Simply plug into the wall sockets next to these appliances for immediate effect.

----
Note that such devices only reduce differential noise. Not a common mode noise.

Good point you make about differential noise, I'm looking for a way to deal with common mode without spending large money on a big conditioner, since I need at least 6 taps.......but I think the Isotek does have a small choke in it, wouldn't that deal with some CM noise as a low pass filter?

 

[sajunky]

Good point you make about differential noise, I'm looking for a way to deal with common mode without spending large money on a big conditioner, since I need at least 6 taps.......but I think the Isotek does have a small choke in it, wouldn't that deal with some CM noise as a low pass filter?

Not. This little choke is most likely a part of a resonant circuit with capacitors. 2nd order filter gives a lower impedance for targeted frequencies than the 1st order filter that capacitors create alone on a source impedance.

 

[sbgk]

was trying the xmos thesycon evaluation driver which is at 5.58 and thought it sounded different, so then found this Cayin driver which uses the same files and think the sound is more refined, worth the 5 mins it takes to upgrade.

Don't think we'll see a Gustard 5.58 driver as it costs them money to buy the next release.

can update usb driver to 5.58, think there's a small improvement in SQ
install driver 5.58 from https://en.cayin.cn/drive/9/18/568.html
then go to C:\Program Files\Gustard\USB Audio Device Driver\x64

rename the *.sys files to *.sys.bak
rename the *.dll files to *.dll.bak

go to C:\Program Files\Cayin\USB Audio Driver\x64
and copy the 2 sys files and 4 dll files

go to C:\Program Files\Gustard\USB Audio Device Driver\x64
and paste the copied files

rename the CayinAudio.sys file
to GustardUsbAudio.sys

do this for the 5 other .sys or .dll files

that's it

can uninstall the cayin driver and can reinstall the gustard driver or just rename the *,bak files etc if you want to go back to start

 

[wallace1118]

May I ask someone do the DRC ? There are several ways to do DRC, and if it's done using a computer, I've heard that R2R DACs might happen sounds delays. I'm considering doing DRC recently and hope to get some sharing of experiences. Thank you, everyone

 

[Jake2]

May I ask someone do the DRC ? There are several ways to do DRC, and if it's done using a computer, I've heard that R2R DACs might happen sounds delays. I'm considering doing DRC recently and hope to get some sharing of experiences. Thank you, everyone

DRC... digital room correction? A processing delay for two channel audio is only an issue if you're trying to sync to other stuff.. video or additional channels like subs, is that your intent? I do HQP upscaling for streamed audio which introduces a processing delay of say half a second but it's a non-issue as I'm not trying to sync the audio to anything else.

Not quite sure how your question relates to R2R DACs specifically...

 

[sajunky]

May I ask someone do the DRC ? There are several ways to do DRC, and if it's done using a computer, I've heard that R2R DACs might happen sounds delays. I'm considering doing DRC recently and hope to get some sharing of experiences. Thank you, everyone

You come perhaps from the Denafrips camp. Denafrips use large circular buffer (including for USB port where is not needed at all). It cause a variable delay it cannot be compensated.

Not attributed to R2R. Not at all, just in reverse. R2R produce a valid output every clock cycle, while Delta-Sigma format is incremental. Number of clock cycles is required to produce meanful result.

 

[wallace1118]

DRC... digital room correction? A processing delay for two channel audio is only an issue if you're trying to sync to other stuff.. video or additional channels like subs, is that your intent? I do HQP upscaling for streamed audio which introduces a processing delay of say half a second but it's a non-issue as I'm not trying to sync the audio to anything else.

Not quite sure how your question relates to R2R DACs specifically...

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I mean that the video and audio might be out of sync, and I'm worried it might be because of the R2R DAC ? I have read about users who use Dirac Live Suite on PC sharing this situation.

 

[wallace1118]

You come perhaps from the Denafrips camp. Denafrips use large circular buffer (including for USB port where is not needed at all). It cause a variable delay it cannot be compensated.

Not attributed to R2R. Not at all, just in reverse. R2R produce a valid output every clock cycle, while Delta-Sigma format is incremental. Number of clock cycles is required to produce meanful result.

Thank you for the information. I'm also a loyal player of the R26

 

[camrector]

May I ask someone do the DRC ? There are several ways to do DRC, and if it's done using a computer, I've heard that R2R DACs might happen sounds delays. I'm considering doing DRC recently and hope to get some sharing of experiences. Thank you, everyone

I use convolution fir filters for DRC made in the state of the art program Focus Fidelity.
Flawless and life changing.

 

[BShaw]

May I ask someone do the DRC ? There are several ways to do DRC, and if it's done using a computer, I've heard that R2R DACs might happen sounds delays. I'm considering doing DRC recently and hope to get some sharing of experiences. Thank you, everyone

I’m with Cam. He made a filter for me several months ago and the difference in clarity and cohesiveness was a revelation. I’m using Roon, and I have no delay or latency, even at max oversampling rate. The only delays I ever had with the R26 were when I was using BubbleUPnP, which pushed the very small available RAM in the unit. This was more due to the card in the R26, nothing to do with the ladder itself. Roon now does all the heavy lifting, including oversampling.
When I first saw the frequency response of my system in REW, I was shocked at how much the room messes with the presentation, even after a fair amount of room treatment! Now I measure things all the time, it’s informative and geeky fun.

 

[wallace1118]

Sounds great. I took a quick look, it seems like a better option than Dirac. And it's more affordable too. It would be even better if Focus Fidelity Filter Designer had a trial version. I'll keep researching. Thanks so much.

Using convolution FIR filters in Roon seems like a good approach, and the R26 can be directly stream with Roon by LAN . However, I'm currently not using Roon, I'm using Tidal Connect by FMC mod which sounds very great . In fact, I'm still considering whether using a Mac mini for DRC or using Accuphase DG-28 would be more user-friendly.

I use convolution fir filters for DRC made in the state of the art program Focus Fidelity.
Flawless and life changing.

 

[rockcity007]

Another R26 comparison @ 9:40

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://youtu.be/SSPhxnrMA1o?feature=shared&data=05|01||8ceee9b41fe545fa7d0608dbc10a9dcb|84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa|1|0|638316023558003019|Unknown|TWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0=|3000|||&sdata=5TXrHA87+1zq2+J2nyUON6IyMdXxHQ/A5fChampFjhA=&reserved=0

 

[camrector]

Sounds great. I took a quick look, it seems like a better option than Dirac. And it's more affordable too. It would be even better if Focus Fidelity Filter Designer had a trial version. I'll keep researching. Thanks so much.

Using convolution FIR filters in Roon seems like a good approach, and the R26 can be directly stream with Roon by LAN . However, I'm currently not using Roon, I'm using Tidal Connect by FMC mod which sounds very great . In fact, I'm still considering whether using a Mac mini for DRC or using Accuphase DG-28 would be more user-friendly.

You can link Roon and Tidal and then load all the fir filters into Roon. It’s a very clean approach and sounds phenomenal.