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

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.

This DAC is superb! I've owned many DACs but this one is the best so far. I'm using it as a preamp which functions amazingly well. The sound is detailed, clear, with no brightness that I can detect - even with lousy recordings. Bass and midrange are full and pleasing to hear. No fatigue after a long listening session.I'm pairing the DAC with Magnepan LRS+ speakers which would reveal any annoying brightness. My power amplifier is an Emotiva XPA Gen 3 (500 watts/channel into 4 ohms). Magnepan speakers require lots of power to sound good and the Gustard/Emotiva combo really delivers excellent sound. My music sources are files from an Apple MacBook Air (via USB), and from a Sony CD player (via coax). Haven't tried the Bluetooth input.There is no manual but one can be downloaded. The Chinese/English translation is a little confusing but actually the DAC is intuitively easy to use.Now, about the cheap plastic remote control. It was dead right out of the box. Couldn't get it to work at all. The Gustard R26 is a well-engineered piece of equipment, but I'm amazed that they would pair this $1600 DAC with a plastic toy that came straight out of a box of Cracker Jacks (yes, I'm that old).I was hesitant to give the R26 a 5-star rating because of the remote, but it's such a fine piece of equipment it should actually receive 6 or 7 stars.UPDATE (July 11): I finally got the remote to work, so my temper has cooled and I take back the negative comments I made about it. Not sure how or why it started to function but I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope that it's okay.A word about the three filters: SLOW, MID, and FAST. Like most DACS, the filter effect is very subtle. It seems that FAST might be best for hi-res files such as 88.2 kHz or 96kHz. MID/SLOW is probably best for CDs. But, like I said, the effects are very subtle. My ears are 77 years old so that probably has something to do with it.This DAC keeps getting better and better. The combination of Gustard R26, Emotiva power amp, and Maggie speakers is A+++.

This is an amazing value for a DAC. DAC is connected to a Lyngdorf with ATC speakers. The filters are a very nice an addition. Filters are a subtle way to tune music to your liking. I am connected VIA LAN. Using an Uptone Etherengen to the R26. Both the Etheregen and R26 are fed by a Mutec clock.I set up the DAC via the little dial and push button on the unit. Once I tried the remote....DOA. Tried new Duracell batteries. No Luck. I do not want to judge the unit based on the quality of the remote. I was not expecting a heavy metal remote from one of the other brands. Just shocked that is was DOA.I will try to reach out to the seller. Expect a a good long burn it time, and there are few sound quality changes along the way. Overall a very good value for money, IMHO.

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.