[kumar402]

I do have Holo Audio Titanis USB as well which I use after Intona USB generator. Surprisingly Holo USB does a decent job even on it's own. I just did not seem to yield expected improvement with added U18 in chain, maybe external clock would help, but I'm not keen to go that route as I have too many boxes on my desktop already.

I think my noisy source is nearly sorted with Intona, maybe a better dac in future which is not so sensitive to sources

Chord performs well with optical. Use that out of U18 for Chord DAC.
Also why you want 2-3 layers of USB isolation before U18? And that too for Mac? What all processes are you running to make it this noisy

 

[hakunamakaka]

I use Phasure I2S

Interesting how different systems produce different results. I previously also used Denafrips Iris on a Topping D7x Pro, I borrowed a U18 to compare and never returned the U18, ended up selling my Iris because the U18 produce a deeper and wider soundstage compared to Iris.

I may be wrong on this. It's going purely from memory as I remember Iris gave me a very decent uplift in SQ and especially bass. If any U18 gives me very little improvement which could be just my mind playing tricks. Maybe Intona USB with Holo Titanis does all the magic which is needed to clean noisy mac sources

 

[DAPpower]

I may be wrong on this. It's going purely from memory as I remember Iris gave me a very decent uplift in SQ and especially bass. If any U18 gives me very little improvement which could be just my mind playing tricks. Maybe Intona USB with Holo Titanis does all the magic which is needed to clean noisy mac sources

Not your mind playing tricks the U18 changes the presentation and makes it more 3D-like, hard to explain why but with the X26 Pro, it takes out any harshness and the soundstage becomes MUCH more holographic.
It is a must for X26 Pro owners.
As for how much noise it cleans up, I think I did detect a much more blacker background.
Overall at it's price point especially in the used market, the U18 is a steal.

 

[hakunamakaka]

Chord performs well with optical. Use that out of U18 for Chord DAC.
Also why you want 2-3 layers of USB isolation before U18? And that too for Mac? What all processes are you running to make it this noisy

With just Intona USB ISO in place my macbook often doesn't recognize the DAC. I think Intona on itself lacks the power output to Qutest, hence where Holo Titanis helps. To my ears Titanis adds a bit of warmth as well ( this can be easily written of as brain tricks as well )

My macbook air is 2017 release, I don't have much of the stuff going there, but with mac directly connected to qutest sound is very agressive and lean on Utopias, actually to the degree that even red filter doesn't help much.

Somehow Mojo 2 behaves far better while connected directly to Mac and to my ears edges against mac->qutest setup

Not your mind playing tricks the U18 changes the presentation and makes it more 3D-like, hard to explain why but with the X26 Pro, it takes out any harshness and the soundstage becomes MUCH more holographic.
It is a must for X26 Pro owners.
As for how much noise it cleans up, I think I did detect a much more blacker background.
Overall at it's price point especially in the used market, the U18 is a steal.

It might be that Intona USB does the decent job of cleaning my source signal, hence not much is achieved with added U18. I will unpack U18 just to make sure I'm not missing on anything

 

[milkdudd]

What I2S cable do you use? I’m using the BJC / Belden FE recommended on this thread, aware of step up options also recommended here like the Afterdark Black Magic and the Tubulus Argentus and Concentus…

I currently use the blue jeans I2s cable after trying the AVplay HD-300 I2S cable. In my system the blue jeans sounded better. I'd like to move up to the tubulus but right now I can find other uses for $500. Is there any cable known to have near tubulus SQ without the high price?

 

[duong viet hung]

I am using GUSTARD U18 now want to use more GUSTARD C16 10MHz Clock, I don't know how it will change. And anyone who has used GUSTARD C16 can advise on its quality. Thank you guys

 

[ray12345]

I am using GUSTARD U18 now want to use more GUSTARD C16 10MHz Clock, I don't know how it will change. And anyone who has used GUSTARD C16 can advise on its quality. Thank you guys

I have only used C18, which supposedly should be much better than C16. I now use LHY OCK-2, which replaced my C18. Unless you can get a C16 for close to free, I would recommend you to get a higher quality clock.

 

[Rantenti]

deleted

 

[Rantenti]

I am using Element H USB card. The U18 still makes a difference. In fact, the Element H seems to make a smaller difference compared to using U18 connected direct to computer USB.

Did you switch the power output to OFF on the Element H card when connected to the U18? Does the U18 work without power from the USB?

 

[Getafix]

Did you switch the power output to OFF on the Element H card when connected to the U18? Does the U18 work without power from the USB?

U18 doesn’t need power from usb.

 

[kopczas]

I went thru many pages of this thread trying to find as simple answer as possible to question:
Gustard U-18 vs Singxer SU-6?
Which is better? Is SU-6 worth to pay extra ?

 

[doitttt]

the ps jitter numbers say, nothing.
holo red or gustard u18 and singxer su6.
what you have to notice is how clean the sound source is, whether sacd or flac or wav files
or streaming from the internet, as I said crap in crap out,
whether holo red or gustard u18.
it depends on who is listening, from person to person.
can tell, Audiophilleo has the lowest ps jitter numbers.
I did a listening test, with Audiophilleo.
up against gustard u18 and sotm dX-USB HD
there is no difference between them.
time has passed, old usb dcc
I listened on neumann 310a studio monitor
they reveal everything in the music
dac gustard a26 too
he next thing i want to try
https://aoshida-audio.com/products/musician-pisces
musician-pisces have optocouplers as Digital Isolation
want to hear about that influence on the sound
as said optocoupler has no noise on usb
gustard u18 are ok
https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/a-dream-team-gustard-x18-u18-review/
singxer su 6 has xmos 208 but clean power supply supercapacitor
gustard u18 has good isolator 200mhz and xmos 216

 

[kopczas]

musician-pisces

This one looks good. I would consider this cause I already own Pegasus. Unfortunately Linsoul doesn`t offer it on their shop.

 

[Metal-Fi]

New U18 owner here, I have been using my unit for about one week now so I would like to add some impressions.
I guess that my path until now has been somewhat typical: initial skepticism towards DDCs, snake oil, the sound is already as good as it gets straight from a pc usb ports...then something makes you realize that this is not the case and the music you used to enjoy so much is affected by noise and interferences which make it grainy and distorted. Not dramatically, but audibly enough to start looking for a remedy.
After reading several pages around the web, I made my choice and bought a black Gustard U18. I was still skeptical and did not expect much - I just hoped to get rid of usb noise and to enjoy a cleaner output. The first listen proved me wrong quite quickly: not only was the noise gone, but I also experienced less sibilance/glare and a better layering in the low frequencies. Needless to say I was quite impressed by such an unexpected change. Just to question my overall initial skepticism from different perspectives, during this week my U18 has been active 8-10 hours a day to see if the burn-in is real or not. It is. The sound has kept improving slightly but constantly: more natural and cohesive, better soundstage, more density, improved separation. Again, it is not night vs day but enough to say there is no going back. Actually, all of this made me curious about alternative fuses and how they may possibly improve further what I got...so my question may sound repetitive but here it is: is it reasonable to start gradually with a cheap - but seemingly good - Gustard fuse and then replace this with something high-end like SR Purple, or is it better to wait and save to get directly the latter?

Cheers!

 

[DAPpower]

New U18 owner here, I have been using my unit for about one week now so I would like to add some impressions.
I guess that my path until now has been somewhat typical: initial skepticism towards DDCs, snake oil, the sound is already as good as it gets straight from a pc usb ports...then something makes you realize that this is not the case and the music you used to enjoy so much is affected by noise and interferences which make it grainy and distorted. Not dramatically, but audibly enough to start looking for a remedy.
After reading several pages around the web, I made my choice and bought a black Gustard U18. I was still skeptical and did not expect much - I just hoped to get rid of usb noise and to enjoy a cleaner output. The first listen proved me wrong quite quickly: not only was the noise gone, but I also experienced less sibilance/glare and a better layering in the low frequencies. Needless to say I was quite impressed by such an unexpected change. Just to question my overall initial skepticism from different perspectives, during this week my U18 has been active 8-10 hours a day to see if the burn-in is real or not. It is. The sound has kept improving slightly but constantly: more natural and cohesive, better soundstage, more density, improved separation. Again, it is not night vs day but enough to say there is no going back. Actually, all of this made me curious about alternative fuses and how they may possibly improve further what I got...so my question may sound repetitive but here it is: is it reasonable to start gradually with a cheap - but seemingly good - Gustard fuse and then replace this with something high-end like SR Purple, or is it better to wait and save to get directly the latter?

Cheers!

Like you I had the same experience with the U18, I now think it is absolutely necessary to use it with the X26Pro. Without the U18, the X26Pro soundstage is too linear and can be harsh sounding with treble glare.

Regarding fuses, it all depends on your budget, they definitely do make a difference, I upgraded my chain with 3x SR Purple Fuses and by upgrading each component one by one, I could hear clear differences from each device in the chain.
The SR Purple Fuses are definitely expensive at $200 a pop, each year there is a special deal going on where if you buy 2 purple fuses you will get one free one. If you want to go the Purple Fuse route that would be the deal to take advantage of.
The Purple fuses seem to boost the mids/vocals up and make everything sound more musical, it made a bigger difference when it put it on my DAC.

The Gustard fuses are more cheaper and should be a proper entry level upgrade for fuses.