[lucianpescaru]

I had to file a bit of the standoffs in order for the 35.5mm cap to fit... not much change in sound, maybe cleaner bass.16x32mm would fit without any other squeeze in issues.

 

[Cortes]

At least don’t get the u16, it has poor support under Linux based OS due to the buggy ES8620 chip firmware. Get the singxer su-2 instead, guaranteed much better. Actually not recommend u16 even for windows, too many unsolvable bugs.

something like the su-2 provide you with the option to use a external clock to further improve the signal quality. Also the I2S port pin definition can be changed, so you can use it after changing your DAC. Each manufacturer has its own I2S pin definition, the compatibility is not guaranteed if the I2S definition of a source device cannot be changed. U16 and Su-2 support definition configuration for the majority of the DAC, it might be another good reason to get a USB audio bridge.

If you go to Shenzhenaudio today, Everything will be on sale for Black Friday.

Why?. I've been using the U16 to feed my Genelecs with AES during roughly one year and is rock solid. Not a single glitch, issue. I use it from a Sony laptop in windows.

 

[boxerlc]

Why?. I've been using the U16 to feed my Genelecs with AES during roughly one year and is rock solid. Not a single glitch, issue. I use it from a Sony laptop in windows.

I experience problems when playing high sample rate audio streams through it in my system. I have a reclocker called Titans Audio Helen, it’s basically a high performance external phase lock loop device. In high precision mode it requires high precision input data. When I connect u16 to it, u16’s signal often glitches, make Helen unable to lock to it and try to relock, and stuck in the unlock and relock loop, making it unusable. I send the u16 to my friend, he tested it with his NT503. When playing 44.1KHz, everything was fine, but when playing 192Khz and above, it will cause NT503 to unlock. I contacted the vender, asked for a replacement unit, tested on both systems, same problem. I contact Gustard, they said ESS 8620 is not guaranteed to work with Linux and they don’t know what’s the problem, but it still doesn’t work after I switched to windows.
I also contacted another guy who bought u16 to test u16 with 192Khz stream on his system, his unit had the same problem. Later my friend and I both got the singxer su-2s, no problem with them at all. So it proved the U16s were the problem. You can test yours with 192Khz audio, see if it pops sometimes. There has been many user reporting problems of the ESS 8620 solution Gustard devices, not just U16, X26 has problems too. Here is another clue, look at Gustard’s recent released products, they already ditched the ESS chip and went back to XMOS chips.
If the U16 is OK in your system, fine, keep using it, but I do upsampling to all my music, so I need some thing works with high sample rates.

 

[Cortes]

I experience problems when playing high sample rate audio streams through it in my system. I have a reclocker called Titans Audio Helen, it’s basically a high performance external phase lock loop device. In high precision mode it requires high precision input data. When I connect u16 to it, u16’s signal often glitches, make Helen unable to lock to it and try to relock, and stuck in the unlock and relock loop, making it unusable. I send the u16 to my friend, he tested it with his NT503. When playing 44.1KHz, everything was fine, but when playing 192Khz and above, it will cause NT503 to unlock. I contacted the vender, asked for a replacement unit, tested on both systems, same problem. I contact Gustard, they said ESS 8620 is not guaranteed to work with Linux and they don’t know what’s the problem, but it still doesn’t work after I switched to windows.
I also contacted another guy who bought u16 to test u16 with 192Khz stream on his system, his unit had the same problem. Later my friend and I both got the singxer su-2s, no problem with them at all. So it proved the U16s were the problem. You can test yours with 192Khz audio, see if it pops sometimes. There has been many user reporting problems of the ESS 8620 solution Gustard devices, not just U16, X26 has problems too. Here is another clue, look at Gustard’s recent released products, they already ditched the ESS chip and went back to XMOS chips.
If the U16 is OK in your system, fine, keep using it, but I do upsampling to all my music, so I need some thing works with high sample rates.

That's pretty awful. The highest I use is 24/96 which is the limit of the Genelec One's AES.

 

[boxerlc]

That's pretty awful. The highest I use is 24/96 which is the limit of the Genelec One's AES.

Oh, u16 is fine for your application then. Just confirmed with Gustard, there upcoming X26 pro(an update version of X26) will use XMOS instead of ESS chip used by the X26. So my assumption is true, they did stop using ESS solution.

 

[baramzisyan]

There you go...
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=56543198757744070629
https://uploadfiles.io/206ob

Copy the contents to C:\Program Files\Gustard USB Audio Driver\W10_x64

reupload, please

 

[Ludique]

I’ve used U16 with PS Audio and Musician dacs. Lumin u1 mini is my source, which is Linux. Everything from 44 to dsd256 has played as it should.

 

[zeid2]

I’ve used U16 with PS Audio and Musician dacs. Lumin u1 mini is my source, which is Linux. Everything from 44 to dsd256 has played as it should.

I can just concur to what Ludique has written. I have used U16 in combination with C16, source is SOtM Trifecta and EtherRegen, Gustard feeds both Denafrips Terminator (I2S) and Auralic Vega (AES/EBU). After the installation of FW 1.61NFB everything works like a breeze and the sound is beyond any reproach with all formats.

 

[sumpao]

Hi guy I just own U16 but cannot set it to dsd input.
I cannot find the DSD foobar folder in Shenzhen audio.
Could anybody help?

I use jriver 26 for playback in window 10

Thank agian

 

[taz23]

Why?. I've been using the U16 to feed my Genelecs with AES during roughly one year and is rock solid. Not a single glitch, issue. I use it from a Sony laptop in windows.

Same here. Feeding Genelec via AES out from U16 and PC has been issue-free. (By the way, the Genelecs accept up to 24/192, but no DSD, sadly.)

But recently, I have been playing around with dedicated transport (specifically xDuoo X10T II): USB out from transport into U16, and then AES to Genelecs. While the sound quality improved, the U16 started to give issues after 30 min or so of playing, with very brief signal loss or drop every 30 seconds or so at 44.1/48kHz. 192 is not playable as the loss/drop is constant. On the Genelec, it results in the red LED blink and a loud clicking sound at every loss/drop.

I will play around to see if there is a way around this issue. Hopefully I am able to solve this as the music quality is the best via this route (as compared to direct AES out from the transport).

 

[taz23]

Same here. Feeding Genelec via AES out from U16 and PC has been issue-free. (By the way, the Genelecs accept up to 24/192, but no DSD, sadly.)

But recently, I have been playing around with dedicated transport (specifically xDuoo X10T II): USB out from transport into U16, and then AES to Genelecs. While the sound quality improved, the U16 started to give issues after 30 min or so of playing, with very brief signal loss or drop every 30 seconds or so at 44.1/48kHz. 192 is not playable as the loss/drop is constant. On the Genelec, it results in the red LED blink and a loud clicking sound at every loss/drop.

I will play around to see if there is a way around this issue. Hopefully I am able to solve this as the music quality is the best via this route (as compared to direct AES out from the transport).

So it seems that the source plays a role too.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread and posted the FW update files, I am happy to report that the 1.72REL seems to work wonders in my case. With AES out to Genelecs, 192kHz now works flawlessly now. I hope it will be stable.

Happy holidays and happy listening too!

 

[simon 2]

I have a u16 and it drops out every 10 mins or so .I tried different firmware and cables but still does it 44.1khz . I would like to know how the sound or the Singxer su-2 compares with the u16 and where you find the 1.72 firmware

 

[boxerlc]

I have a u16 and it drops out every 10 mins or so .I tried different firmware and cables but still does it 44.1khz . I would like to know how the sound or the Singxer su-2 compares with the u16 and where you find the 1.72 firmware

Don’t bother finding the 1.72REL firmware. It has more problems. Just get the su-2 if you need a USB bridge. Some guy at ASR has already measured it, it’s better than the u16. There is no need to do a listening test between the two in my case, because the u16 is simply not usable.

 

[simon 2]

Don’t bother finding the 1.72REL firmware. It has more problems. Just get the su-2 if you need a USB bridge. Some guy at ASR has already measured it, it’s better than the u16. There is no need to do a listening test between the two in my case, because the u16 is simply not usable.

I really like the sound of the u-16 and have a gustard c-16 so I need something with a 10 m input. I will have to buy something else and the su-2 looks like the one

 

[sumpao]

What is the best firmware for U16 I now use 1.61