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

[mmwwmm]

Having an Ares II already will be giving a little bias as you know your system. I'd recommend a bit more burn in for either of the other options before final judgements. I had this experience twice with the R26 and May so it's unfortunately a thing I have personally experienced. How do I know? I started with a 4-6 db bass shelf for the first week or so and ended up half that. With the May, it was 3-4db low shelf from first day/week I had it to now over 700hrs. and it's incredible at .75db.

Please, could you elaborate about your impressions and the differences you hear between the R26 and the Holo May?

 

[fullbass]

p.s to https://www.head-fi.org/threads/gus...ve-decoding-music-bridge.963630/post-17263180

I want my opinion to be correctly understood - these are only first impressions about 'raw' devices. I will update this when the devices are fully warmed up. I already hear that Schumann has great potential, I can hear how the sound opens up and grows in level

 

[iSpartan]

Hello folks
Well I'm heading towards the fabled 300 ( This is Sparta! ) hour mark, and have a question.
In NOS mode, streaming from Tidal, there's a click at the beginning of every track. Said click doesn't happen on my Qobuz sub. Any ideas as to why this is happening and if possible how to fix it?
Thanks

 

[migo]

Hello folks
Well I'm heading towards the fabled 300 ( This is Sparta! ) hour mark, and have a question.
In NOS mode, streaming from Tidal, there's a click at the beginning of every track. Said click doesn't happen on my Qobuz sub. Any ideas as to why this is happening and if possible how to fix it?
Thanks

Is it for all tracks or only for MQA encoded?

 

[iSpartan]

Is it for all tracks or only for MQA encoded?

Everything.

 

[iSpartan]

Is it for all tracks or only for MQA encoded?

Actually I was wrong there. It does seem to be MQA. Thanks for the input. I'll listen further. Hadn't really been checking on MQA/ non MQA tracks.
Thanks again

 

[Jake2]

Actually I was wrong there. It does seem to be MQA. Thanks for the input. I'll listen further. Hadn't really been checking on MQA/ non MQA tracks.
Thanks again

Good luck solving it, good to hear you've narrowed it down to MQA @iSpartan and that you're approaching the magic 300 mark!

I see from your sig you've now got the OCK-2, so I'd be interested in your impressions, of how the R26 and LHY perform in your system, if/when you're comfortable to share them.

Also I can't help but notice you've got a rather sorted digital front end (ER, switches etc) and power side of things - a space I'm just starting to explore with the LHY switch and maybe the PSM156. So would be interested in your experiences here, but perhaps a wee bit OT for this thread so might PM you if that's OK.

 

[cobrabucket]

I´m curious to know if the latest batches of R26 have installed the latest firmware provided by Gustard (2022-10-23 and 2022-10-17) or they just come with the original firmware that seems to be installed in all the units over here (2022-06-11).

To new R26 owners, and to check fw installed, you must press and hold the button in the center of the right ring, then press the button on the left side of the panel to power on while keeping pressed the center right button. Then the firmware version will shows up on the display.

Please, check it and share with us.

2022-11-15

 

[fullbass]

2022-06-11

 

[mmwwmm]

2022-11-15

This is a really recent version…

 

[cobrabucket]

This is a really recent version…

Just arrived yesterday. Ordered 2022-11-13. They had to wait a week to ship but it arrived very fast [3.5 days from Shenzhen]! Guess the wait was worth it bc at least they updated the fw.

 

[cobrabucket]

Still burning it in, but the R26 sounds great out of the box with DSD. Definitely glad I bought this DAC!



Currently using Foobar, but will compare with HQPlayer and Roon [3 month trial] later.

 

[camrector]

Just arrived yesterday. Ordered 2022-11-13. They had to wait a week to ship but it arrived very fast [3.5 days from Shenzhen]! Guess the wait was worth it bc at least they updated the fw.

Ordered mine Nov 10th. Shipped out on Nov 23rd. It’ll be here to NY on Monday. I was told that they were waiting on a shipment from the factory. Hoping mine has the newest firmware

 

[cobrabucket]

"I was told that they were waiting on a shipment from the factory."
Same. Fingers crossed that you're updated.

 

[cobrabucket]

I will be testing DSD vs PCM of this album [Joe Satriani - "Engines of Creation"]. Also PCM via usb> U18 vs Pi2AES. I will eventually move it closer to my router to test how LAN compares. And then get to do it all over again after the LHY OCK-1 arrives!