The X18 is certainly an awesome sounding DAC. Someone else on headfi messaged me the other day and also bought one after what I said about it. He is an X16 owner currently. I have still not found a single fault with the sound of my X18. Everything just sounds completely correct.
Gustard X18 ES9038 DAC
- Thread starter music_man
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I wrote this too soon. Upsampling and NOS Mode” with upsampling is NOT a necessity.The next step up in price is not equal to the next step up in quality. I know that you know that but I’m writing to the less experienced. When I restarted my journey I thought that DAC’s where like to the turntables of my youth: price = performance. At least until the Rega Planar showed up
Some of these ”Chinese DAC’s” are like the Rega Planars of yesteryear. Giant killers!!! Looking at the hardware design and performance I believe that they are now at least on par with for example Chord DAC’s. (I’ve used all modern Chord’s except Mojo2). The weakness in these are the software (filters). IF you run them in ”NOS mode” and instead implement filtering on a connected computer they are truly amazing.
IMHO.
Minimum phase filters have never worked out for me so I always use linear phase. So naturally I tried both of those on the X18 but was not
convinced by them. Instead I switched to “NOS Mode On” and upsampled in Audirvana.But my computer is old and upsampling to higher rates such as DSD256 always leads to some dropouts and thats not any fun listening to… (My former DAC had a max sampling rate of 192 kHz so upsampling was never an option).
Anyhow, I decided to try the other filters. Neither the “APO” or “H-Fast” brought me any joy, but “BRICK” option was amazing.
The brickwall filter works really, really well and is highly recommended for all around listening with the X18. I perceive it not only as neutral in the frequency domain but even more impressively natural in the time domain. Just fantastic!
IMHO.
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Just listen to “I’m There” with HAELOS. Brilliant beats which have real drive in the right system. Impeccable timing.
I wonder if Gustard has any plans to make a DAC using the SABRE ES9039MSPRO. With the X26 Pro being 1500 US, and the X18 at 750 US, there is a space there for them to come out with something like an X19 for 1000-1100 US. There is a brand new USB driver out as well. It is version 5.57. It supports X16, X18, X26, X26 PRO, A22, A26, R26, A18, U16, and U18. You can get it at the link.
http://www.gustard.cn/?page_id=8956
http://www.gustard.cn/?page_id=8956
Having now lived with the Gustard X18 for a while I’m actually starting to rethink my view on (expensive) DAC’s. The question in the back of my mind has been: Is basic (ie non-upsampling) digital-to-analog conversion now a solved problem? After having revisited some very expensive setups I’m moving towards a resounding YES!
More then once I’ve felt that, apart from the ”status” of owning an expensive DAC, nothing is gained in comparision with my X18. When before I used to be impressed by the (much) more expensive DAC’s I can now sometimes here a lack of transparency and obvious ”colorations”- being different vs being better?
Maybe the game has moved on? Maybe cutting edge digital-to-analog conversion is all about software now that the hardware part of the equation is solved?
More then once I’ve felt that, apart from the ”status” of owning an expensive DAC, nothing is gained in comparision with my X18. When before I used to be impressed by the (much) more expensive DAC’s I can now sometimes here a lack of transparency and obvious ”colorations”- being different vs being better?
Maybe the game has moved on? Maybe cutting edge digital-to-analog conversion is all about software now that the hardware part of the equation is solved?
The X18 is the only DAC I have purchased that I am 100% satisfied with the sound of. I really don't see any need to buy anything else. It offers an amazing sound for 750 US. It really is a full step up across the board in sound quality from the X16.
If it wasn’t for your comments about the X16 vs X18 I’d probably still be chasing my next DAC. So very grateful
How on earth did you figure this one out? Without a really solid reference for what ”good” sound is it’s very easy to get caught up in finding something better…
Edit: Instead of ”good sound” a better choice of words would have been ”correct sound”.
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No need to thank me. I am just an owner of the DAC like everyone else in the thread who owns one. You have obviously noticed the difference in sound quality between the X16 and X18. There is no comparison between the 2 DACs. The X18 has a much better sound. The treble alone is greatly improved, along with everything else.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to audition two dacs:
Anyway, to keep it short the X18 is still my prefered choice and I wouldn’t trade it for any of those two (nice) DAC’s.
Disclaimer: This is IMHO with my listening abilities and preferences.
- Ideon Audio Ayazi MK2 DAC & 3R Master Time Black Star
- Aqua La Scala MKII Optologic DAC
Anyway, to keep it short the X18 is still my prefered choice and I wouldn’t trade it for any of those two (nice) DAC’s.
Disclaimer: This is IMHO with my listening abilities and preferences.
Regarding the choice of filters, I spoke to soon…I wrote this too soon. Upsampling and NOS Mode” with upsampling is NOT a necessity.
Minimum phase filters have never worked out for me so I always use linear phase. So naturally I tried both of those on the X18 but was not
But my computer is old and upsampling to higher rates such as DSD256 always leads to some dropouts and thats not any fun listening to… (My former DAC had a max sampling rate of 192 kHz so upsampling was never an option).
Anyhow, I decided to try the other filters. Neither the “APO” or “H-Fast” brought me any joy, but “BRICK” option was amazing.
The brickwall filter works really, really well and is highly recommended for all around listening with the X18. I perceive it not only as neutral in the frequency domain but even more impressively natural in the time domain. Just fantastic!
IMHO.
With my planar headphones I’m enjoying ”APO” more than ”BRICK”. The other way around with the dynamic drivers.
Don’t understand but willing to learn
I just use the default L-Fast filter that is on the unit out of the box. It has the most neutral sound. What did you end up doing with your X16 ? I sold mine after I got the X18.
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I got mine at ARK Audio who very generously took back the X16 (as a demo) and let me upgrade to the X18. Highly recommend them if in EU.
No affiliation whatsoever, but I believe that shops who go above and beyond should be shown appreciation.
Playing CD’s I couldn’t tell ”L-Fast” and ”Brick” apart, both worked great! Oddly enough the ”APO” didn’t sound as good with CD as it does when I stream and upsample. The ”M-SLOW”, ”M-FAST” and ”H-FAST” was no go for me. Something just doesn’t connect with these, somehow the feeling of drive or momentum changes…
This testing was probably as non-scientific as it gets, with me changing filters on fly and knowing which filter I was using*. It was actually also pretty boring listening to filters so the effort I put into this was all of one track played two times. At least it was a good CD
!* My understanding of filters is pretty basic so I’m not sure that it matters all that much anyway. I get the slow vs fast but have real difficulty in understanding what those impulse response graphs are supposed to show IRL. Seems more like they are visualising how a filter is constructed vs how it sounds but that’s far beyond my knowledge anyway.
Today I hade the opportunity to (very briefly) audition the Ideon Absolute DAC. It’s an amazing DAC and it checks all the boxes - it just sounds great! Or as one reviewer put it:
This really is one of the best DACs in the world right now.
The only ”negative” is that it’s also REALLY expensive…
So why write about the Ideon Absolute in a thread about the Gustard X18? Because both use one SABRE ES9038Pro! This shows that stellar performance is all about implementation
This really is one of the best DACs in the world right now.
The only ”negative” is that it’s also REALLY expensive…
So why write about the Ideon Absolute in a thread about the Gustard X18? Because both use one SABRE ES9038Pro! This shows that stellar performance is all about implementation
It sounds like you are getting tempted to upgrade yet again. 
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