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

[camrector]

The best way to increase the resolution is to reduce the noise of the system, not to upsample.
I was using HQPlayer for years, but stopped completely a few months ago. It was after upgrading various aspects of my system. (Upgrade of AC supply, upgrade of most LPS', grounding boxes…) Now, upsampling sounds artificial and flat, and the most resolving sound is in bit-perfect.

Anyway, the R26 became my secondary DAC.
My main DAC now is offically a 'Topping Octo by @FranckLeRouge' following an upgrade/overall of the Octo by this genius in electronics.

Usb/I2S audio no longer interests me.

Unless you are NOS or DSD direct your Dac is upsampling/oversampling anyway.
Converting a digital signal to a continuous analogue waveform requires interpolation. Doing part of this interpolation digitally (upsampling) simplifies the analogue circuitry and gives better results. Never said that it improves resolution.

 

[Dandoudou]

Usb/I2S audio no longer interests me.

Unless you are NOS or DSD direct your Dac is upsampling/oversampling anyway.
Converting a digital signal to a continuous analogue waveform requires interpolation. Doing part of this interpolation digitally (upsampling) simplifies the analogue circuitry and gives better results. Never said that it improves resolution.

When I stream with the same setup to the built-in streamer of the R26, the drop in SQ is huge.
The reason for that is that the built-in streamer produces a lot of noise inside the device.

The Octo has a NOS mode.
I feed it through its AES port.

 

[camrector]

The reason for that is that the built-in streamer produces a lot of noise inside the devicze.

First time hearing this in a 525 page thread!
Can’t say that I’ve ever heard such a thing in the multitude of published reviews either.
The internal streamer of the R26 was a lot better sounding than my Silent Angel Munich m1t

 

[Dandoudou]

First time hearing this in a 525 page thread!
Can’t say that I’ve ever heard such a thing in the multitude of published reviews either.
The internal streamer of the R26 was a lot better sounding than my Silent Angel Munich m1t

There were posts that you did not read :

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/aliexpress-cables.963919/post-17641225

Reviews?
Reviewers are testing the gear in the conditions that will be applied by an average user that would buy the device, not by a power user that would optimize it.

 

[camrector]

There were posts that you did not read :

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/aliexpress-cables.963919/post-17641225

Reviews?
Reviewers are testing the gear in conditions that will be applied by an average user, not a power user.

I did read that awhile ago. No thanks Usb/I2S is not for me any longer.

 

[sajunky]

The best way to increase the resolution is to reduce the noise of the system, not to upsample.
I was using HQPlayer for years, but stopped completely a few months ago. It was after upgrades of various aspects of my system. (Upgrade of the AC supply, upgrade of most LPS', grounding boxes…) Now, upsampling sounds artificial and flat, and the most resolving sound is in bit-perfect.

That is. Low noise is a key. Also quality of the amplification. Result would be different by example when using Topping A90 with its nested feedback architecture. Such solutions are not good for NOS. But presence of opamps in the audio path in Gustard destroy grass during fast transients, it is probably a reason of shifting towards Delta-Sigma DAC.

 

[Dandoudou]

@camrector , I saw a few days ago the Ethernet cable that you built. It is really nice.

I take the occasion to report about the tests of Ethernet cables with which I proceeded since this summer.
I was using during longtime an Audiophonics cat.7 Ethernet cable between EtherREGEN and the streamer. It's a well-built, well shielded cable, and I did not think that it's worth trying to upgrade further the cable that connects these two devices.
I discovered that I was wrong, when a friend lent me two fancy Ethernet cables. I was surprised by the difference the cable at this location can make!

Since August, I tested various models of Ethernet cables: the Mad Scientist Black Magic, the Sablon Audio, the Neotech Neet-1008, the Alix Odin Silver, the Alix Odin Gold, the Final Touch Metis…
All of these cables sound very differently. I was very pleased by the coherency of the sound stage with the Sablon Audio, and I highly recommend this cable. But the Metis was the most impressive. With it, one does not have the impression that the sound emanates from the loudspeakers, but that it is produced in the room itself.

I could buy the Metis with a small discount in a group order:
https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/re...cable/final-touch-audio-metis-ethernet-cable/

 

[Dandoudou]

That is. Low noise is a key. Also quality of the amplification. Result would be different by example when using Topping A90 with its nested feedback architecture. Such solutions are not good for NOS. But presence of opamps in the audio path in Gustard destroy grass during fast transients, it is probably a reason of shifting towards Delta-Sigma DAC.

The tweaked Octo has a R2R like sound, but with an increased resolution.

 

[camrector]

@camrector , I saw a few days ago the Ethernet cable that you built. It is really nice.

I take the occasion to report about the tests of Ethernet cables with which I proceeded since this summer.
I was using during longtime an Audiophonics cat.7 Ethernet cable between EtherREGEN and the streamer. It's a well-built, well shielded cable, and I did not think that it's worth trying to upgrade further the cable that connects these two devices.
I discovered that I was wrong, when a friend borrowed me two fancy Ethernet cables. I was surprised by the difference the cable at this location can make!

Since August, I tested various models of Ethernet cables: the Mad Scientist Black Magic, the Sablon Audio, the Neotech Neet-1008, the Alix Odin Silver, the Alix Odin Gold, the Final Touch Metis…
All of these cables sound very differently. I was very pleased by the coherency of the sound stage with the Sablon Audio, and I highly recommend this cable. But the Metis was the most impressive. With it, one does not have the impression that the sound emanates from the loudspeakers, but that it is produced in the room itself.

I took advantage of a group order to get the Metis with a small discount:
https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/re...cable/final-touch-audio-metis-ethernet-cable/

Nice they don’t really say what they are using. I’d love to see how mine stands up to it.
As far as my cable goes I’m using 20awg 7n Occ silver and air as the dielectric.

 

[Dandoudou]

Nice they don’t really say what they are using. I’d love to see how mine stands up to it.
As far as my cable goes I’m using 20awg 7n Occ silver and air as the dielectric.

You live in the US. Try to compare your cable to a Sablon Audio that is also very good. It's an American brand.

 

[amrutmhatre90]

First time hearing this in a 525 page thread!
Can’t say that I’ve ever heard such a thing in the multitude of published reviews either.
The internal streamer of the R26 was a lot better sounding than my Silent Angel Munich m1t

I agree with him, LAN only is noiser on R26.
HQplayer NAA + Roon solves this to some extent.

Eversolo via USB to R26 sounds very good, not sure what settings I need to run on HQplayer.

Any filter and setting suggestions to upsample with DSD?

 

[Dandoudou]

Any filter and setting suggestions to upsample with DSD?

It depends on how powerful is your server.
Try the various variants of the AMSDM7EC modulator with the sinc-MGa oversampling filter.

 

[camrector]

You live in the US. Try to compare your cable to a Sablon Audio that is also very good. It's an American brand.

I wouldn’t be a good biased judge lol

I agree with him, LAN only is noiser on R26.
HQplayer NAA + Roon solves this to some extent.

Eversolo via USB to R26 sounds very good, not sure what settings I need to run on HQplayer.

Any filter and setting suggestions to upsample with DSD?

Are you using Fiber media converters?

My A26 arrives tomorrow so I’ll have some recommendations soon.

 

[sajunky]

The tweaked Octo has a R2R like sound, but with an increased resolution.

We are frequently attracted by a smoothed sound and interpret it as a better resolution, but it is other things. I am talking about what we can hear during fast transients. If we hear nothing around a dominant tone, it sounds pristine clean with increased dynamics, we will find Delta-Sigma alternative attractive. Unfortunately output of Gustard is already impaired, no wonder Delta-Sigma wins.

 

[Dandoudou]

We are frequently attracted by a smoothed sound and interpret it as a better resolution, but it is other things. I am talking about what we can hear during fast transients. If we hear nothing around a dominant tone, it sounds pristine clean with increased dynamics, we will find Delta-Sigma alternative attractive. Unfortunately output of Gustard is already impaired, no wonder Delta-Sigma wins.

My Octo also has opamps, but Franck did not upgrade them yet. He should replace them in the future, when he'll upgrade the Octo to the Ultimate version.
Research on the Ultimate version is still a work in progress.