GUSTARD A26 DAC MQA Dual AK4499EX AK4191 With Streamer/Renderer XMOS DSD512 PCM768K MQA384K IIS Balanced Audio Decoder Black

Product Information

The remote doesn’t have any hidden or special functions relevant to day-to-day use. As a convenience factor to the a26, it only indicates that the DAC is suitable for long-distance setups. Both devices used as DACs offer a bit of flexibility to the sound just to tease. The A26 however is more detail oriented which becomes its crucial advantage if all the bells and whistles of the NEO Stream can be ignored.

In the end, A26 felt like a better unit when pointing out the location of every instrument, while pushing the sounds somewhat closer versus the R26. I love them both for what they are and if you already own any of these, it will be foolish to side-grading to the second unit, unless you need a second DAC. What I appreciate about the Qutest are the two BNC digital inputs which can be triggered to play together or separately. Still, the Qutest does have a few features absent when compared to the A26 such as MQA, streaming, and balanced outputs to name a few. Like the A26, the NEO Stream follows the design of a close family member. This somehow dilutes the excitement unlike when an all-new chassis is launched but I’d say both the NEO Stream and the A26 had some bits and pieces that still make them stand out. Good old topping d30pro had better dynamic range. Not sure if that ridiculously low multitone floor means anything at this point. Aren't the DSD + NOS settings related to sound characteristics, *not* the signal amplitude coming from RCA cable?The smoothness and technical attribute of the A26 is forcing the CH-Amp and ATH-ADX5000 to work hard and match the resolution. I’d say the tonal balance achieved here will satisfy a lot of listeners.

For the A26, the left-to-right width is almost boundless. Only when piecing it together with the depth, it can be perceived that the front imaging is inching just a few steps closer. Headphones: (i) Martin Logan Mikros 90 , Ultrasone PRO 780i , Beyerdynamic Amiron Home , Neumann NDH-30 , Ultrasone Edition Eleven ; (ii) Audeze MM-500 . It is important to know that its digital section is powered by a 50W linear, regulated and encapsulated toroidal transformer and they put another one for its analog section.

XMOS XU216

Strings disperse differently between the two. The A26 had a subtle and soft climax, while the Qutest gets springy and excited. A26 was smaller sounding and you can feel that music emanated from a nearer inception point versus the R26, ultimately getting a faster decay and better control of the drivers. With all that said, the transient response guy won’t be side-grading his R26 with an A26, as the former still has plenty of life in it, hiding a few aces under its sleeve which will be revealed later into the game. One thing that surprised me is how the A26 unfolded a violin with more complexity than I’ve heard before. I think the pliant timbre has an effect, but there is also the technical aspect where the resolution and dynamics made a solo just a bit more impactful. Staging & Dynamics Since these are quite long and there are several comparisons mixed along in the A26 review, I have extracted what I found to be the most important sonic descriptions of the two DAC's. (Underscore and bold by me.) Run apt update && apt install -y multiarch-support libavformat57 libidn11 git libportaudio2* libflac++6v5* libavahi-common3 libavahi-client3 alsa-utils

The cool thing here is the friendlier upper midrange that plays well with the bright ATH-ADX5000. Also, turning to bass lines and synths, the roomier and more capable oomph doesn’t ruin the balance as it stays close to neutrality. Select Comparisons SMSL SU-10 Technical If you're going to Windows WSL route, follow this to mount Gustard R26 to your WSL. Otherwise, just mount your R26 using mount on Linux. DSD Direct – Two positions are provided: OFF (default) or ON. Enabling it will disable internal DSD processing, sending the raw DSD stream into the DAC chips for a clearer and faster sound. Be warned! After enabling this feature, the volume cannot be controlled, outputting full power into your amplifiers. Don’t use this feature while using power amplifiers that can’t control the volume output. Aoshida was awesome to deal with. It was going going to ship from China and not be here until sometime in begining of July. Well it was Shipped by FedEx on June 27 and it was delivered Friday June 30. I wasted no time hooking it up. I had to install a driver for Windows 11 and it went seemlessly as a component for Foobar 2000.The A26 does impose a bit over the vocal region but the faintest of notes do reverberate with accuracy. With a hint of warmth, vocals are guided to handle all types of genres with the right amount of engagement and linearity. DSD Filter: has 4 positions, 47K, 50K, 60K and 70K. You are selecting the cut-off frequency for DSD files. If you want a crispier sound, go for 70K and if you like a smoother top-end, go with 47K. I felt it at 47K – its default position Fresh power tubes and NOS driver tubes for my Trafomatic Primavera arrived a few days ago and as you can imagine, headphone listening came first but don’t you worry, it was used in an equally impressive stereo setup, getting a complete picture about its performance. Additionally: If you are not using Roon, you can save 50MB of RAM by disabling Roon Bridge. Temporarily: systemctl stop roonbridge.service Completely disable: systemctl disable roonbridge.service whereas ranging from -01 dB.....-10 dB......-20 dB is increasingly louder? If so, why isn't more dB's louder, as I would 'intuitively' think it would be?

Besides, A26 supports MQA, and easy access to high-quality online streams, like Roon, UPnP, and HQPlayer NAA at present, and more protocols will be shown in near future. In my loudspeaker setup, Element X worked by a hair better connected to a power amplifier, its dedicated line-amplifier circuit and its better volume control paid off, making my music tighter, more focused and better controlled, like I magically treated my room with invisible absorbers and diffusers. X26 PRO wasn’t that grippy, it lost some definition, contour and boldness, with it something was gently pressing the brakes. I would probably add a dedicated preamp later on if you plan on using it with a power amplifier. For starters, I find it extremely technical for an R-2R unit, especially when used with a nice DDC like their own U18 or with a Singxer SU-6, scoring huge points as usually resistor ladder DACs are slower, muddier, less focused and not that precise or fast sounding. Gustard bumped that resolution so high, that I no longer feel a gap in between it and the X26 PRO.The A26 is a much more resolving DAC that delineates reverb and subtleties found in a guitar twang. Adding some width at the cost of airiness, the SU-10 gives a more rigid tap to a piano accompaniment.