I've tried a few Gustard DACs over the years, including the A26 recently. They all seemed nice but had some sort of major bug or malfunction to where each one got returned. One was DOA and its replacement had major issues too. I don't know if I'm just unlucky or what.
Gustard A26
Has anyone here heard the Gustard A26 and compared it to other Gustard DACs, in particular the R26? I find the R26 has some remarkable qualities in terms of microdynamics, musicality (musical details), but poor quality control and among the 4 R26's I listened to, all had (different) tonal balance problems.
Maybe the A26 would be a solution. I'm using a 10 MHz clock (the Gustard C16) and a good clock cable, along with the U18 DDC to feed the DAC through a very good Coax cable. This sounds a lot better than the USB input.
Showing 2 responses by tubeguy80
@audphile1 Haha I agree, total glutton for punishment I guess. In my defense this was over the course of maybe 5 years, so trying one every 12-18 months is not so bad. Also in context I tried quite a few other DACs during that time frame, ranging from cheap Topping "measurement queens" to big Lampizator tube devices. I generally agree you get what you pay for, more or less, but sometimes the little flavor of the month stuff can be nice in a way. |