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

[duffer5]

Perfectly answered thank you!
And you saw no sonic improvement from the R26 to the Holo May?

Okay, I need to put my fire retardant suit on here. I think the R26 sounds better to me than the May. More R2R like vs the Holo May which sounded D/S like. I love the look of the Holo May and the build is the best in the business but I did not care for the sound. Take it with a grain of salt as I am not a critical listener. But I for darn sure love the sound of the R26 and when I put the Audio-GD into my system I felt like the Audio-GD was the May of Holo vs the R26 being the Spring KTE of Holo . All great products just next level with the R7HEMk3.

If I had to do a direct sound / sonic comparison the R7HEMk3 sounds like the Mola Mola to me. Which I love but can't afford.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Just asking...would be great as comparo and info for others.

What software (or a combination of some) are you guys using for playback.

1. m-i-c-k-e-y - Roon + HQPlayer (closed-form-M/ closed-form-16M)

(if you could copy/paste and add yours)

 

[BShaw]

What software (or a combination of some) are you guys using for playback.

1. m-i-c-k-e-y - Roon + HQPlayer (closed-form-M/ closed-form-16M)

2. BShaw - Roon (intel Mac Mini) + Focus Fidelity DRC

 

[Stellabagpuss]

3. Stellabagpus Jriver Intel "NUC Dabian12 Linux"

 

[camrector]

3. Camrector - Roon + HQplayer (poly sinc hires/closed form m -LNS15/NS5 -Bitdepth 15
Focus Fidelity DRC

 

[Dandoudou]

Until a few months ago, I was using Roon + HQPlayer with the R26 when listening to the loudspeakers.
And Audirvana Origin for headphones listening with the CanOpener Studio plugin.

Following a serial of upgrades that reduced the noise on my system, I get the most resolving sound in bit-perfect, upsampling sounds less holographic, and artificial.

For the loudspeakers, I use Roon in bit-perfect as a LMS server, which allows me to stream to Gmediarenderer (both as a DSD and a PCM renderer) on my GentooPlayer Host.
For headphones, I continue to use Audirvana Origin, the CanOpener plugin, and Gmediarender on the Host.
The R26 is set to 'NOS on' and 'DSD Direct'.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

What software (or a combination of some) are you guys using for playback.

1. m-i-c-k-e-y - Roon + HQPlayer (closed-form-M/ closed-form-16M)
2. BShaw - Roon (intel Mac Mini)
3. Stellabagpus - Jriver Intel "NUC Dabian12 Linux"
4. Camrector - Roon + HQplayer (poly sinc hires/closed form m -LNS15/NS5 -Bitdepth 15
5. Dandoudou - LS: Roon bitperfect as LMS server to Gmediarender, HP: Audirvana Origin + CanOpener to Gmediarender

​

 

[BShaw]

Until a few months ago, I was using Roon + HQPlayer with the R26 when listening to the loudspeakers.
And Audirvana Origin for headphones listening with the CanOpener Studio plugin.

Following a serial of upgrades that reduced the noise on my system, I get the most resolving sound in bit-perfect, upsampling sounds less holographic, and artificial.

For the loudspeakers, I use Roon in bit-perfect as a LMS server, which allows me to stream to Gmediarenderer (both as a DSD and a PCM renderer) on my GentooPlayer Host.
For headphones, I continue to use Audirvana Origin, the CanOpener plugin, and Gmediarender on the Host.
The R26 is set to 'NOS on' and 'DSD Direct'.

Interesting you mention the bit about upsampling. I offloaded the upsampling to Roon a couple of weeks ago, maxing it out at 8x, which results in a lot of 768k streams from Qobuz/Roon. But I've been wondering why I'm not feeling as happy with playback lately, and it sounds exactly like what you said - something is just missing, like the fingerprint of Roon's manipulation is heard and the music is less dimensional. I'll try swapping back and forth and see how it goes.

 

[Dandoudou]

Interesting you mention the bit about upsampling. I offloaded the upsampling to Roon a couple of weeks ago, maxing it out at 8x, which results in a lot of 768k streams from Qobuz/Roon. But I've been wondering why I'm not feeling as happy with playback lately, and it sounds exactly like what you said - something is just missing, like the fingerprint of Roon's manipulation is heard and the music is less dimensional. I'll try swapping back and forth and see how it goes.

The DSP of Roon is not good. I suppress it completely. Everything, not only upsampling features.

 

[THXKO]

I've had a Gustard R26 for a couple of months and it's on standby, today on complete silence I've noticed an irregular hum in the past! The hum increases and then decreases and disappears. Next it happened again. It does this even when I turn it on. The hum can be heard 5 meters away, which is like hearing a refrigerator when it's on. Has anyone here encountered this problem? Is this a mistake and should I complain? It bothers me enough.

 

[labeelen]

What software (or a combination of some) are you guys using for playback.

1. m-i-c-k-e-y - Roon + HQPlayer (closed-form-M/ closed-form-16M)
2. BShaw - Roon (intel Mac Mini)
3. Stellabagpus - Jriver Intel "NUC Dabian12 Linux"
4. Camrector - Roon + HQplayer (poly sinc hires/closed form m -LNS15/NS5 -Bitdepth 15
5. Dandoudou - LS: Roon bitperfect as LMS server to Gmediarender, HP: Audirvana Origin + CanOpener to Gmediarender

​

6. labeelen - Roon + HQPlayer (closed-form-M/closed-form-M -LNS15 -Bitdepth 15 -Auto Rate Family

 

[mgsu]

Speaking of upsampling,

For best results i am doing only Roon 2x upsampling while R26 is set to "NOS on"

I do only 2x upsampling because R2R are known to struggle with higher sampling rates. (Watch on YT Paul McGowan Lead Engineer @ PS Audio, he explains better than me)
Higher sampling rates means also that you need very good cables that are impedance matched to your DAC to avoid reflections.

Music needs either to be upsampled or oversampled for noise shaping.

You can not send bitperfect streams to the DAC and set R26 to "NOS on" because higher sampling rates and some kind of noise shaping are needed for best SQ results, either from the DAC or ROON, HQPlayer.


You have two options with R26.

1. NOS on & upsampled material from ROON/HQPlayer 44,1KHz or 48 KHz x2, x4, x8, x16
(ROON/HQplayer takes care for upsampling and the DAC does nothing, you bypass the DAC filters)

> set Roon under DSP Engine > Sample Rate Conversion to "max PCM rate (Power of 2)"

>Set you DAC in ROON > Device Setup> Max Sample Rate to 96 KHz = Roon will only do 2x upsampling to your DAC.

Setting Max Sample Rate to 96KHz implies that when ROON upsamples 44,1 KHz to max PCM rate (Power of 2) your DAC receives not 96 KHz but 88,2 KHz = a factor 2 multitude of 44,1KHz

Setting Sample Rate Conversion to max PCM would indeed spit out 96KHz, either the stream is 44,1 or 48KHz.
Since 44.1KHz is not a multitude of 96KHz, ROON does not multiply with an even number (2) but with an odd number (2,1768707483) to achieve 96KHz which is not ideal.
Max PCM should be used only when having an exclusive 48KHz music library.


2. NOS off & bitperfect material from ROON (44,1KHz or 48KHz)
This means that your DAC is oversampling the incoming stream from ROON.
> set Roon under DSP Engine > Sample Rate Conversion to "OFF"
ROON streams now bitperfect, and your DAC is taking care of oversampling and noise shaping.

1.Set "NOS on" only when feeding the DAC with upsampled material from a source (streamer).
"NOS on" means that oversampling on the DAC side is turned off. For best practice you feed now the DAC with upsampled material from a source (ROON, HQPlayer, etc)

 

[Dandoudou]

PS Audio does not build R2R DACs and has a discourse that is not favorable to this technology, pointing often at its weaknesses.

Every system is different, and everybody should trust his ears to set his system to sound best.
On mine, any DSP by Roon reduces the clarity.

 

[mgsu]

PS Audio does not build R2R DACs and has a discourse that is not favorable to this technology, pointing often at its weaknesses.

Every system is different, and everybody should trust his ears to set his system to sound best.
On mine, any DSP by Roon reduces the clarity.

Speaking of PS Audio, i dont own any products from them but i trust engineers more than the usual speculators here, me self included.

I agree that every system is different and milage may vary. We saw it in the discussion on the topic "which R26 input is the best".

I wanted to give a rule of thumb for upsampling because it can be a slippery road for new R2R owners.

 

[Dandoudou]

Speaking of PS Audio, i dont own any products from them but i trust engineers more than the usual speculators here.

I don't say that what they are saying is completely unfunded. But their discourse is aimed to promote the technology of their products.
I know it very well, not only because I know their vids about R2R, but because I have one of their products (which is a good product BTW), and considered others.
Watching vids is nice, but apply to your own system what sounds best to your ears.