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

[BShaw]

A few days ago I said I would report back after giving some time to listen properly to my system after converting the LAN cable to fiber. I hope this doesn't run too long, but it does require a little bit of backstory:
A week ago, I finally installed some room treatment, with pretty large (2'x3') panels from GIK on the front wall, side FR points, rear wall, and bigger clouds on the ceiling. I was really happy when I ran through a bunch of CDs after the install, noting the gain in clarity, separation, and depth of the soundstage. I was hearing the music more, the phase distortions of my room less, things were more cohesive. Then I did some streaming the next day. Oh my. Previously the two formats were so close to my ears I didn't have a preference, but now the room treatment seemed to be unmasking something in the streaming, because the soundstage was smaller (than CD), and just sounded disappointing. I was pretty bummed, but the good news was I summised this was actually a good thing because now I was hearing the superiority of CD which means a more truthful and resolving listening experience.
I installed the fiber honestly expecting to be non-plussed when I sat down tonight to listen. Went from Vikingur Olafsun, to Melanie Debiasio, to Talking Heads, to Bad Plus, all outstanding recordings - skipped through a whole variety of textures, dynamics, and densities, and just kept going because I wanted to make sure what I was hearing would hold up as I challenged it. And it did, right to the end - the clarity, imaging, soundstage, and separation were truly stellar. I really kept waiting for something to fall apart, that moment when I find I'm frustrated and irritated and reaching to hold onto one of the instruments as it gets drowned out by something more insistent. It never happened! To me this is how "noise" distorts music in my system when things get a little crowded, and it's subtle but when you know your system and love the details, it's pretty annoying. What I experienced tonight was actually a surprise, and I have only my very un-scientific, subjective perspective, but for $100 this to me was a slam dunk.
It was one musical, head bobbing mofo of an evening.

 

[arnolfini]

A few days ago I said I would report back after giving some time to listen properly to my system after converting the LAN cable to fiber. I hope this doesn't run too long, but it does require a little bit of backstory:
A week ago, I finally installed some room treatment, with pretty large (2'x3') panels from GIK on the front wall, side FR points, rear wall, and bigger clouds on the ceiling. I was really happy when I ran through a bunch of CDs after the install, noting the gain in clarity, separation, and depth of the soundstage. I was hearing the music more, the phase distortions of my room less, things were more cohesive. Then I did some streaming the next day. Oh my. Previously the two formats were so close to my ears I didn't have a preference, but now the room treatment seemed to be unmasking something in the streaming, because the soundstage was smaller (than CD), and just sounded disappointing. I was pretty bummed, but the good news was I summised this was actually a good thing because now I was hearing the superiority of CD which means a more truthful and resolving listening experience.
I installed the fiber honestly expecting to be non-plussed when I sat down tonight to listen. Went from Vikingur Olafsun, to Melanie Debiasio, to Talking Heads, to Bad Plus, all outstanding recordings - skipped through a whole variety of textures, dynamics, and densities, and just kept going because I wanted to make sure what I was hearing would hold up as I challenged it. And it did, right to the end - the clarity, imaging, soundstage, and separation were truly stellar. I really kept waiting for something to fall apart, that moment when I find I'm frustrated and irritated and reaching to hold onto one of the instruments as it gets drowned out by something more insistent. It never happened! To me this is how "noise" distorts music in my system when things get a little crowded, and it's subtle but when you know your system it's and love the details, it's pretty annoying. What I experienced tonight was actually a surprise, and I have only my very un-scientific, subjective perspective, but for $100 this to me was a slam dunk.
It was one musical, head bobbing mofo of an evening.

Could you please be more specific about what optical cable you used connecting what equipment, I would be interested in going down that route?

 

[cobrabucket]

deleted

 

[BShaw]

Here's the cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F1D6LKN/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here's the modules (need 2): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CFATYM/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And here's the converter (need 2): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003CFATL0?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Besides the above components, you'll need two short-as-possible ethernet tails, I made mine up with stuff on hand. The whole process took 30 minutes, only because I had to route the fiber through the basement and back up, and because I'm a bit of a spazz.

EDIT: One more thing, if you want to replace the crap SMPS that come with the converters, here's a link to 9v Jameco LPS that's cheap as hell and gets a lot of recommendations: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N17N8FP?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[BShaw]

Here are a

couple of

fiber porn shots:

 

[sgreg1]

A couple of questions:

- Is there a file rate being displayed on your screen? (should say DSD 2.8mhz)?
- Have you gone into the UPNP section of your mconnect app and refreshed - and can you confirm you can't see Gustarender v1.3?

It will display pcm 44.1 and yes have refreshed over and over. Even cycled through all inputs to try and reset no’s. I was able to get my MacBook to find it but could not generate any volume. I was told I needed mconnect so I downloaded it. through mconnect I tried to locate from all option and I will not find the r26.

 

[sgreg1]

Have you selected "Stream" using the remote?

No but I will.

 

[sgreg1]

Have you read the manual?

Manual is pretty much worthless.

 

[cobrabucket]

Here's the cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F1D6LKN/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here's the modules (need 2): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CFATYM/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And here's the converter (need 2): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003CFATL0?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Besides the above components, you'll need two short-as-possible ethernet tails, I made mine up with stuff on hand. The whole process took 30 minutes, only because I had to route the fiber through the basement and back up, and because I'm a bit of a spazz.

EDIT: One more thing, if you want to replace the crap SMPS that come with the converters, here's a link to 12v Jameco LPS that's cheap as hell and gets a lot of recommendations: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N17N8FP?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

The LPS you linked is 9v?

 

[BShaw]

The LPS you linked is 9v?

Corrected, sorry about that. The converters use 9v. Too many numbers.......

 

[Jake2]

What I experienced tonight was actually a surprise, and I have only my very un-scientific, subjective perspective, but for $100 this to me was a slam dunk.
It was one musical, head bobbing mofo of an evening

That was a great read thanks @BShaw . Love the initial baseline comparative vs CDs etc and to hear your system with the R26 benefitted so much from such an affordable tweak.

Here's the cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F1D6LKN/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here's the modules (need 2): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CFATYM/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cheers for all the links. Might just have to give it a go.

 

[SupCompracer]

I was visiting a friend in NY state recently. He lives in an apartment building. He has a music server, a movie server, three two channel systems, two headphone amps, twelve headphones (yes, he is single lol). He said he had network noise and used optical converters to isolate his R26 DAC. He used the kit Small Green Computer sells for ~ $350. They use a wall wart for the dirty side and a linear PS for the clean side. I know little about network gear but recall they used OM1 62.5/125 spec gear? I can assemble something similar off Amazon with one linear supply for around $170. I don't have any network noise that I can hear so unsure if it would be worthwhile to try.

 

[BShaw]

I think it was Camrector who

I was visiting a friend in NY state recently. He lives in an apartment building. He has a music server, a movie server, three two channel systems, two headphone amps, twelve headphones (yes, he is single lol). He said he had network noise and used optical converters to isolate his R26 DAC. He used the kit Small Green Computer sells for ~ $350. They use a wall wart for the dirty side and a linear PS for the clean side. I know little about network gear but recall they used OM1 62.5/125 spec gear? I can assemble something similar off Amazon with one linear supply for around $170. I don't have any network noise that I can hear so unsure if it would be worthwhile to try.

I can't answer that, but I've heard it said many times you don't know how much noise you have until it's gone. That was certainly the case for me with this particular tweak. The reason I didn't have high expectations is that I was using a high quality CAT8 cable, so double shielded, and Telegartner connectors, but then I realized there's loads of crap upstream from that cable, including a router, a modem, two power supplies (iFi but still), crapty power strip, wall mains, blabla. I guess there really is no bottom in this pursuit of absolute beauty

 

[BShaw]

I was visiting a friend in NY state recently. He lives in an apartment building. He has a music server, a movie server, three two channel systems, two headphone amps, twelve headphones (yes, he is single lol). He said he had network noise and used optical converters to isolate his R26 DAC. He used the kit Small Green Computer sells for ~ $350. They use a wall wart for the dirty side and a linear PS for the clean side. I know little about network gear but recall they used OM1 62.5/125 spec gear? I can assemble something similar off Amazon with one linear supply for around $170. I don't have any network noise that I can hear so unsure if it would be worthwhile to try.

Hard to imagine why the bloke is single haha!
But what he's doing with power supplies is correct from what I've read (there was a great article by Tom Gibbs posted by Camrector a couple weeks ago, good read). Right now I have a wall wart on the sending end and the Jameco LPS on the receiving end, but I do have an LHY LPS on order so when it arrives I'll send the Jameco to the dirty end.

 

[arnolfini]

Here's the cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F1D6LKN/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here's the modules (need 2): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CFATYM/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And here's the converter (need 2): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003CFATL0?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Besides the above components, you'll need two short-as-possible ethernet tails, I made mine up with stuff on hand. The whole process took 30 minutes, only because I had to route the fiber through the basement and back up, and because I'm a bit of a spazz.

EDIT: One more thing, if you want to replace the crap SMPS that come with the converters, here's a link to 9v Jameco LPS that's cheap as hell and gets a lot of recommendations: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N17N8FP?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Thanks so much for all the details about all the necessary component; the distance between my router and my Hifi system is only 4 meters and I was wondering if optical would make a difference over this distance?