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

[PeteJ]

Hello R26 Lovers

The power button of my R26 „pulses“ all the time in standby mode. Is that normal?

I have seen others comments about it as well, weirdly mine has no light on standby button at all... never. I guess its faulty... not sure if I want to complain about this though
Is the light also on when the unit is in use ?

 

[Forgisound]

I have seen others comments about it as well, weirdly mine has no light on standby button at all... never. I guess its faulty... not sure if I want to complain about this though
Is the light also on when the unit is in use ?

My R26 has no noise problems. Not in the least. The button also never lights up. For the first week, I could set the DAC to stand by via the remote control, but I could no longer set it to turn on via the remote. I had to press a button on the device. That problem disappeared by itself. Now remote control has no limits. I fear that in the future function management may become a problem. When it is already unreliable. If it was a car, the manufacturer would have to recall the entire series.
But, sound is beautiful.

 

[565321]

Thanks, but I'm unable (ignorant / don't know how) to play it through the R26!

Do you use Roon or any other server or do you play directly from a PC or similar?

 

[Fluty]

Do you use Roon or any other server or do you play directly from a PC or similar?

My main use is for playing CDs, which it does to perfection. Using mconnect but streaming is secondary, I have no need for Roon (did try it & made no difference to the stuttering). Streaming via mconnect & iFi Zen is flawless, but I'd like to be able to use the R26 streaming function since its there, and do without the iFi one. I'd really like to know if the Sibelius file I attached runs correctly on R26 for anyone?

 

[rodthebod]

This is all that shows up. I’ve tried every sequence and power status I can think of, but it’s just not showing up. Could it be APFS volume VM?

Finally managed to get the latest 27th October 2022 firmware to update on the R26 using my MacBook M1 this is the actual DAC firmware (2022-10-27) not the renderer firmware (v1v3) for the streamer section of the DAC. The two are updated separately. I had to remove the 32GB Sdcard inside the R26 to get my Gustarender 1v21 then 1v3 firmware to update using my MacBook and Belena Etcher flashing software. (see earlier post #229)

I used UTM free virtual OS Mac software, I used old school Win XP 650mb only (only took minutes to load up after following a few YT tutorials). You must install the spice tools which is all available on the UTM site to get XP to work smoothly with the Mac. Most impressed with UTM as it seems to work really well on my Mac M1 if you need Winblows for stuff - i.e firmware updates! File name is: Gustard_R26_CT_221023_via_type-C.exe. Yes it updates to 27th Oct not 23rd! Just tried Win10 too, works well.

A few things that flummoxed me but eventually were sussed out:

1. You must leave the R26 off but plugged into the mains (rocker switch at rear to off), the power led will be a solid white ring as if it is on, but the blue display is blank.
2. The gobbledygook of machine code that's part of the install program instruction text and a few of the buttons is confusing, but ignore that, and the UART USB serial port CH341 is discovered by selecting it manually using the USB button bar section of UTM (top left). You have to make sure the com port that the USB cable connected to the R26 is using is selected before continuing, USB-SERIAL CH341A or similar, all other ports COM1-255 will not work.
3. In the firmware install window select the top left button marked 3. CLICK HERE to start the update, one line of machine code appears in the window, and then......
4. You must switch the R26 on from the rear rocker switch to get the firmware to actually continue to run. A progress bar runs at the bottom of the window.
5. Once the progress bar has shown complete the R26 can be checked by rebooting and holding the centre select circular button inside the ring on the right. After the R26 label shows in the display the firmware date is then shown '2022-10-27'.

(I did run the install 64bit serial driver manually before trying the update, from a zipped up file 'ch341ser driver' as part of the update package, not sure if this is necessary but it installed anyway)

Hope this helps some guys with no Winblows machine

 

[PeteJ]

My R26 has no noise problems. Not in the least. The button also never lights up. For the first week, I could set the DAC to stand by via the remote control, but I could no longer set it to turn on via the remote. I had to press a button on the device. That problem disappeared by itself. Now remote control has no limits. I fear that in the future function management may become a problem. When it is already unreliable. If it was a car, the manufacturer would have to recall the entire series.
But, sound is beautiful.

I have never used the remote, DAC is on my desk so never felt the need for it... I have only tried now with exaclty the same results as yours it would not go out of the standby mode with remote. Then I have pressed the DAC button on the remote and held it in for few seconds (with R26 switched on) there was a click inside the DAC and it started to work perfectly (maybe this will help someone here)

Sounds like we have units from the same batch i.e. with the same issue... on the possitive side mine has no noise problems at all as well.

This made me think if this standby light is somehow related to noise issues many experience... just a though and maybe something worth exploring guys ?

 

[565321]

My main use is for playing CDs, which it does to perfection. Using mconnect but streaming is secondary, I have no need for Roon (did try it & made no difference to the stuttering). Streaming via mconnect & iFi Zen is flawless, but I'd like to be able to use the R26 streaming function since its there, and do without the iFi one. I'd really like to know if the Sibelius file I attached runs correctly on R26 for anyone?

Yeah, I understand it's irritating when the function is available and it doesn't work.
When I experience stuttering I switch off ALL routers/switches and connected devices, TV, radio, streamers for 10 seconds and restart them from the source and forward. The R26 should be the last.

 

[mmwwmm]

This made me think if this standby light is somehow related to noise issues many experience... just a though and maybe something worth exploring guys ?

I think the same. As I had already said, I think that the high pitch noise has something to do with the power button circuit.

 

[Forgisound]

Is there anything on in stand by mode? Or is it just to enable remote on and off? My DAC works non-stop. I don't know if it makes sense to put it in stand by?

 

[JackJohnson316]

Deleted.
What's the point using I2S from another streamer when I2S allegedly hasn't any error correction and R26 already has a streaming function built in?

People use I2S for different reasons. Some use I2S to avoid the USB 5v "noise." Some use I2S because I2S/HDMI cables are normally cheaper than usb cables, though not always. I use a Pink Faun I2S pcie bridge from my streamer to get a signal that is less converted. There is no converting from I2S to USB back to I2S. It brings the I2S signal from my streamer straight to the FPGA on the R26 without converting it to USB and back to I2S. It also avoids the XMOS usb chip on the R26 dac. To each his own. A DDC converts USB to I2S. My pcie I2S card just sends a straight I2S signal to the dac. It also utilizes LVDS which helps with error correction over distance. A ocxo clock can be directly added to my pcie I2S card with no cables, resulting in a hopefully better clock signal than adding an external clock to a ddc.

 

[565321]

Sure, but I don't understand why connect a streamer with an I2S output to the I2S input of a DAC that already has a streamer built-in. The error corrected signal comes straight to the LAN input of the R26.
Why lift out a built-in function outside the R26 and introduce more junk on a stream without error correction instead of sending the stream down a few cm's I2S bus inside the R26 to its DAC section? The I2S signal from the outside streamer is sent on a few cm's I2S bus inside the R26 to the DAC, too. Isn't that like going to the other side of the river to get water?

 

[keenerz]

Its just more options. Like a DDC might have better clocks, better isolation, adds a particular flavour to the music. Just another option.

 

[JackJohnson316]

Sure, but I don't understand why connect a streamer with an I2S output to the I2S input of a DAC that already has a streamer built-in. The error corrected signal comes straight to the LAN input of the R26.
Why lift out a built-in function outside the R26 and introduce more junk on a stream without error correction instead of sending the stream down a few cm's I2S bus inside the R26 to its DAC section? The I2S signal from the outside streamer is sent on a few cm's I2S bus inside the R26 to the DAC, too. Isn't that like going to the other side of the river to get water?

That's a good point you make. I'll compare the two methods (direct lan to dac vs. streamer I2S to dac) when I get a chance and see which one I like more subjectively. It would definitely be cheaper to avoid a separate streamer.

 

[OCC7N]

It would be awesome if you all made a list of issues and reported them to Gustard

the streamer part should have been left off and well thought out as a R2R dac. Why waste money ressource on a part that could be replaced easily by 100euro streamer?

 

[565321]

Why waste money ressource on a part that could be replaced easily by 100euro streamer?

Less boxes, less cables, less PSUs, mate. Simplicity.