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Review and Measurements of Gustard DAC-X26

Veri

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Gentle was my term, not theirs. I was testing whatever is the default.
Well actually amir, in a 'happy' coincidence they are calling it by the same term :)...

DXAqbPL.png
 

tired_guru

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You are welcome to ignore such reviews. Personally I much rather have this kind of data than no data.
It is hard to ignore the measurements though. Please don't take it personal - it was not my intention. You did great job as usual. It is just about taking the results with grain of salt, from perspective of common customer who's gonna buy the unit on the market.
 
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tired_guru

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I can believe they may have made say 10 units and picked the best measuring to send for review.
I find it hard to believe they would deliberately make one unit perform better for a review than the units they put up for sale.
It's not about being on paranoid level. But after what I have seen so far in this whole "audio world business" I will never trust anyone just "for word", and I can imagine every crazy scenario, especially when stakes are high, like having great measurements review by amir worldwide, which can boost sales significantly. Pricing is also high here per single unit, so all the effort may be worth it (hopefully it is not and this manufacturer can join great wall of defense against all bull$hit audio manufacturers available on the market).
 

deafenears

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I don't get it. Shenzhen Audio aren't the manufacturers - sure they carry and sell Gustard products, but they also carry a bunch of other brands including Chord and other non-Chinese.

As Amir as brought up, they've also sent him other products which have tested poorly.
 

maxxevv

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It's not about being on paranoid level. But after what I have seen so far in this whole "audio world business" I will never trust anyone just "for word", and I can imagine every crazy scenario, especially when stakes are high, like having great measurements review by amir worldwide, which can boost sales significantly. Pricing is also high here per single unit, so all the effort may be worth it (hopefully it is not and this manufacturer can join great wall of defense against all bull$hit audio manufacturers available on the market).

Your comment sounds exactly like you are though.

As for price, as far as SoTA and ToTlL products go, this isn't even touching 'expensive'.
Not exactly "affordable " to a lot of people no doubt.
 

Oukkidoukki

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It is ? Doesn't even look remotely alike except at the back though. The front panel layout is completely different from the V200. Sure you got the right amp ??

I really don't see how can they be considered clones ? The 10 capacitors in the center are not even in the same sequence.

V200 front
View attachment 23376

H10 front
View attachment 23377

V200 rear
View attachment 23379

H10 rear
View attachment 23380

When you actually look at the internals, they are very, very different actually:

View attachment 23381 View attachment 23382
There where some debate couple of years ago that it was somekind of copy of v200.....I don't know.
 

tired_guru

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Your comment sounds exactly like you are though.

As for price, as far as SoTA and ToTlL products go, this isn't even touching 'expensive'.
Not exactly "affordable " to a lot of people no doubt.
Thanks for your psychoanalysis doctor House, but I used to trust people too much in the past. Took life lessons too many times. Sorry bro, this is how it works. Will never do the same mistake twice.

Paranoid level starts somewhere when you don't even read forums like this and do your own measurements on your own equipment.

And 1299$ is expensive, no matter how much you earn. It's about strong competition here and having a bit of respect for your own money.
 
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bennetng

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That's weird. Looking at the square waves, look like amir tested with the Gentle filter?
if people do measurements and zoom in everything as close as possible then ultimately differences will show up.
The filter response is zoomed into 20-24kHz. A "gentle" filter from ESS is even gentler than that.
index.php

index.php
 

graz_lag

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... My impression with Gustard so far is they produced knock-offs when they produced the clone of Violectric V200 ...

Definition of clone : one that appears to be a copy of an original form (Merriam Webster)

The Gustard H10 was not a clone of the Violectric V200 - as well pointed out by @maxxevv, the latter was instead a very good starting base for Gustard to design an amplifier with an excellent value for money.
Adding more value for money to a well-engineered item - as that was the Violectric V200, should be praised as effort.

So, chapeau to Gustard for the good value for money machines they put into the market at every attempt of theirs.
 
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777

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Gustard is S.M.S.L. in fact.
 

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777

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Hahaha, are you serious?
Except for being located in Shenzhen and in the same industry, SMSL and Gustard have no other relevance.

Look at my picture: Brand name: S.M.S.L. I did not write it and there is not the only Gustard product with that brand name. The same for Gustard U10.
 

graz_lag

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Gustard is S.M.S.L. in fact.

Pls. Pls. stop this spreading of fake news ...

S.M.S.L. ---> Current Trademark Owners ---> Shenzhen ShuangMuSanLin Electronic Co., Ltd., Fuyong Town, Bao'An District, Shenzhen
Gustard ---> Current Trademark Owners ---> Shenzhen Geshide Electronics Co., Ltd., Shajing Town, Bao’an District, Shenzhen

Shenzhen ShuangMuSanLin Electronic Co., Ltd. owns the Loxjie trademark as well.
 
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Andreas007

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Hello Amir,

As I have registered a few minutes ago, this is my first post - for a reason you can imagine.
Don't get me wrong. You are doing a GREAT, GREAT job here! Finally, someone who's beating up the "High-End" industry. :D
Because we can't trust this industry I've changed completely to studio gear (RME and Neumann).

I agree that it is better to have data than no data. And it is fully correct to mention the origin of the device.
But, I also have to agree to other members that this measurement has to be taken - at least - with a grain of salt.
We can't be really sure that this device represents the actual performance of serial production (besides the fact that "one measured unit is no unit measured"). Noone knows for sure how vendor and distributor are connected. And both would profit from increased sales caused by your review.
I also don't like the fact that they asked you to test.

Therefore, the review itself is great. But to include the unit in your charts, comparing it to other devices and giving it an unconditional recommendation? I don't like this idea. So, I would really love to see a second unit which was bought regularly by a random person.

Or maybe you simply have to differentiate between products provided by vendors/distributors and those by members/random buyers in the future.
 
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Veri

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I also don't like the fact that they asked you to test.

Therefore, the review itself is great. But to include the unit in your charts, comparing it to other devices and giving it an unconditional recommendation? I don't like this idea. So, I would really love to see a second unit which was bought regularly by a random person.

Or maybe you simply have to differentiate between products provided by vendors/distributors and those by members/random buyers in the future.

But well, they = shenzhen audio. They are 'just' a reseller :)
 
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Veri

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Its perhaps my Spidey senses ringing but why does it seem that every time @amirm picks a winner out of left field , all sorts weird conspiracies/ theories / doubt casting / nitpicking gets churned up ??
Except if the product only costs $99 ;) then we make cases for it

Well tbh I'm all for healthy scepticism as long as it's not full-fledged paranoia.
 
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