[duffer5]

Absolutely. I don't know what you're using as a core but upgrading the usb card to a jcat xe ( pricey at 700 euros) will improve things by quite a giant leap.( I'm assuming you are connecting the dac directly to a core). Another big step up would be to get an upgraded switch with inbuilt fiber ports, such as a cisco meraki. Audiophool.nl does the upgrades, but again it's a few hundred bucks.
I run my dac connected to a u18 via pure silver hdmi i2s. The u18 is directly connected to the roon servers' jcat usb xe card. Power supply for the server is a hdplex 500 and all cables are hand drawn pure silver. The server connects to an upgraded cisco meraki switch from a jcat ethernet xe card using pure silver ethernet cable. The meraki gets its Internet connection via the optical fiber ports. Both the u18 and dac are getting clocked by lhy ock 2 clock with silver cables.In this configuration the direct usb connection just destroys the direct lan connection to the dac.

I hope this was helpful and gives you an idea of upgrade paths.

Very helpful. So many ways to go with this hobby, lol. I am using a Mac mini in a separate room for my Roon Core and for my server I am using a Hifi Rose 150b as my streamer / transport via USB direct into the r26. I have a u18 en route so I will be going USB to i2s directly into the R26 from the u18 and I have ordered the fiber "upgrade kit," which also is en route. My final (short-term upgrade) will be a purple fuse in the u18 and I have a purple fuse already in the R26 and the Hifi Rose along with my Ferrum HP amp. I should be good for a bit after all that. Until you all help me spend more money which is all part of the fun.

 

[camrector]

Ordered placed. I was tempted to order that all in one that @m-i-c-k-e-y posted from TeraDak but I need to walk before I run. @BShaw I ordered the replacement Jameco LPS as well. Thank you for the suggestion. Based on the specs they may work as well if not better than the Topping P50 as the two are "separately," isolated. Thanks to the rest of this group for the insights. Very helpful.

Awesome!!
Reach out if you have any questions!

 

[rodthebod]

I really hate to drag out an old horse here again, but I'm totally failing at my attempts to install Gustarender 1v4. It doesn't help that I'm on my Gfs Windows computer in what seems like an ecosystem designed to drive Mother Theresa to murder. I download the Mediabridge file, throw it into Winzip, and it says it's extracting, but at the very end I'm told the file was corrupted. Tried 7 times (she's really happy with the mess I left on her rig), same result. I'm going to post a couple of shots here hoping maybe someone will say "hit that button dummy" and my misery will come to an end.

On a side note, I noticed on the Mediabridge download page that they're saying the file is compatible with Mac via winzip for Mac - anybody tried?

Thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to help!

I've posted very early on in this thread on using my MacBook Pro M1 and Belena Etcher program to flash the internal sdcard of the R26 (this has to be removed from the R26) This process saved me as my R26 didn't respond when trying to use the rear USB-C port. It only takes seconds to flash the sdcard once removed I've done this with 1v3 and 1v4 firmware. The only hassle is having to open the case to get to the sdcard.

 

[rodthebod]

The number if users reporting issues with both firmware and renderer updates for Gustard DACs is really not acceptable. It is actually affecting my decision to purchase. It seems that people eventually get through the process but it should not be so painful. I hope you are able to obtain some clearly written instructions.

I am also a Mac user but I believe you need virtualization software on a Mac to perform upgrades. I do have an old Windows 7 laptop I can dust off.

I use the free virtualisation program UTM on my MacBook to run a free copy of WindowsXP, which is painless to install, as UTM have the working OS's linked on their site. This allows any mainboard driver software updates to be installed via the USB-C port on the rear of the R26. I physically remove the sdcard in the R26 for any firmware updates for the internal streamer (latest Gustarender 1v4) and use Belena Etcher on my Mac to flash the sdcard.

 

[migo]

Can anyone confirm if the update 1.4 solves the stuttering problem some of us have previously experienced?

1v4 update doesn't solved stuttering for me unf.

 

[Forgisound]

I use a Win 10 PC, I connect via LAN to R26. The PC is not the most powerful, it has an AMD Phenom 610e CPU. But the Gigabyte MBO is great. There are no more like that. The sound is better than Mac Mini, than Cocktail streamer, etc. I have 8 GB RAM and SSD.
When I do upsampling to PCM max, or to DSD256, everything works for 15-20 min. Then stop and jump to the next lane. Is it to PC, or to Gustarender?

 

[Spitfire]

When I do upsampling to PCM max, or to DSD256, everything works for 15-20 min. Then stop and jump to the next lane. Is it to PC, or to Gustarender?

Depends on the software you use.
I use Foobar with UPnP MediaRenderer Output plugin.
It's related to the way Foobar outputs a continuous stream to the Gustard, and an internal 1 GB limit of this stream/file
The higher the sampling rate, the quicker you've reached that 1 GB limit and music stops (at least with Foobar).
Pause/Stop & play and it will continue again.

There's another plugin to fix this issue, but it's very crude the way it works.
It basically stops each UPnP session after each track and start's it again.
With DSD this will cause relay clicking with each new track in your playlist, and maybe have an effect on gapless playback.

 

[Forgisound]

Depends on the software you use.
I use Foobar with UPnP MediaRenderer Output plugin.
It's related to the way Foobar outputs a continuous stream to the Gustard, and an internal 1 GB limit of this stream/file
The higher the sampling rate, the quicker you've reached that 1 GB limit and music stops (at least with Foobar).
Pause/Stop & play and it will continue again.

There's another plugin to fix this issue, but it's very crude the way it works.
It basically stops each UPnP session after each track and start's it again.
With DSD this will cause relay clicking with each new track in your playlist, and maybe have an effect on gapless playback.

I use Roon.

 

[camrector]

I use Roon.

What does the signal path in Roon say?
If the processing speed is below 2% if will stutter and stop playing.
That would be a computer issue. You need a better faster processor.

 

[Forgisound]

-

 

[Forgisound]

What does the signal path in Roon say?
If the processing speed is below 2% if will stutter and stop playing.
That would be a computer issue. You need a better faster processor.

Now is 2.1x
PCM 768kHz
1.7x DSD 256
Thank you

 

[camrector]

Now is 2.1%
PCM 768kHz

Yes that’s most likely your problem.
It most likely dips below that.
I have a 2012 MBP with an intel I7, 16gb of ram and ssd.
I’m running alot of stuff in my signal path off Roon and you can see with this DSD track being converted I’m at 3.2%.

 

[Forgisound]

Yes that’s most likely your problem.
It most likely dips below that.
I have a 2012 MBP with an intel I7, 16gb of ram and ssd.
I’m running alot of stuff in my signal path off Roon and you can see with this DSD track being converted I’m a 3.2%.

Too bad Roon doesn't know how to use nVidia GPU.

 

[camrector]

Too bad Roon doesn't know how to use nVidia GPU.

Under the DSP sample rate conversion tab you can try turning on the “parallelize sigma delta modulator”
That will allow Roon to use multi cpu cores instead of a single one.

 

[Forgisound]

Under the DSP sample rate conversion tab you can try turning on the “parallelize sigma delta modulator”
That will allow Roon to use multi cpu cores instead of a single one.

That is on. Am buy better procesor. Wait for delivery.