Gustard R26 vs hi end streamer

@lanx0003 I've had the X-30 for a couple of weeks.  Not really long.  If you go direct to Aoshida, they don't charge sales tax.  Amazon will. They are very good about replying to emails although their time is about 12 hours different.  I saved over $500 by purchasing direct (with the discount and tax savings). Normal price is $3,000 + tax.

I'll try to take a listen to the violin, but I haven't heard many real violins, so I don't know if I'll be a good judge for you.  I'm very familiar with other acoustic instruments as my mother and son are both musicians.  

@deep_333 

I am not sure if you actually own Linton or had given it a fair trial.  The trerrific soundstage, flat response (see below) and nimble bass are the three main reasons I kept them for a good two years and might be many more years to come.  Look at the flat in-room response from Erin's measurements.  Lack of details, might be, but that is not the trait I had concern with. 

The concern I am having is related to the elevated treble beyond 10khz.  The tactic is to mitigate it is to toe them out a bit but that does not fully address the issue.  That is why I am looking for a DAC that could do the trick, starting with r2r DAC.  I acquired Saga 2 when it was announced and like it.  But the Cambridge Azur 851A's preamp could sweeten the sound as good as Saga 2 if not better.  I had tried AKM chips-based DAC but sound is a bit too warm for me.

I will give R26 one more week and, if not working, move onto the next which might be Qutest, gumby (as you have suggested) / yggi or hybrid or pure tube DAC like Black-Ice.

I could eq the treble region too but not really like what wiim pro + sounds in comparison (w/ MXN10).  Additionally, eq sound does not really sweeten / liquify the sound I found.

@lanx0003 

Yes, i've heard the Linton, opened it up, etc. P. Comeau never engineers a bad speaker. It is well designed, but, constrained by the budget he worked with. Elysian 2 or higher (3-way Elysians) is his high end, bigger budget item. The latter's AMT tweeter integration with mid driver, choice of crossover, crossover parts quality, etc sum to a higher resolution speaker than the Linton. 

The resolution bottle neck is always the aft end, i.e., speaker and room...and dacs hit diminishing returns a lot quicker, i.e. within a couple of hundred bucks when the aft end bottleneck didn't get any better.

Inadequacies ( digitosis, whatever) in the front end can be salvaged to some degree, made to sound pleasant with class A-ish linestage/amps. I suggested the Saga 2 class A as it is at a charity price from the Schiitr for what it is. I've been using it with my headphones in recent days. Since you don't seem to be a purist guy, lots of things open up for you. Wiim Ultra full PEQ...adjust to taste...sweeten/liquify it up with some class A-ish aft end...Gungnir plays well in the middle there, etc (not to mention the  5 year Schiit warranty and ease of getting things fixed with local shipping to Texas, if needed. Chifi, Euro stuff....no such luck)

@lanx0003 I'm listening to Maria Duenes and it sounds wonderful. I don't care for a lot of classical music, but this is something I enjoy. As I mentioned, I'm not a good judge of violin music, but it sounds great.

I wasn't trying to say anything negative about your Cambridge gear. They make great stuff. I own some. I bought my first Cambridge piece around 35 years ago. 

I didn't get great results hooking my cd player to the R26 using coaxial digital. I felt that the dac in the Denon DCD-1700NE sounded better. I bought a better coaxial cable and that closed the gap. I never tried optical.  But, that could be why the Cambridge streamer/dac sounds just as good as the R26..  I used the I2s connection on the R26 for streaming. 

Thanks for the music recommendation.

@sls883  I need to apologize for claiming the R26 streamer's performance was awful. I believe there’s a glitch in the unit I currently own. For some unknown reason that I haven’t yet identified, the LAN output weakens to a very low level. When I increase the volume, the sound is indeed 'awful' and I jumped to a conclusion after experiencing it once. The streamer in the R26 actually sounds as good, if not better, as the MXN10 and better than Ifi ZS.  Fortunately, this glitch did not affect the volume level when I evaluate R26 as a DAC. As you know also my unit has another clicking noise glitch.

@lanx0003 I recall your post about clicking. Sounds like your R26 has issues. I think I'd send it back if you can.

It sounds like the Cambridge streamer sounds good.  My son's cxa60 has a built-in dac and it sounds really good.  Better than the dac in a Node. And your Cambridge is a big step up from the cxa60. 

This crazy hobby can be a real money pit. I don't want to spend your money for you, but I don't think you'd be disappointed with the X-30. It's as good as I'll ever need.  I could have sent it back to Aoshida, but I opted to keep it. 

Responding to the original post.  I can weigh in on the 2nd question.  I would go with a separate streamer.  I started with integrated like many others and have moved to separates in all my equipment over time.  Bought a used Innuos Zen Mk3 from a local dealer to stream to my Holo Audio Cyan 2.  It sounds better than using my Blusound Node N130 as a streamer.  I like the BluOs app and operating system but the Sense app and system is even better in my experience.  

@sls883  I planned to send it back because of the clicking noise.  It turns out the volume level was not an issue. It was caused by the DSD toggle on/off and I just need to remember to adjust the volume up to 'fixed / maxed' level.  Before sending it back, I want to fully evaluate it to see if I need a replacement or different kind of DAC.  X30 is definitely under my radar but TBH it is outside my budget limit I am willing to spend at this point without fully exploring all options.

@lanx0003 Makes sense.  Have you tried changing the filter setting on the R26?  I prefer the fast setting, but that isn't the default setting. Fast is the most detailed, but maybe not what works best in your system.  There is also a setting for NOS.  

@sls883  I used "med" but tried "slow" to mitigate the brightness. It does have some effect, but not significant enough, and it adversely impacts the details. "Fast" is a bit too much for my system. NOS is not a preferred option for R26 I found.

@lanx0003 Interesting.  I've never felt that my R26 was bright.  I'm using a tube preamp, so that may help. 

I have various cables that have differing degrees of brightness.  A couple of them tend to soften the sound compared to others.  I don't know if you have any cable options to try?  

My chain of signal is as follows: MXN10 (optical)-> R26 (xlr, gatham star-quad cable) -> Cambridge Azur 851A (Belden 5T00UP 10awg speaker cable) -> Linton.

Linton has an elevated treble and is less forgiving of relatively poorer recordings. The R26 is neutral; any shortcomings should be attributed to the speaker, not the R26. I just hope that an R2R DAC like the R26 could help tone down the brightness.

I tried a better recording (by Nemanja Radulovic), and the sound through my system was much improved. It's still a bit bright for my taste, but much more liquid and refined.

Alright, I’ve had the R26 for about three weeks now, with at least 200-250 hours of playback time. It sounds pretty good—neutral and rich—but not as natural-sounding as I’d prefer.

That said, the other two DACs I own—the Cambridge MXN10’s internal DAC and the SMSL D6s—perform just as well as the R26 in areas like detail, tonal balance, soundstage, instrument separation, and bass. To my ears, all of these traits range from very good to excellent.  All these three DACs are able to preserve these sound traits in the recording pretty well.

However, when you consider the price, there’s an almost ninefold disparity between them. So, is the SMSL D6s exceptionally good for its price, or is the R26 just comparable to a highly capable entry-level Delta-Sigma DAC? Is the R26 simply overhyped?

My signal chain is mxn10 -> DAC -> Cambridge Azur 851A or Parasound A23 -> Wharfedale Linton or Buchardt S400 mkII.