Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review

[bikeguy]

Thanks for the firmware date info. In my case, I've been playing DSD for sometime now. No issues at all, my firmware date is 20201210. I'm not using the X16 volume control, output is set to 00.

Edit:
Played around with the volume control on the X16, -10 or -05 into my integrated amp. DSD on my X16 still plays fine without any issue, so I set it back to 00 as before. It's a very good dac, thank you Gustard.

 

[caocaolatre199x]

Long press the middle right button (as shown in the figure) to turn on the power, this operation is to restore the default settings. The version number will appear after a few seconds. 20210618 is the latest version.

Thank you. My seems to be a pretty old version, 20201210-270

As for why we don't use USB to update the design of our products, this is very complicated and there are many reasons. Thanks for your advice.

I think the SINAD race should end here. The problem now needs to improve as user experience (power off buttons, power off using remote control, firmware Update, DSP, user Interface), design, durability, etc.

Not all batches have this problem. You can try to play DSD music. If the music fades out and there is no noise, there is no need to upgrade the firmware.

I have played dsd64 and dsd256 files and can't hear any strange noise, whether I use digital volume control on DAC or not. Lucky.
Thank you!

 

[bikeguy]

Thank you. My seems to be a pretty old version, 20201210-270

I think the SINAD race should end here. The problem now needs to improve as user experience (power off buttons, power off using remote control, firmware Update, DSP, user Interface), design, durability, etc.

I have played dsd64 and dsd256 files and can't hear any strange noise, whether I use digital volume control on DAC or not. Lucky.

I have the same firmware version, no DSD issues either as stated in my previous post.

 

[caocaolatre199x]

I have the same firmware version, no DSD issues either as stated in my previous post.

The manufacturer has said that not all batches have the issue. We have the same firmwrae ver, but different colors.

 

[Reynaldo]

I have the same firmware version, no DSD issues either as stated in my previous post.

The one on my device is the same 20201210-270, but it also has no problem.
They would need to make an easier way to update.

 

[Cirodx]

I am new to the forum, my x16 has problems with small sound pauses when playing music, I use a coaxial cable, solutions?
as source I use a dx220. ibasso

 

[bikeguy]

I am new to the forum, my x16 has problems with small sound pauses when playing music, I use a coaxial cable, solutions?
as source I use a dx220. ibasso

I have noticed this as well using coax or optical. Using USB it is very rare, but still occurs. I believe there may be a problem, you are not the first to mention this.

Edit.
I'm using HQPlayer to upsample everything to 192hz on the coax or optical connections. I just noticed that HQPlayer was upsampling to 32/192hz. I have forced HQPlayer to do 24/192hz instead, I'll see how the Gustard reacts to that as its docs say that it can do 24/192 on coax or optical and I was previously feeding it more than the specs allow. Will test for a bit.

Edit:
After ensuring the coax or optical input get no more than their max spec of 24/192, I have not had any further dropouts.

 

[Cirodx]

I think it is not something to be underestimated because it is very irritating.

 

[Veri]

Edit.
I'm using HQPlayer to upsamle everything to 192hz on the coax or optical connections. I just noticed that HQPlayer was upsampling to 32/192hz. I have forced HQPlayer to do 24/192hz instead, I'll see how the Gustard reacts to that as its docs say that it can do 24/192 on coax or optical and I was previously feeding it more than the specs allow. Will test for a bit.

I would expect it to not make a difference since it should then only read the 24-bit words and throw out anything else. But yes the 24-bit setting does make more sense.

 

[caocaolatre199x]

I'm using HQPlayer to upsamle everything to 192hz on the coax or optical connections. I just noticed that HQPlayer was upsampling to 32/192hz. I have forced HQPlayer to do 24/192hz instead, I'll see how the Gustard reacts to that as its docs say that it can do 24/192 on coax or optical and I was previously feeding it more than the specs allow. Will test for a bit.

Upsample to 192Khz and turn on NOS Mode, listen to the difference of sound.

 

[bikeguy]

I would expect it to not make a difference since it should then only read the 24-bit words and throw out anything else. But yes the 24-bit setting does make more sense.

Yes, worth a try. I normally use USB but am trying a different transport so I noticed issues of dropouts right away on optical. When switched to coax, dropouts were less, but still there. So far with HQPlayer set at 24/192, no dropouts on optical after 6 songs. Previously, short drops or hiccups would crop up quickly when doing 32/192 on optical which is technically over spec.

 

[bikeguy]

Upsample to 192Khz and turn on NOS Mode, listen to the difference of sound.

I am, NOS mode is active.

 

[bikeguy]

I think it is not something to be underestimated because it is very irritating.

What are you using as a transport, what bit rate are you sending to the dac via coax.

 

[Cirodx]

I am using an ibasso dx220 and I mainly use flac

 

[bikeguy]

I am using an ibasso dx220 and I mainly use flac

But, what is your ibasso outputting via coax to the Gustard. Can you see what the bit rate is? Like 24/96 or do you see 32/96 etc. Is it upsampling in any way?

 

[Cirodx]

I see 44-16 a simple flac and it is not oversampled, unfortunately it is not just my problem as I am reading, if I want to use usb from my ibasso dx220 I cannot do it because there are pops in the music.

 

[bikeguy]

I see 44-16 a simple flac and it is not oversampled, unfortunately it is not just my problem as I am reading, if I want to use usb from my ibasso dx220 I cannot do it because there are pops in the music.

I notice that the ibasso in audio settings has a digital filter (with 7 options) and gain (3 options) and also an equalizer. That tells me it is possibly doing something to the flac files before output via coax. This is something you need to check into, can those be disabled? Or adjusted to make things better?

 

[Cirodx]

The filters and the low gain are not influential if I use the coaxial output, before com topping and 30 I had no problem.

 

[archerious]

Hi to all the friends in the forum!

I received my X16 three day ago.
It's great, but I noticed a strange quirk.
Using the ASIO driver in Windows 10 with Audirvana, HD is reproduced in a perfect way and the same is true with DXD content.
When a DSD track (dsf file or from an ISO image) is played, in the silent pauses of music a mild popcorn-like crackling is hearable. The noise is always present, except when one forces a DSD to PCM conversion in the player, which allows noiseless reproduction. I have made extensive tests with three different Windows 10 computers, and five other DACs, (Topping, Bricasti, Ifi) and none of the others shows the problem on each of the computers. Audirvana, jRiver and Foobar2k players were used, with identical results.
One further thing is that the only drivers that I'm able to use without problems are the 4.86, not the 5.0.0 version. (This is true for corresponding versions of Topping, Ifi and AeVee personalisations of the underlying Thesycons). I suspect that some investigation by Gustard and a possible update of the v0.0.1 firmware in the X16 could help. For the rest, great sounding DAC.

Same issue, waiting to hear from Aoshida, would like them to either fix it or let me swap this DAC out for a SU-9 or something similar.

 

[k525]

Fix this issue

The filters and the low gain are not influential if I use the coaxial output, before com topping and 30 I had no problem.

Hi, fix this issue is not so hard, in this thread there are a lot of istructions

Regards