Gustard R26 Discrete R2R DAC - R2R+1Bit XMOS DSD512 PCM768kHz LDAC Balanced K2 Clock Decoder with Remote Control(Sliver)

Waited to write this until the 200 hr mark. Have had many DACs over the last 15 years and the R26 is a very good one. Very detailed without being bright. I2s is good but unless you have a very very clean input, streaming beats easily. I had the R26,A26,X20,Yggy and Chord 2qte all in my system at the same time. Using a DDC with coax they all sound great, different but not drastic. The R26 was still my favorite, but when streaming, the background instruments just came into focus like nothing else. If you try one and its not doing it for you I'm willing to say its not the DAC its somewhere else in your system. One exception, if your system is leaning toward bright, the clarity and dynamic snap this dac can deliver may be too much. It's not harsh or bright but might add that feeling because it pulls the background instruments out of the depths and adds it to the rest of a very clearly defined presentation. Its almost on par with vinyl in my system. Excellent bass,mids,highs,dynamics and a deep and wide sound stage.

In this long review I’m going to share some important set up tips that you may not figure out until you’ve read every single posted word on this heavenly music rendering machine like I had to. I have a long history in high end audio, a very good ear (and intact hearing) and am primarily a music lover, not a gear hound and definitely not an “audiophool”. I shop carefully and listen critically, I don’t do “flavor of the month” purchases and tend to stay loyal to what I’ve got. In this case, some equipment failures turned my world upside down and I HAD to buy a new DAC for streaming Tidal and from my NAS.In anticipation of this DAC arriving, I started using ROON knowing ahead of time what a perfect match that software would be with this DAC. A key feature being able to go ETHERNET direct into the R26 in lieu of the electronic sewer pipe otherwise known as USB from a noisy PC laptop. I also took the time to clean up a typical clueless ETHERNET mess in my home by purchasing an 8 port NETGEAR switch to handle ALL the ethernet connections, thus only one cable runs from the Router to the switch and all else is managed by the switch. This I learned manages traffic much better than a mish-mash of devices plugged both into a router AND a switch, don’t do that! For feel good since it was cheap and valid in theory, I also got an FMC to install between the switch and the GUSTARD which galvanically walls off the DAC’s input circuitry completely. Ok and a linear power supply for the FMC just because. All shielded Cat 8 cables except purposely the final run from the FMC to the R26. I can first say after all this I have not had a SINGLE glitch streaming Tidal and my NAS into this DAC hours a time for weeks now. That was NOT the case before I cleaned up the network and was running my ROON laptop USB into a temporary DAC I had to resort to (my old OPPO BDP105). When I first hooked up the R26 via ethernet, ROON immediately saw the Gustard by name and what I assumed was the output setting to stream via ethernet. But although things played on the status bar no sound came out. Out of impatience I then resorted to the USB input of the R26 and music flowed. My first impressions were still very good and compared to the OPPO DAC which is certainly anyone’s idea of the notorious “Sabre glare” I can assure you the difference was immediately obvious. “Analogue” was a good stereotypical way to describe the rich, dense, though slightly “warm and fuzzy” qualities I heard. This was mostly in NOS mode and let me give a tip here: Thanks to the grammar of a double negative it’s easy to get confused whether upsampling is on or off; NOS ON means upsampling is OFF! After a day of this I disconnected USB and tried ETHERNET again rebooting ROON and the Gustard once or twice and sure enough now it was playing music! Yea or so I thought. Here again there was no struggle to hear a significant improvement in smooth, natural, organic, artifact-free clarity. I’m not going to nerd out too much describing things just yet, but compared to my outgoing OPPO and a Cambridge Audio Network streamer imagine you’ve always had a low level white noise generator going in the background then you shut it off…this is a good way to describe the immediate sensation of clean, peaceful, harmonic “rightness” you get from this device. Not unlike what you hear from a very good Single Ended Triode amp into appropriate speakers with appropriate source material. But unlike that analogy I have not found this DAC to be a case of being uncannily good at some things and really bad at others. All kinds of recording from all my great classic Jazz, classical, all the way to Ozric Tenticles and 80’s metal sound so focused, natural, dense and clear in completely un-hyped way. But I was confused by seeing “AirPlay” with the Gustard ethernet input in ROON and then realized as others have that all upsampled files whether by ROON or not were showing as 44.1 on the Gustard display screen. Airplay explains how to my bewilderment ROON was able to stream to another streamer DAC in my spare room that is neither ROON ready, nor ROON tested and no intention to be so (Yamaha WXC50). The ROON airplay mode was downsampling not the Gustard. Well here’s your next big tip; it turns out the output device in ROON you want for the Gustard ETHERNET-IN confusingly has USB in the name, you want the one that says “USB ALSA” to stream via ETHERNET the right and ultimate way. Apparently the Ethernet input merges with the USB input circuitry somewhere is the reason for that unfortunate nomenclature. NOW things were really got good! I want to float the idea that the intent of an NOS Mode is not necessarily to listen to music straight-no-chaser direct into the ladder dac with no FIR filtering at all. Years ago I went that route with an Audio Note DAC and concluded there were obvious and audible artifacts coming through, sonic warts if you will. Simplicity is always the best way but too simple is not. Instead, and the translated manual for this DAC alludes to this as well, the REAL reason is to allow the superior option of doing intense and very noisy upsampling OUTSIDE the DAC altogether, in my case by ROON on my PC . You do NOT want to make a mess out of lots of redundant up and down sampling. This is where I am now. I spent a lot of time deciding on the upsampling and filtering that sounds right done by ROON then send that to the GUSTARD running pure in NOS mode. As charming as the notion is redbook digital in the purest mode possible, that only sounded good or ok in a very recording-specific way, the brutal brickwall filtering applied to most especially older CDs does not sound right in NOS mode and NO Upsampling by ROON it seems. We all know there are choices of filters in most dacs and four in ROON, what I myself don’t understand yet is whether the three in the R26 are also bypassed by the Gustard in NOS mode but it seems you can select NOS on but also still select 1 of 3 filters and I suspect they are actually not engaged if NOS is ON but I could be wrong.Anyway, after all this I can say the sound quality does not stop amazing me. What used to be and in HINDSIGHT; sonically pixilated synthetic digital artifacts masquerading as “detail” is now a feeling of astounding naturalness. Although my Cambridge Audio was clean and quite innocuous in a good way, I would still compare that like going from a typical computer screen image to the first time you saw APPLE’s retina display. That’s overstating things but conveys what I am hearing. As a musician raised by musicians I’m most sensitive to “truth of timbre” than anything else, that acoustic instruments sound like they do in real life. In my opinion, you get that right and “sound-staging” and everything else just lands where it is by default. I’m sure plenty of people prefer to marvel at what sounds like virtual reality spatial detail at the expense of everything else but not me. Cymbals have their immediate hit and complex brassy decay, not sounding like they are coated with Teflon. Same with acoustic piano, a crowd clapping doesn’t sound a broken air hose, a harpsicord doesn’t sound like a synthesizer, violins don’t have that squeaky styrofoam kind quality etc. Just heaven! In summary I have to say using this DAC via USB from a laptop though still very nice is a significant compromise. It’s not surprising this DAC was obviously intended to intimately partner with ROON for maximum results and that is definitely the case for me.

The Gustard R-26 produces accurate, natural sounding sound without color and the soundstage was larger than any other DAC I have tried in this price range and even above. For reference, I tested the Topping D90SE, HIFIMAN EF400, S.M.S.L M200 and M400, SONCOZ LA-QXD1, and Gustard X16 and X26. I also tested higher priced DAC/streamers from HiFi Rose (RS150B and RS250A) and Gold Note (DS-10 and IS-1000). Its sound was great, but the Gustard R-26 had problems streaming. It was initially discovered by my Roon server and the streaming was great, but then it stopped being recognized and I could not get it to stream again. I contacted Gustard customer service via email (they were great) and working with them I tried software upgrades and various other steps, but nothing worked. I ended up returning it but would consider buying it again if this streaming issue is solved.

I went through several DAC’s including Bluesound, Musical Fidelity, Hegel and RME and there was still something missing. Once I hooked up the R26 I knew it was staying put. The music is just so thick yet accurate and the soundstage is huge. I have a Prima Luna 400i and Goldenear Triton One.R towers and this brought them to another level. It’s hard to describe but this makes my digital collection streamed through Roon sound analog and the soundstage is on another level. One thing I didn’t know was if Roon would be able to stream to it as an end point and yes it does. I hooked it up to my mesh router with cat8 cable, set it to LAN and Roon found it right away and the connection is rock solid. I can’t imagine finding a better DAC than this until you spend multiple times more. It’s also a heavy beast and has dual isolated and balanced power supplies for the analog and digital section. If you know you know…….weight = quality. I think this piece will be in my system for years.

The menu is funky, the remote is nothing special, and the product support is all in Chinese. But it works.You will need to update the firmware and stuff if you are actually using it as a streamer (you stream by lan cable, it's not a streamer like Wiim with a nice app) but it's not very hard to doThe Bluetooth function is my fave. Everything about this DAC is nice. Super heavy, looks great in person... Sound is... My god... The absolute best thing.Thus

Ao sound and soundstage are really good. I had to weigh the pros and cons. Was pretty impressed by the sound. My RME just edged it out splitting hairs. The background was silent however so was the musicality. Wasn’t as interesting or exciting of a presentation to get involved. Like listening to noise canceling. You lose something. Now why not keep something less expensive if your splitting hairs? Well the volume is digital and frankly horrible to use. It does effect the sound. And damn it that Chinese software kills me. You have the same eq choices and that pause in sound switching. Nope way to big and heavy to use in a system

Ignore the Gustard R26 R2R Ladder Dac at your peril....if you cherish Musicality, Detail, Clarity, huge Dynamic swings, Bass slam and Goose Bump vocals.....the Gustard really is that good.I bypassed my Hegel H390s Internal Dac using the Dac Loop on the Hegel which is a straightforward process if you have the correct cables.Sound quality wise the Gustard is a huge upgrade to the Hegel Dac , which is no slouch itself by the way...but the Gustard really is in a different league I have to say.Although this Dac carries a hefty near £1,700 price tag, I would still describe it as an Audiophile Hifi bargain if your system needs a lift in all the areas I described earlier. And as far as high end Dacs go it is actually quite cheap.The Gustard Dac has made the Hegel sound like it is now on Steroids!The joy of using the Dac Loop is that you still get the Full Fat goodness and Brilliance of the Hegels Amplifier stage and you are still able to use the Hegels Streamer module and use Qobuz via Roon...my personal Streaming setup of choice.... as the Hegel Amps are now all certified "Roon Ready".By using the Dac Loop, you totally bypass the Hegels Dac and utilise the Gustard Dac.Some Hifi upgrades give small improvements and benefits over your existing set up...but I can honestly say, hand on heart, that buying the Gustard Dac has given my system a HUGE boost and improvement...and to be honest it was pretty damn good before.I cannot recommend the R26 highly enough if you love your music and want to hear it as the maker intended. It majors with all genre's of music too which makes it exceptionally versatile as well.Buy this Dac with confidence....it really is a "No Brainer"

Der Gustard R26 ist ein R-2R DAC mit diskret aufgebauter Ausgangsstufe. Solide verarbeitet mit Top Komponenten. Ich habe das Gerät erworben, um Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten im Vergleich zum eingebauten DAC meines Hegel H390 zu testen. Der DAC im H390 ist schon sehr gut, also bitte nicht mißverstehen. Ich wollte aber ausprobieren, wie viel Verbesserung mit einem - gemessen am Preis des H390 noch bezahlbaren - externen DAC erreichbar ist.Im Vergleich zum Hegel-internen DAC klingt der Gustard weniger "metallisch" und breitet eine breitere Bühne aus. Die einzelnen Instrumente sind besser ortbar und verschwimmen nicht im Klangbild. Trotzdem klingt der Gustard nicht analytisch, sondern organisch. Die Unterschiede sind, ordentliche Komponenten und gutes Quellenmaterial vorausgesetzt, deutlich hörbar. Man muß wirklich zu Hause testen, ob es gefällt.Zu den Filtereinstellungen: ich verwende die Standardeinstellungen. Verbindung mit dem Hegel über XLR-Kabel. Der NOS-Modus klingt mir zu intransparent. Neueste Firmware habe installiert (man braucht dazu Windows und ein Kabel mit USB-C am DAC-Ende).

I purchased this at a reduced price from the Supplier via Amazon . It was described as in good condition but it looked Brand New when I got it out of the box. I am using this as my main DAC in a higher end Headphone System. It replaced a Gustard X26 Pro. One main difference between this and the X26pro is the soundstage spaciousness from the the R26 unit , this is very evident on my headphone system with imaging now outside my head ( and better front to back positioning) when listening rather than inside as with the X26pro. It was a big difference and what I was hoping for from various online reviews. What I wasn't expecting is the significant increase in clarity and noise floor reductions when connecting the Dac via the ethernet to my Desktop PC and streaming music rendered via FooBar 2000 directly to the DAC . It was a big improvement over the computer USB connection to a Gustard U18 and I2s HDMI into the R26 unit . Quite remarkable and a really unexpected improvement in my Headphone listening experience.I can certainly recommend this DAC as a excellent value component especially if you can use it via a good internet connection.

After a lot of deliberating, I decided that I was going to order the R26 DAC to see if everything i'd read and watched online was true. My current DAC retails for £1300 UK, so is no slouch, I thought it would be a close match. I was wrong. Having listened to music prior to the R26 arriving I was familiar with the sound of my current DAC. I swapped DACs, put on some familiar music, and sat back to listen. At this stage, I should mention my system is fairly high-end and very resolving (£8.5k approx. for amp and speakers).Whooaaaaa, whoooaa....... What a difference a DAC can make.Sound stage. Wider, deeper. Much, much deeper. I put on some jazz recorded in a large chamber and I can hear right to the back. I can place every instrument. I'm not saying I didn't have this on my other DAC, but it wasn't as big, it felt more constricted. The twang on a guitar string is more natural, and the artist's voice is more 'there', more real. Everything is just 'better'. It's early days yet but so far I am super impressed with the R26 DAC. Everything I have read and watched is 100% true. It's not often I say this, but believe the hype.

I fed this with the digital out from my Roksan Caspian M2 cd player the difference is astonishing between this DAC and the one built into the Caspian cd player which is considered a high end disc spinner