[denti]

All these mods sound tempting, but I'm going to wait until my warranty is up before trying any of them. And it would be great if someone who has done them would take pictures of the different steps to help those of us who might want to try them. Soldering isn't an issue. It's understanding what parts and wires you're even talking about.

 

[bos3812]

I am new on this threath and have followed it from the first post. A week ago I decided to buy a Gustard x20u. It has to replace my Ayon CD 1SC cd-player. The Ayon is a very nice tubed cd-player with a warm and lively sound. I want to replace it  because I discovered that I didn’t spin my discs anymore and only streamed my music. I have 90 hrs on the Gustard now. I have a question to the ones that have the Gustard a while longer and have done the mods or use a Singxer F1 between their source and the Gustard. If you ask me if I like the Gustard then the answer is yes and no. I like it because it is very transparent. It has a wonderful soundstage. Nice highs without being harsh. Very strong and good bass. Details and transparency are a lot better than my Ayon. But I don’t like the Gustard for one thing. So far it lacks emotion in the music. The Gustard is very clean, maybe to clean. It’s the difference with the Ayon which has that emotion but lacks other things opposite to the Gustard. And now my question. Will this change when the Gustard has more hours on it? Will it change when I mod the Gustard or will it change when I use the Singxer F1?

 

[denti]

Also, I've got the trial version of HQPlayer running. I can't make heads or tail or it. My PC is not able to do 256 without stuttering, but could someone post some settings for 128 to help me decide whether it's worth the investment to upgrade from JRiver.

 

[Quadman]

  Also, I've got the trial version of HQPlayer running. I can't make heads or tail or it. My PC is not able to do 256 without stuttering, but could someone post some settings for 128 to help me decide whether it's worth the investment to upgrade from JRiver.

since you are not going to mod your dac until the warranty is over, which I think is 2 years, no point in putting pics up for you as new technology by then will make X20u dated.
 
As to HQP here are my settings on HQP for DSD128 playback.  I assume you are using a gustard driver which is a ASIO driver.  Under device your driver name may be different but should be close to this and say USB 2.0 audio.  SDM Pack you have two options, if your driver is truly ASIO then None here should work if not then try the other option DoP.  The DSD setting themselves are on the right hand side under the SDM Defaults heading.  Try the ones I have here, the 2S filter family uses less of the processor (CPU) then the non-2S family so I suggest sticking with that.  Set Volume max no higher than -3dB.  Check pipeline SDM.  Then click okay.  Now on the main HQP screen  You will see 4 grayish boxes under the song information header.  The one to the far right click the arrow and select SDM.  That should change the other 3 boxes to the filters you selected in the SDM settings dialog.  Then from here you should be able to play music.  If no sound then go back to settings and under the SDM pack change it to DoP.  hit Ok and try try play again.  If still no music close HQP and then reopen, confirm setting are set for SDM playback (main screen the 4 grayish boxes) and hit play.  It should work.
 
Good Luck
 

 

[Quadman]

double post

 

[Quadman]

  I am new on this threath and have followed it from the first post. A week ago I decided to buy a Gustard x20u. It has to replace my Ayon CD 1SC cd-player. The Ayon is a very nice tubed cd-player with a warm and lively sound. I want to replace it  because I discovered that I didn’t spin my discs anymore and only streamed my music. I have 90 hrs on the Gustard now. I have a question to the ones that have the Gustard a while longer and have done the mods or use a Singxer F1 between their source and the Gustard. If you ask me if I like the Gustard then the answer is yes and no. I like it because it is very transparent. It has a wonderful soundstage. Nice highs without being harsh. Very strong and good bass. Details and transparency are a lot better than my Ayon. But I don’t like the Gustard for one thing. So far it lacks emotion in the music. The Gustard is very clean, maybe to clean. It’s the difference with the Ayon which has that emotion but lacks other things opposite to the Gustard. And now my question. Will this change when the Gustard has more hours on it? Will it change when I mod the Gustard or will it change when I use the Singxer F1?

Could be you are conditioned to the tube sound of your Ayon dac and equate that with emotion.  You make no mention how you are using the dac, up sampling, streaming native, playing DSD or PCM.  or what your other components are in your system.  I have a very resolving system based around the heavily modded gustard it feeds a DIY buffered preamp based on Nelson Pass's B1 schematic, that feeds my wonderful Wyetech 211 A+ single ended 211 tube amp which in turn feeds my wonderful speakers.  There is more emotion and feeling to my music then any other component has ever done in my system.  I probably play more blues than anything else and if you heard my system and dac you would not be saying the Gustard lacks emotion and feeling.
 
Modding the gustard does make it better, quite a bit in fact.  It brings out more of the qualities you mention above and, in my system more emotion.  You are conditioned to the tube sound of the Ayon and may find modding even strips what little emotion if had to begin with.  I would guess you have a SS amp.  Are you running the Gustard direct into the amp?  it has very high output voltage and unless you are attenuating the gustard a lot (-18 to -24 DB) you could very easily be overdriving your amp and clipping it.
 
Good luck

 

[bos3812]

Thank you Quadmen for your answer. Maybe you are right. I love the warm tube sound of the Ayon and the sound of the Gustard is different. I should probably get used to it. Maybe the Gustard needs more time to develop. At this moment a diy minicomputer with intel DN2800MT motherboard is my source. I think it hasn't enough processor power to play DSD so at this moment I play only 192 kHz PCM directly with a Acoustic Revive USB cable into the USB connection of the Gustard. The power supply unit of the computer is not of high quality and has to be replaced for a better one. I have diy active loudspeakers and use a Minidsp 4x10HD as crossover. The Gustard plays directly through the Minidsp into two Job 225 amps. Everything is connected with the excellent, but payable, M-Way Reference Cables from the Dutch company Audiomaat. It could be possible that the bad PSU of the computer and the polluted USB signal have a bad influence on the emotional character of the Gustard. I will wait till the Gustard has 200+ hours and then I will decide which one has to go. Till that time I can't modify the Gustard of course. I will report later on that.

 

[Quadman]

  Thank you Quadmen for your answer. Maybe you are right. I love the warm tube sound of the Ayon and the sound of the Gustard is different. I should probably get used to it. Maybe the Gustard needs more time to develop. At this moment a diy minicomputer with intel DN2800MT motherboard is my source. I think it hasn't enough processor power to play DSD so at this moment I play only 192 kHz PCM directly with a Acoustic Revive USB cable into the USB connection of the Gustard. The power supply unit of the computer is not of high quality and has to be replaced for a better one. I have diy active loudspeakers and use a Minidsp 4x10HD as crossover. The Gustard plays directly through the Minidsp into two Job 225 amps. Everything is connected with the excellent, but payable, M-Way Reference Cables from the Dutch company Audiomaat. It could be possible that the bad PSU of the computer and the polluted USB signal have a bad influence on the emotional character of the Gustard. I will wait till the Gustard has 200+ hours and then I will decide which one has to go. Till that time I can't modify the Gustard of course. I will report later on that.

Have you tried somethings like a AQ jitterbug, or up tone regen.  Both do a good job of cleaning up USB noise and make improvements in SQ.  There are many such items like those but these are easily found (well regen) on the used market at a good price.  I know most dac's, Gustard included are improved by these devices.

 

[bos3812]

I had the Jitterbug but I didn't like it. Air around instruments and artists disappeard to a certain extent. I have read about the Regen but never heard it. I am interested in the coming PS Audio Lanrover or an alternative unit. Probably this is a better solution for a polluted USB signal. 

 

[denti]

 
since you are not going to mod your dac until the warranty is over, which I think is 2 years, no point in putting pics up for you as new technology by then will make X20u dated.
 

 
Thanks for the info!
 
Are you serious, though? The X20 will be "dated" in two years? You expect to move on from it by then! Wow, I was hoping this thing would last me for a decade, at least. If 516 is possible and as great as you claim, then I can spend the next few years trying to achieve that, then modding, and be quite happy, no?

 

[Quadman]

   
Thanks for the info!
 
Are you serious, though? The X20 will be "dated" in two years? You expect to move on from it by then! Wow, I was hoping this thing would last me for a decade, at least. If 516 is possible and as great as you claim, then I can spend the next few years trying to achieve that, then modding, and be quite happy, no?

Digital is moving very fast.  Manufactures got caught totally off guard with the popularity of up-sampling and the wide variety of programs that do so.  So taking any music signal and up sampling to DSD512 or 1024 is not difficult to do.  Mfg's do not have products that can play back DSD512 and many can't even do 256.  I expect that in the next 12 months you will see many products hit the market that can handle DSD512 without jumping thru hoops to get it.  Plug and play.  Will the gustard at DSD512 sound bad in a coupe of years no, it will sound great.  As good as competing products that were designed from day 1 to handle DSD512 with no mods, probably not.  Heck I expect Gustards next dac, to be based on the ESS9038 chip possibly dual mono like the X20 and have a USB capable (with separate regulated psu, me dreaming) input of DSD512 out of the box.  And hopefully they will have a shorter path for the I2s lines and clock signal to the dac chips.  One thing this dac has taught me, I will never spend big $ on a dac again.  The new stuff hitting the market in the sub $1K market is pretty darn good and can be modded to be great for not a lot of $.
 
I just fit another clock in my dac last night along with a bigger regulator.  The Abracon AOCJY1, 100 Mhz and a Acko labs 3.3 V regulator.  This clock sells from digkey or mouser for about $66.  It is a OCXO crystal oscillator.  It needs to be running at apprx 55 degree centigrade for optimum performance so I built a insulating boot to go around it to keep internal heat in the clock and current draw lower.  I can tell that once it breaks in it will be better than the stock clock I got with my Gustard or the accusilicon I used up until last night.  It could end up being a very nice step up.  It has some edge and grit right now but after a couple hundred of hours it should be fine.  That begs the question how much do you want to spend on a clock?  The pulsar is VERY highly regarded and I would expect it to be another level above the abracon.  It is more difficult to get due its being classified as military and civilian use and probably runs in the $400+ range deliver to the US.  How much better do you want to make the Gustard?, or save the $ for the next generation dac and improve those?  That said I LOVE my X20u with mods to play DSD512 and the option to switch dip14 clocks easily.  Can't wait to see what is next.

 

[denti]

Sounds like you would expect an updated version of the X12 that can take 512. That would save a lot of us who want 512 the headache...

 

[Radiohead99]

Can anyone provide feedback on Gustard playing upsampled DSD? I am curious how its DSD playback compares to other well known DSD dac like Mytek/ExaSound/Lampizator.
 
Also, if I buy a Singxer SU-1, can the Gustard play DSD 512 through its I2S input? Can the Gustard play DSD 256 out of the box?

 

[Quadman]

  Can anyone provide feedback on Gustard playing upsampled DSD? I am curious how its DSD playback compares to other well known DSD dac like Mytek/ExaSound/Lampizator.
 
Also, if I buy a Singxer SU-1, can the Gustard play DSD 512 through its I2S input? Can the Gustard play DSD 256 out of the box?

I have many comments here on DSD up sampling.  Have not compared to the dac's you list.  But to very high 5 figure TT, Cart and phone stage.  it's wonderful.
 
The Gustard stock with supplied drivers is limited to DSD128.  If you can find a compatible Xmos driver version 3.34 or higher the gustard will do DSD256.  The singxer SU-1 should have the capability to play DSD512 with the Xmos 208 chip, but the specs on it only claim DSD256.  I have not tried one since I get DSD512 with the DIYinHK USB to i2s card.  Since it uses the xmos chip (SU-1) I would think a xmos driver v 3.34 or higher may work and be able to get DSD512 from the singxer, but again I am only speculating as I have not tried that.

 

[Radiohead99]

Quadman, You have really helpful with all thing Gustard. Thank you! I have sent a PM to a member here who is playing DSD 256 through SU-1 asking if he's able to play DSD 512. 
 
If I am planning to order SU-1 to play DSD through I2S, Gustard X20 should be the logical choice, right? I mean, without the additional USB board of X20U, it should help with the sound quality too?
 
I need to find a place that sells X20 for a good price.