Gustard R26

@chayro 

The R26 is a brand new dac from Gustard. This is their first entry into a fully discrete R2R laddered dac. Their other dac’s that people like are chip or delta sigma base. Thank you for your reply.

@vennesch 

there is a preliminary review out so far but no detail just two sentence comment. Left it with “ more to come”. 

My take on reviewers is like everything in advertising today. I figure most critics of a reviewer are other reviewers. They are all fighting for status and position. Just like in my business I sell on my merits snd the quality of my product. I come up against many  competitors  who have bad product so not being able to sell on their merits they discredit the competition. A bad reviewer must try to discredit the competition in an effort to make them relevant. Dig into the review snd read the posts that tell you “I bought this unit snd review was spot on happy customer”. Also look for outliers. Example a product that has many positive reviews but one bad one that seems out of place. This tells me there is bias against the company for some reason we don’t know of. Reviews are a starting point not the holy grail for purchase decession!

@davide256

there are a couple more reviews out that are also very favorable. IMO the feature that you can’t over look here is the I2I hdmi port. This will allow anyone to easily upgrade the R26 with an external reclock DDC. I have been looking up the units snd they can be had for hundreds up into stratosphere like everything else. If the base r2r board delivers this will allow for upgrades to keep up with the tech. Will have to wait and see when I get the unit. First delay is ccp shut down now earth quake hit region. Might be my best Christmas present way things are going.

@davide256

I have started my research on a DDC box. I can’t remember off the top of my head right now but I did come across one that allowed for the I2S pins to be customized to match the dac pins. It was done through an external program that allowed for laptop to connect to DDC through USB port. It looked like it could be changed to match any dac I2S set up. I know the R26 already has a good clocking system so not sure how important this will be in selecting the DDC. I have found some that are in excess of 10k and that is not a consideration for me. I think I will start with just usb to R26 then add a low cost I2S DDC and review the change. Then maybe move up the food change to add a better reclock unit. I am not trying to go down the rabbit hole of obsessive this could be better or that could be better. I the R26 meets my ears I will sit tight as is. Enjoy the music!

Side note to all here. It is refreshing to have an open dialogue on this subject that is void from overly opinionated people who think their stuff is the beat all end all and the rest of us know nothing. This conversation is what brought me to the the site to begin with and I am very thankful for the input all that have added so far. 
thank you all for restoring my faith in this format!

@davide256 

read the article and do want to send out word of caution to all. Gustard is very clear that users do not plug a standard hdmi into an I2S port.  The author does not make that clear snd would hate for someone to blow out their dac connecting to what they thought was hdmi across the board!

Yes I am not talking about the hdmi cable but trying to connect an hdmi output from say a blue Ray into an I2S port is not recommended. Gustard make a bold typed recommendation to not do it. Does that mean it could damage the unit of just the I2S board? I do not know and do not want to find out.

Here is the link to a DDC that the I2S (hdmi) pin configuration can be customized to match a dac pin configuration.

Gustard R26 delivered today. Order placed on 8/31/22 seven day delay from ccp lock downs in city of  warehouse . Have up and running in system playing Austin blues radio stream. First two hours I am already very happy. Fist big notice is bass.  Nothing muddy clear tight bass can easily tell the difference between kick drum, bass guitar, and upright. Other first take it does seem a little bright on the upper mids. Will let it snd all new cables burn in for the week before my real sit down and go through my go to play list. Stay tuned will have full opinion in a week.

On another site they said the firmware was for roon end point. One owner said it disables some functions when he did the update. I will not be using roon thus I am holding off on update. Everything I need is working fine.

Yes I received the r26 and have been out of country for a while but now back. Have about 150 hours on it. I will try to make this short. I have never been more pleased with a purchase ever. First listening the bass jumped out and highs were sharp and sterile. At about 75 hours it all started to come together. I have thrown every thing at this I can and I just want to listen to more. My favorite setting is Qobuz through lan and nos. The sound stage is huge and at any time you can single out sny instrument you want to listen to. I think the biggest take away is my Vandersteen 2 se signatures sound like they are four times bigger than before. This dac is best described as musical you just want to sit and list to more. My go to Stevie Ray “tin pan alley” was given new life. When Stevie is singing the lyrics “better place to be” when both b’s are started you ban hear the air hitting the mic. Same with Tull “thick as a brick” you can almost feel Ian Anderson spitting on you when playing the flute. With the majority of dac’s I have heard the one thing I have never been impressed with have been drums. To me digital just can’t do drums until now. It is not perfect but the note decay for drums is the best I have heard. This will not go down as the best dac that can compete with the 20k and 30k models but it should win the award for best bang for the buck dac hands down. Down the road I will look into a ddc unit to take advantage of the I2S connection and external clocking but right now the Gustard R26 does not make me feel rushed at all. Anyone sitting on the fence jump off head first.

@pinwa

Give the r26 more burn in time before being too critical. The first real sign of what this dac can accomplish will come in at 100 hours. Then after 200 hours it will be in full stride. Mids for vocals will be in the room with you, bass will be tight and punch you in the gut, highs will sound fantastic with a very little roll off and I mean very little to the point you have to strain to notice. I do not like to make the “like vinyl” comparisons, what I like most with my r26 is I have to drag my self away. I can spend hours at a time listening and the music just flows. You are right with the large sound stage. For me it is like my Vandersteen’s are four time large than before. Dynamics allow you to hear every instrument right in its correct placement. My favorite setting is nos off slow filter through lan input. Down side to this is Currently using mconnect and it sucks, I will be replacing how I access lan very soon.

I can’t recall off the top of my head. I am on another thread for the r26 that gives this level of detail. I would post the link but I know agon would pull it. I know the access to the r2r ladder is determined by the input used. Not the sample rate. People adding an external clock will by pass internal clock snd it goes straight to the ladder.

@pinwa

@whart

@pinwa 

get on the head fi discussion. There are details on the I2S pin configuration for r26. In simple form people have had to short pin 15. There are other DDS units that work with r26. 

The majority of R26 users using lan connection are finding nice improvements adding a fiber media converter run off a lps. You can add this all in under $200 very much worth the try. If you don’t like what it does for your dac mover it over to a lan tv set up.

@balooo2 

A streamer you can’t easily use! What is hard about plugging in a wifi extender. Run a piece of cat 6 to the R26, download Jplay and you are up and running using a lan port that sounds fantastic. If you don’t wan lan R26 has Bluetooth, usb, coax, spdif what more do you want?

@balooo2 

I did not intend to come across as being critical sorry you took it that way. Wireless will never give you the same sound quality as lan. Most people who will buy the R26 are chasing the best sound they can achieve with their system. I my self will not sacrifice quality for convince. Enjoy the music!

@in_shore

there are reviews that compare the A26 with the R26. It all comes down to which sound you like. If you like the delta sigma sound then the A26 is nice. If you like the r2r sound the the R26 is nice. Both offer great sound and option for their price points. I know from first hand that the R26 responds very well to tweeks and upgrades to allow it to compete with dac’s in the $5000 and $6000 range. Will be interesting to see if the A26 returns the same results from the tweeks. Enjoy the music and ignore the noise from the trolls.

@kairosman

 One thing that I think can get lost in the discussion is all in cost. I have made the comment myself that this dac will compete with others costing $5000 to $6000. Truth be told the R26 costs $1600 US and then to squeeze out the performance we talk about the all in price is pushing $2600 to $3000. Guess what has to be assumed is the comparison to others that the same upstream mods are in play so a $5000 dac is pushing $6000 all in and $6000 dac is $7000 all in. Hope this does not trigger our lan troll.

@soix

Gustard engineers have said they put a lot more into the lan port than the usb and coax inputs. From many owners who have done comparisons it seems with good mods to the upstream signal going into the lan you can achieve better sound than a ddc and I2S input. This is not saying lan is going to be better on all dac’s but with Gustard right now it is until they upgrade the other inputs. The mods include fiber media converters, wifi extenders, mesh systems, upgraded switch and external clock. What I like for myself is by making the upgrades the R26 is still very musical to the point I can listen for hours on end with no fatigue. That to me is key I have heard to many systems that do sound hood very detailed but after an hour I have to walk away and reset. This is not my case with R26 I have to walk away because it’s 3am and need to get some sleep.

Without offense to anyone reading this imo that would not be very logical. That would be taking a step back from where the R26 is today. What is a consumers biggest fear when making a substantial purchase! That after you click buy, by the time you receive the item it will be outdated tech. Gustard has really built the R 26 to address a very wide client base sll for $1600. Almost anyone could buy the dac and have a great sounding source right out of the box and plugged into their existing system no further equipment needed. I could see it being an option say if current R26 was $3000 and building a stripped down version would sell for $1000 to bring in a whole new market. To take the current R26 and remove the lan to sell for $1200 does not sound like a good business decision. To save a couple $100 for an input you might regret not having in the future I guess is for each individual buyer to decide on. This is like living where I do in the cold. You always take extra coats with you as you never know when you will need them. To have and not need is good but to need snd not have leaves no option. Again no offense to anyone and to each their own choice. Enjoy the music!

@soix

I too find it a little strange that an “engineer” who will argue up and down that it all one’s and zero’s is saying a more costly dac is better because it has double the ladders “to correct the errors”. Also to compare the A to the R also makes no sense. One is r2r the other delta sigma. They are to very distinctly different sounding tech that will depend on an individuals preference of the sound signature they like. Claiming people are only parroting you tube reviews? All the comments snd sites I have read come from people who actually own the dac. I will never push anything on others but only try to offer my opinion and how it works for me.

@arafiq  did you allow for the two hundred hours of burn in for the r26? This is when it hits its stride. Also interesting with your streamer comment as a vast majority of owners have stated that the streamer function of the r26 is one of its top attributes. Most have built up the front end of the streaming chain along with Plato g with setting in HQ player and Jplay much better than mconnect. So interested in your chain when you say the streamer did not impress. Not doubting your ears as they are yours and not mine. What I love most about this hobby is nothing is a one size fits all. Enjoy the music!