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

[Stellabagpuss]

For what it's worth, I recently got myself a WANDLA+HYPSOS combo, but after a couple of weeks of listening to music with it, I have decided to sell it and keep my R26. I bought the Ferrum combo after having read a lot of positive reviews that stated that it is the most musical sounding delta-sigma based DAC the reviewer had heard so I was intrigued to hear the improved technicalities while keeping that musical sound. Unfortunately in my system, the R26 beats the Ferrum combo in musical enjoyment, even though it definitely sounds a bit more detailed and open sounding with a bit better instrument separation, texture and note attack compared to my R26. But while I gain maybe 5–10% in technicalities when moving to the Ferrum combo from my R26, I feel like I trade off about 15–20% in musicality and natural timbre, especially with drums, because of the dryer and thinner sound of the Ferrum combo.

I totally get that... Also keep in my, that if your into DIY modding you can improve the R26 by quite a large margin. Have a look into Jake2 mods. In brief, l've turned my R26 into a DAC,l simply couldn't afford to replace.

 

[AntonRisto]

I totally get that... Also keep in my, that if your into DIY modding you can improve the R26 by quite a large margin. Have a look into Jake2 mods. In brief, l've turned my R26 into a DAC,l simply couldn't afford to replace.

Yeah, the sound definitely improved a bit with the FMC mod which I’m now using with my Holo Red. I also upgraded the fuse with the Gustard upgrade fuse but haven’t look at other mods yet. What would be the most easy/affordable tweak next?

 

[Stellabagpuss]

TBH there are loads you can do, all detailed in this thread, sheilding gives major gains, tungsten cubes, changing the internal Coax for the 10Mhz Clock... It's mainly Arts and Crafts work... So patience is all that's needed.

 

[Alenotta]

TBH there are loads you can do, all detailed in this thread, sheilding gives major gains, tungsten cubes, changing the internal Coax for the 10Mhz Clock... It's mainly Arts and Crafts work... So patience is all that's needed.

I need to catch up on all the mod opportunities. I've been using the Gustard since it came out. I finally upgraded to the firmware where I can use Tidal Connect. I love this DAC. Has anyone collected a comprehensive list of mod options? I appreciate that the front of this thread gets updated with firmware etc. It'd be fun to eke out the last drop of quality possible out of this thing. I'm not currently even using an external clock and I find it incredible personally.

 

[Jake2]

Re free

I need to catch up on all the mod opportunities. I've been using the Gustard since it came out. I finally upgraded to the firmware where I can use Tidal Connect. I love this DAC. Has anyone collected a comprehensive list of mod options? I appreciate that the front of this thread gets updated with firmware etc. It'd be fun to eke out the last drop of quality possible out of this thing. I'm not currently even using an external clock and I find it incredible personally.

I tend to think of ‘mods’ as irreversible (or at least require a lot of effort) vs tweaks which are reversible/removable with a little effort. All mine are in the latter category, though to be fair some are getting closer to the mod end of the spectrum:

• Vibration damping/isolation footers + weight on top
• MuMetal equivalent magnetic shielding for toroidal power supplies (ideally wrapped but a sheet on top and/or under has an effect too)
• Tungsten cube on internal oscillator, K2 clock synthesiser or FPGA chip in R2R ladder section
• Copper shielding between DAC sections, including a separation between R2R and analogue stage sections, preferably grounded to chassis,
• Graphite felt sheets in centre digital section and R2R section to absorb RFI (graphite a better absorber than copper which reflects more)
• Ground box attached to spare input. Quartz Acoustics premium (SGD150) attached to s/pdif coax in my case
• Copper sheet on top of chassis connected to ground box (or in my case my dedicated ground rod)
• Fo.Q vibration damping sheets on top (unobtainium now sorry after Fo.Q stopped operating last year)
• Better/cleaner power eg. power conditioner and/or a An AliX Flux-50 inline filter

I’ve probably missed a few but that’s most of em.

Grounding, vibration damping and shielding all bring cumulative improvements.

And then there’s all the upstream network chain and or input signal improvements and external clocking for those so inclined.

 

[Alenotta]

Re free

I tend to think of ‘mods’ as irreversible (or at least require a lot of effort) vs tweaks which are reversible/removable with a little effort. All mine are in the latter category, though to be fair some are getting closer to the mod end of the spectrum:

• Vibration damping/isolation footers + weight on top
• MuMetal equivalent magnetic shielding for toroidal power supplies (ideally wrapped but a sheet on top and/or under has an effect too)
• Tungsten cube on internal oscillator, K2 clock synthesiser or FPGA chip in R2R ladder section
• Copper shielding between DAC sections, including a separation between R2R and analogue stage sections, preferably grounded to chassis,
• Graphite felt sheets in centre digital section and R2R section to absorb RFI (graphite a better absorber than copper which reflects more)
• Ground box attached to spare input. Quartz Acoustics premium (SGD150) attached to s/pdif coax in my case
• Copper sheet on top of chassis connected to ground box (or in my case my dedicated ground rod)
• Fo.Q vibration damping sheets on top (unobtainium now sorry after Fo.Q stopped operating last year)
• Better/cleaner power eg. power conditioner and/or a An AliX Flux-50 inline filter

I’ve probably missed a few but that’s most of em.

Grounding, vibration damping and shielding all bring cumulative improvements.

And then there’s all the upstream network chain and or input signal improvements and external clocking for those so inclined.

I got the upgrade fuse from Gustard when I first got the DAC. It seemed like it did good things. Then I switched out the power cable to something beefier and plugged it into my PS Audio Powerplant. It feels dead silent to me. Do you all find the external clocks hugely beneficial?

 

[Jake2]

Do you all find the external clocks hugely beneficial?

Potentially, but not necessarily.. it depends, lots of variables. Hitting the road now for a long weekend so that’s all I can say for now.

 

[sendler2112]

I got the upgrade fuse from Gustard when I first got the DAC. It seemed like it did good things. Then I switched out the power cable to something beefier and plugged it into my PS Audio Powerplant. It feels dead silent to me. Do you all find the external clocks hugely beneficial?

This youtuber thinks an external clock makes a huge difference with the R26 and found one for $100. I didn't try it yet.

 

[rfgdelion]

Can anybody weigh in on the impact of an iFi iSilencer vs a double FMC setup? Should have somewhat similar goals in mind and the first is clearly the simpler setup.

Curious if anybody has compared the both, tried the iFi by itself and can share the results and/or uses them both at the same time?

 

[BShaw]

I use an IFi silencer going into my mac switch from the router on the "dirty" side of my FMC setup, so I can't compare the two in the same application. But I can say that prior to the FMC mod I used a similar filter at the input of my R26 connected directly to the LAN cable, and the FMC setup was clearly superior. I know that might not be very helpful, but just thought I'd add a little info. I think iFi makes great stuff, but I'm willing to bet that even at twice the cost, the FMC mod will do a better job, but I may be wrong, so.......

 

[BShaw]

Speaking of mods and all things R26, I'll be selling mine, listing it tomorrow, but if by chance anyone here is interested, PM me. I'll still be keeping tabs on this thread, because I think the R26 is a superb DAC, but I have a new love, and the R26 doesn't play DSD very well........

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

@BShaw And that DAC will be?

 

[rfgdelion]

Btw. Just noticed the dail that is always in fixed mode, doesn’t change to volume when I rotate it. Something obvious that I am missing? Switching it on/off didn’t work.

 

[Jake2]

Btw. Just noticed the dail that is always in fixed mode, doesn’t change to volume when I rotate it. Something obvious that I am missing? Switching it on/off didn’t work.

You need to turn PCM NOS and DSD Direct in the settings Menu to OFF.

 

[rfgdelion]

You need to turn PCM NOS and DSD Direct in the settings Menu to OFF.

Got it. Was hoping to control volume via the Tidal (iOS) app. That doesn’t seem to work, even with variable volume on.