Gustard R26

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?

@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.

@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!

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

@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.

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.

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...

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 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:)

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.

@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! 🤣😉😆

@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.

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.

That’s great.  Good for you.  That has nothing to do with audio equipment evaluation.  I’ve professionally reviewed high-end audio equipment for 17 years, and if I ever submitted a review after a week of listening I would’ve been fired.  Add that to the fact that no one here prefers the A26 to the R26 and I think it’s fair to say your conclusions are suspect.  Reviewing any new piece of audio equipment and making any firm conclusions in the first week is ludicrous.  Period. 

Here also is a gut shot of the Ladder Schumann.

It also is a 2 ladder DAC.

So a fair comparison is between Aries, Ladder, and R26. Pontus is in a class above with 4 ladders.

What was not fair in the test I did was using Lumin U1 Mini, Innous Pulse Mini, and Pi 2 Design Mercury 2 streamers all with LPS against the R26 built in streamer. That may be the issue not so much the R2R DAC itself. But then why buy the R26 if not for the combo DAC / streamer.

I should not rain on anyones parade who is enjoying this DAC. It is still better than many. Just not to the level of the hype IMHO. Your mileage may vary.

By the way from a technical point of view the R26 DAC board hardware is similar to the Aries with 2 ladders. The Pontus provides 4 ladders to average out errors.

We should not expect a product to perform past its design. The power supply for the DAC board is also closer to Aries. 

You can compare the differences below. R26, Aries, Pontus. Also take a look at the power supply filtering in the Pontus. So the comment about the R26 beating a Terminator I think can be tossed out as internet pumping. 

I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say with some run in time it could be equal to the Aries with a streamer attached but I think Denafrips software is more refined so maybe not.

@soix 

Why pump the product?

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.

Anyone who really wants to evaluate it thru a high quality system like I did is welcome to their opinions. But how many have really evaluated it carefully against multiple other products and a variety of setups? And how many are just repeating what they watched in a Youtube video?

I for one do not need to worry about this product any further.

@calieng Well, if it just takes some time to let it burn in more, and it’s free, why rush to judgement? Several people here have posted they preferred the R26 to the A26 and I’ve never seen the reverse. Or maybe you’re just, different.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  You be you. 

@soix 

Yes running it in for a while may help but the other DACs were new too (except Pontus). And I did leave R26 on for more than a day to properly warm it up.

I heard enough to know I will not keep it. I just wanted to hear for myself what all the fuss was. And what I heard was in line with some other online reviewers comments comparing the R26 to A26.

I have had my Pontus II for a few years. There has been very little sonic change since purchased new. I think R2R DACs sound better once they are warmed up but after 100 hours I do not know if there is much difference. Maybe a small amount for capacitor forming and transformers breaking in. What did make a noticeable change on the Pontus was the recent firmware update. Way more than aging for 100 hours.

What surprised me was how good the little Aries 12th sounded being driven by the PI 2 Design I2S connection! Best bang for the buck of any combination I have listen to so far. Very clear and dynamic sounding. 

@calieng It’s really not fair, nor rigorous, to assess the R26 basically right out of the box.  Give it at least 100 - 200 hours before making any conclusions. 

I got the R26 this week. Not that impressed with it. Tried it against my various other equipment...Aries 12th, Pontus II, Ladder Schumann using a variety of streamers and amps. It sounded veiled, lacking dynamics and loose bass. All the others were noticeably better.

When I got the A26 a couple weeks ago I was actually pleasantly surprised. It sounded really good. It was just my preference for R2R that made me decide not to keep it.

I know the R2R DACs take time to settle in but the Aries and Ladder DACs are also recent purchases with only a few days of use so far....

Anyway for those looking for an all in one streamer DAC I would definitely go with the A26 over the R26 based on the initial experience with them.

Of course there are lots of other brands to consider. Matrix Audio I2 has not been mentioned but is in the same price range and that has a decent headphone amp and wifi built in.

Well, I purchased a Pontus II from another a'gon member. I also ordered the Gustard R26 from Amazon, arriving next week. I will compare the two in my system and either return the R26 or resell the Pontus depending on what I like more.

+1 @sgreg1 

I think direct-to-ethernet is a really cool feature ... especially at this price point. From what I've been reading, the R26 even without the LAN connection is worth the asking price. The LAN is just icing on the cake. It also saves you several hundred dollars that you would have otherwise spent on buying a nice USB cable. It'll be nice to hear from someone who has compared it to >$1000 streamers. I know it competes favorably with below $1000 streamers like Bluesound Node, ifi, etc.

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!

I heard a rumor about a version of the R26 without the built in streamer.  Any truth to this?  I would be interested in a DAC only version for sure.

@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.

Steve Huff is turning into a hermit!

I was laughing at him because he spent $1k for a power bar to improve his stereo when he actually had preamp ground loop hum. I left him a comment to let him know...

Anyway he seems like a nice guy....used to like his camera reviews. He should stick to photography.

@soix Like they say, horses for courses. I know Sandu has a lot of fans here, but just looking at his equipment and preferences I can tell that we are quite different when it comes to the type of flavor we like in our music. I respect him a lot and think he's one of the better ones out there. But his choice of amps (Benchmark) and speakers (KEF) tells me that he prefers a more neutral tonality. Nothing wrong with that, but I know that our tastes are quite different. 

Another reviewer compared the Gustard R26 to Denafrips Ares 12th Edition and preferred the Ares. Go figure! 

And Steve Huff ... well, the less we say about him the better .. lol!

Other reviews have said A26 is better.

https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/gustard-a26-dac-review-can-it-get-any-better/

Flavor of the month.

Denafrips lives long and prospers. 

I stopped believing online reviewers a while ago. It is good to get some details but their opinions are next to useless. One of them loves it and another hates it.

Case in point - Steve Huff gushing over the Willsenton R300 - amp of the year. I bought one and yes I was keen on it at first then I compared it to some other tube amps - I realized half the music was missing - no symbol crashes that were clearly evident on another amp....etc

These reviewers may mean well but in the end they are there to make money thru views on YouTube and some I believe get freebies or kick backs from the vendors and manufacturers.

I would rather trust the opinions on here.

This reviewer, who I hold in high regard due to his knowledge and breadth of equipment reviews, compares the Gustard R26 favorably to the Denafrips Terminator.  That speaks volumes to me, FWIW. 

https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/a-new-point-of-reference-gustard-r26-discrete-r-2r-ladder-dac-review/
 

I’d also highly recommend a DDC that will allow you to take advantage of the Gustard’s i2S input.  I did this with my Musician Pegasus DAC and it was a game changer.  Hope this helps, and best of luck. 

@arafiq 

I just got the LADDER Schumann DAC and was really impressed with it. It sits above the Denafrips Aries 12th that I have for resolution. It seems to be a little more analytical sounding but is also very musical. I might even consider it against the Pontus II depending on what it is driving.

Right now I have the Aries 12th, Pontus II, Venus II, and the Ladder all doing a great job in my stereo and headphone systems. Using Lumin U1 and U1 Minis all with LPS. The are primarily running into Icon Audio, Woo Audio, Feliks, and AmpsandSound.

Have a Innuos Pulse Mini inbound to try as well as a PI 2 Mercury V2 streamer. Will check out the Gustard R26 as soon as able.

It's all about system matching!

@calieng 

Anyway I thought it sounded very good and well built. Very punchy and good width of sound stage. Then I swapped for one of my Denafrips R2R DACs and realized I need to return the A26. R2R is so much more organic sounding and much better soundstage.

I'll give the R26 a try instead to see how it compares. 

I'm looking for a reasonably priced dac for my second system in the home office. Been doing a lot of research and it sounds like your assessment about Denafrips sounding more organic holds true even in case of R26. For example, the British Audiophile guy likes the R26 for its treble, soundstage, and speed but he thinks if you want more solidity in the midbass region and below and prefer a more organic sound, then Pontus is still the way to go. This is not to say one is better than the other ... horses for courses. Since my taste leans towards jazz, vocals, blues, etc. I'm thinking I'll be happier with the Pontus. The R26 is great for electronic, rock, pop, etc. 

Another reviewer compared the R26 to the new Denafrips Ares 12th Edition and said he would go with the Ares due to the same reasons I outlined above. Interesting problem to have. Of course, I'm saying all this without ever having listened to the R26 so take it with a giant grain of salt :)

@sgreg1 Why dude?

If you conduct yourself in a respectful fashion I’ll do the same. Veiled attacks and name calling is cowardly the other poster has nothing to do with you and others disagreeing with me. No need to drag someone else into whatever you’re still feeling. Grow up,I’m over the lan thing you should be too.

@sgreg1 yup in order for the comparison to be fair we have to assume a $5-10K DAC will need to be optimized to the same degree, and actually the extra cost is more like $1.5K in my setup. On another note, it is fascinating to me that the way in which the incoming digital signal is routed/clocked/converted/filtered/amplified inside the DAC is either obfuscated and/or misunderstood by me and most other folks who are into digital playback... why don't we demand to know what this process end-to-end looks like for each DAC PRIOR to purchase lol? Seems important info if one wishes to optimize one's source chain, no?

@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.

I bought the Gustard A26 a couple weeks ago for one of my headphone setups. I wanted to see what all the hype is about....

For wifi I have good results with this basic bridge:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5RCZQH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Anyway I thought it sounded very good and well built. Very punchy and good width of sound stage. Then I swapped for one of my Denafrips R2R DACs and realized I need to return the A26. R2R is so much more organic sounding and much better soundstage.

I'll give the R26 a try instead to see how it compares. 

But Gustard did a good job with these. I like the style of the A26 better than the R26. Good value for what you pay for them. 

System matching is important but if you really want to compare the sound quality of DACs try listening to them thru a good headphone amp. It gives you a lot more detail that can be lost in room acoustics with speakers.

SGreg you could be sort of right about the Gustard dac competing against dacs in the 5-6K my buddy with the Boulder 866 integrate and TeKton Moab speakers is happy with the Gustard for now , he bought the Gustard just to get him through a transition period until he made his mind up over integrates and possibly separate dac.
We listened to a Boulder digital 866 model with built in dac he borrowed from a dealer wether it was just better compatibility compared with analog Boulder with the Gustard the digital Boulder was clearly better sounding. 
In any case I think it would be interesting to hear the Gustard with clock I can have his A26 for $900.00 clocks I’ve looked at ranging in prices from $200.00 to 1500.00 who knows it looks like fun to me with little investment.

@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.

I currently have the Gustard A-26 on loan for the weekend, my first experience with this brand used in a speaker based system TeKton Moab speakers , Boulder 866 integrate with DIY server , the Gustard is really quite good bang for the buck I could live with it. 

@soix I've come to the same conclusion about you.

All the best.

You don’t know what you’re doing nor what you’re talking about.  Peace out. 

@soix No I do do not run cables from my WIRELESS streamer(s) to my mesh node (which by the way is simply a wireless router that can be daisy chained) a simple google of the Asus AiMesh would have cleared that up for you and what I'm talking about.But you are not really interested in learning anything just presenting yourself as a know all. My streamers are AGAIN wireless and that is all I'm interested in is truly wireless streaming. You are assuming MESH actually means something more then a daisy chained wireless router system.Most new wireless routers offfer the feature of creating a MESH system if you have more then one unit; and if you are tech savvy they really don't need to be the same brand to create a MESH WIFI system. Yes I understand I can put one of my MESHED WIFI  wireless routers in another room DUH, but I have them placed  to offer the best coverage for my entire home which is why I have 4 of them and do not want to minimize signal in another part of my home for a freakin $1500.00 dac. I spent quite a bit of money, time and trial and error on my routers to have the coverage I want and really need in my home for me and my family, disrupt that for a dac? Who's the fool here?

Equipment should serve me not the other way around. I'll say it one last time...

I DO NOT WANT TO PAY FOR A FUNCTION I WILL NOT USE. A LAN BASED STREAMER IS NOT FOR ME, HOWEVER THE REPORTED SQ OF THE R26 IS COMPELLING THUS MY INTEREST AND REASON FOR BEING ON THIS THREAD I WAS TEMPED TO PURCHASE ONE LAST WEEK ON SALE. I AM ASSUMING A NON STREAMING R26 IS ON THE HORIZON. THERE ARE VERY GOOD WIFI BASED WIRELESS STREAMERS OUT THERE, I ALREADY OWN 3. I HAVE A VERY ROBUST WIFI SETUP IN MY HOME,EVERYTHING INTERNET BASED IN MY HOME IS TRUE WIRELESS "AND I LIKE IT LIKE THAT". I WILL WAIT FOR A NON STREAMING VERSION OF THE GUSTARD R26 OR A WIRELESS ONE. Did any of that deviate from what I've been saying from the begining?

@balooo2 Do you run an Ethernet cable from your mesh node to your streamer? You keep leaving pertinent pieces of information out of your posts, which is why we’re confused here. Or were we just supposed to magically know that you’re running a mesh system? When you say you’re using Wi-Fi no one will then assume you’re using a mesh system, which is a big difference. You don’t even seem to understand that if you run a mesh system you don’t need to run a line from another room, which is the whole point. Duh. Whatever. This is a mess. @jjss49 I agree this is troll city — too many inconsistencies give it away. I don’t believe you’re even running a mesh system or you would’ve mentioned it earlier and understood it obviates the need for a long run of cable, and I’m out.

@soix @jjss49 Now we are name calling...A MESH system is a type WI-FI system.They are not two different protocals it is baffling how commited you are to something you obviously know nothing about.to the point of name calling.

It truly amazes me how ignorant some of you are pretending to know what you're talking about and abosolutely don't. My wireless routers are not in the same room as the system I would use the Gustard in is that so hard to comprehend as a possibility??? And in this case fact. Equipment should serve me not the other way around.

And since we are going there and I tried being polite...an extender is just that an extender it does not improve wifi signal in any way simply extends it.They've sold "boosters" in the past but that was merely snake oil.YOU will not get LAN quality (if you think that means anything) from a wi-fi extender additionally like anything else that depends on the quality of the extender output as well many cheap extenders will output lesser signal than the source point, you'll get on the internet but thats about it, sheesh

I cannot understand why you two cannot accept I am not interested in running a lan line from another room or incur the expense of an extender and simply want to wait for a wireless or non streaming R2R from Gustard. Lastly did it ever occur to either of you that I may already have excellent separate streamer(s) boxes and perfer to keep it that way? I already have several and really like them and not interested in paying for and duplicating an already 3X owned  function,no you did not ask if or how I currently stream just insist I accomadate the Gustard and than attack.

Thinking  wireless mesh is different from wi-fi says it all, you guys are scary...

@jjss49 Scratching my head as to how we went from Wi-Fi to having a mesh setup. If you have a mesh system why not just run a cable?  Something’s amiss here. 10 minutes I’ll never get back.

@soix

The good news is just trying running an Ethernet cable from an extender is pretty cheap to try out, so why not?

i think this troll would rather come here and type his garbage ... probably an april fool’s day joke, and the joke is on us... so he has awesome mesh through his house, can even recommend the best mesh to all here reading... but doesn’t have a lan out for his dac... sheesh 🙄

@soix I have used more extenders in the past than I can count some where better then others. As it turns out I have a very robust mesh wifi setup in my home; Asus RT-AX88U as the main router link to my modem and three RT-AX86U Pro's mesh chained around my home incredibly robust I highly recommend the Asus AiMesh system one of the best I've come across pricey but worth every penny.

Thank you for the insight.

A wireless input is going into the extender, so where is the logic of the lan being superior using a wifi extender? It simply is not so.

@balooo2 There are many here who use an extender to provide a wired connection to the streamer and find it superior to using Wi-Fi — and yes, I was skeptical at first too for the same reasons as you, but here we are.  Maybe @ghdprentice can chime in here as he uses an extender with his very expensive streaming setup.  Some people say using a mesh system is better than an extender, but it’s also a bit more expensive.  Sometimes things in audio don’t seem to make sense on the surface yet still provide meaningful improvements.  The good news is just trying running an Ethernet cable from an extender is pretty cheap to try out, so why not?

@jjss49 Nah I’d rather not move on, I’ll just hang out here and rattle your cage 😀

One would think you owned Gustard...Just here to discuss the Good the Bad and the Ugly and why one would consider a purchase or pass, again this is an open forum; If you can’t handle that YOU should move on.

Do you have any first hand experience regarding the performance and ease of use of the R26 streaming function?...If so please do us all the honor of your enlightenment, if not what do you care what I think? I'm not banging on the R26 as stated I came close to buying one, merely saying it is likely in my opinion they will release a version without a streamer at a lower price point and that would work best for me and I'll wait for that version,good grief