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Gustard X20 DAC
Nov 6, 2016 at 9:08 PM Post #1,021 of 1,320
What software are you using and how much are you prebuffing?
 
Nov 6, 2016 at 9:17 PM Post #1,022 of 1,320
Jriver - at work now, will have to check settings when i get back home. 
 
Nov 6, 2016 at 9:18 PM Post #1,023 of 1,320
Are you up sampling or just playing a 512 file?
 
Nov 7, 2016 at 4:34 PM Post #1,029 of 1,320

For right now Im quite happy with 256. Of course Ive only had it a few weeks, downloaded some Teleman the other day in DSD 256....9.8 GB....WOW!!!
 
Nov 8, 2016 at 12:07 PM Post #1,032 of 1,320
quadman said:
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.
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Hello Quadman,

I have been following this thread with much attention

I have been able to play DSD 128 from Gustard U12

I contacted DIYNHK and they mentioned mission impossible to play DSD using the Gustard X20u, which is obviously not true.

I have limited Diy skills but one of my friend is very knowledgeable.

May I asked the following:

what DIYNHK module did you used?

Is it possible to place this module in an outside box with linear psu?

Is it complex (and how) do you place the HDMI pins on the HDMI/I2S from the module to fit with the gustard x20u HDMI input

Is the new internal clock you also added mandatory?

I imagine you are unsing the new DXIO driver 3.3.38

You are my only hope to help me figure out how to play DSD 512 on the gustard x20u

I plan to upsample in DSD512 from JRiver

Thanks in advance,

Jocelyn Drolet
 
Nov 8, 2016 at 1:24 PM Post #1,033 of 1,320

@joce PM sent, yes I use driver V3.38.  Another option after reading above is to wait for the new Singer SU-1 which will do DSD512.  It may not equal the SQ by going internally but really easy to implement.  I did mention to the DIY guys that I got stable DSD512 on the x20u, guess they didn't believe me.
 
Why can't you play DSD128 direct to gustard (USB) with stock driver that will work?  U12 is weak link in chain.
 
Nov 8, 2016 at 3:39 PM Post #1,034 of 1,320
quadman said:
 
@joce PM sent, yes I use driver V3.38.  Another option after reading above is to wait for the new Singer SU-1 which will do DSD512.  It may not equal the SQ by going internally but really easy to implement.  I did mention to the DIY guys that I got stable DSD512 on the x20u, guess they didn't believe me.
 
Why can't you play DSD128 direct to gustard (USB) with stock driver that will work?  U12 is weak link in chain.
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Oh I for one believe you. Im just enjoying 256 before I take it up a notch. Haven't finished all my x20 mods yet and not that comfortable with the PC boards as you are. Im looking forward to 512. I bought my SU 1 just a few weeks ago. I thought it would do 512, but now I see it won't.
 
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