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

[labeelen]

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[Deleeh]

Hello,
If I have set Roon to 32/96, should I go down to 16/96 when Nos is switched on to get better performance?
Roon can be set to a minimum of 16 bit, no further down.
The whole thing reminds me of the Audio note Dac 2/3 which can only do 16 bit and no more.

 

[camrector]

Hello,
If I have set Roon to 32/96, should I go down to 16/96 when Nos is switched on to get better performance?
Roon can be set to a minimum of 16 bit, no further down.
The whole thing reminds me of the Audio note Dac 2/3 which can only do 16 bit and no more.

It’s not the input you need to set it’s the bit depth for the output.
This done in HQplayer

 

[Deleeh]

It’s not the input you need to set it’s the bit depth for the output.
This done in HQplayer

Hello,
Thanks for your feedback,.
I don't use HQ Player because I use Tidal and it's not supported, so I've never been able to test HQ Player unfortunately.
Qubozz is rather mediocre in Germany.
That's why I asked for Roon specifically with the 16/96, whether I should switch or can leave 32/96?
By the way, I use the Matrix Audio Element H card for the PC, from there it goes on to the Singxer SU 2 via Usb, then via I2S to the R26, if it is important.
So far I've never had any problems with noise or the like,.

 

[EVSKito]

I got an R26 a couple weeks ago and would just like to report that this thing sounds great!
I was using a Soncoz SGD1 and bought a Cayin RU7 just to see if I liked the resistor ladder sound (although the RU7 is 1-bit and not R2R). It was obvious to me that I preferred the Cayin within minutes, so I decided to get a desktop R2R dac and went with the R26 after reading a good deal of this thread and some elsewhere.
After a good amount of break-in I can say this DAC does everything sound-wise I was hoping it would, coming from the RU7. The two DACs have a similar sound, with the R26 beating it in dynamics/resolution/soundstage. Overall, I'm beyond satisfied with it in my setup.

Can anyone please tell me if the i2s out of the smsl po100 pro is ompatible with the r26?

This is how I am running it. PC->PO100 Pro->R26 via i2s mode 2. I only use PCM so I can't speak to its DSD capabilities.
I tested between USB from my PC, i2S from the PO100 pro, and ethernet from my Netgear EAX20 that's connected to my PC via ethernet. Personally, I found that i2s from the PO100 pro and the built-in streamer sounded substantially better than USB straight from the PC. However, I did not hear a difference between i2s and the built-in streamer.

I'm curious how my current configuration would compare to a U18/external clock combo. But for now, I'm happy.

 

[sajunky]

That's why I asked for Roon specifically with the 16/96, whether I should switch or can leave 32/96?

Few hours ago another user asked similar question, my answer was already there.

People get confused following discussion on HQPlayer and dithering, so it needs clarification. Always use 24-bits or 32 in your player if your DAC support it. There is no really difference between 24 and 32, chose whatever you prefer.

 

[GoldenSound]

Hello,
Thanks for your feedback,.
I don't use HQ Player because I use Tidal and it's not supported, so I've never been able to test HQ Player unfortunately.
Qubozz is rather mediocre in Germany.
That's why I asked for Roon specifically with the 16/96, whether I should switch or can leave 32/96?
By the way, I use the Matrix Audio Element H card for the PC, from there it goes on to the Singxer SU 2 via Usb, then via I2S to the R26, if it is important.
So far I've never had any problems with noise or the like,.

If you are using roon already you can just add HQPlayer to that. Roon has inbuilt support for it, so you can seamlessly stream qobuz, tidal, and local files through HQPlayer even though HQPlayer itself doesn't support Tidal.

As to the bit depth, if you are using Roon, you should still set it to 16 bit ideally to ensure that dithering is operating fully within the linear range of your DAC. This isn't HQPlayer specific, it applies to whatever player you're using.

Here's roon (no HQPlayer involved) outputting a -90dB sine from a 24 bit file, feeding 24 bit data to the DAC:

You can see various distortion products quite high relative to the fundamental signal, with only 15dB or so range between the fundamental and that 3rd order harmonic for example.

Now here's the same but with the max bit depth in roon set to 16, so that it dithers to 16 bit (within the linear range of the DAC):

Those higher level distortion products are now gone, providing a much cleaner/more accurate low level signal reproduction overall.

 

[Deleeh]

If you are using roon already you can just add HQPlayer to that. Roon has inbuilt support for it, so you can seamlessly stream qobuz, tidal, and local files through HQPlayer even though HQPlayer itself doesn't support Tidal.

As to the bit depth, if you are using Roon, you should still set it to 16 bit ideally to ensure that dithering is operating fully within the linear range of your DAC. This isn't HQPlayer specific, it applies to whatever player you're using.

Here's roon (no HQPlayer involved) outputting a -90dB sine from a 24 bit file, feeding 24 bit data to the DAC:


You can see various distortion products quite high relative to the fundamental signal, with only 15dB or so range between the fundamental and that 3rd order harmonic for example.

Now here's the same but with the max bit depth in roon set to 16, so that it dithers to 16 bit (within the linear range of the DAC):



Those higher level distortion products are now gone, providing a much cleaner/more accurate low level signal reproduction overall.

Thank you .
i will check this,and with tip from intergrated HQ Player from Roon too.
That‘s help me a lot,

 

[easylive]

If you are using roon already you can just add HQPlayer to that. Roon has inbuilt support for it, so you can seamlessly stream qobuz, tidal, and local files through HQPlayer even though HQPlayer itself doesn't support Tidal.

As to the bit depth, if you are using Roon, you should still set it to 16 bit ideally to ensure that dithering is operating fully within the linear range of your DAC. This isn't HQPlayer specific, it applies to whatever player you're using.

Here's roon (no HQPlayer involved) outputting a -90dB sine from a 24 bit file, feeding 24 bit data to the DAC:


You can see various distortion products quite high relative to the fundamental signal, with only 15dB or so range between the fundamental and that 3rd order harmonic for example.

Now here's the same but with the max bit depth in roon set to 16, so that it dithers to 16 bit (within the linear range of the DAC):



Those higher level distortion products are now gone, providing a much cleaner/more accurate low level signal reproduction overall.

So that is very interesting, so if I use only Tidal (no roon or HQplayer) and stream to R26 witb Bubble Upnp, then the higher bitrate files are worse in sound quality, than 16bit files? many thanks in advance for your answer..

 

[dacwizard]

Now here's the same but with the max bit depth in roon set to 16, so that it dithers to 16 bit (within the linear range of the DAC):

I’m obviously missing something here. How are we getting a -135db noise floor with a 16bit signal?

 

[camrector]

Few hours ago another user asked similar question, my answer was already there.

People get confused following discussion on HQPlayer and dithering, so it needs clarification. Always use 24-bits or 32 in your player if your DAC support it. There is no really difference between 24 and 32, chose whatever you prefer.

Ignore all of this please. ^

 

[camrector]

So that is very interesting, so if I use only Tidal (no roon or HQplayer) and stream to R26 witb Bubble Upnp, then the higher bitrate files are worse in sound quality, than 16bit files? many thanks in advance for your answer..

They measure worse and your Dac is not performing at optimally as it could.
Its objectively worse sound quality, subjectivity you may not even notice this.

 

[dacwizard]

You can see various distortion products quite high relative to the fundamental signal, with only 15dB or so range between the fundamental and that 3rd order harmonic for example.

Now here's the same but with the max bit depth in roon set to 16, so that it dithers to 16 bit (within the linear range of the DAC):

its actually a 25db range (or possibly 27-28db). This is improved to about 30db on the bottom graph, so yes an improvement, but mostly the distortion is obscured by the 25db higher noise floor. 4th harmonic seems the same for example.

 

[easylive]

They measure worse and your Dac is not performing at optimally as it could.
Its objectively worse sound quality, subjectivity you may not even notice this.

Thanks man, so there is no need for the Tidal higher tier subscription (with my setup)..

 

[sajunky]

Those higher level distortion products are now gone, providing a much cleaner/more accurate low level signal reproduction overall.

That is! Noise floor increases by 25dB!

You need a serious listening session before bringing recommendation on this forum. Cutting word depth to 16-bits and applying extensive dithering noise shaping only to satisfy your mindset that FFT plot looks clean.

Not exactly, as grass is increasing by 25dB. Even on the FFT plot doen't look right.

In result of such experiments converting R2R DAC to Delta-Sigma, your fiend camrector sold his R26 and now keep disturbing this thread.