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Gustard R26 - good but not the one

I have owned a Chord Qutest for quite some time, maybe 5-years. I power it with a SBooter power supply and feed it USB from a SoTM SMS200 Ultra with SPS500 power supply. Overall it sounds great. It's been a great purchase.

But 5-year old DACs are getting long in the tooth. As Ferris Bueller said, "digital tech moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

So, I've been looking at new DACs as a possible replacement. It's tough because the Qutest is pretty darn good for it's price and bettering it takes a leap in spending.

The Gustard R26 R2R DAC has been widely praised all over the internet and it went on sale 10% off the other day (8/26/2023). So, I picked it up on Amazon with free Prime Shipping and 30-day free returns.

This was more of a learning experience than anything else. I'm sending it back 3-days later, but I wanted to say it is a fine sounding piece of equipment. IF I had not spent a long time with the Chord Qutest I would have been over the moon for the R26. I did run it continually for the 3-days it was here - not fully bedded in, but close.

It's well built, super sturdy, easy to live with, great sounding and very versatile. There was not a huge difference from the Qutest, but the Chord was just that much better to my ears and I don't want to spend $1,460 to get not quite as good sound quality.

The streamer was super convenient and sounded fine. Not SoTM great, but certainly sounded fine.

It has one flaw. when you switch inputs, and there are lots to choose from, it totally drops the input you've been on. You have to reestablish the entire setup in your player. Using Roon > HQ Player that meant going into HQP's preferences and selecting the Gustard anew.

So, that's my take on the Gustard R26 - very good but not Qutest good.

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lollipopguild's avatar
lollipopguild
132 posts
 

I have an R26.  Out of the box it was clearly superior to the Denafrips Pontus II 12th it replaced.

I haven't read the entire thread here, so unsure whether external clocking has been mentioned, but what the R26 offers over very few other DACs is its extensibility.  Add a decent 10MHz clock to the R26 and it becomes a different beast.  In fact I'd go as far as stating that I feel the most important part of any digital setup is the clocking.  I have an AfterDark King OCXO feeding my R26, and an Innuos PhoenixUSB between my Innuos Zenith and the R26.

Add a clock with as low a measure of phase noise at the 10Hz offset as possible and you'll be knocked sideways.  As I said, I have an AfterDark King, which has a sine output.  If I was buying again I'd probably go the Mutec Ref10 Nano, which has square wave output, multiple of them, plus doesn't require an extra high quality LPS.

I'm so convinced of the importance of clocking that if I had an extra £5k to spend I could either upgrade my ATC SCM40 to the SCM50, or my Hegel H390 to the H600, or my King to the Mutec Ref10 SE120.  I have a very strong feeling that the last of these would offer the best upgrade.

uncle_monkey's avatar
uncle_monkey
56 posts
 

@sls883 I've had the NOS set for pretty much the entire duration of owning. I played with it before break in, and a few times after. I've read that most people prefer it that way. Also agree on fast. Slow just sounds sort of bloated to my ears.

@lollipopguild That's very interesting. I honestly hadn't considered that TBH, so now my curiosity is piqued. As I mentioned, I had really thought by the 2 year mark I'd be moving on, and the R26 would be in my video system. I'll take a look at the AfterDark King and Mutec for starters. If I decide to bite I'll report back I've made the mod, and then of course after I've had a chance to live with it for a while. Cheers! 

lollipopguild's avatar
lollipopguild
132 posts
 

@uncle_monkey good luck if you take that punt. Here are some notes on clocking 

  • Square wave is the best if done well, though sine is better than mediocre square
  • Square requires that impedances match for the source and destination sockets, as well as cable and plugs. Sine is not fussy
  • For square the best cable has the lowest attenuation. For sine the best cable has the best shielding. I use a cybershaft semi rigid for my sine
tksteingraber's avatar
tksteingraber
612 posts
 

Anyone have experience or knowledge with the Gustard clocks C-16 and C-18 used with the R-26? 

boulder_bob's avatar
boulder_bob
19 posts
 

Is it possible that the Gustard DACs are at their best when using the I2S input?

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