GUSTARD DAC-X20 XMOS HiFi DAC 384KHz DSD DOP Decoder with USB

The DAC Gustard X20 excels in its sound quality, probably it is the best DAC that I have heard. I'll try to update this review later with a more detailed one.The good:For now I just want to say that this product has been well beyond my expectations, just be aware that you might need to play it for about ~100 hours before getting the real sound out of it. Now, this is by far the best DAC that I have auditioned at home, my minimalistic and modest equipment is composed of: Naim Nait 5i, pair of Vienna Acoustics Bach Grand and FLACs from all generes (but I mainly listen classical music) played through USB or optical from my MAC or Chromecast Audio (yes, it natively plays FLACs). Other DACs that I have tried using the exact-same setup are:1. The legendary Teclast T51 (not exactly a DAC but a great portable FLAC player with a good integrated DAC),2. Peachtree Audio - DAC-iT,3. Cambridge Audio Dacmagic100,4. SMSL Audio Sanskrit pro-B,5. Sony UDA-1,6. Arcam irDac,7. Anedio D2For me, hands down the Gustard X20 is the best of the pool due to its natural and more defined sound, better space, less aggressive and overall what I might call "accurate but beautiful sound" (sorry if I am not into the usual jargon of the HiFi, I think that most people who writes like that actually has no-idea of what they hear, for me this is just about listening to HiFi equipment and expressing what I like the best, so this is just my subjective impression). Now, I can't directly-talk/compare about other DACs or good CD-players that I have listened over the years in different system-configurations (because it would be extremely unfair), but I might adventure that my impression based on memories is that this DAC is as good as the best (think of NAD, Denon, Rega, Linn, Rotel, Macintosh, Naim, Meridian, Parasound, etc...), but again, my current setup is not in par to some others that I enjoyed more or less in the past, so take that with a grain of salt.Also: Building quality is great; Not noticeable glitches when using the USB connection (can't hear any jittering, never stalls, tested that works out of the box with OSX and Linux); The USB connection from my MAC sounds better than optical. There is not a single minimal-buzz/hiss in the line when there is no signal, just dead silence; and the remote control works great.The Ugly:1. The color display in the front is just OK but it is clear that the developers didn't use too much imagination on how to make better use of it.2. The control knobs implementation are kinda of silly. For example: The left knob is just an on/off switch, nothing else. While the right one triples as volume-control, menu navigation and selection button (yes, indeed you can actually press it to "select/enter").3. The device will-not remember the last volume adjustment (dB attenuation actually) after you disconnect it from the power (or a power shortage), so if you are thinking about bypassing the pre-amplifier and hook it directly into your power-amp in hope of using the digital volume of the DAC chip... Well if you are not careful you might end blowing-up your speakers at the first chord, since the device will always start in the highest possible volume (attenuation of 0db). I guess that a firmware update (if possible at all) might fix this by starting by default in the maximum attenuation (minimum volume, -99 dB), so I am hopping here that Gustard engineers are reading this and can provide a solution that keep safe our beloved equipments.4. It lacks a manual, I found one in Chinese in this forum: http://www.hiendy.com/hififorum/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=87407, this is the direct link: http://www.hiendy.com/hififorum/forum.php?mod=attachment&aid=NjI3MzM0fGQ2YWMyYzNjfDE0NTIyNTU4OTh8MHw4NzQwNw%3D%3D. But it would be very nice if the seller provides an official manual in english. But it is intuitive enough that you can use it without it, tough features as the filtering method can left you wondering if you are doing the right thing.Summary:At the end of the day this is a DAC, so it is the sound quality what counts for me. Therefore I pass the minor faults because they have no-effect on the capacity of the X20 to reproduce beautiful sound and conclude that this is an exceptional decoder. Thanks and great work Gustard! This DAC sounds great, and I can envision that it will be tough to find a better DAC in a reasonable price range (or maybe in any price-range).

After being thoroughly pleased with the Gustard x12 DAC, I could not resist trying their flagship DAC, though I wondered how it could sound much better. It did and is worth the money if you are a music lover.I have familiarity with the Ayre QB-9, Audio-Gd NFB-7, NuForce Dac100, the Neko D100, and the Gustard x12. Once fully broken in after playing for 10 days, I would say the x20 beats all of the others by an obvious margin. I consider especially the Neko a fine natural sounding DAC, so this is high praise. The X20 has wonderful reproduction of the lower mid-range and bass, vivid palpability and realistic 3-D quality when the hall space is captured in the recording. A hi fi cliche, but yes, I heard beautiful details in a familiar recording that I never noticed before. If the recording has depth it will be revealed as if you were in the hall. It sounds like the x12, with more of the same characteristics. I am listening to a nice recording of Dvorak's Dumky Piano Trio. The overtones of the strings can be heard in a way that just gorgeously reveals the artistry of the performance. On the lower notes of the piano you can feel the resonance and decay of the piano's sound board vibration. On the louder and lower cello notes you can feel the body cavity resonance of the instrument. I have a Gustard U12 usb to SPDIF converter and got my best results with IS2 via a standard HDMI cable.

Fantastic product and value. Does a great job decoding streaming data, cds, and hi res files, including ones with a 384k sample rate. I was especially like how it made my old cds sound.Was prepared for delivery to take awhile, but pleasantly surprised when it was delivered within a week of my order.

Finally, digital competition to my vinyl rig.