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

[rodthebod]

I try to build or buy the best cables I can afford, nothing boutique in my system, but all very decent stuff. I understand the importance and impact of every piece of wire and (yes) foil, but honestly have no idea how important this BNC cable is. But over time, every objectivist (it's just 1s and 0s) trope has fallen flat on its face. I'm sadly going to assume the same goes for the BNC

I'd always go along with building your own cables, always have done this with all interconnects, bar networking CAT5/6/7/8 cables (but have terminated these cables). I would try as short as possible solid silver PTFE screened 50ohm cable then use some good quality 50ohm silver terminals. Treat it like creating a digital coax cable for SPDIF but 50ohm not 75ohm.

 

[rodthebod]

Ichos, interesting review of the R26, the only problem I have is how you have your speakers in your rather diminutive listening room. How can you comment on soundstage width and depth when you have the speakers so close to the walls. There is no room for the speakers to breathe to give a good impression... Just my opinion having been involved in speaker design and very involved in speaker support design.

 

[Palyodgree]

I don't know but I guess that my unit was alright because most of the time it played well.
For the sound quality I insist, an external streamer always yielded better results.

Yes the built in streamer of the R26 is just OK , what you feed your dac is of course important I have two servers / streamers in two completely different systems both purpose built though one is three times the cost utilizing a clock board that directly clocks the USB board not re-clocked and both boards are separately powered . Side by side comparisons it is immediately noticeable just how much the noise floor is lowered between the two servers .

 

[Ichos]

Ichos, interesting review of the R26, the only problem I have is how you have your speakers in your rather diminutive listening room. How can you comment on soundstage width and depth when you have the speakers so close to the walls. There is no room for the speakers to breathe to give a good impression... Just my opinion having been involved in speaker design and very involved in speaker support design.

Thank you.

So I guess that you know that the perceived illusion of the soundstage is mostly room related and to a lesser degree speaker related.

This certain speakers are designed for close to wall placing and near field listening.
The room chose this certain speakers and not vice versa.
I have listened and reviewed more speakers than you can imagine so I know what is perfectly suited to this certain room.

Depth, holography etc are achieved with the room treatment, which of course is extended to all the walls and the boundaries of the room and not visible in the review photo.

I have reviewed more than 50 DACs in this room and I certainly know how the room behaves and how it can highlight differences between DACs.

The room might be small but believe me that there are a lot of times that the soundstage is restricted between the speaker boundaries and not extending outside them.

Anyway the R26 is good, grand sized and extended as I wrote in the review.
But it doesn't have relative depth and realistic sized images, especially when compared with other DACs, as I also wrote in the review.

 

[Ichos]

Yes the built in streamer of the R26 is just OK , what you feed your dac is of course important I have two servers / streamers in two completely different systems both purpose built though one is three times the cost utilizing a clock board that directly clocks the USB board not re-clocked and both boards are separately powered . Side by side comparisons it is immediately noticeable just how much the noise floor is lowered between the two servers .

Excaltly.
Nothing else to add.

 

[rodthebod]

Thank you.

So I guess that you know that the perceived illusion of the soundstage is mostly room related and to a lesser degree speaker related.

This certain speakers are designed for close to wall placing and near field listening.
The room chose this certain speakers and not vice versa.
I have listened and reviewed more speakers than you can imagine so I know what is perfectly suited to this certain room.

Depth, holography etc are achieved with the room treatment, which of course is extended to all the walls and the boundaries of the room and not visible in the review photo.

I have reviewed more than 50 DACs in this room and I certainly know how the room behaves and how it can highlight differences between DACs.

The room might be small but believe me that there are a lot of times that the soundstage is restricted between the speaker boundaries and not extending outside them.

Anyway the R26 is good, grand sized and extended as I wrote in the review.
But it doesn't have relative depth and realistic sized images, especially when compared with other DACs, as I also wrote in the review.

In that room with all that clutter in-between and directly up against the sides of the speaker this will always have a detrimental effect on the perceived depth of the soundstage, it's simple physics. The speaker is the creator of the sound, the room reacts. You may not be giving all your DAC's you have reviewed a fair chance is all.

 

[Ichos]

In that room with all that clutter in-between and directly up against the sides of the speaker this will always have a detrimental effect on the perceived depth of the soundstage, it's simple physics. The speaker is the creator of the sound, the room reacts. You may not be giving all your DAC's you have reviewed a fair chance is all.

You don't sound that educated in room acoustics and you are attacking me with your only credentials being that you are somehow involved in speaker design.

I don't feel like discussing any further but for what it matters my observations remain the same with headphones listening.

Anyway this is one mans subjective opinion and you should always read more reviews.

 

[Ichos]

Well, I don't know what is the consensus about the Gustard DAC R26 but kindly allow me to express my - subjective - findings.

As you have probably read in the review, this is a hell of a good sounding DAC, great value and strongly recommended, especially if you value timbre quality.

BUT, I don't think that it is a giant killer and not necessarily better than other similarly priced DACs.
As an example, the Denafrips Pontus is one excellent sounding competitor or the Musical Fidelity M6x which btw is a D/S DAC but it sounds amazingly good.

So this is not the end of the road and not the mother of all DACs.

My 2c.

 

[analogdays]

Does the r26 have any lip-sync delay?

I'm interested in this as well as I'd like to use it as a general purpose DAC connected to my PC via USB.

For those who are interested in buying a r26, drop.com is currently taking orders for $1400 with a shipping date of Jan 9 2023.

https://drop.com/buy/gustard-r26-discrete-decoder-dac?defaultSelectionIds=971354

 

[rodthebod]

You don't sound that educated in room acoustics and you are attacking me with your only credentials being that you are somehow involved in speaker design.

I don't feel like discussing any further but for what it matters my observations remain the same with headphones listening.

Anyway this is one mans subjective opinion and you should always read more reviews.

Manufacturer of speakers in the UK since 1996 to 2013........... if that makes any difference. It still doesn't change the fact your room is too small with that size of cabinet with all the clutter IMHO... Anyway, let's not get too off track here, this was just my 2c worth. The R26 does things I've not experienced before, depth of soundstage being one key thing as well as detail. Your review was positive which I believe the R26 deserves and I agree with most of the points made and I am still running it in.

 

[Ichos]

Manufacturer of speakers in the UK since 1996 to 2013........... if that makes any difference. It still doesn't change the fact your room is too small with that size of cabinet with all the clutter IMHO... Anyway, let's not get too off track here, this was just my 2c worth. The R26 does things I've not experienced before, depth of soundstage being one key thing as well as detail. Your review was positive which I believe the R26 deserves and I agree with most of the points made and I am still running it in.

Deep yes but not as deep and holographic as some other DACs.
I don't know what is your point of reference or other comparisons.

BTW, I don't know what is the clutter you saw, the headphones are acting as diffraction and the other stuff are heavy weight bass traps and 3d scattering frames.

Add a ceiling ful of hybrid treatment as well as in my back wall and all the upper corners of the room and don't bet about my room holographic soundstage abilities.
You are going to lose.

I am more than 20 years on the hobby and well educated, I had all kinds of rooms and systems and I certainly know how to set up a room as small as the one I am having now.
It is a dedicated room and not your regular, untreated living room.

 

[Palyodgree]

Deep yes but not as deep and holographic as some other DACs.
I don't know what is your point of reference or other comparisons.

BTW, I don't know what is the clutter you saw, the headphones are acting as diffraction and the other stuff are heavy weight bass traps and 3d scattering frames.

Add a ceiling ful of hybrid treatment as well as in my back wall and all the upper corners of the room and don't bet about my room holographic soundstage abilities.
You are going to lose.

I am more than 20 years on the hobby and well educated, I had all kinds of rooms and systems and I certainly know how to set up a room as small as the one I am having now.
It is a dedicated room and not your regular, untreated living room.

Lay it to rest please , the both of you guys have much to add to this R26 topic so let’s all get along .

 

[Ichos]

Lay it to rest please , the both of you guys have much to add to this R26 topic so let’s all get along .

Sure thing, no hard feelings for @rodthebod let's keep the thread going!

Nothing much left to add, as far as I am concerned this is a DAC that I could happily own!

 

[headstef]

Sure thing, no hard feelings for @rodthebod let's keep the thread going!

Nothing much left to add, as far as I am concerned this is a DAC that I could happily own!

...One way to keep it going is to ask how does it compare with the Chord Qutest (my main dac for almost two years now) which is in the same price range. Sorry if this has been discussed earlier somewhere. I am truly curious if I can find anything audibly better for the same money or a little more. Has anyone compared these two?

 

[rodthebod]

Sure thing, no hard feelings for @rodthebod let's keep the thread going!

Nothing much left to add, as far as I am concerned this is a DAC that I could happily own!

I will be making a DIY I2S cable to test on the input of the R26 from a RPi3+ (bypass of internal fuse on the power supply) using HAT's - Allo Isolator with Kali + Shanti LPS twin supply for Pi and Kali and Isolator with LiPo batteries.

If this works well I'll post the instructions for those interested. I'll start with cannibalising an existing HDMI cable to work out the pin configuration required then once established make a pure silver/teflon insulated version with high quality connectors.

Will be worth it to compare a quality streamer like the RPi with the internal LAN input using Audirvana on Mac, Bubble upnp or Mconnect. Moode Audio is a well proven, well sorted RPi interface which I know delivers the goods. Declock would be interesting to try with Pi too.