I ask Srbo from iiWi Reviews on Youtube, who was a big proponent of the R26 when he reviewed it, at least the DAC section. With all the streamers he's been reviewing lately, what his thoughts were on the renderer in the R26 and how it compared to some of his recent streamers he's reviewed. His response is pasted here below:
"Renderer inside the R26 and A26 is really good but it's kinda on analytical side of things, lacking just a bit richness and tone timbre. Because of that I preferred using it with external streamer. On the other hand, the DAC part is so good and thanks to that it can easily pull ahead of Pulse Mini and DMP-A6 as a whole device"