[amrutmhatre90]

Have you tried HQplayer + Roon > DMP A6 > R26. Sorry I don’t use HQplayer or Roon and basically just stream Tidal connect so I don’t know if this is possible. But I will possibly use them in the near future. Thanks

Sadly HQP + Roon is not possible on DMP A6 though I dp use Roon + A6

 

[DeckHiFi]

I got my Cyan 2 finally and was listening vs the R26 last night. I had it setup so I could instantly switch between R26 and Cyan using the input switcher on my Holo Bliss.

And the result? I couldn't tell a single difference lol.
I'll be messing around with it more this week, trying out DSD oversampling, etc. Maybe a difference will appear.

Did you try PCM with the different R26 filters? I really love the fast filter currently playing CDs. Curious if you normally notice a difference between the filters and if Cyan 2 has similar options that sound the same? If they pulled that off, that’s great for consumers because it’s cheaper.

 

[DeckHiFi]

@gammi you should also lower that R26 bit rate to 15.
Using the R26 measured SINAD of 96 will give you an ENOB (effective number of bits) of 15.7.

I found some convos going back and forth on Roon forums in thread Which HQP Filter are you using? [2024]. I suggest you read through it for the Jussi posts.

Ares II: Oh yes I found the point by Jussi responding to someone else on January 17th about them running their Ares II at 16 bits as they thought that was the best linearity setting. Jussi responded with "Yes, it seemed so from a linearity sweep measurements I've seen people doing. But I've measured my Ares II with different settings and arrived at 19 bits giving best results when driven from HQPlayer. I also have theFPGA firmware updates installed and the device in NOS mode."

Gustard R26: When asked recently, on February 14th of this year...what someone should set their HQ player settings to for Gustard R26, Jussi responded with: "Good starting point is with default filters, output at 705.6/768k PCM, DAC Bits set to 20 and LNS15 noise-shaper. You can also try DSD256 at 48k x256, using ASDM7EC-super modulator. Same filters."

So either Jussi wasn't paying attention to the question specifically about the Gustard R26 and just said 20 bits or Jussi actually suggests 20 bits for the Gustard R26. Either way I'm using 20 bits for now on PCM upscaling and liking it. I also agree with you Cam that I don't like DSD on this dac as I do hear the background hiss when a song starts up, you don't really hear it when the song is playing but it just doesn't seem great to me from a dynamic range perspective if there is that much background noise. I also think PCM just sounds very good with my limited testing.

 

[camrector]

I found some convos going back and forth on Roon forums in thread Which HQP Filter are you using? [2024]. I suggest you read through it for the Jussi posts.

Ares II: Oh yes I found the point by Jussi responding to someone else on January 17th about them running their Ares II at 16 bits as they thought that was the best linearity setting. Jussi responded with "Yes, it seemed so from a linearity sweep measurements I've seen people doing. But I've measured my Ares II with different settings and arrived at 19 bits giving best results when driven from HQPlayer. I also have theFPGA firmware updates installed and the device in NOS mode."

Gustard R26: When asked recently, on February 14th of this year...what someone should set their HQ player settings to for Gustard R26, Jussi responded with: "Good starting point is with default filters, output at 705.6/768k PCM, DAC Bis set to 20 and LNS15 noise-shaper. You can also try DSD256 at 48k x256, using ASDM7EC-super modulator. Same filters"

So either Jussi wasn't paying attention to the question specifically about the Gustard R26 and just said 20 bits or Jussi actually suggests 20 bits for the Gustard R26. Either way I'm using 20 bits for now on PCM upscaling and liking it. I also agree with you Cam that I don't like DSD on this dac as I do hear the background hiss when a song starts up, you don't really hear it when the song is playing but it just doesn't seem great to me from a dynamic range perspective if there is that much background noise. I also think PCM just sounds very good with my limited testing.

None of the R2R DACs are actually linear to 24-bit. They are dithered and noise-shaped to 20-bit. So jussi recommending 20-bit is always the first correct answer. Using SINAD and the linearity measurements is how we arrive at 15-bit for the R26.

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/which-hqp-filter-are-you-using-2015-2023/6061?page=27

Here you can see with measurements of the Spring 2 why this is important.

 

[jsiets4]

So I did the FMC mod with TP-Link FMCs and Aune XP2 power supply. I have not had a chance to do a whole lot of listening but the first thing that jumped out at me was the noise that I didn't realize was there is gone. Talk about quiet!

 

[BShaw]

So I did the FMC mod with TP-Link FMCs and Aune XP2 power supply. I have not had a chance to do a whole lot of listening but the first thing that jumped out at me was the noise that I didn't realize was there is gone. Talk about quiet!

Those were my exact words when I did the mod, good for you jsiets4!

 

[DeckHiFi]

None of the R2R DACs are actually linear to 24-bit. They are dithered and noise-shaped to 20-bit. So jussi recommending 20-bit is always the first correct answer. Using SINAD and the linearity measurements is how we arrive at 15-bit for the R26.

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/which-hqp-filter-are-you-using-2015-2023/6061?page=27

Here you can see with measurements of the Spring 2 why this is important.

Appreciate it. Looks like reading that thread it’s probably not bad overall to set it to 20 bits as that’s still a lot better than picking 24 but perhaps going down to 15 is even better. Not sure if any of this would be audible at that low of levels but yea if the consensus is to choose 15 bits for Gustard R26 I’ll go with it. Doesn’t look like there’s anything negative about doing so per Jussi explaining thoughts on other dacs years ago and might slightly improve the graphs : ).

My thoughts on the long good filters (per Jussi): poly-sinc-ext3 is my favorite currently. Has an analogue magic to it (voices are great), but also has an enjoyable overall sound. Tight bass that doesn't overdo it, highs are easy on the ears, very easy to listen to. Kinda hits all the things I'm looking for with good emotion with classical too. I do think poly-sinc-gauss-xla filter is the most impressive on first listen. It sounds like you're in the studio with the band - detail, bass, imaging are all excellent. But I don't listen to music just to have a clinical look at it, I want to enjoy it so going with the ext3 for the moment. Feeling the HQPlayer magic for now.

If anyone is curious, in same thread I mentioned before when someone asked Jussi what are the best technical performance filters, Jussi's answer was: "There is no black and white answer to this. But for example: poly-sinc-ext2/ext3 and poly-sinc-gauss group, especially gauss-long/xl(a)/hires are very good."

 

[MikeLS]

Those were my exact words when I did the mod, good for you jsiets4!

Hi guys I’m going to try fmc with my limited knowledge on networking. I have a main router in other room and satellite currently hooked up to my R26. Do I do this mod with the main or satellite? Also the lan cables do I need to use 2 good lan cables ie router to fmc and fmc to dac. Was trying to search for a short supra cable for the former but shortest I think is 1m. I already have one supra currently which I’ll use for the latter. Thanks.

 

[Jake2]

Hi guys I’m going to try fmc with my limited knowledge on networking. I have a main router in other room and satellite currently hooked up to my R26. Do I do this mod with the main or satellite? Also the lan cables do I need to use 2 good lan cables ie router to fmc and fmc to dac. Was trying to search for a short supra cable for the former but shortest I think is 1m. I already have one supra currently which I’ll use for the latter. Thanks.

As a general rule network isolation has greater effect closer to the downstream endpoint (the streamer, in this case the R26 internal streamer) - less chance for noise to sneak back in after. So use it at the satellite end, the optical effectively provides 100% galvanic isolation from whatever radio frequency noise might be riding the ethernet cable from your wifi satellite/access point. There's still the potential for noise from the FMC itself, which a lower noise power supply will help with, but first things first.

 

[Jake2]

Use a better or at least shielded cat 7/8 cable in the last step after the FMC to the R26.

 

[amrutmhatre90]

Weird or dumb question,

Can a mesh router provide similar results that we get with FMC mod , if the 2 routers are connected wirelessly?

Hope noise cannot be transferred wirelessly

 

[MikeLS]

Weird or dumb question,

Can a mesh router provide similar results to FMC mod , if the 2 routers are connected wirelessly?

Good question

 

[BShaw]

Weird or dumb question,

Can a mesh router provide similar results that we get with FMC mod , if the 2 routers are connected wirelessly?

Hope noise cannot be transferred wirelessly

There were some people earlier in the thread doing it this way, I think it’s an OK way to go, except now you’re connecting the DAC directly to the mesh repeater via ethernet cable without any isolation. You could use an iFi LAN silencer at the Gustard ethernet jack, bare minimum and it should help. But at that point you’re now spending almost what it cost to do full FMC, and maybe not achieving quite the same level of SQ.

By the way I’ve got an extra full FMC setup here including 2 linear power supplies and will give a great deal on them.

 

[MikeLS]

There were some people earlier in the thread doing it this way, I think it’s an OK way to go, except now you’re connecting the DAC directly to the mesh repeater via ethernet cable without any isolation. You could use an iFi LAN silencer at the Gustard ethernet jack, bare minimum and it should help. But at that point you’re now spending almost what it cost to do full FMC, and maybe not achieving quite the same level of SQ.

By the way I’ve got an extra full FMC setup here including 2 linear power supplies and will give a great deal on them.

Wouldn’t I be connecting the DAC to the FMC unless I understand the setup wrong.
Satellite to FMC via LAN cable > FMC to FMC via optical > FMC to DAC via lan cable.

 

[BShaw]

Wouldn’t I be connecting the DAC to the FMC unless I understand the setup wrong.
Satellite to FMC via LAN cable > FMC to FMC via optical > FMC to DAC via lan cable.

Apologies, I thought you were considering connecting directly to the mesh router in lieu of the FMCs! In that case yes definitely your setup will work just great and a number of people have done it that way.