[rafabro]

This is thread about X20 so it is X20U, not pro.
 
2x13V & 2x9V, both 50VA

 

[phthora]

Anyone have experience dealing with Gustard customer service? That's the only thing preventing me from pulling the trigger on one of these DACs. Thanks.

 

[rafabro]

My guess nobody, as they are very reliable. Never heard about any damage/malfunction.

 

[rafabro]

  Ric called me last week all excited about a new Mod for the Gustatd (pro and non-pro) he said it is one of the best he has come up with.  I installed his new mod this weekend and I must say it made a very noticeable positive improvement to the sound.  The most obvious being more body and weight to everything.  This leads to more presence and appearance of a wider and deeper stage filled with more information.  He is talking of providing this mod at a price well below his Level 1, possibly combining it withe some other minor tweak which has positive sound results as well.  If he does so it will be one of the cheapest ways you can really improve your SQ.

Any news on that?

 

[Quadman]

  Any news on that?

He has not said anything else about it to me.  @Ric Schultz , what is going on with the new mod you came up with for the Gustards?  You offering it yet?

 

[Quadman]

  Anyone have experience dealing with Gustard customer service? That's the only thing preventing me from pulling the trigger on one of these DACs. Thanks.

I personally have not dealt with the customer service of Gustard.  I have probably abused my dac more than any person with a X20 or X20pro has with the possible exception of Simon, who actually pulled the PCIe slot out of his dac (and it still works).  I have had both boards of my dac out numerous times I have tapped into the internal I2S lines numerous times, I have added external PSU's and tried powering off the dac's internal power.  I have performed a full level 1 mod on 2 different x20's and as mentioned above gone well beyond that on my personal dac including soldering a new clock in much closer to the dac chips.
 
This is one very rugged dac. Excellent quality throughout, good design and like the old timex commercial, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking.  Now that is not to say one can't get a bad dac, It happens even on $100K gear.  But if you worry about overall quality feel confident that they make excellent quality dac's.

 

[rafabro]

 
I have added external PSU's and tried powering off the dac's internal power.

Any interesting experience with that one?

 

[phthora]

 
I personally have not dealt with the customer service of Gustard.  I have probably abused my dac more than any person with a X20 or X20pro has with the possible exception of Simon, who actually pulled the PCIe slot out of his dac.  I have had both boards of of my dac out numerous times I have tapped into the internal I2S lines numerous times, I have added external PSU's and tried powering off the dac's internal power.  I have performed a full level 1 mod on 2 different x20's and as mentioned above gone well beyond that on my personal dac including soldering a new clock in much closer to the dac chips.
 
This is one very rugged dac. Excellent quality throughout, good design and like the old timex commercial, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking.  Now that is not to say one can't get a bad dac, It happens even on $100K gear.  But if you worry about overall quality feel confident that they make excellent quality dac's.

 
Thanks for the info! I am convinced. Now, I just have to find a balanced amp to go with it...

 

[Quadman]

   
Thanks for the info! I am convinced. Now, I just have to find a balanced amp to go with it...

I run my X20 to the Amp single ended, it sounds wonderful.

 

[Quadman]

  Any interesting experience with that one?

Not sure how much of this thread you have read, I have added a DIYinHK DSD512 usb board to my dac and a clock next to the dac chips.  Both require power, I found it best to use external power vs the X20's internal power as it add's additional burden to the X20 PSU and reduces SQ a bit.  External PSU's free that up and by removing the dacs stock USB card I actually lessened the load on the internal PSU and further improved the SQ.

 

[phthora]

 
I run my X20 to the Amp single ended, it sounds wonderful.

 
My real interest in balanced is the channel separation. Extra power and common mode noise rejection are probably not going to make a difference for me. Then again, I'll be running a single-ended amp most of the time anyway.

 

[rafabro]

 
Not sure how much of this thread you have read, I have added a DIYinHK DSD512 usb board to my dac and a clock next to the dac chips.  Both require power, I found it best to use external power vs the X20's internal power as it add's additional burden to the X20 PSU and reduces SQ a bit.  External PSU's free that up and by removing the dacs stock USB card I actually lessened the load on the internal PSU and further improved the SQ.

I have read whole thread. I just thought you tried external PSU for whole DAC.
 
My new experiment is ferrite core on cables between transformers and the pcb's. For now effect is high freq roll off. I will try remove one of them and see/hear difference.

 

[Quadman]

Just an FYI.  I built a windows PC for a friend to use with a T+A Dac 8 DSD, Roon and Tidal to up sample all music to DSD512.  After 4 months the motherboard failed (are you kidding me) the video output failed.  He then decided to sell everything and give up streaming and stick with vinyl and RTR tape.
 
I installed a new MB in this PC and I am going to list it in the classified section for sale.  This PC is based on i7-4790K processor, 8 Gb ram, water cooled.  Win 10 pro.  It works perfectly (again).  It can handle DSD512 with HQP using all 2s filters and any lower up sampling (DSD256, 128, 64 or any PCM) it can use all of HQP filters.
 
I know most of you have PC's but some folks are sitting on the fence waiting to get in or upgrade.  I just want to throw this out there as a possibility for a big boy machine that can handle HQP at DSD512 (2s filters).  Check out the classifieds for more info.
 
This machine is loaded with HQP, Roon (7+ months left) and Audio fidelizer pro, it can be sold with or without these.  It should be posted by early evening EST.

 

[hubsand]

 
Not sure how much of this thread you have read, I have added a DIYinHK DSD512 usb board to my dac and a clock next to the dac chips.  Both require power, I found it best to use external power vs the X20's internal power as it add's additional burden to the X20 PSU and reduces SQ a bit.  External PSU's free that up and by removing the dacs stock USB card I actually lessened the load on the internal PSU and further improved the SQ.

Given that this otherwise seriously interesting DAC is slightly compromised in aspects of its AC/DC implementation, the first thing that occurred to me was to gut the transformer assembly entirely and fit external batteries or Uptone LPS1. In line with the poster above, do you know if anyone has tried anything quite so drastic?!

 

[mikicasellas]

Greetings to all,
 
I have an Aurañlic Vega and read that the X20 Pro is better than the Vega, not sure if better once is modded,
 
I am very interested on getting this one and the SIngxer SU-1 both modded,
 
Rafabro, where did you mod your devices?
 
Regards
 
Miki