Gustard R26

@whart I have the X26 Pro and took advantage of the Black Friday Sale to buy the R26 which came Thursday.  I hooked it up to my LAN and Roon recognized it without any problems.  I burned it in for about 36 hours before I listened to it this evening. The X26 is connected to Roon through a Denafrips Iris DDC and a Raspberry Pi connected to an Etherregen.  The R26 is just plugged into an ordinary ethernet cable connected to the same router as the X26.

So first impressions are basically WOW.  It is a significantly different sound from the X26.  I will need to spend more time listening critically to make sure that first impression holds but the R26 has a lot more presence, much bigger dynamics, and quite a bit more top end definition which surprised me.  In many ways it sounds more like vinyl.  Only downside so far is that midrange vocals might be marginally less weighty.  

I was prepared for the differences to be much smaller, especially since I bought the X26 Pro at the same time as I got a Pontus II and I tore my hair out for 6 weeks trying to hear any differences and decide which one to keep.  The difference between the X26 and R26 is immediately apparent.  I'll report back after my first blush of enthusiasm wears off and let you know if I still prefer sound of the R26.

@whart  I'm guessing @sgreg1  is referring to the thread at Head-Fi which is almost 2300 posts long.  Many of the posts are fairly technical so that might be a better place to ask your question about DSD.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the R26 changes with more burn in.  I was just excited about how it sounded after only 36 hours.

@soix Three reasons.  1) The Raspberry Pi endpoint might be the weak point in my streaming setup so directly connecting the LAN to the R26 was attractive.  2) The Iris is incompatible with the I2S pinout of the R26 so that mode of connection is unavailable.  3) With the X26 the Iris makes very little difference vs a USB connection direct to the Raspberry Pi.  The difference is small enough that it is hard to hear much less decide that it is better.  The only reason I use the Iris is because it "ought" to be better, not because I know that it is better.

@soix The Iris connects to the X26 through AES or Coax.  I2S doesn't work.  What does or does not make sense to you makes little difference to me but rationally the  better the DAC the less important the DDC should be.  In my experience the Iris made a big difference with the Ares II, a little difference with the Pontus II, and very little difference with the X26.  There is a guy on the Denefrips Facebook page that tested dozens of I2S cables and his conclusion was that longer is better.  

@soix I have no interest in spending my time doing an apples to apples comparison of the X26 vs the R26.  I was careful to specify the configuration of both DACs to let the reader draw their own conclusion.  The only thing that is relevant to me is my impression that the R26 in the configuration I intend to use it it sounds better than the X26 in the best configuration I have found to use it.  I have no  idea why you feel you can "task" me with answering your questions but I suggest you buy both DACs and write an exhaustive review of your own if that is what you are interested in.  

You got that right.  Your bad.