Gustard X26Pro Review (Balanced High-end DAC)

[RHO]

I’m not sure you’re correct that MQA DACs cost more (no offense intended). Do you have data to support this?

I'll have to go back and check, but I was looking for a DAC around the time the MQA versions were coming out and by coincidence (Topping D90 vs Topping D90se comes to mind) they were all a little more expensive than previous/similar models. Later a company (SMSL?) made a non-MQA version of an existing product that is also cheaper.

 

[srkbear]

I

I'll have to go back and check, but I was looking for a DAC around the time the MQA versions were coming out and by coincidence (Topping D90 vs Topping D90se comes to mind) they were all a little more expensive than previous/similar models. Later a company (SMSL?) made a non-MQA version of an existing product that is also cheaper.

From what I’ve researched that little extra XMOS chip is a negligible addition to the cost of the build, and I suspect that quite a few DAC manufacturers are eating the meager cost given the substantial increases in units they can move by opening up their market shares to Tidal enthusiasts. Just my hunch—maybe one of the industry folks can weigh in on this?

 

[RHO]

I

From what I’ve researched that little extra XMOS chip is a negligible addition to the cost of the build, and I suspect that quite a few DAC manufacturers are eating the meager cost given the substantial increases in units they can move by opening up their market shares to Tidal enthusiasts. Just my hunch—maybe one of the industry folks can weigh in on this?

Yes, so the sometimes substantial price increase (after implementing MQA decoding) could well be licence fees instead of component costs.

 

[srkbear]

Yes, so the sometimes substantial price increase (after implementing MQA decoding) could well be licence fees instead of component costs.

Again I’m not sure it’s true that prices go up with MQA implementations and EVERY streaming service pays for licensing fees for masters. Whether DAC manufactures have to pay licensing fees to include MQA capability remains unconfirmed—to me personally it would make no sense for MQA to do this as they’re dependent on DACs to utilize their product. They charge licensing fees to Tidal I’m sure, but to Gustard or Topping, I’d like proof.

 

[srkbear]

So I did some research and it is true apparently that commercial manufacturers of MQA-capable products do pay licensing fees per unit sold. The degree to which that cost is passed along to consumers remains unclear, but I stand corrected.

For me personally, I have subscription services to Qobuz, Tidal, Apple, Amazon, and HifiAudio and I am constantly comparing the quality of masters among these to decide which to add to my playlists. Because Tidal Masters have provenance and standards for the source material they use in their mastering process I’ve found many instances where their masters sound superior to other streaming services, and to my ears that influences the ultimate sound quality more than any other factor, so I’m not distressed if I’m paying a little extra for an MQA-capable DAC (I certainly don’t begrudge Gustard for their efforts with the x26 pro!)

So I say to each their own and I respect the views of those who bristle at paying extra for this feature—however I think we all pay for features in our DACs we don’t use (such as RCA, iiS and S/PDIF outputs in my case) and I think the MQA controversy may have become a bit stridently politicized.

 

[srkbear]

So I finally got the Gustard x26 Pro in after three weeks of waiting to A-B with my existing Topping D90se, and the clock is ticking on returning on or the other.

I’ve been perfectly happy with the Topping, which lines up perfectly with my iFi Pro iCAN Signature and fits nicely on my nightstand. But I got FOMO about the Gustard. Such is how my brain works (or doesn’t).

So the weird thing is that compared to the Topping, on first listenings the Gustard sounds seriously bright in the highs, like listening-fatigue, sizzling bright. And despite all reviews to the contrary, the Topping seems to slam and bloom in the bass in a way that is considerably more prominent than the Gustard. I’ve tried goofing around with the NOS on or off, Vivid vs gentle, same thing. I will note that despite both units claiming a 5V XLR output, I have to push up the volume knob on the Gustard to achieve equal baseline volumes with the Topping.

Advice? Other perspectives? A burn in thing? Help…

 

[28B audio]

I have had my x26 pro for a couple weeks now but while it sounds great i have an issue with audio randomly cutting out/ skipping for like half a second which is getting really annoying so i think my unit might be defective. I have it connected to my pc through usb included but my previous dac a schiit modius doesn't have this problem at all

Hi Shakarone, have you fixed the cutting out/skipping? As I am having the same problem sporadically. I am already running the beta firmware...

 

[Giangi71]

So I finally got the Gustard x26 Pro in after three weeks of waiting to A-B with my existing Topping D90se, and the clock is ticking on returning on or the other.

I’ve been perfectly happy with the Topping, which lines up perfectly with my iFi Pro iCAN Signature and fits nicely on my nightstand. But I got FOMO about the Gustard. Such is how my brain works (or doesn’t).

So the weird thing is that compared to the Topping, on first listenings the Gustard sounds seriously bright in the highs, like listening-fatigue, sizzling bright. And despite all reviews to the contrary, the Topping seems to slam and bloom in the bass in a way that is considerably more prominent than the Gustard. I’ve tried goofing around with the NOS on or off, Vivid vs gentle, same thing. I will note that despite both units claiming a 5V XLR output, I have to push up the volume knob on the Gustard to achieve equal baseline volumes with the Topping.

Advice? Other perspectives? A burn in thing? Help…

With X26 Pro connected xlr to a Gs-x mini and a Meze Liric headphone I've got plenty of bass and sub bass. With Tannoy Gold 7 speakers and a BK xls200 subwoofer too

 

[Veri]

So I finally got the Gustard x26 Pro in after three weeks of waiting to A-B with my existing Topping D90se, and the clock is ticking on returning on or the other.

I’ve been perfectly happy with the Topping, which lines up perfectly with my iFi Pro iCAN Signature and fits nicely on my nightstand. But I got FOMO about the Gustard. Such is how my brain works (or doesn’t).

So the weird thing is that compared to the Topping, on first listenings the Gustard sounds seriously bright in the highs, like listening-fatigue, sizzling bright. And despite all reviews to the contrary, the Topping seems to slam and bloom in the bass in a way that is considerably more prominent than the Gustard. I’ve tried goofing around with the NOS on or off, Vivid vs gentle, same thing. I will note that despite both units claiming a 5V XLR output, I have to push up the volume knob on the Gustard to achieve equal baseline volumes with the Topping.

Advice? Other perspectives? A burn in thing? Help…

Would just keep the D90se.

 

[Billy Budapest]

So I finally got the Gustard x26 Pro in after three weeks of waiting to A-B with my existing Topping D90se, and the clock is ticking on returning on or the other.

I’ve been perfectly happy with the Topping, which lines up perfectly with my iFi Pro iCAN Signature and fits nicely on my nightstand. But I got FOMO about the Gustard. Such is how my brain works (or doesn’t).

So the weird thing is that compared to the Topping, on first listenings the Gustard sounds seriously bright in the highs, like listening-fatigue, sizzling bright. And despite all reviews to the contrary, the Topping seems to slam and bloom in the bass in a way that is considerably more prominent than the Gustard. I’ve tried goofing around with the NOS on or off, Vivid vs gentle, same thing. I will note that despite both units claiming a 5V XLR output, I have to push up the volume knob on the Gustard to achieve equal baseline volumes with the Topping.

Advice? Other perspectives? A burn in thing? Help…

Frankly, any sound quality differences you are hearing are due to the placebo effect. The measured differences between both units are extremely small and inconsequential to sound quality. For “pride of ownership,” the Gustard certainly is a well-built tank of a DAC and Gustard’s designers have done an admirable job of reinventing the wheel. On the other hand, if you want the absolute state of the art performance in a unit that is not as physically imposing like the Gustard, go for the Topping. Either way, you can‘t go wrong.

 

[srkbear]

Frankly, any sound quality differences you are hearing are due to the placebo effect. The measured differences between both units are extremely small and inconsequential to sound quality. For “pride of ownership,” the Gustard certainly is a well-built tank of a DAC and Gustard’s designers have done an admirable job of reinventing the wheel. On the other hand, if you want the absolute state of the art performance in a unit that is not as physically imposing like the Gustard, go for the Topping. Either way, you can‘t go wrong.

Thanks for the helpful info! I’ve been A-B’ing the two units with the same connections to my amp and the same headphones, and although I’m certainly susceptible to the placebo affect I can say that the Gustard’s output is a tad lower that the Topping (I have to increase the amp volume from about 9 o’clock on the Topping to 11 o’clock on the Gustard to achieve equal volume levels). So I’m wondering if the higher gain on my amp with the Gustard is causing the increased shrillness, which is pretty noticeable to me.

I bought the Gustard because I was under the impression that it was more “state of the art” than the Topping with it’s dual ES9038pros and the double toroidal transformers. Would you classify the Topping as the “superior” unit between the two, if such a question means anything? And do you give any credence to “burn in”?

 

[Pdxwayne]

Thanks for the helpful info! I’ve been A-B’ing the two units with the same connections to my amp and the same headphones, and although I’m certainly susceptible to the placebo affect I can say that the Gustard’s output is a tad lower that the Topping (I have to increase the amp volume from about 9 o’clock on the Topping to 11 o’clock on the Gustard to achieve equal volume levels). So I’m wondering if the higher gain on my amp with the Gustard is causing the increased shrillness, which is pretty noticeable to me.

I bought the Gustard because I was under the impression that it was more “state of the art” than the Topping with it’s dual ES9038pros and the double toroidal transformers. Would you classify the Topping as the “superior” unit between the two, if such a question means anything? And do you give any credence to “burn in”?

Are you using similar filter when doing the comparison?

 

[Trell]

Thanks for the helpful info! I’ve been A-B’ing the two units with the same connections to my amp and the same headphones, and although I’m certainly susceptible to the placebo affect I can say that the Gustard’s output is a tad lower that the Topping (I have to increase the amp volume from about 9 o’clock on the Topping to 11 o’clock on the Gustard to achieve equal volume levels). So I’m wondering if the higher gain on my amp with the Gustard is causing the increased shrillness, which is pretty noticeable to me.

I bought the Gustard because I was under the impression that it was more “state of the art” than the Topping with it’s dual ES9038pros and the double toroidal transformers. Would you classify the Topping as the “superior” unit between the two, if such a question means anything? And do you give any credence to “burn in”?

The Gustard X26Pro has a specfied power consumption as "< 60W" with no ventilation holes so "burn in" would be of real concern to me if I owned the unit. I'm still perplexed as to why maxmum power usage is so very high or if that is just a typo in the manual I linked to recently in this thread. Perhaps someone with a electricity usage monitor could verify this.

 

[Highfive99]

So I finally got the Gustard x26 Pro in after three weeks of waiting to A-B with my existing Topping D90se, and the clock is ticking on returning on or the other.

I’ve been perfectly happy with the Topping, which lines up perfectly with my iFi Pro iCAN Signature and fits nicely on my nightstand. But I got FOMO about the Gustard. Such is how my brain works (or doesn’t).

So the weird thing is that compared to the Topping, on first listenings the Gustard sounds seriously bright in the highs, like listening-fatigue, sizzling bright. And despite all reviews to the contrary, the Topping seems to slam and bloom in the bass in a way that is considerably more prominent than the Gustard. I’ve tried goofing around with the NOS on or off, Vivid vs gentle, same thing. I will note that despite both units claiming a 5V XLR output, I have to push up the volume knob on the Gustard to achieve equal baseline volumes with the Topping.

Advice? Other perspectives? A burn in thing? Help…

Yes. IMHO it's a burn in thing. Mine sounded so much better after about 120hrs straight burn in. I was not too impressed with it out of box. After burn in I really love this DAC.

 

[Trell]

Yes. IMHO it's a burn in thing. Mine sounded so much better after about 120hrs straight burn in. I was not too impressed with it out of box. After burn in I really love this DAC.

Uh huh

 

[srkbear]

Are you using similar filter when doing the comparison?

It’s a bit difficult because Gustard monkey wrenched with the Sabre filters and came up with their own. I’ve been using Vivid and gentle but both seem a bit glassy and hot compared to the Topping. I’m beginning to think it has to do with the voltage output—the Topping is definitely putting out a bit more gain compared to the Gustard. All else being equal I have to kick up the volume on my amp from about 9 o’clock to 11 to achieve the same level of gain when I switch from Topping to Gustard.

 

[Pdxwayne]

It’s a bit difficult because Gustard monkey wrenched with the Sabre filters and came up with their own. I’ve been using Vivid and gentle but both seem a bit glassy and hot compared to the Topping. I’m beginning to think it has to do with the voltage output—the Topping is definitely putting out a bit more gain compared to the Gustard. All else being equal I have to kick up the volume on my amp from about 9 o’clock to 11 to achieve the same level of gain when I switch from Topping to Gustard.

Indeed, based on Amir’s measurements, Topping is the louder one (~4.2v vs ~4.05v) when being fed same signal. So you do need to increase the volume of your amp to compensate for gustard lower voltage when doing comparison with Topping.

Regarding filter, I see that gustard filters are pretty much flat up to 19khz.

Maybe set Topping's filter to #3 and compare again?

 

[Giangi71]

So, I use the X26 Pro with a Gs-x mini amp. Yesterday I tried to max volume the gsx and control the volume from Gustard. It's better, more clean sound, more details, more bass and sub, etc...is it normal?

 

[srkbear]

Indeed, based on Amir’s measurements, Topping is the louder one (~4.2v vs ~4.05v) when being fed same signal. So you do need to increase the volume of your amp to compensate for gustard lower voltage when doing comparison with Topping.

Regarding filter, I see that gustard filters are pretty much flat up to 19khz.

Maybe set Topping's filter to #3 and compare again?

That’s really helpful—thanks for catching that.

Honestly I think I got myself stuck in a decidedly stupid quandary, as I now have one nice little tidy DAC that fits handily on my nightstand, that I already decided I liked and which has the top SINAD spot at the moment on this site, sitting on top of an M4 Sherman Tank that has dual ES9038pros and twin toroidal transformers, an entirely novel design, a CPU in place of an XMOS chip to process inputs and an entire lack of op-amps that has won innumerable innovation and sound awards—and I can’t decide which one of them I should keep.

I wish I could say this stuff never happens to me but I’m afraid it’s an inherited character mutation that I can’t seem to avoid despite about $300,000 worth of therapy. S**t.

 

[srkbear]

So, I use the X26 Pro with a Gs-x mini amp. Yesterday I tried to max volume the gsx and control the volume from Gustard. It's better, more clean sound, more details, more bass and sub, etc...is it normal?

I’m still wondering why Gustard didn’t include a line-out option in their menu settings and I’m consequently obsessing over which combination of volume settings between the DAC and my amp has the optimal S/N ratio. Why do manufacturers do this crap to me?