Gustard X26III Dual ES9039SPRO DAC, Network Streamer

[MartinWT]

Does somebody know if it already uses the newer 316 XMOS USB chip (or still the 216 as in the other X26 models)?

It's the XMOS XU216.

 

[sendler2112]

My Gustard X26 III arrived from Shenzen to NY, USA in 5 days and is now on break in. HQ Player found the LAN connection immediately. My initial impression so far is good. The internal Vivid filter is good and with 24/ 192 files it can nearly match the NOS 24/ 768 upsampled stream from HQ Player. 16/ 44 files sound better running NOS at 768. NOS SDM 256 versus PCM 768 is a tough call that I will hold off on until my DAC gets more hours on it. As is the comparison with the R26 and Cyan2. I sold my A26.

 

[MillionAntz]

My Gustard X26 III arrived from Shenzen to NY, USA in 5 days and is now on break in. HQ Player found the LAN connection immediately. My initial impression so far is good. The internal Vivid filter is good and with 24/ 192 files it can nearly match the NOS 24/ 768 upsampled stream from HQ Player. 16/ 44 files sound better running NOS at 768. NOS SDM 256 versus PCM 768 is a tough call that I will hold off on until my DAC gets more hours on it. As is the comparison with the R26 and Cyan2. I sold my A26.

You are a scholar and a gentleman! Look forward to comparison between X26iii and Cyan 2

 

[MartinWT]

Gustard X26 III First Impressions

Unlike its predecessor, the X26 Pro, the X26 III is a combined DAC and streamer. It also uses the later ES9039 Pro chipset, as opposed to the ES9038 Pro of the X26 Pro. This chipset claims lower power consumption and improved performance.

I won’t repeat all specifications here, except to add that the I2S input is now configurable for different standards; the streamer can use UPnP, roon, HQPlayer, Spotify, MConnect and AirPlay protocols and has a direct browser interface; there is a new clock synthesiser module GCLK-02 (the older DAC had a K-2) which still accepts an external clock, and the whole unit is wrapped in a stylish and attractive metal case.

Dimensions are the same as the X26 Pro and it weighs 7kg.

Preparation

In preparation, I swapped in my SR Purple fuse from the previous DAC to the rear panel holder. I also temporarily connected it to ethernet, set it to Streamer and browsed to http://x26.local, or at least I tried to but somewhere along the line DNS didn’t see it. No matter, I checked my devices connected to the network and found “CelAudio” which turned out to be the Gustard, then browsed to the IP address. That brought up the interface immediately. Next issue: the interface displayed in Japanese. I found the language setting and changed it to “Egnlish”. Clearly some firmware updates will be forthcoming. I then “Stoped” all the running services to ensure that evaluation as a DAC would be as pure as possible.

Just before that, I left UPnP running, fired up Bubble, pointed it to “UpMpd-X26-UPnP/AV” and played some different tracks at different resolutions. Confirmed, the Gustard is playing them and displaying the correct resolution. With that done, I turned off UPnP and moved the Gustard to the music room.

System Setup

• Incoming I2S from my Gustard U18 is from a Tubulus Argentus I2S cable. This also carries the clock from the U18 and its external clock, an AfterDark Emperor Triple Crown
• Analogue output is to a pair of Coherent 6D Gen 2 phono cables
• Power is provided from a Coherent 6D power cable, from a PS Audio P3 regenerator
• Fuse is an SR Purple
• The Gustard rests on four Black Ravioli Plus footers, then on an Electric Beach S1NX support platform, which is itself on RDC Cones and Cups onto a Black Ravioli platform
• Digital filter set to Vivid (unlike the X26 Pro where I prefer Gentle)

First Listening

By comparison with the X26 Pro, there is an immediate sense of a tighter grip. This I think is in the upper bass area but it makes grunty songs like Lorde’s Buzzcut Season (24/192) really stand out. This additional grunt is confirmed with Alt-J’s Dissolve Me (24/96), the song showing its dynamic range from almost dead silent to full on with realistic power. It’s easier to hear the separate voices, too.

The bass in Kiss in Blue by Yello (16/44) is potent while not modulating Heidi’s voice and all the percussive sounds at all, the soundstage remaining as clear as ever. This is how Yello should be played, with the rhythm coming through strongly, underpinned by growling bass. Continuing with the bass, my favourite recording of the Durufle Requiem, with Shaw and the Atlanta SO (16/44) features some extraordinary organ pedals and they are rendered with the foundational impact only a large organ can convey. Also, the massed choir of voices (the single most difficult music to reproduce without becoming a mess) is rendered extremely clearly and sounding, well, like the real thing. Very good for a standard resolution recording.

Turning to Samuel from The Mountain Goats (16/44), this is another dynamic range spectacular. The opening cymbal’s clarity is telling and the drum has great impact while the guitar continues strumming.

Continuing with dynamics, there isn’t much to beat Chris Isaak in Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing (16/44) when he fully lets rip.

Back to voice quality, Greg Laswell’s Dodged a Bullet (24/96) has a nice gravelly texture while PJ Harvey in To Bring You My Love (16/44) works vocal wonders around an extremely crunchy guitar. There is more fine detail in the light strumming sounds, giving it a more metallic edge, too.

Some live music to assess realistic portrayal of a live event and how could I start without Hawkwind’s Down Through The Night from Space Ritual (24/48)? This was an absolute mess on LP but it has improved as my system has improved, the hi-res stream bringing the performance from 1972 to life. The Gustard is delivering it so well I wish I could travel in time back to that event. Natalie Merchant and Carnival (16/44) next and another great concert recording, conveying power but also her characterful voice. Then the obligatory Nils Lofgren and Keith Don’t Go from Acoustic Live (16/44) and a wonderful rendition of his live guitar sound, especially the complex bite to the strings. Incredible attack! Finally, and remembering one of the finest concerts I’ve ever attended last night, the LSO Live recording of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (24/96) is a decent attempt at reproducing that visceral music here in my room. Here, with classical music, the X26 III is showing a clean pair of heels to the X26 Pro, really pulling ahead in realism while handing huge complexity and dynamics without becoming harsh or muddled.

The management summary so far: the X26 III is subtly better than the already good X26 Pro in virtually every area from fine detail to dynamics, soundstage, low level background, note decay, bass power and texture and lack of harshness. This is a very good performance from brand new.

The above Impressions are with just a few hours on the DAC. I’m sure the next few hundred hours will add more goodness and I shall help it along with some Tara Labs burn-in signal overnight. I also have the streamer to try at a future time, but I probably won’t do that until the DAC’s performance has settled.

 

[sendler2112]

Using HQ Player to convert my PCM files to SDM is really good with the X26 III.

I had been listening to the demanding sinc-long filter at PCM 768/ LNS15 into the Gustard R26. But the new poly sinc gaus-half band is very good. It has better defined edges and is more solid. sinc-long is slightly more spacious and reverberant, if a bit more ethereal. The big reason to like psg-half band is for its processor efficiency. It takes less than half the power to my laptop to run at 20 Watts as sinc-long at 45 Watts.

Now that I have the Gustard X26 III featuring two Saber ES9039Pro chips and some kind of NOS mode, I am also trying PCM to SDM conversion with HQ Player again after putting the Cyan2 away in favor of the PCM native R26 and PCM 768.

And the efficiency of psg- half band (and the new efficiency update in HQ Player from about a month ago) allows me to make it all the way to ASDM7EC Super 512 at 48x512 adaptive which is finally surpassing PCM 768 where it can sound slightly more solid, organic, and organized but is not losing out on micro-dynamics to PCM as it was with the 256 settings. But the laptop is near pegged at 77 Watts with fan noise.

But it is worth the few extra electrons. The X26 III takes off at SDM 512 with this efficient new filter where it really defines and makes sense of complex passages like the cranked and panned hard left and right split backing vocals and complex mix of horns on Babylon Sisters. This DAC sounds powerful and unflappable with no hint of glare or edginess. It is so clean that care must be taken to keep in mind how loud you are cranking your headphones while it entices you to listen for hours on end.

I only have 50 hours on the X26 III so haven't done any serious comparisons to the R26 and the Cyan yet, but I can tell already that it is digging up more fine detail and revealing things I have never heard before. I can see where this might be a Gustard X30 killer since it is half the price.

 

[MartinWT]

Using HQ Player to convert my PCM files to SDM is really good with the X26 III.

Talk about wildly different ways to skin a cat. In my case, I stream hi-res from Qobuz and do zero pre-processing with the signal except to remove as much noise as possible along the chain before entering the DAC. I let the ES9039 Pro's oversampling handle the conversion and reconstruction filtering. I'm also using speakers, not headphones, which have somewhat different needs.

I do agree that Gaucho sounds absolutely tremendous. Strangely, the 24/96 master on Qobuz sounds more dynamic to my ears than the 24/192, but that's an anomaly as 24/192 usually wins out (e.g. listen to the shimmering cymbal in Norah Jones' Come Away With Me).

 

[sendler2112]

Talk about wildly different ways to skin a cat. In my case, I stream hi-res from Qobuz and do zero pre-processing with the signal except to remove as much noise as possible along the chain before entering the DAC. I let the ES9039 Pro's oversampling handle the conversion and reconstruction filtering. I'm also using speakers, not headphones, which have somewhat different needs.

I do agree that Gaucho sounds absolutely tremendous. Strangely, the 24/96 master on Qobuz sounds more dynamic to my ears than the 24/192, but that's an anomaly as 24/192 usually wins out (e.g. listen to the shimmering cymbal in Norah Jones' Come Away With Me).

The onboard Vivid filter of the X26 III is very good for just sending hirez PCM to the DAC. Probably better than the stock filters that ESS includes in the 9039 chip since the Topping D90 III reviews report truncated reverberant tails that I am not hearing from the X26 III.

I'm having an issue with the renderer though.

It seems that the Lan connection is consistently dropping out and losing NAA connection with HQ Player after 1 hour which my Gustard R26 never does using the identical set up. The X 26 III plays endlessly on repeat via USB but the LAN sounds better. As it does for the R26. So I need to resolve this.

I have written to ask Gustard if there is an update for the renderer. As there was initially for the R26 and A26.

 

[MartinWT]

Looking at the GUI's poor English and slightly glitchy behaviour, I agree that new firmware should be coming soon.

Thankfully, I've found no issues with I2S input which is solid and sounds superb.

 

[MartinWT]

The onboard Vivid filter of the X26 III is very good for just sending hirez PCM to the DAC. Probably better than the stock filters that ESS includes in the 9039 chip since the Topping D90 III reviews report truncated reverberant tails that I am not hearing from the X26 III.

I agree that low-level soundstage detail and note decay, in particular, are outstanding. A good example is the opening to London Grammar's Hell To The Liars.

 

[sendler2112]

I posted this on the HQ Player help forum:

My NAA connection over LAN to the Gustard R26 and X26 III DACs has developed a new problem that I never had before whereby the connection will apparently drop out and break the connection to the desktop HQP 5.7.4 with hardware fingerprint iGcmxysy40lJfJqxdv6UqQ==

There is nothing populated in the log when you look afterward. There is nothing ever in the log regardless of whenever I look at it.

The path is Acer Nitro V15 I7 13/ nVidia RTX4060 receiving network in and out over a 2 meter RJ45 Cat8 cable from a Netgear mesh router on my desk which is connected wirelessly to my main wireless router for the house. Then a 1 meter Cat8 cable from the Netgear to the DACs one at a time by moving the cable from one to the other. I had to use the Netgear in between the laptop and the DACs since I couldn't figure out how to get the permissions within windows 11 to have a wireless connection for the laptop to the wireless home network, and the RJ45 connection to the DAC at the same time.

This has performed flawlessly for several months with the R26 and sounds better than my best USB cable straight from the laptop which will play from HQ Player on repeat indefinitely and never drop out. As soon as I got the new X26 III it began dropping the NAA connection after an hour or so and now the R26 is doing the same apparently.

The RJ45 internet connection for the laptop through the mesh router never drops out as I can play Youtube videos endlessly on autoplay and it never drops out the playback.

???

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/page/1353/#comment-1295291

 

[pythagore]

I posted this on the HQ Player help forum:

My NAA connection over LAN to the Gustard R26 and X26 III DACs has developed a new problem that I never had before whereby the connection will apparently drop out and break the connection to the desktop HQP 5.7.4 with hardware fingerprint iGcmxysy40lJfJqxdv6UqQ==

There is nothing populated in the log when you look afterward. There is nothing ever in the log regardless of whenever I look at it.

The path is Acer Nitro V15 I7 13/ nVidia RTX4060 receiving network in and out over a 2 meter RJ45 Cat8 cable from a Netgear mesh router on my desk which is connected wirelessly to my main wireless router for the house. Then a 1 meter Cat8 cable from the Netgear to the DACs one at a time by moving the cable from one to the other. I had to use the Netgear in between the laptop and the DACs since I couldn't figure out how to get the permissions within windows 11 to have a wireless connection for the laptop to the wireless home network, and the RJ45 connection to the DAC at the same time.

This has performed flawlessly for several months with the R26 and sounds better than my best USB cable straight from the laptop which will play from HQ Player on repeat indefinitely and never drop out. As soon as I got the new X26 III it began dropping the NAA connection after an hour or so and now the R26 is doing the same apparently.

The RJ45 internet connection for the laptop through the mesh router never drops out as I can play Youtube videos endlessly on autoplay and it never drops out the playback.

???

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/page/1353/#comment-1295291

I had a somewhat similar problem with my R26. I found the root cause of the problem to be the WIFI connection between my laptop and my main router; My setups were as follows:
Setup 1:
Main router<--wired LAN--->network switch<---wired LAN--> (Laptop, R26); worked flawlessly, never experienced any connection dropouts.

Setup 2:
Main router<--WIFI--->Laptop
^---wired LAN--->network switch<---wired LAN-->R26 ; I experienced the same random connection dropouts as you between the Laptop and the R26

In setup1, the network link between the 1Gbps network switch and the two clients was at 1Gbps, while in setup two, the link is limited as per the WIFI connection speed between the main router and the Laptop. An unstable WiFi link will cause this problem.
But in your case, I think it may be due to the integrated switch of the router. Try doing a LAN speed test on the Laptop to see at what speed the internal wired LAN of the netgear is operating

 

[sendler2112]

It is strange that my R26 played perfectly for months until getting the X26 III. But the X26 III started dropping the LAN connection immediately and now they are both doing it.

rebooted the DAC, mesh router, and laptop. Changed the cables and the port. The NAA dropout is still happening. I can now try a different laptop and may try another mesh router. This is the Netgear router that I am using.

https://www.netgear.com/home/wifi/routers/rax20/

But strangely, mine does not have the external antennas. But my signal chain doesn't use any wireless since I play files from the SSD harddrive in the laptop Over wired LAN/ LAN to the DACs.

Is there a higher quality mesh router that I can buy?

 

[sendler2112]

The comparisons between the A26, (now sold since I like the R26 better), the R26, and the X26 III were studied again last night. The R26 is really quite amazing in its deep, wide, and tall layering but sounds just slightly hazy compared to the crisp transparency of the X26 III. The X26 III is somewhat flatter in the soundstage but cleaner. The X26 III does sound slightly more musical and easier when receiving SDM 512 NOS from HQ Player than with PCM 768 NOS or with 16/ 44 using its excellent internal filter. The R26 is also best running HQ Player NOS PCM 768. The LAN input sounds more transparent than the USB Supra Excalibur cable from my laptop.

 

[MartinWT]

Just streaming Qobuz hi-res, the X26 III is cleaner, more dynamic, and with more low level detail and a bigger soundstage, than the X26 Pro. The reconstruction filter and the new clocking circuit are clearly ahead here, as is right for a model using the new ES9039 chipset and Gustard's latest thinking. I'm well impressed.

The R26, for me, is quite a way behind both, but then I don't like the soft R2R sound.

Just to add - I would never run my music from a laptop, which is a horrible source of noise. A dedicated music streaming source like one of the Rendus will give you a noticeable ramp up in sound quality. The X26 III deserves better.

 

[sendler2112]

Just streaming Qobuz hi-res, the X26 III is cleaner, more dynamic, and with more low level detail and a bigger soundstage, than the X26 Pro. The reconstruction filter and the new clocking circuit are clearly ahead here, as is right for a model using the new ES9039 chipset and Gustard's latest thinking. I'm well impressed.

The R26, for me, is quite a way behind both, but then I don't like the soft R2R sound.

Just to add - I would never run my music from a laptop, which is a horrible source of noise. A dedicated music streaming source like one of the Rendus will give you a noticeable ramp up in sound quality. The X26 III deserves better.

My experience with streaming Qobuz is that when I find something I like, buying it to play from my harddrive sounds better than streaming. And HQ Player which requires a PC of some sort, laptop or tower, sounds better than 16/ 44 originals. And the Gustards sound better via LAN than USB.