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

[comzee]

Just for my information... Are you still able to play DSD over I2S from the Red to the R26?

I read this in the Red manual:
"Set the DIP switch [3] to enable I²S_DSD_ON"
and wonder whether this should solve the Gustard/SMSL pin 15 issue.

I figured this was the exact feature of RED that fixes the issue, but I didn't actually try flipping the switch to "ON" to test DSD (as I don't listen to DSD).

I'll test that tonight when I get home.

 

[Forgisound]

Yes this does vary from my first post. Day 1 listening seemed to have real potential, but it seems things went downhill from there. Out of the box, things seemed hopeful. Now? Absolutely not.

As for your initial thoughts:

I would not say R2R vs. my DAC is a problem. I had a friend's Holo Spring KTE here for 6 months. The issue with it was it sounded too much like my DAC. It didn't give me better tone, sense of depth and dimension, or detail. I actually found it to be a little soft (which Holo improved greatly with the Spring 3 and May), but it was nothing like what I hear from the R26. I didn't keep the Holo because it brought no improvements and I couldn't use the DSD output as the voltage is 1.5v and just not enough to drive my amp to normal listening levels. The Holo did present a few things better, like imaging, but it wasn't enough.

Noise or ground loop issues? No way! I have amazing clarity and silence from my speakers playing a silent track at full volume. I can't imagine I have any noise issues whatsoever.

Synergy could be an issue, but why with just the R26? I've had several DACs here over the last 18 months, and not one sounded bad; just not as good as what I have. The Spring KTE was the only real competitor, but the other DACs were admittedly cheaper: Denefrips Ares II and a VMV D1SE. Both of the latter DAC's had issues of their own with the Denefrips the worst.

I made certain all settings were correct, and I just double checked now. Attenuation is off and phase is disabled.

I did try NOS on and off with no improvements, and I tried every upsampling setting I could to find the best settings for HQPlayer.

My "gaming PC" is called such because it has an NVIDIA video card that I sometimes play games on. I'm 54, so not much more than The Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2. The PC runs HQPlayer and has been wired to either a Netgear GS108E or D-Link 1008 (or something). My testing with FMC's was terrible and the the 2 wireless access points were better than FMC's, but wired is easily the cleanest sound I can achieve. I did order 2 TP-Link FMC's to go with my Finisar AOC cable to try once more. They were supposed to be delivered Friday, but Amazon never shipped. They still haven't, but I reordered 2 more and they will be here Monday. As for wireless access points, I tested both one of my Plume pods and a TP-Link that was recommended in this thread. It turns out I had the TP-Link in a closet, so I tried it. Both wireless access points changed odds parts of the sound, so there would be no way I'd use them. And the odd issues are not my preferences. So to sum up, my PC is wired to the switch and then the switch to my NAA (either the R26 or my UpBoard mini PC).

I could try Foobar on a laptop. I was going to set that up to further break-in the R26 if it's worth doing. I can't waste any more of my life listening the R26. I might do that tomorrow.

I will try the R26 directly to the amp as it has been the only DAC I haven't done that with. But know that in all circumstances, my Tortuga passive is absolutely transparent and is a detail king. I've heard nothing better for volume control.

I can assure that not one of you would like the sound coming from my R26. Seriously, it's just bad in so many ways.

Thanks for your ideas and input. I hate these situations because I never seem to make the right decision. I'd really hit to miss out if my R26 is bad in some way. To be honest, I'm not certain I'm all to fond of it's engineering regardless of sound quality. 16 bit on the ladder isn't exactly impressive, but I don't know how much of an issue that is if it just sounds great? I'm not really interested in DSD at all.

Ordinary ethernet switch can be problem. Or no good ethernet cable.

 

[Forgisound]

I have been reading this thread since page 7 soon after Sandu dropped his video review of this unit and have enjoyed the journey to make my system sound beyond awesome. I love it enough, I have two. So, I need to thank the Masterthreader, m-i-c-k-e-y, and contributions from (inpo): BShaw, Jake2, Camrector, Dandoudou, and duffer5, among others.

Glad someone did a summary of tweaks several pages ago that made this unit be all that it is and more. I echo most of them. The first being the burn in process to me is the most important because compared to the Benchmark DAC3 i was listening to at the time, the R26 sounded initially muddy, gritty, lackluster at times. Hours later, it’s sound changed before my ears. I let it burn in for weeks and soon after retired the DAC3.

The second improvement came with using fiber, and more specifically using Finisar AOC. I have an older house and the crawl space has copper ethernet wires running along side power lines and thought that would not effect sound of digital music streaming from my Roon. And just using fiber gives me that 75% improvement. But the last 25% has come from replacing everything possible with an AOC. The ambience around instruments can be heard more now, even by the GF, bass is fuller with a more rounded deeper bottom end, rather than a cut off lower shelf. I can almost begin to see the lips move when Eva Cassidy or Bocelli sing now. Its been that way since swapping out my “old” fiber with the AOC’s and eliminating those little FMC modules/Topping LPS with switches (QNAP) that incorporate them already. I also had bad days before updating to tthe AOC’s. These modules although say they are Hot-swapable, are not. I thinks someone mentioned a timing issue, because i had to reboot them to bring the sound back. With the use of AOC and QNAP‘s, two weeks of constant joy.

The third significant improvement came from upgrading the fuse. I know, controversial. Went from SR Orange to Purple, both an upgrade from what’s generically in there already. Maybe more the HPA-4 than the R26. The amp is so neutral, but at times thin sounding, too clinical, no soul. Theses first three help me keep it around longer, complimenting the beauty of the R2R.

Which QNAP switch model?

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,
It looks like the R26 would support a 3.15 A/T fuse according to this link:

https://www.arkaudio.se/en/demo-units/gustard-hifi-fuse-nano-alloy.html

The standard fuse is 2.5A/T. (At least it was in my unit).

@camrector do you think you could talk to your contact about this and ask why this is being offered?
This could also be misleading for the consumer.

And if there would be any sound differences between the 2.5 and 3.15a fuse?
I almost don't think so, but if there were, the performance would probably be a bit better.
The other question is whether it has to be the Gustard fuse with the higher value or whether it would also be possible to use fuses from other manufacturers?

 

[drjason]

QNAP QSW-M1208-8C 10GbE Managed Switch​

i updated the house to 10G a year or so ago (cat 8) because i move large photo files around among other things. I suspect that is overkill from an audio standpoint. Most of the audiophilic switches are 1G that you guys suggest. I debated setting up a separate one for audio only to use those switches, but got “lazy”. So this was a reasonably priced to give me those connections, but allow legacy stuff a copper connection. I don’t know yet their audio signature But appreciate the consistency it offers in the performance my R26’s.

BTW, in Roon, i see both R26’s but when I make a change to one, like change its name, it changes both of them and i can’t send music reliably to one without making one of them offline by switching its input. Weird.

 

[camrector]

QNAP QSW-M1208-8C 10GbE Managed Switch​

i updated the house to 10G a year or so ago (cat 8) because i move large photo files around among other things. I suspect that is overkill from an audio standpoint. Most of the audiophilic switches are 1G that you guys suggest. I debated setting up a separate one for audio only to use those switches, but got “lazy”. So this was a reasonably priced to give me those connections, but allow legacy stuff a copper connection. I don’t know yet their audio signature But appreciate the consistency it offers in the performance my R26’s.

BTW, in Roon, i see both R26’s but when I make a change to one, like change its name, it changes both of them and i can’t send music reliably to one without making one of them offline by switching its input. Weird.

Do you have them on different zones in Roon?

 

[camrector]

Hello,
It looks like the R26 would support a 3.15 A/T fuse according to this link:

https://www.arkaudio.se/en/demo-units/gustard-hifi-fuse-nano-alloy.html

The standard fuse is 2.5A/T. (At least it was in my unit).

@camrector do you think you could talk to your contact about this and ask why this is being offered?
This could also be misleading for the consumer.

And if there would be any sound differences between the 2.5 and 3.15a fuse?
I almost don't think so, but if there were, the performance would probably be a bit better.
The other question is whether it has to be the Gustard fuse with the higher value or whether it would also be possible to use fuses from other manufacturers?

Yes you can use different fuses from other companies. Many here use fuses from SR and Acme.

 

[Fluty]

Hello,
It looks like the R26 would support a 3.15 A/T fuse according to this link:

https://www.arkaudio.se/en/demo-units/gustard-hifi-fuse-nano-alloy.html

The standard fuse is 2.5A/T. (At least it was in my unit).

@camrector do you think you could talk to your contact about this and ask why this is being offered?
This could also be misleading for the consumer.

And if there would be any sound differences between the 2.5 and 3.15a fuse?
I almost don't think so, but if there were, the performance would probably be a bit better.
The other question is whether it has to be the Gustard fuse with the higher value or whether it would also be possible to use fuses from other manufacturers?

I contacted Gustard directly with this very question, what value for a 240v unit. Reply was to use 3.15 amp even though the unit was supplied with 2..5amp

 

[Deleeh]

Yes you can use different fuses from other companies. Many here use fuses from SR and Acme.

Yes, I thought that the manufacturer is hardly relevant, thank you.
The question is whether it makes a difference between 2.5 and 3.15 a?
That would interest me.

Funnily enough, even if it is a difference between dac and amp.
In the tube amp I had a 1.25 A fitted as standard although it says 1.6a on the back.
When I recently bought the Refine fuses I noticed this and took a 1.6a for it.
The result was of course much better than before but it still needs time because the fuse does not burn in as quickly as on the Dac and DDC because I left both devices on the stereo overnight while burning them in.

Maybe it's a bit of paranoia on my part,.
No seriously I'm asking because of the performance regardless of the release time ect.
If we go deeper into the matter, such things can also act as a kind of throttle in the system and especially with dacs this can be essential.

 

[drjason]

SR Purple Quantum Fuse Small (5x20mm) 250v Slo-Blo 3.15.​

Those were the mA I was replacing exactly.

 

[drjason]

When I look under the audio section under settings, i see both listed. When i tap on one to change the name (for example), both when refreshed are changed to the same. When i change one of their device setup values, both change to the same value. I don’t link any of my end devices in Roon, if that is what you are referring to.

 

[sajunky]

The question is whether it makes a difference between 2.5 and 3.15 a?
That would interest me.

The only difference is how much smell will be generated when something goes wrong.

 

[Deleeh]

@Fluty

Thanks for the info.
That annoys me a bit now, especially that I bought one.
Well, I'll ask the salesman about it, maybe it will help and he might have an opinion about it.
He also thought that the 1.25a in the tube amplifier was a bit too little for a tube amplifier and that a 1.6a would be better.

@sajunky
It probably won't make a difference once it starts smoking,.

@drjason

If you use 2 R26 in a core it is logical that you have problems.
Roon thinks it's the same unit because it doesn't know it's 2 units.
You could try to find out the Ip address on both units if it shows the same one or not.
If necessary, a fixed Ip assignment could be the key to your problem.
If it helps then you should be able to rewrite and dial the whole thing under audio so that you know it is the R26 in the living room and the other in the bedroom as an example.
Otherwise, contact Roon and see what else you can do.
I think this is because you are using 2 units in one core and the core is not registering this or does not yet know that they are the same unit but in different locations.
If you were using both units in a separate core, you probably wouldn't have this problem.

Have you connected both units to the same source?
By that I mean the network or are you running another unit with a different source as input like Usb,Coax I2S?

 

[drjason]

@Fluty

Thanks for the info.
That annoys me a bit now, especially that I bought one.
Well, I'll ask the salesman about it, maybe it will help and he might have an opinion about it.
He also thought that the 1.25a in the tube amplifier was a bit too little for a tube amplifier and that a 1.6a would be better.

@sajunky
It probably won't make a difference once it starts smoking,.

@drjason

If you use 2 R26 in a core it is logical that you have problems.
Roon thinks it's the same unit because it doesn't know it's 2 units.
You could try to find out the Ip address on both units if it shows the same one or not.
If necessary, a fixed Ip assignment could be the key to your problem.
If it helps then you should be able to rewrite and dial the whole thing under audio so that you know it is the R26 in the living room and the other in the bedroom as an example.
Otherwise, contact Roon and see what else you can do.
I think this is because you are using 2 units in one core and the core is not registering this or does not yet know that they are the same unit but in different locations.
If you were using both units in a separate core, you probably wouldn't have this problem.

Have you connected both units to the same source?
By that I mean the network or are you running another unit with a different source as input like Usb,Coax I2S?

One Roon, one large network, all lan. It shows both with their respected different ip addresses in the settings section but only one of them when trying to select it to play music. I figured it would be answered thru Roon. I was wondering if anybody else had that issue here. It’s a small one. I just switch the one’s input and Roon no longer sees it. Thanks.

 

[Deleeh]

Yes that would definitely be a possibility if you have somewhere to connect via Coax,I2S,Usb where you can connect it.
Otherwise, if you want to have both devices via Lan, you would have to ask Roon Support what you can do.

Somewhere there seems to be a conflict in the network that causes this.