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From the streaming point of view, R26 is still immature product, it require a customised firmware for each streaming technology, the one size fit all approach doesn't work well due to the RAM shortage. It probably won't be fixed by the firmware upgrade, you need to wait for the new model with more RAM to get flexibility in chosing streaming standards. PCM Filter – You can choose between six digital filters provided by AKM, which are working on the hardware level. The first one sounds the most accurate, while the Super Slow Roll-Off filter sounds the most natural to my ears. Some of them are sounding quite similar and the differences are subtle at best. As for the price, well if it was supported by a dealer network it would be at least double the cost, so comparisons with costlier Chord’s are not as daft as they seem.
Highly dynamic sounding unit as well, be it soprano voices or Hip-Hop it always gets dynamics right
I was mighty impressed by R26 and by its ability to be fast and hard-slamming the whole bloody time. While this might sound like an easy task, most resistor ladder DACs weren’t like this, getting mellow and slow sounding for the most part. If I’m taking chip-based converters into this discussion, then it was the other way around, always sounding fast and furious, but not as punchy as I was hoping for. Only much heavier, bigger and costlier units could deliver the full might of the thunder god. As a general rule of thumb, you are getting a softer sound with resistor ladder DACs and a speedier one with chip-based converters. If you wanted to have them both, then you needed to eat more bread and less pudding & cook your own meals for a few blood moons. Nonetheless, Gustard shattered my preconceptions with R26, which I’m still using on a daily basis. 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.
A26 seems much closer to DAVE as opposed to R26, always getting a highly detailed, yet organic sound that people are usually chasing. Gustard went overkill everywhere inside, including its capacitance is much higher than needed. I mean even several amplifiers are not using such a big capacitance for power filtering and storing. I’m spotting only Nichicon KG capacitors, those are currently the best Nichicon is making, also called as Gold Tone for their excellent performance characteristics. Run apt update && apt install -y multiarch-support libavformat57 libidn11 git libportaudio2* libflac++6v5* libavahi-common3 libavahi-client3 alsa-utilsR26 felt by a hair more organic and freer (vs Musician Aquarius) like listening to unamplified music. … Neutral tuned setups like mine will be getting a much-needed presence and soul, changing their tonality upside down, adding richness into your listening space and dopamine into your blood stream. There wasn’t a single musical genre that R26 didn’t do well…something that I can rarely write about chip-based converters as of late.
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. When I saw this original post I thought - "Cool! Gustard has a new DAC, it's priced between the x16 and x26 Pro (which I own)" - then I realized it's also "Streamer/Renderer" A feature of the R26 that is not in the A26 is the Bluetooth antenna. Streaming is now completely reserved for LAN users who listen through ROON, UPnP, and HQPlayer NAA.All my tests were done blindly with the help of my beloved that was switching the inputs on the HPA4. The most striking thing to know is that both devices are sounding almost indistinguishably. Both carry the same weight in the bass, both sounds exceptionally open and wide, both have natural decays but also lightning speed when asked for. Their tonalities are very alike, but still…there was a minor difference. X26 Pro was by a hair more organic sounding, its midrange was by a smidge fuller. Acoustic music was always grabbing my soul and that happened less often on the Element X. Gustard unit seems to have a slight advantage when it comes to midrange density. It is by a hair warmer sounding in here and that worked as magic for lean sounding setups. The tone is just bolder and the air is heavier on the X26 PRO, it just feels over-powerful and really effortless sounding with everything I throw at it. In terms of soundstage, it was a hit or miss, sometimes X26 PRO felt like bigger sounding, sometimes I had a better pin point location of all the notes with the Element X and other times I couldn’t spot a difference at all. If there is one, X26 Pro is maybe by a hair wider sounding from left to right, but only with live and well-mastered music. Reviewing DACs is a complicated process, as I am listening less and less often to my own setup and this comparison made me rediscover…my own DAC. I was excited this whole review, it indeed blown me away as X26 PRO really sounds like a high-end DAC from any point of view and it seems that my own unit sounds pretty much the same. How curious. Combining a mid-forward sound with a clearer image, the sound felt stronger and somewhat weightier, carrying more music with every single strike. … Sounds weren’t traveling long distances as A26 felt more intimate, delivering higher energy when hitting my eardrums at the cost of a less impressive layering. In this regard, A26 was very impressive, getting clear and defined bass notes that were playful and quite fun at the same time. Swapping headphones to the Dan Clark Audio Ether 2, with its rather tamed tuning compared to the ATH-ADX5000, the pairing got somewhat cold. Still, the Ether 2 remained revealing in key areas such as vocals plus there is a low-end planar dynamism that brings in some peppiness and bite to the A26. Guitars convey a neutral twang that curves away from rigid sterility and brings a satisfying draw to the music. The crisper edges will come in with certainty then a soft ripple of space softens the scene for a relatively easygoing and organic overtone. Utilizing another EarMen product, I connected the A26 to the EarMen CH-Amp together with my Audio-Technica ATH-ADX5000. The A26 did an amazing job at quelling the shoutier regions and filling in the weight of the two rather thinly voiced pieces of equipment I paired.
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. On newer dacs the gap is narrowing using USB and Ethernet input directly. It's fun to add components but the cost adds up. You still need to consider all the cables too. The sound improvement needs to be worth it. I think you will struggle to find someone with this DAC; it’s quite new for a start, and not easy to get hold of in the UK, unless you buy it on-line. It would be more flexible that your V1, as it is a streaming DAC. It does look very neat and tidy inside and out, and early impressions seem to be very positive. The final difference was felt in the frequency response. Imagine looking at a beautiful photo made by a renowned artist on a high-end film camera and then comparing it with a sharp high-resolution digital photo. This is what I felt when comparing both units. A26 felt sharper sounding, with notes popping in and out faster. With all that being said, R26 was always beautiful sounding and quite magical as well. It can work better with bright recordings & electronics. A26 will spread its wings with neutral or warm-sounding upstream equipment, while R26 can work with all and everything. The colors were more vibrant on R26, getting a more relaxed treble delivery along the way, something that A26 was doing to a lesser degree. I still find A26 quite velvety sounding especially when put against smaller devices, but there wasn’t as much refinement as it was via R26. Before any listening, I needed to volume match them, since X26 PRO is outputting 5V on the XLR and Element X a weaker signal of 4.5V. For that I used a MiniDSP E.A.R.S. system and a 300-Hz sine wave. E.A.R.S. detected a difference of exactly 0.7 dB at the listening level of 85 dB with the Audeze LCD-4. Before listening, I volume matched them, I’ve used the same power cables, the same interconnect and USB cables for both devices.I don't know if it actually is a technical explanation as such, but R-2R DAC's are typically less linear at low levels and often has a little rounded off or smoother treble. This could explain the impression of extra depth. The Qutest traverses the line of honesty just like the A26 and it also loosens up a bit on tonality by adding some well-placed personality here and there. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting the Qutest to need to fight as hard just to prove its worth against the A26. sed -i 's/passthrough false/passthrough true/g' /lib/systemd/system/ifi-streamer-tidal-connect.service
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