[jsiets4]

Here is a simple diagram to follow for FMCs

I'm working on this set-up, waiting on linear power supply for FMC's will hopefully be here Monday.

 

[martin778]

Can some chime in and let me know about the Gustard's i2s?

Is it's compatibility so exclusive as to be deemed almost proprietary.

Can someone tell me other than a Gustard DDC connected to the R26, what other company's pieces (interface, DDC) have you had success with connecting via i2s?

Gustard could have easily offered multiple mode settings for their i2s, yet chose to make it almost exclusive and difficult with it's fixed single position.

So, if anyone could give me any of their experiences with other company's products working successfully with the R26's i2s, I'd be grateful.

Thanks.

Uhm isn't it the same as Eversolo A8 i2S? I though I had a picture of both and they were the same except for a small name change. I bought the A8 but sadly I don't have both the R26 and the A8 in the same house at the moment so cannot try it out.

Eversolo:

(Eversolo can swap mute pin in settings)

 

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

@2bxfile
IME/Ears: (SPDIF = AES) > I2S if your material (in my case, of which my DAC could support) is PCM384 or DSD128 and below.
IF your audiofile is above PCM384 or DSD128 then I2S sound quality is =< SPDIF/AES but minimal (say 5%?).

In my case since I upsample everything to PCM768 I use I2S as connection.

HOWEVER: Better recorded materials, even at CD quality, is far better/can beat easily those upsampled crappy ones anytime.

To answer your questions:

Do you believe that the sonics would be diminished if I went this route, in your opinion?

There is a minimal difference between SPDIF/Coax and I2S. Unless you are after that 1% AND have an abundant higher rate materials (PCM384/DSD128 and up). IMO stick to your U2 Pro for now.

Do you believe that the i2s is that much of a sonic upgrade from the coax that I would notice a difference, again in your opinion?

As previously said, only when the bitrate is very high. But not that much. If you have lots of lower rate materials (Esp. PCM192/DSD64) better go to SPDIF/AES. Again on My Experience, Ears and Equipment.

And i'm an expat living/working in Rome .

 

[Jake2]

Can some chime in and let me know about the Gustard's i2s?

Is it's compatibility so exclusive as to be deemed almost proprietary.

Can someone tell me other than a Gustard DDC connected to the R26, what other company's pieces (interface, DDC) have you had success with connecting via i2s?

Gustard could have easily offered multiple mode settings for their i2s, yet chose to make it almost exclusive and difficult with it's fixed single position.

So, if anyone could give me any of their experiences with other company's products working successfully with the R26's i2s, I'd be grateful.

Thanks.

The lack of an industry i2S standard is why most DDCs provide a range of I2S profile settings. I also have the SU-6 (need to sell it as don't use it in my chain) which works fine with the R26 for DSD and PCM on the matching I2S setting - 1 of 4 options IIRC. The limitation of the Douk, which is reasonable enough given its very low cost, is its single I2S setting. Makes its DAC compatibility limited. The Douk sounds very good with my iFi DSD Gryphon via toslink, improves it noticeably over direct USB. But the R26's internal streamer would be a much tougher test. But to answer your Qn the R26 can sound very good via its s/pdif inputs or AES, the main differences vs i2S is capped bitrate so limits external upsampling via HQP etc, maybe a little less resolution due to the lack of separated data, power and clocking lines.

As a final point the performance of a DDC is amongst other things directly related to the precision of its internal oscillator. The AliX upgraded version of the Douk with the Crystek 957 oscillators is quite a step up sound wise over the standard version, even 'just' feeding my Gryphon via Toslink.

 

[LarsHP]

Don't know about others but I'm sat at my desk setup with a r26 (owned for a long while and connected to smsl po100 pro via hdmi) and chord 2qute (owned for a less long while and connected to the same as above via optical) and they sound absolutely identical. Listening to iems via singxer sa1. Am I insane/doing something wrong?

My custom IEMs are not half as revealing as my Hifiman HE-6, so I think the limitation is your IEMs. Try high-end full size headphones (electrostats or orthoplanars) or high-end speakers.

 

[2bxfile]

Uhm isn't it the same as Eversolo A8 i2S? I though I had a picture of both and they were the same except for a small name change. I bought the A8 but sadly I don't have both the R26 and the A8 in the same house at the moment so cannot try it out.

Eversolo:


(Eversolo can swap mute pin in settings)

Thank you Martin

From a fellow Kanadastan.

The true north strong but no longer free!!!

 

[2bxfile]

@2bxfile
IME/Ears: (SPDIF = AES) > I2S if your material (in my case, of which my DAC could support) is PCM384 or DSD128 and below.
IF your audiofile is above PCM384 or DSD128 then I2S sound quality is =< SPDIF/AES but minimal (say 5%?).

In my case since I upsample everything to PCM768 I use I2S as connection.

HOWEVER: Better recorded materials, even at CD quality, is far better/can beat easily those upsampled crappy ones anytime.

To answer your questions:

Do you believe that the sonics would be diminished if I went this route, in your opinion?

There is a minimal difference between SPDIF/Coax and I2S. Unless you are after that 1% AND have an abundant higher rate materials (PCM384/DSD128 and up). IMO stick to your U2 Pro for now.

Do you believe that the i2s is that much of a sonic upgrade from the coax that I would notice a difference, again in your opinion?

As previously said, only when the bitrate is very high. But not that much. If you have lots of lower rate materials (Esp. PCM192/DSD64) better go to SPDIF/AES. Again on My Experience, Ears and Equipment.

And i'm an expat living/working in Rome .

Thanks so much Mickey.

I've read your offering a few times and your words make sense to me.

Do you call yourself a Roman now........has an ancient ring to it.

Watch out for the Gladius.

Salute

 

[jsiets4]

Just went to turn on my R26 with the remote. It tried to turn on, two relay clicks then it turned off and the standby button started blinking, which I have had disabled. Tried to turn it on again both with the remote and front panel button. Display briefly came on then off again. Turned off and on power button in back then turned on with panel button and now it works but I had to redo my settings as they had all reverted to default. Has this happened to anyone else? I've had the unit for over a year with no problems. All firmware is latest.

 

[2bxfile]

The lack of an industry i2S standard is why most DDCs provide a range of I2S profile settings. I also have the SU-6 (need to sell it as don't use it in my chain) which works fine with the R26 for DSD and PCM on the matching I2S setting - 1 of 4 options IIRC. The limitation of the Douk, which is reasonable enough given its very low cost, is its single I2S setting. Makes its DAC compatibility limited. The Douk sounds very good with my iFi DSD Gryphon via toslink, improves it noticeably over direct USB. But the R26's internal streamer would be a much tougher test. But to answer your Qn the R26 can sound very good via its s/pdif inputs or AES, the main differences vs i2S is capped bitrate so limits external upsampling via HQP etc, maybe a little less resolution due to the lack of separated data, power and clocking lines.

As a final point the performance of a DDC is amongst other things directly related to the precision of its internal oscillator. The AliX upgraded version of the Douk with the Crystek 957 oscillators is quite a step up sound wise over the standard version, even 'just' feeding my Gryphon via Toslink.

Thank you Jake as that is a great answer to my question. I'm still learning amongst all of the other things in life that seem to be tugging for my attention. I'm being pulled 8 ways to Sunday and trying to focus on learning the ins and outs of audio is a struggle.

Hope this isn't out of place, but I'm inspired here to offer this great song of hope and hope you enjoy it. These guys are fellow Canadians.



Thank you from the North.

 

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

Thanks so much Mickey.

I've read your offering a few times and your words make sense to me.

Do you call yourself a Roman now........has an ancient ring to it.

Watch out for the Gladius.

Salute

You're welcome! And sorry if I over simplify in trying to explain things (had a busy day). On top of that, english is my third language.

Roman? Still have doubts to be in the group carrying SPQR* (jokingly translated as Sono - their, Pazzi - crazy, Questi - these Romani - romans) banners.

* originally "Senatus PopulusQue Romanus" (The Senate and People of Rome)

 

[trollbearpig]

Just ordered a Holo Audio Cyan 2, looking forward to comparing with my R26 when it arrives in 6 weeks or so.
Possibly the only R2R DAC to really rival the R26 in terms of performance per $.

FWIW the rated dynamic range on the Cyan 2 is 127dB which lets me go up to 21 bits in HQPlayer vs 116dB (19 bits) on R26. So there's at least one objective benefit to the switch. As for whether that's audible remains to be seen. Holo May is rated at 130dB so that's quite impressive that their "budget" DAC at 1/4th the price does 127dB.

Also regarding EMI shielding, I can quite literally hear the noise floor lower when I throw EMI blankets over certain components. Specifically the RCA to XLR converter box I use for my speaker setup was picking up some interference (I think from my WiFi router) recently and it instantly goes away when I put an EMI blanket over it and then instantly comes back when I remove it. I can even hear noise from my wireless mouse sometimes and what's really crazy is if I increase the polling rate on my mouse from 1kHz to 4kHz I hear the tone of the noise increase too. Wild stuff.

Have you noticed any difference or same same? I'm looking at these 2 unites right now. Holo has been picking up steam but I love the feature set in the Gustard ( roon + bluetooth ).

 

[trollbearpig]

I can definitely confirm that DACs DO NOT all sound the same. Apart from the USB connection, I should have a pretty resolving system (R26, V550, LCD-5). I can clearly notice a difference between the R26 and a Topping D90 DAC. Both connected via USB.

But I can't notice any tonal difference between different settings of the R26. Therefore I was wondering if my R26 might be malfunctioning (got it used). Or whether these settings do only apply to other input types.

Do you feel like its a good upgrade from Topping D90, looking at the same upgrade also coming from Topping D90, what kind of changes did you hear in the sound ?

 

[xats62]

I'm just trying the HQPlayer and streaming the content over LAN to the R26. I have a quick question: which settings on the HQPlayer do you prefer? I'm at a loss with so many filters and oversampling schemes.

Is it better to send only PCM to the R26 or is DSD better?

Also, if I use HQPlayer for oversampling, I assume that I should set the R26 to NOS only?

Should I limit the word length to 20 bits or 16 bits? Does it matter if sending over the Internet or is it applicable only when using USB?

I listen mostly rock and jazz.

Also, I still have the 1.42 firmware; is it worthwhile to upgrade to the new 1.43? What does it offer?

Thanks.

 

[jsiets4]

I'm just trying the HQPlayer and streaming the content over LAN to the R26. I have a quick question: which settings on the HQPlayer do you prefer? I'm at a loss with so many filters and oversampling schemes.

Is it better to send only PCM to the R26 or is DSD better?

Also, if I use HQPlayer for oversampling, I assume that I should set the R26 to NOS only?

Should I limit the word length to 20 bits or 16 bits? Does it matter if sending over the Internet or is it applicable only when using USB?

I listen mostly rock and jazz.

Also, I still have the 1.42 firmware; is it worthwhile to upgrade to the new 1.43? What does it offer?

Thanks.

I use Spotify premium so 1.43 allows me to use Spotify connect

 

[dacwizard]

Thank you for responding to my query Dacwizard. Appreciate it!

I may not be greatly adept to the pin issue without more investigation which you have referred me to but, what do you say about me just going simple and using my U2 Pro's coax instead of it's i2s which I won't be able to achieve, at least at this juncture? Do you believe that the sonics would be diminished if I went this route? Do you believe that the i2s is that much of an upgrade that I would notice a big difference?

Thanks again,

Chuck

The R26 sounds fantastic via coax, i currently use optical toslink having compared to lan input and found them indistinguishable. This setup bests my £10k CD player in a number of respects. So do not fear that you won’t get a decent sound via coax, you will.

Now, whether it would be even better with I2S I don’t know. If you want to use DSD and say hqplayer then your input options are more limited. But for PCM have no fear all inputs sound fantastic.