It's two glass monitor stands stacked up together.
Here you go
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B079FPT1VX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Gustard X16 MQA DAC
- Thread starter bhazard
- Start date
It's two glass monitor stands stacked up together.
Here you go
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B079FPT1VX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Thank you boss!!
Fly2High
Head-Fier
Have no idea on the pairing with the headphones but I heard someone in another forum say it was a good pairing dac /amp. I have the same pair on order but only have a pair of Sundara to use with them at the moment. Still shopping for a more rock centric HP to go with this stack.
chaz_flhr
500+ Head-Fier
Would one notice a SQ difference upgrading from using the node 2i dac to the x16 dac for MQA?
cans or bust
New Head-Fier
I am considering this combination myself. I would love to hear your comments.
Will let you know when it shows from China.
Can you compare it to your RME ADI-2 Dac?Mine came in from Shenzhen, China on Friday. That was Chinese new year ironically.
Took 3 days to Canada via DHL. At this point it's much faster to order stuff from China than the USA which is so weird!!
The remote takes 2 AAA batteries not included and the power cable is way to short to be useful. Luckily, I had an other longer one from a PC that sat close enough to a power source I could swap. The USB cable is a good length and adequate which is more than I could say for the one that originally came with my RME dac, (defective on arrival).
Downloaded drivers from Shenzhenaudio and plugged it in.
Boom, works. No surprises, complicated manuals, or controls. Everything seems to work and now I have MQA on my Desktop
Have not attempted Bluetooth yet, I can't think of a scenario where I need wireless. My System sounds fantastic!
Chibs
Hello again - both my X16 and SA-1 arrived (had the X16 already but it's a long story). I can't comment the same way that many audiophiles could about sound signature but here're a few things:
- everyting you have heard about the quality of the sound (to my ear) is true - it is fantastic and there is plenty of detail, although not having anything above this price to compare would lead me to caution you to take my word with a grain of salt.
- everything you have heard about the Low-Z/Hi-Z switch is true --> it behaves differently on each headphone and flipping it to Hi-Z really just softens the top end and brings down the intensity a bit. I *think* I prefer it on my Elegias, which are 35ohm (4.4mm or XLR balanced via Hart Audio cables - no sound difference I can tell) but Low-Z on my Aeon Open X, which are a mere 13ohm and need lots of power.
- overall quality of build is great, but I wish the front toggle switches were better. Volume knob is fine and for my desktop use, I have no issues identifying where it is, even in low light.
- everything else works as it should and it genuinely seems well-built
My entire setup is PC (Tidal MQA/Deezer/Spotify) -> AQ Carbon USB -> Gustard X16 (w/ AQ NRG-Y3 power cable) -> Hart Audio XLR interconnects -> Singxer SA-1 (w/ AQ NRG-Y3 power cable) -> Hart Audio cable system -> Focal Elegias / Aeon Open Xs
chaotic_angel
500+ Head-Fier
what is the latest FW for X16? and where to get it?
Fly2High
Head-Fier
I think it comes with the latest. ShenzhenAudio download site would have it if one is available.
https://download.shenzhenaudio.com/#Gustard_x16/1
there are 5.0.0 drivers and a manual but nothing about firmware changes
chaotic_angel
500+ Head-Fier
thanks..btw how to check which fw installed in X16, i have tried to hold the centre button while powering on, shown some figures but I dont think it is the fw version..
Fly2High
Head-Fier
Since I have a very limited audio collection and wanted to test out the DAC, I went to this page to download some:
http://dsdmaster.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
I installed Foobar2000 and went to SourceForge to get the SACD component which I installed to support DSF files
They list a DSF file which I then tried to play and all I got was static.
Can the DAC play DSF files when played by Foobar2000?
What settings do I use?
What do I set the output mode to: PCM, DSD or PCM + DSD? Can you take a screenshot of what works with this DAC?
This is what I have but I do not thing it is correct:
When I set the output to DSD or DSD + PCM, the DAC shows DSD 2.8mHz but all I get is static.
I have no idea what any of the settings on that page mean or what they should be set to.
Help!
http://dsdmaster.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
I installed Foobar2000 and went to SourceForge to get the SACD component which I installed to support DSF files
They list a DSF file which I then tried to play and all I got was static.
Can the DAC play DSF files when played by Foobar2000?
What settings do I use?
What do I set the output mode to: PCM, DSD or PCM + DSD? Can you take a screenshot of what works with this DAC?
This is what I have but I do not thing it is correct:
When I set the output to DSD or DSD + PCM, the DAC shows DSD 2.8mHz but all I get is static.
I have no idea what any of the settings on that page mean or what they should be set to.
Help!
Last edited:
I don't have the means to properly AB them for an opinion on sound.
Having said that both sound great! - Build quality, screen, aesthetics, feature wise, these units are worlds apart. The Gustard is much cheaper, no frills, just passable aesthetically. The RME Dac is in a different league. So why would I bother with the Gustard? I don't use the majority of features of the ADI 2 Dac. I don't bother with parametric EQ, I don't watch the beautiful screen. The X16 Does it's job of converting digital to analog and was refreshingly easy to set up and use. I stream primarily through tidal and it properly and seamlessly switches bitrates without me doing anything. The ADI 2 Dac does not. Simply put the Gustard X16 gets out of the way. Is it a perfect solution? No. Having an ir Remote without power command is unfortunate. My workaround was to plug both my amp and dac into a Philips hue smart plug. This way I'm able to turn the whole system on or off from this little white remote or my phone.
I’m also having some weird issue with the tidal app but I don’t know if it’s related to Gustard hardware or the app it’s self. I’ll get into this in an other post later on.
Chibs
Chibs, you just gave me the final push to *stop* lusting over the RME, thank you. I just wouldn’t use its functions either and am very happy with the X16 just “getting out of the way”, although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued to upgrade to the X26Pro.I don't have the means to properly AB them for an opinion on sound.
Having said that both sound great! - Build quality, screen, aesthetics, feature wise, these units are worlds apart. The Gustard is much cheaper, no frills, just passable aesthetically. The RME Dac is in a different league. So why would I bother with the Gustard? I don't use the majority of features of the ADI 2 Dac. I don't bother with parametric EQ, I don't watch the beautiful screen. The X16 Does it's job of converting digital to analog and was refreshingly easy to set up and use. I stream primarily through tidal and it properly and seamlessly switches bitrates without me doing anything. The ADI 2 Dac does not. Simply put the Gustard X16 gets out of the way. Is it a perfect solution? No. Having an ir Remote without power command is unfortunate. My workaround was to plug both my amp and dac into a Philips hue smart plug. This way I'm able to turn the whole system on or off from this little white remote or my phone.
I’m also having some weird issue with the tidal app but I don’t know if it’s related to Gustard hardware or the app it’s self. I’ll get into this in an other post later on.
Chibs
X16 also pairs great with SA-1.
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