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

[Jake2]

Jake - is the Athena Transparent or did it change the sound of your system in anyway?

The candid answer is that when I last compared the two which was at least six weeks ago (only back home this week), the Athena was not perfectly transparent. In the bass, some of the fine texture and lightning responsiveness of the PA-5* alone was smoothed over a bit. However I was pretty relaxed about this as a) it was early days ;b) it was audibly fast improving especially in terms of soundstaging resolution; and c) the Athena has a reputation for being one of the more transparent pre-amps when properly run in.

I've not recently compared them as I've been away not to mention AB'ing preamps is much more hassle than toggling external clocks snd NOS on/off etc... I've gotten a little lazy. Need to get my A into G, maybe this weekend.

*FYI, my interim power-amp, the PA-5 is very resolving and agile with an iron grip on the bass in particular. It's good enough to show the difference between clock cables etc. Remarkably good price/performance ratio. I'm taking my time on selecting a 'proper' power amp, considering a range from the T+A A200 to the likes of the Primaluna Evo 400 (incidentally I heard the Evo 400 integrated over Christmas in a different system and it was certainly rich and luscious in the midrange but had nowhere near the resolution and speed of what I'm used to in the bass). TBC / paralysis by analysis...

 

[Odezra]

The candid answer is that when I last compared the two which was at least six weeks ago (only back home this week), the Athena was not perfectly transparent. In the bass, some of the fine texture and lightning responsiveness of the PA-5* alone was smoothed over a bit. However I was pretty relaxed about this as a) it was early days ;b) it was audibly fast improving especially in terms of soundstaging resolution; and c) the Athena has a reputation for being one of the more transparent pre-amps when properly run in.

I've not recently compared them as I've been away not to mention AB'ing preamps is much more hassle than toggling external clocks snd NOS on/off etc... I've gotten a little lazy. Need to get my A into G, maybe this weekend.

*FYI, my interim power-amp, the PA-5 is very resolving and agile with an iron grip on the bass in particular. It's good enough to show the difference between clock cables etc. Remarkably good price/performance ratio. I'm taking my time on selecting a 'proper' power amp, considering a range from the T+A A200 to the likes of the Primaluna Evo 400 (incidentally I heard the Evo 400 integrated over Christmas in a different system and it was certainly rich and luscious in the midrange but had nowhere near the resolution and speed of what I'm used to in the bass). TBC / paralysis by analysis...

Thanks for that. Good to know.

I am half thinking of introducing a preamp / amp to the speaker system and switching between tubes and another amp. The burson timekeeper gt monoblocks caught my eye as they are meant to have great grip on the bass. Might be worth a test drive. I’d imagine the R26 and the Athena might pair well with them.

 

[camrector]

Thanks for that. Good to know.

I am half thinking of introducing a preamp / amp to the speaker system and switching between tubes and another amp. The burson timekeeper gt monoblocks caught my eye as they are meant to have great grip on the bass. Might be worth a test drive. I’d imagine the R26 and the Athena might pair well with them.

Denafrips preamps are super high on my list. The Hestia pre would be perfect for my bedroom set up

 

[nicks25]

I just received my A26 yesterday and don't have it set up yet but I thought I would comment on the preamp/amp question.

I have a Supratek Chardonnay tube preamp and a solid state Accuphase P-360 amp. I love the combination of tubes/SS in my 2 channel system. My speakers are Scansonic MB3.5 Bs. I also have a Technics SL1200 GR turntable and Gold Note phono preamp.

I do not have a headphone rig - speakers only - so you are probably wondering why I am here but I have found the various threads on Source Components are excellent and have been very beneficial to me in assessing various components.

 

[Jake2]

I just received my A26 yesterday and don't have it set up yet but I thought I would comment on the preamp/amp question.

I have a Supratek Chardonnay tube preamp and a solid state Accuphase P-360 amp. I love the combination of tubes/SS in my 2 channel system. My speakers are Scansonic MB3.5 Bs. I also have a Technics SL1200 GR turntable and Gold Note phono preamp.

I do not have a headphone rig - speakers only - so you are probably wondering why I am here but I have found the various threads on Source Components are excellent and have been very beneficial to me in assessing various components.

Gee that sounds a superb combo. I actually emailed the Supratek guy in Aus last year enquiring about lead times for the Chardonnay & Cabernet, but never heard back.

 

[nicks25]

Gee that sounds a superb combo. I actually emailed the Supratek guy in Aus last year enquiring about lead times for the Chardonnay, but never heard back.

I think the lead time for mine was about 6 weeks and that was over 2 years ago. It's one man operation but Mick has been very responsive when I have asked him questions post sales. I can highly recommend the quality of his product. In addition, he shipped the unit with some really good tubes. I have recently rolled in some NOS tubes. Unfortunately, the price of tubes has really gone up in the last year.

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,

I don't want to make a fool of you.
Before some people decide on a preamplifier, try the description I gave on page 245 if you use Roon or Audirvana.

In the end, you can always buy a preamplifier, no question.
Of course, for those who already have one, it probably doesn't make much sense to try to adjust it via software.
It's similar where part of the community already has a DDC.

I would be interested to hear how you find it and if it has helped in your system.

I have added a picture here of Roon upsampling my music.
You can ignore the 32/96 conversion for now. (This is my personal preferred upsampling).
But you can see that the full 64 DSD is available in case it is important for someone who also uses the Dac.
You will see that Roon will automatically cut a song variable by 3-5 dB by itself and later by a full 10 dB of your personal preference.

In other words, you are effectively tricking the Dac.
You tell Roon the software -10 dB and send it to the DAc, the Dac a "stupid" computer says everything clear and still gives you the full power as usual.
So you still have a better turning feeling at the potentiometer of the amplifier.
And technically what the R26 outputs remains the same.

 

[Odezra]

@camrector Thanks for the recommendation of the house curve app on iOS. Its made a good difference to my system using the convolution filter on Roon. The R26 and my amp / speakers really shines now. Awesome tweak.

 

[camrector]

@camrector Thanks for the recommendation of the house curve app on iOS. Its made a good difference to my system using the convolution filter on Roon. The R26 and my amp / speakers really shines now. Awesome tweak.

Oh man no problem!!
Glad you are enjoying it.
Thats a whole nother rabbit hole my friend
I’m shocked at how actually good House Curve sounds and how much better using the pro stuff makes a difference.
You have your toe in a very large lake!

Ive been using REW, Focus Fidelity, and Rephrase to get super deep.
If you get a UMIK and take a measurement I’ll design you a filter.
That goes for all you guys.

 

[Jake2]

Oh man no problem!!
Glad you are enjoying it.
Thats a whole nother rabbit hole my friend
I’m shocked at how actually good House Curve sounds and how much better using the pro stuff makes a difference.
You have your toe in a very large lake!

Ive been using REW, Focus Fidelity, and Rephrase to get super deep.
If you get a UMIK and take a measurement I’ll design you a filter.
That goes for all you guys.

Hmm, I've got a Umik...

 

[Odezra]

Oh man no problem!!
Glad you are enjoying it.
Thats a whole nother rabbit hole my friend
I’m shocked at how actually good House Curve sounds and how much better using the pro stuff makes a difference.
You have your toe in a very large lake!

Ive been using REW, Focus Fidelity, and Rephrase to get super deep.
If you get a UMIK and take a measurement I’ll design you a filter.
That goes for all you guys.

Thanks! I might take you up on that!

 

[camrector]

Hmm, I've got a Umik...

Send me a
left, and right frequency sweep measurement at your listening position, and I’ll work some magic.

Here is my system now. Red and green is my room before correction and blue and purple is the corrected response.

 

[labeelen]

Send me a
left, and right frequency sweep measurement at your listening position, and I’ll work some magic.

Here is my system now. Red and green is my room before correction and blue and purple is the corrected response.

… is that a calculated or measured ‘corrected response’

 

[gcanman]

Hello everyone. I am one of those guys who's pc skills are really very basic. I got my R26 recently and have it connected to my my Roon core via usb so I can use it as an endpoint. I've been told it is better to connect it to my network but that requires a firmware update. I'm using a desktop pc running windows 11, my pc does not have a usb c connection. I have downloaded the 1.4 from Gustard but can not figure out how to get the firmware onto the R26. I saw someone who used Blanchaetcher or something like that? If anyone could explain to an old guy the most straight forward way to do the update I'd be very grateful.

 

[camrector]

… is that a calculated or measured ‘corrected response’

That is the predicted response with the filter applied.
When I get home I’ll post the measured response. I don’t have a pic on my phone.