Gustard R26

@soix

I am an engineer. I have run testing labs and worked for the federal government, military, nuclear energy....I am trained in testing and evaluation.

I have heard what I need to hear.

i too chuckled when i read this... what an awful handicap for someone to have in achieving the enjoyment and bliss this pursuit can bring! 🤣😉😆

FWIW, I intend to run the R26 (hopefully arriving end of next week) for at least 100 hours before sharing my feedback :)

IME, R2R dacs need significantly more break-in than other types of DAC. But at 100 hours, I should at least get a basic idea of the true character of the Gustard R26.

I recently purchased the Gustard R26. It replaced the Denafrips Ares ll. It has been fed a signal, and left powered on for approx. 240 hours. IMO it is still improving in presentation. The presentation (source dependent) is large and open in soundstage, transparent without fatigue, and well defined. I think the Ares is slightly warmer. Instrument separation is very good. When using my Rotel MCD-1572 mk2, the Rotel internal DAC sounded better than the Rotel feeding the Ares ll. With the Gustard R26, it sounds better feeding the R26 versus the Rotel internal DAC. Most of my listening is my iFi Zen Stream via 1 foot long USB from Ghent Audio ($20 shipped). I prefer the Ghent over the Cardas I have. I do have a LPS on the Zen. Output of the R26 feeds my Luxman L-550 AX ll via Anti Cable 2.2 RCA. The output of the Luxman feeds my Dynaudio Contour S 1.4's on Dynaudio stands via GR Research 16 strand cables lifted off the floor. I did put some bypass caps on the tweeters. I hope this input is of value to my fellow non-recovering audio addicts:)

From the dozen people I know with an R26, they do not use it as a streamer and are very happy with its performance.

Seems to be well worth its cost. 

i do use it as a streamer and roon endpoint, it works flawlessly and sounds very nice

@arafiq which did you keep? pontus or r26? 😁

btw, i posted the following several weeks back (unwisely) in a thread about a different dac... anyways, i will share it here as these comments properly belong here...

fwiw, i bought a nice used r26 just to try it, see what the fuss is about, and i would agree that for the $ it is absurdly good... particularly from the lan input (i am a roon user) - i have confidently poo-pooed the chifi brands since i started my dac journey at the start of covid, especially those from the guangzhou/shenzhen factory alley (smsl, gustard, topping, singxer, matrix and so on...) but this r26 is pretty amazing... with an effective built in streamer too...

In  my previous post regarding the Gustard R26 I forgot to mention that dynamics were substantially better with the R26 compared to the Ares ll. With good source material, I fount the R26 to be quite holographic. I am well pleased with the R26.

@jjss49 I ended up returning the R26 and kept the Pontus II in my second system. Honestly speaking, they were both excellent and I could have lived happily with either one. The R26 had a wider soundstage and better treble. But in the end, I preferred the slightly fuller, weightier sound signature of Pontus. It just sounded a bit more organic to me. But as I said, the differences were subtle at best. 

The streamer in R26 is just average in my opinion. If I was buying the R26, the streamer would not factor in my decision. But the DAC function is excellent and can compete with more expensive DACs. I can see someone preferring the R26 over Pontus depending on their preferences.

I know a few who have added a Leo Bodnar external clock to the Gustard R26, which makes a significant improvement.

@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!

@sgreg1 I kept the DAC for almost 3 weeks. I believe I put in excess of 150 hours on the DAC. Like I said, I really liked the DAC but the Pontus II just edged it out ever so slightly. 

As for streamers, I tried it with the built-in streamer, a Bluesound Node, and an Aavik streamer. The R26 streamer was about as good as the BS Node but not better. My point is that you're still better off with a separate streamer if you're trying to extract more performance out of your system. Having said that, it does compete well with sub $500 streamers. So for those looking for a great DAC and streamer combo under $2K, the R26 should be on the top of your list.

Just picked up a like new used R26.  Very nice easy to set up component.  (Sonic transporter roon-ethernet-Fmc-opt cable-Fmc-ethernet-R26-amp) Sound quality is fantastic no matter the price.  On my system I was finding it with the default settings too bright and not as real sounding as I am used to and prefer with prior DAC/Streamer.  Detail, separation  and soundstage were exceptional.  After playing with the settings and turning NOS and DSD settings on it improved considerably.  Also, switching from high quality silver plated OCC ethernet cables to nice quality basic copper CAT 8 made an additional improvement.  We’ll see how more time listening plays out.  Anyone else experience this minor brightness challenge?

Anyone feeding their R26 via USB? My Aurender is USB out only, and even though I've read the R26 is optimized for LAN, I've really been enjoying the well-defined sound through the USB connection. It's like someone finally dialed-in my system's focus. 

All I use. It works great and sounds great.

It is more optimized for USB, as it uses the same USB chip that is used in other Gustards and SMSL.

@botrytis, that's good to hear. Do you mean more optimized than the other inputs on the R26?

@rischa  yes - the SPDIF connections, for me sound lifeless - I have not tried the ethernet connection so I cannot comment.