Even if my microphone was still picking the same 90 dB SPL, guitar plucks were more defined and powerful, dynamics were definitely jumpier and livelier sounding. Gustard R26 R2R will have USB, Optical, Coaxial, bluetooth, AES , Lan Port and i2S HDMI inputs. Gustard always charges high. R26 added a little bit of weight down low and made the bass heavier sounding little by little. I am currently using a Zenstream into a Naim N-272. Youll find everything in the latest chapters that should trigger your curiosity. K2 Technology ULTRA LOW NOISE CLOCK Synthesizer : USB, I2S, AES, Optical, Coaxial and Lan port inputs can improve with 10M Master Clock Input, AfterDark. From the ones that Ive tested lately, only several SMSL devices were increasing the noise floor. Followed by a Trafomatic Primaverasometimes I am getting too much bass definition and impact and mind you, Im staying with a pair of Hifiman Susvara on my head, which arent known to be incredibly alive and impactful. by C G on Dec 09, 2022. This one uses an R2R architecture using discrete components of very high quality and perfectly optimized to offer exceptional sound performances. Can it get any better than this? You wont find a single sheet of paper and for me, thats a good thing, as you can download that information later will you need it. Another highlight of R-2R ladder DACs and quite probably the biggest reason you might invest in such a digital creature is a very different midrange rendition. China Forbes was perfectly centered, with backing vocals filling up the air around her, every treble, pipe, drum or tambourine playing gently in the background felt so discernible and outlined. Shipping and handling fees are nonrefundable. Which one would be more to your liking, is really up to you to decide. Sandu on youtube likes R26 more than Terminator Plus. Ive paused my music and I approached stealthy those Uni-Q driver arrays, blasting full power into the KEF Reference 3 and yet, their tweeters remained in a pitch-black darkness. Although in terms of looks, Ill give an edge to the R26 Discrete which looks sleeker and more elegant. International customers can expect longer shipping times, depending on the country in which they live: Canada: 1 to 3 weeks from the date of shipping, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, and the UK: 2 to 4 weeks from the date of shipping, Other countries not listed above: 3 to 6 weeks from the date of shipping. Purchased new 2/10/2023. I dont recall having such a great time while writing and maybe youll have a different experience, but this is all I felt and Im sorry for being carried away by music, R26 made me do it. It doesnt roll-off treble information, not in the slightest, as Im constantly hearing low-intensity bells and brush sticks hitting the drums and crawling under my skin. After trying a bunch of R-2R ladder DACs from the house of Denafrips, Musician Audio, Audio-GD, Rockna Audio and MSB Audio, from affordable to end-game units, I formed a very solid picture about how these units are performing. DSD Direct, 2 positions: OFF (default) or ON. When you use these links we may receive commission from ensuing purchases. Item #649979638. It is so hard to buy these days not being able to listen to anything first so I too have been scouring the internet for feedback. R26 was pulling more information from my tunes, while arranging everything on individual shelves and providing a better control of the low-end delivery. Brightness, has 8 brightness positions and luckily, theres an AUTO feature that will dim the display after a minute of inactivity. This one uses an R2R architecture using discrete components of very high quality and perfectly optimized to offer exceptional sound performances. I want more discussions about this upcoming dac. If there is no proper clock synchronisation following the isolator, let DDC and DAC work as a tandem on the same ground level. Amazon.com: Gustard R26 Discrete R2R Decoder MQA Native DSD DAC with Streamer/Renderer PCM768K DSD512 XU216 K2 IIS Decoder (Silver) : Electronics Electronics Home Audio Home Theater Receivers & Amplifiers Amplifiers Enjoy fast, FREE delivery, exclusive deals and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Not sure if that ridiculously low multitone floor means anything at this point. The sound had no boundaries and I was somehow sitting in a bigger room, completely surround by music and not by mere soulless sounds. Real estate for sale in Munich 15 offers with prices and photos from leading real estate agencies and owners Free advice on choosing and buying property. Enjoy free tax and duty paid to most countries. The ability to ship to PO boxes or an APO/FPO address depends on the item's weight. The BNC input is 50ohm same input specification with Esoteric gears. Everything felt pure fun, without missing on small details and never lagging behind in terms of speed. In a headphone setup, R26 Discrete was connected to a Trafomatic Primavera driving the most inefficient headphones out there, the legendary Hifiman Susvara. Leave it at INT. From electronica to acoustic music of all sorts, I always enjoyed my time with it, even manifesting physically about it (its in my nature) by usually tapping my feet, headbanging or raising my hands. Sure enough, everythings more colorful, theres a punchier bass and a meatier midrange delivery, but the frequency response is still fairly neutral and nicely balanced. Sep 13, 2010 Posts 1,997 Likes 191 Location Troms, Norway This thread is for COMPARISONS between the Gustard A26 and R26 Discrete DAC. In a loudspeaker setup, it worked as a DAC and Preamp combo, followed by two Benchmark AHB2 power amplifiers used in mono mode, driving a pair on KEF Reference 3 standfloor or Sound Of Eden Crescendo UNO bookshelves. If you have any feedback, suggestions, or problems with the courier of your shipment, please feel free to submit a support ticket via the "Contact Us" button below.Our goal is to provide our customers with the best shipping experience possible at a reasonable cost. High-end electronics are slowly becoming modern furniture and I personally like when they blend together with their surroundings and I can certainly see that on the R26 Discrete. Too many DACs> Too many amps> Too many headphones, Not a fan of aesthetics. I found these two more alike than different and thats works in favor of the R26, as it is by about ~3 times cheaper to the DS10 Plus powered by PSU-10 Evo. This is why we constantly negotiate with existing shipping partners for lower rates and actively test new couriers for potential opportunities. Total of about 350 hours. Did R26 improve timbre and texture in the midrange comparing to X26, preserving its punch and details? Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator, Terminator Plus FPGA firmware upgrade review, Waversa EXT-LAN Reference and Streamer - My Take, Grimm MU1 vs Aurender N30SA vs Taiko Audio, Orchard Audios New PecanPi+ DAC and Streamer Feature AKMs Latest Flagship Chips. I find it meatier and richer sounding than a Musician Aquarius and while these two share a lot of traits in common, R26 felt by a hair more organic and freer like listening to unamplified music. With worse measurements than the 400ex. I like two specific things about the R26 PRO: 1) That is has a super low output impedance of 100 Ohms via both RCA and XLR, controlling better the power amplifier that follows. Questions, let me know. Trees are happier now too, as there arent user manuals in there, but you can download an English manual from here. The unit itself was cuddled with soft foam on both sides and theres an accessory box put on top. If an item weighs more than 9 pounds, we wont be able to ship to these addresses because of our current courier agreements. The sound became taller somehow, the stage deepened and widened by a little for a more three-dimensional experience. In it youll find a high-quality USB cable a mandatory accessory for a unit of this caliber, theres a warranty card that doubles as an after-sales card, a Bluetooth antenna thats slightly bigger to the one Im usually spotting on Topping and SMSL devices, a power cable and a decent looking remote control. I am thinking about replacing my Naim box with the Gustard R26 to simplify my system some. A high-end desktop DAC with excellent performance, the Gustard R26 is intended to elevate your desktop stack to new heights. The Gustard R26 R2R DAC is the first R2R to build in the Master Clock with i2S hdmi inputs, MQA full decoding via USBand accepting10M Master Clock inputs from Giesemann 10M Master Clock. Just let go cxn v2beautiful dac and streamer and got the r26. Audiophonics DA-S250NC and DAW-S250NC : new integrated amps with DAC (streamer) and Ncore ! Without a single doubt in my mind, there is not even a contest, as R26 Discrete seems much clearer sounding than the Denafrips Venus ($3000), it seems clearer than the Musician Pegasus ($1100) and dare I sayits more impressive than the Musician Aquarius ($3200). For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You see, thats an entry-level price point in the world of expensive and ridiculously expensive R-2R converters. If on most chip-based Delta-Sigma converters I feel the music as an empty walnut shell, with R26 I see the shell, but I feel the walnut inside a lot more, its shape, color and taste. I've been using it in a 2-channel stereo loudspeaker setup, housed in an audio rack in a non-smoking, child-free, and. It goes without saying that R26 is an exceptional converter when it comes to layering, width and depth, exactly as the biggest majority of well-made R-2R converters are performing. In fact, it performed so well in both of my setups, that any other chip-based oversampling DACs felt muddy, dull, small sounding, but most importantlydead with little to no dynamics left to excite me. Since there isnt a user manual in the package, with several settings meant for advanced users, I decided explaining everything, so you can configure it to your liking. So does the R26 knows how to rockhard? Keep this in mind. Volume will be bypassed and maxed out once you engaged it, so again, take care when changing these settings if you are using power amplifiers like I do. It makes sense. It sounded great, amazing even, it was correct, everything was well spread, music was nicely breathing, but the musical involvement wasnt as obvious. You are using an out of date browser. (86 pages) Boat Bavaria Cruiser 33 Owner's Manual. Look at the y-axis scale. Looks really fancy. Last edited: May 26, 2023 . This thing is business, I see a high-quality craftsmanship and an excellent attention to the smallest details, I simply cannot complain about its fresh look and outstanding build-quality. Increasing the pace and trying a few electronica tunes, X26 PRO felt by a hair tighter and more defined, especially the leading edges felt clearer and sharper, exactly how I would describe a good sounding chip-based converter. You must log in or register to reply here. DAC GUSTARD X20PRO Audio Graffiti 450 Apr 12, 2023 Audio Graffiti INTERFACCIA . I cant wait to put it under a magnifying glass, so lets hit some eardrums! Its made out of matte plastic, with rubberized buttons that offers nice tactile feedback. R26 Discrete felt bigger sounding than any of the Delta-Sigma Oversampling DACs and the difference was literallynight and day, even with drivers sitting centimeters away from my eardrums. Even with such an oversimplified three-note chorus, I am hearing a few nuances that I dont remember getting before, especially the sub-bass region felt invigorated, playing on multiple levels, as additional information started appearing in the most unusual places. Getting snare drum hits on time while decaying them naturally is no easy task, due to vibrations they generate, but all that sounds so simple and real, R26 its not even trying hard. JavaScript is disabled. Please refer to our shipping FAQ to see if you apply. Support LVDS level differential IS reception (using HDMI interface), it can accept the lowest jitter digital audio! At the end of the day, the tone of the unit was not my bag. It sounded what it was reviewed exactly (natural, fuller, staging, etc. Enterprise Dealer accounts are reserved for Banner Advertisers. This thing rocked my world with hard rock and metal tunes, it was simply made for genres like these. Please contact sales to inquire about Enterprise Dealer opportunities. I complained about the raw look of the X26 PRO that wouldnt win a beauty contest versus its competition, but R26 feels a lot more refined looking from any point of view. In the second room, you can spot the second most important part of the unit - its timing that is being controlled by a Clock synthesizer, helped by an fairly large atomic (femto-second) crystal clock. It is clear to me than R26 Discrete is not only an amazing goose-bump machine, but a very technical sounding unit as well, merging everything I want a high-end DAC to be. Amazon.com: Gustard R26 Discrete R2R DAC - R2R+1Bit XMOS DSD512 PCM768kHz LDAC Balanced K2 Clock Decoder with Remote Control (Sliver) : Industrial & Scientific Electronics Home Audio Home Audio Accessories Digital-Analog Converters and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery $1,64999 FREE Returns FREE delivery Wednesday, July 5 I tried comparing them with other ladders previously seen on Rockna, Audio-GD, Denafrips, Musician and on many other brandsbut these arent looking familiar to me, suggesting a custom design built from the ground up. Gustard made it easy to operate, as there arent hidden menus and you wont even need its user manual checking all and everything. Lastly, when I moved to good-old gangster blues, Ive observed that X26 PRO had a slight, almost unnoticeable treble ringing, while R26 Discrete lacked any of that grittiness. Welcome to USAudioMart, a classifieds site for used audio and hifi. It is my plan to do so with the R26 Pro. Tinnitus has driven me from the Headphone world. Gustard R26 R2R DAC best audio up to 3500Eur . It seems to be a custom built and a one-of-a-kind design (forget OEM work that can be spotted on a few brands). Ill go and say it out loud, that this is one of the fastest sounding R-2R ladder DACs that Ive tried to this day and its one of the most impactful one as well, as it somehow reminds about the kick of the Rockna Wavelight and Audio-GD R7, which were always explosive and mood-lifting. It is a native 1 Bit DAC that supports pure DSD signal decoding without DSD to PCM conversion. 23 54 Jan 15, 2023 #1 I'd bought the Gustard R26 during the Black Friday sale on Amazon.com. The router acts like (but not exactly) an isolator from your PC's noise. Defective items may be repaired, exchanged or refunded at our discretion for the same model or manufacturer's equivalent model. Gustard DAC-R26 Discrete R2R MQA DAC With Streamer Renderer Roon XMOS USB DSD512 PCM768K IIS DSD1024 Bluetooth k2 Clock Lan 1Bit DAC $ 1649.99. The same, but for DSD material instead of PCM. Once you long press the menu button to its right, or on the remote control, something like this will appear on its screen: After opening it up, I was greeted with a beautiful layout, perfectly arranged and split into three rooms with thick metal plates in between them. Make it in the top 5 best units I tried and that should tell you how I honestly feel about it. To determine if your order is eligible for shipment to PO boxes or an APO/FPO address, please contact SHENZHENAUDIO Support. Im spotting technicalities easier in an end-game headphone setup, bypassing room acoustics, meaning that its detail-retrieval / transparency, transient and frequency response will be tested on a Hifiman Susvara planar headphone driven by a Trafomatic Primavera headphone amplifier. Use Hifi Shark to monitor pricing and global availability . It was so fun and engaging, highly dynamic and technical sounding at the same time. Although in terms of looks, I'll give an edge to the Element X which looks nicer, more futuristic and way more elegant. I have a long history of reviewing all kinds of DACs, starting with regular chip-based, software-defined FPGA DACs and finishing with the ancestors of modern digital-to-analog converters that are called R-2R ladder DACs. There was more emotion pouring from my loudspeakers and that percussion work was purring like a cat, so smoothly and gently without raising the treble output to dangerous levels. Everything went up a notch and for all of the reasons combined, R26 Discrete deserved my absolute highest Gold Award! Gustard R26 Head-fi $1,299 4% Apr 22, 2023 Head-fi Gustard A26 Head-fi $1,099 Apr 26, 2023 Head-fi . is it worth considering upgrading from X26 Pro to A26 or R26? After powering it on, every morning Im again surprised by how engaging and fun it sounds, while never messing with technicalities or bumping the notes into each other, messing them into a bowl of sounds. Yes, affordable! Our goal is to provide our customers with the best shipping experience possible at a reasonable cost. It gets the right intensity, weight and decay, just enough to feel that this is how treble needs to be rendered. Alright everybody, time for a proper showdown between one the best oversampling delta-sigma DAC and one of the best R-2R ladder DACs Ive tried so far. Worldwide Free Shipping on SHENZHENAUDIO, Please allow 1-3 business days for conduct Quality Control in order to ensure the products quality.If a customer would like the order reshipped, theyll be charged a reshipment fee. Theres something that bonds the notes nicer via R26, an invisible silk that holds everything hand in hand even if the stage is wider spread around the listener. Mortgage in Germany from 1.5% per annum for up to 20 years. SHENZHENAUDIOcan only refund the original purchase price. I wont describe their inner workings and everything that makes them tick, as you already have a dedicated article for the X26 PRO right here. Im rarely hailing R-2R DACs in here, with just a few exceptions as Rockna Wavelight and Denafrips Terminator Plus, but it seems that R26 tries to be as impactful and hard slamming without costing you an arm and a leg. Unit price / Functions and features: Use AKM's flagship DAC chip AK4499EQ. It was never gritty, it never made me dizzy, browsing through less than perfect recordings with a much brighter face. The music improvement, over my existing 8 year-old AUDIOLAB 8200CDQ (with DAC) is obvious. My X26 PRO review hit a home run, as believe it or not, its still the most read and discussed article around here and I thank you all for stopping by and leaving a comment, Im greatly appreciating that! Digital: Rockna Wavedream Net streamer, Holo Audio May KTE. Gustard U18/R26 combo for sale. You bet, it does! FREE trial!!! Gustard X18 Dac - Digital To Analogue Converter. New in the Gustard DAC, A26 is up! Was blown away by how it sounds! SHENZHENAUDIO.COM 2012 - 2023 All Rights Reserved. Retail Price: . Founded in 2010 Whats Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. The R26 is the first DAC of the company to use an R2R architecture with discrete components of very high quality and perfectly optimized to offer exceptional sound performance. This feature is only available for logged in members. I'd bought the Gustard R26 during the Black Friday sale on Amazon.com. Unit arrived to the USA from China in 6 days! Seems everyone loves this Gustard. It may not display this or other websites correctly. I have no idea why Im still putting this chapter in my DAC reviews, but feel free to skip it if you please. The following days, I succumbed and accepted the fact that X26 PRO was the very best Delta-Sigma oversampling DAC that Ive tried at my place, that wont break the bank, forever changing my preconceptions about chip-based converters, especially about their limitations. Unit price . This January, I decided to let the Gustard R26 DAC go. With an independent power supply and grounding for each . I like what Im seeing already. Obviously, it uses a machined case, carved from aluminum, you can have it in matte-black or in matte-silver, Ive played with both finishes and I find them resistant to scratches and you should pick the one that suits your needs. Luckily, hay fever is no longer a problem (lower those histamines they said), sun is no longer burning like a laser beam, but headbangs are still problematic, especially after following my morning coffee with a gin-tonic, whilst a beautifully crafted R-2R DAC is playing tunes on an end-game headphone setup. Guitar plucks were stronger too, the backing voices were deeper buried into the mix, traveling a longer sound tunnel, creating a deeper and more holographic experience. Register today and start selling/buying audio gear! This unit knows how to make a show, especially with impactful tunes like this one. It had such a profound impact on me and for no particular reason, memories started passing through as I was again listening to that magic-making Studder tape player. Neither were sharp or rolled-off, but there was less bite and more texture on the R26. It has mqa, that's a hard pass for most of us on ASR. This Gustard R26 R2R Flagship DACis very attractive in price,costing 1/4 when compared to others R2R DAC in the market. Gustard R26 Discrete R2R DAC - R2R+1Bit XMOS DSD512 PCM768kHz LDAC Balanced K2 Clock Decoder with Remote Control(Black) In Mint condition. Gustard DAC - X16 MQA ES9068AS DUAL CHIP USB DAC X16ES9068AS x 2 DUAL MONO324DAC1.5uVrmsDAC. Gustard DAC - X26PRO MQA ES9038PRO DUAL CHIP USB DAC x 10M Master Input GUSTARD U18 DDC Descriptions:U18 is the new generation of high-performance USB audio interface designed by 2023 AfterDark. Youll find the same, legendary feet which are honestly, the best feet Ive seen on any DAC. As you already guessed, we arent dealing with an oversampling unit that uses an off-the-shelf DAC chip, but with an R-2R unit that uses resistor networks (also called as ladders) that will decode zeroes and ones into analog signals. If oversampling DACs can sound amazing below two grand, why ladder DACs cant do it too? For customers in the continental United States:5to 14 business days from the date of shippingFor customers in Hawaii and Puerto Rico:2 to 4 weeks from the date of shippingInternational customers can expect longer shipping times, depending on the country in which they live:Canada: 1 to 3 weeks from the date of shippingAustralia, New Zealand, Germany, France, and the UK: 2 to 4 weeks from the date of shippingOther countries not listed above: 3 to 6 weeks from the date of shippingPlease keep in mind that these are rough estimates and shipments can be delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, like postal strikes or severe weather.If, for some reason, you dont receive your order within the estimated time frame provided above and suspect that it might be lost in transit, please submit a support ticket from your transactions page and we can look into the order with the courier. Gustard ditched them in X26 PRO and they did the same with R26 that freed up the sound, leaving it roam in all directions, never to be stopped. Turn this setting OFF and youll be able to control its volume again. There werent hisses, nor hums, with or without music playing in the background and if youre searching for the darkest background that wouldnt increase the noise floor with sensitive speakers or headphones, then I cant recommend you enough the Gustard R26 Discrete. To my right sits the undefeated champion for about a year now wearing silver shorts, please give a round of applause for the Gustard X26 PRO! As X26 PRO before it, R26 Discrete knows how to juggle that Mjolnir hammer and deliver the full might of the low-end when its called for. R-2R ladder DACs arent usually the best option for electronica tunesbut R26 seems a different beast. I have tried plenty of units in any of these segments, including a substantial number of R-2R units that had unique traits and unforgiving weaknesses, but I could never omit their different way in dealing with natural harmonics. FOR SALE or TRADE: Gustard X22 DAC, professionally upgraded, Atoll Dac 100 alternatywa Gustard NuPrime Hegel Cambridge Audio, GUSTARD R26 DAC R2R Discrete I2S Bluetooth LAN AirPlay Roon DLNA 32bit 768kHz DSD512 MQA Black, Gustard r26 r2r dac best audio up to 7000eur. The usual RCA and XLR outputs are present and those are fixed or variable, so it can be used as a preamplifier if you please. It is equipped with the latest-gen XMOS XU216 USB receiver chip. Massdrop Airist R2R DAC similar in sound to Denafrips Ares II and Soekris Dac's, Definitive Technology replacement parts -discontinued models, Add Price Range and Distance to Saved Searches, New LPs listed by American artists at lukesrecords.com, Bob Carver Black Magic 25 Tube amp. Select options. Postings are free for hobbyists. Turn it on if you want to bypass its internal interpolating FIR filters, working more like a NOS (Non-Over-Sampling DAC), sending the data stream directly to the R-2R resistor ladder. Color: Black Add to cart REQUEST A PRICE MATCH Secure Checkout Ask a question Estimated Delivery: Jun 26 - Jun 30 World Free Shipping & Returns GUSTARD R26 R2R Digital to Analog Convertor (DAC) Add to cart Everything you see in there is over the top, starting with its power supply, filtering stage, clock management, error correction and finishing with D/A conversion and output stage.