[trappedintime]

  Congratulations in zeroing in on the Gustard
You won't be disappointed
 
The Gustard XLR output is 5.6v RMS for 0db (or so I have been lead to believe)
 
The liquid carbon has an input sensitivity of 0.775v for 0db
therefore you should reduce the Gustard output by -9db (every 3db halves the voltage)
 
 
The ragnarok
http://schiit.com/products/ragnarok
 
Assuming a 1v input sensitivity for 0db (gain - 1 mode) then the gustard should be set either -6 or -7db
 
At the end of the day, let your ears determine what's best
I don't believe that any settings on the Gustard will upset either of the headphone amps

Thanks for the reply. I guess I missed the specs on the liquid carbon's input sensitivity but I thought it was a little lower than the Rok. I'll play around with it, but -6 to -11db appears to be right in the wheelhouse. I'll post my impressions with all 3 rigs once I get about a week of burn-in.

 

[hpamdr]

You probably have an issue with your driver....
You can use the device cleanup tool http://www.uwe-sieber.de/misc_tools_e.html
And the reinstall it after reboot.
Normally chosing ASIO driver for foobar output should be enough to play PCM.
For DSD, you have to use Asio proxy (foo_dsd_asio) and setup DSD format to DOP.

 

[Jeff J.]

I received my Level 2+ modded Gustard X20u back from Ric Schultz yesterday. I had him do the "+" mod which adds a hand built shunt regulator for the Crystek clock. The regulator is tapped from the Gustard's main power rail rather than the 3.3v out near the clock. I also have parts on hand to utilize the Abracon AOCJY1 (thanks to the help from Quadman). That clock draws too much for this shunt regulator but I have another regulator which I might install and put in a switch to switch between external LPS power or internal power depending on which clock I'm using.
 
Initial impressions of the Level 2 Gustard are very good. Excellent actually. I am still burning everything in, but there are very obvious improvements in detail and clarity. I'm hearing detail in familiar recordings that I hadn't heard previously. The soundstage is also slightly more expansive. Bass is more articulate, although I hope for it to relax a bit more with burn in (it is still slightly constrained). This is coming from my other Gustard X20 which has most of the Level 1 AC mods done by myself already. I'm definitely very impressed with the end result here. It ranks high on the improvement-to-cost ratio scale in my mind, especially when you consider the total cost is still much less than the "main brand" competition at this performance level. Going back to my other X20 there is a discernable loss of "micro" detail and some collapse of the soundstage. The X20 is still a very fine DAC, but Ric's mods cumulatively make it quite significantly better.
 

 

[bwanaaa]

  ... The Gustard xmos driver settings are trivial compared to Foobar.

I went to a windows 8.1 virgin system that has never seen any of these drivers before.
I installed foobar, foo_input_sacd version0.8.4, foo_out_asio 2.1.2 (ancient!)
I installed the XMOS drivers that are the most recent - 3.20.0.0 (These are the signed drivers that came on the little cd with the Gustard)
reboot
Attached gustard with a short usb 2.0 cable
The Gustard popped up in device manager and also in the sound control panel as well.
I set it as default in the sound control panel.
 
I opened foobar. verified that sacd ASIO support were installed.
Set Output->Device to ASIO: XMOS USB AUDIO 2.0 ST 3033, apply
Set Output->Device->ASIO to foo_dsd_asio, double clicked on it and set ASIO proxy 0.8.3 to settings you said (no apply button), closed the little window.
Set Tools-> SACD->Output mode PCM, Samplerate 44100, apply
 
tried to play mp3: Unrecoverable playback error: Could not set sample rate to 44100 Hz
tried to play wavpack: Unrecoverable playback error: Could not set sample rate to 96000 Hz
tried to play flac 
Unrecoverable playback error: Could not create ASIO buffers
Unrecoverable playback error: Could not create ASIO buffers
tried to play DSD64:Unrecoverable playback error: Could not set sample rate to 44100 Hz
 
 
The same thing happens with JRiver. so frustrating. How can these drivers be so bad? I guess that's why everyone spends the bux for the singxer su-1 and an hdmi cable.

 

[Triplefun]

The Gustard XMOS drivers are standard - nothing really complex or difficult
You should have no trouble with JRiver - the settings are straight forward
And Foobar works after a little perseverance
Let me know what you want to do and I'll point you in the right direction
For example, in increasing level of complexity, native playback, sox upsampling, dsd upsampling

 

[wwmhf]

 
The Gustard XMOS drivers are standard - nothing really complex or difficult
You should have no trouble with JRiver - the settings are straight forward
And Foobar works after a little perseverance
Let me know what you want to do and I'll point you in the right direction
For example, in increasing level of complexity, native playback, sox upsampling, dsd upsampling

 
I will be very grateful if you can guide me (us) for how to setup Foobar so that it can play wave files stripped from my CDs through dsd upsampling on X20. 
 
I agree with you that JRiver is easy to set up to play wave files through dsd upsampling, but I could not get Foobar set up correctly for playing my CD files through dsd upsampling on X20

 

[bwanaaa]

@wwmhf
I could not even get JRiver to work. What are your settings?

 

[Triplefun]

Try this older software for foobar ..
http://www.head-fi.org/t/780385/gustard-x20-dac/210#post_12127462
 
 am using X20u on Windows 10 64 bit with Foobar 2000 1.3.9 and USB connect
I was able to get the X20u running on one PC but am having trouble with my notebook - so not plain sailing.
 
There are lots of web sites explaining the Foobar DSD install
http://www.psaudio.com/ps_how/how-to-play-dsd-files-on-foobar/
 
But many of the required component files and ASIOProxy  have been updated and there seem to be compatibility issues. I have installed the original versions I used for my DAC X10 and everything is now working ...
 
1. X20U USB driver - see http://jlsounds.com/drivers.html for XMOS driver options. I am using v26 with no issues
 
2. foo DSD input - see http://sourceforge.net/projects/sacddecoder/files/foo_input_sacd/. I am using 0.7.1.
 
3. ASIOProxyInstall - see the 0.7.1 DSD input sacd zip above  file which includes ASIOProxyInstall-0.7.1.2.exe
      
4. foo DSD output - see https://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_asio component 2.1.2.

 

[wwmhf]

  @wwmhf
I could not even get JRiver to work. What are your settings?

 
I am using Jriver 22.0.32
 
Here is my set up to play wave files ripped from my CDs: 
 
1. Tools->Options->Audio->Audio Device->XMOS USB Audio 2.0 ST 3033 [ASIO]
2. Tools->Options->Audio->Audio Device->Device settings->Output: check DSD bitstream in DoP format (I think is not critical because of the next step) 
3. Tools->Options->Audio->Settings->DSP & output format->Output Encoding: Choose 2xDSD in DoP format (requires DSD capable DAC)
4. Tools->Options->Audio->Settings->Bitstreaming->None
 
I like this way to play my CDs than to play them just as wave files.
 
Hope this helps

 

[Quadman]

Back in post 964 I mentioned that I have (had) a T&A Dac 8 DSD in house.  I was building a audio PC for a friend to incorporate, Roon, HQ player, Tidal and Audio Fidelizger so he could move into audio streaming after his very old Meridian Sooloos bit the dust.  Well I had the Dac for approximately 20 days and ran it a little over 200 hours with music signal which 99.5% was at DSD512.  Of course I compared it to my very heavily modified Gustard which has full Level 1 mod, a DIYinHK DSD512 USB to I2S card and a Abracon OCXO 100mHz clock soldered at the coax tower with a Acko regulator in front of it to provide clean power.  Both the DSD card and Acko regulators are powered from external PSU's.  My dac is fully DSD512 capable and is very stable at that resolution.  As far as I know I am the only one who is getting DSD512 from this dac, at least in the forums I follow.
 
DSD512 is where the magic happens, going from DSD128-DSD256 is a subtle but nice jump, going from 256 to 512 is strangely a huge jump, one that I have no real technical explanation for.  Common sense says you have a music file which is, most likely, 16/44.1 redbook resolution and you take this file and with the magic of HQ Player upsample it many, many times to DSD512.  How can that improve it?  If I have a photo at say 720P resolution and I suddenly increase (upsample) it to 4K resolution wouldn't the pixels now be more obvious, wouldn't it look worse?  Strangely that does not happen when up sampling music and 512 is just more real, more being at the event than listening to a recording of the event.  Background noise is lower, way lower (not measured) transparency is then obviously greater, leading edges better defined, bass becomes more focused and impactful, separation of the performers is greater and more 3D.  Some very good recordings have made me gasp at how real the voice, guitar or violin can be.  Almost eerie.  I love it and I am never going back.
 
On my very first listen to the T&A at 512, it was not apples to apples (to the X20).  The dac had a cheap power cord, and a stock USB cable, I did not have Roon or Audio Fidelizer pro on it.  The dac also had just a few hours on it and it sounded thin and un-involving.  As the hours on it increased and my work to make the comparison as close as possible continued I was finally ready to compare.  Both dacs had the same power cable, the T&A had a slightly better USB cable from the same manufacture.  Both Dacs had Roon, HQ Player and Audio Fidelizger Pro.  Each dac was run from separate PC's but both PC's used Gigabyte MB's with Dac-UP USB out, seasonic PSU's and Win10 pro and the same power cords plugged into the same conditioner..  The Gustard was its usual very involving self, I just love the way it plays back music at DSD512.  The T&A became a refinement of the Gustard they were close and I'll bet a lot of untrained folks would struggle to hear the difference.  It had a bit quieter background, transparency was up a notch, leading edges had a bit more definition bass had more detail. where the pluck of a double bass string the resonance of it in wood body was more evident that with the Gustard, thou it may not of had the weight (close tho) that the X20 has.  Also the separation and 3D placement of musicians was a bit more obvious.  It also felt just a bit more real than the Gustard, less recorded more there.  Now these are just subtle differences that I bet a lot of folks would not be aware of, but differences non-the-less that audiophiles pay huge $ for those type of gains.  On another night I swapped the better USB cable on the T&A  with the next one down the line in the Gustard, the gap closed slightly but I still give the nod to the T&A.  I suspect if I decide to pop for the $400+ Pulsar OCXO clock the gap would almost vanish.  For $4K the T&A may be the best sounding DSD512 Dac available and it is 44k and 48k compatible unlike the gustard which is only 44K.  What that means is a 48K based files (24/48,96,192) is up sampled to 24.6 Mhz and a 44.1 file is up sampled to 22.6 mHz so in HQ Player you can check auto rate family which will lessen the CPU/GPU load somewhat.  The Gustard will upsamaple 48K based files to 22.6, which increases CPU load as it essentially has to down sample from 24.6 to 22.6 mHz.
 
Tuesday I packed the T&A up to send to my buddy and next week I fly to install his new PC and T&A and it goes into a state of the art analog system with a modified struder reel to reel with very high quality tapes, and a SME30MK2 TT with top of the line dynavector cartridge.  So we will see where the T&A at DSD512 fits into that picture.  Last night I had to listen to just my Gustard and was not disappointed, it still is very involving, very transparent and very real like.  Like I said they are close but ultimately if I had to choose just one cost not a consideration I pick the T&A.  The consolation prize is not bad tho.

 

[Triplefun]

You have a lucky friend.

 

[Trae]

I'd be interested to see any before\after measurements of these modifications on this dac.

 

[mordicai]

Ive got a problem with my x20. It only seems to work with I2S. Received my Singxer su 1 and x20 about ten days ago. Ive only been running I2s which works great. Today I tried using BNC and Coaxial. Nothing. Su 1 is receiving a signal from my MAC but either its not exporting SPDIF or the x 20 is not importing it, and I can't figure out which machine is not working. I don't have another DAC to feed from the SU 1. Which I had my Bifrost back!!

 

[Quadman]

@mordicai by chance have you manually changed the input via the menu on the gustard to BNC or coax?  The Gustard is not auto switching.

 

[mordicai]

Oh Yah Quadman. Checked everything 20 times . been screwing with it all day. Was getting set to start my mods today, and checked BNC because my cable just arrived from Bluejeans( Im too cheap to buy a crimper). The Mac sees the Su 1, The Su 1 recieving the signal as the 2nd blue light light up, but no sound from the x 20. I2S works great, but not coaxial of BMC. Optical also works just fine. If I put my  Voltmeter leads on the SU 1 BNC connected will I get a reading if their is a signal there.  Ive always been able to figure out how to fix my tube amps , but this is beyond me.