Gustard X16 MQA DAC

[393699]

You are going to be very impressed with the improvement. The X18 takes everything that the X16 does, and improves upon it. It is an amazing sounding DAC.

 

[TheR0v3r]

You are going to be very impressed with the improvement. The X18 takes everything that the X16 does, and improves upon it. It is an amazing sounding DAC.

First impressions are very positive

Report more after using it a couple of days.

 

[TheR0v3r]

Just in case anyone reads this thread wondering if the X16 is a good purchase I say “absolutely!”. It’s really good at any price - and incredibly good for it’s price. It checks all my boxes (time-domain performance, timbre, tonality etc)

This is one of the better DAC’s I’ve had in my system. Apart from Gustard I’ve also had DAC’s from:

- Chord
- Merason
- MSB

Pretty great company !

PS. The Gustard is not as good as the most expensive but setup “right” (my preferences) it’s remarkably close.

After running some of my favorite ”reference tracks” for a quick comparison* between the Gustard X16 and X18 I’ve decided to keep the X18. My impressions above of the X16 still stand but I you have the budget for the X18 it’s a ”no brainer”. Thank you @DW75 for the tip!

My only caveat, and it’s a major one, is that both need added galvanic isolation for the USB input. Without it I felt that RF noise impacted the sound. IMHO.

* The comparison was made with Focal Utopias connected to Ferrum OOR + Hypsos (23.8v) listening to my reference tracks played from Audirvana Studio upsampling them to 352.8 kHz or 384 kHz with R8Brain and both Gustards in ”NOS Mode”. Audirvana runs on a computer connected to the DAC via Topping HS02 for galvanic isolation.

P.S. I didn’t need a few days for this

 

[xiled10]

Not sure if my ears are deceiving me but my friend brought his x16 and it sound better than my RME ADI-2 FS. I used HQPlayer and X16 has a bit soundstage? Not sure how to feel about this lol. I'm already tempted to sell my RME and get the X16 or newer

 

[393699]

If you were impressed with the X16, and you can afford the extra cost, just skip over it and grab the X18 instead. The X18 is an amazing sounding DAC for the 750 US price. It takes everything that the X16 does, and improves upon it in every way.

 

[lambdastorm]

Seems there are two revisions of the X16 out in the wild. On the left you have one with 2 caps in front of the RCA on the right a relay.