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Gustard A18 Balanced Desktop DAC Review

Koeitje

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It seems like subwoofer considerations would be better handled a number of other ways post-DAC to allow for flexibility. An analog preamp, or by using subs that provide thru routing and incorporate their own analog or digital crossovers, or by using an audio interface and its matrix bussing features to send controllable and mixable outputs to one or more sub inputs.
Pretty much every analog pre-amp will be worse than a digital version. What you want is a DAC that is also a pre-amp and does the cross-over fully in the digital domain. Its not an easy or cheap thing to do considering there are very few products on the market that are aimed at stereo setups with subwoofers.

If you want to do room correction you would also want to do that in the digital domain, and you could do that in front of the DAC. To correct multiple subwoofers you can also do it after the analog stage, because at those frequencies the extra distortion added by the dsp wont matter.
 

Kervel

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Respectfully disagree here. Remember this is a desktop unit and full range speakers is simply not possible. A small sub below the desk however is easily added.

Rubbish. Not remotely important for most serious audiophiles, who either:

a) have a decent pair of full range mains and not a tiny, pokey little pair of two ways with no bottom end in the first place or
b) really don't care about shaking the walls and pretending that makes high fidelity reproduction. (hint: it doesn't)

The most important part of the spectrum to humans is the midrange. Get a pair of decent three or four ways. Forget the subterrranean BS and the crystalline HF and focus on what humans actually hear.

Subwoofers of today are merely over driven actual woofers of yesterday.
 

restorer-john

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Remember this is a desktop unit and full range speakers is simply not possible. A small sub below the desk however is easily added.

Good point, and one I should have considered, especially as the title of the review is "desktop-dac".

@Koeitje, my apologies.
 

Dmitri

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That was the terrible theme of dipping everything in oil. We are talking dessert here and it has never fallen out of style.
Hah! We used to do that when I was a kid. Mom would preheat the oil on the stove, then we’d have the fondue pot with the alcohol burner in the middle of the table. Different dipping sauces and chunks of beef on our individually color coded fondue forks.
Ralph Nadir was never invited... ; )
 

restorer-john

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Hah! We used to do that when I was a kid. Mom would preheat the oil on the stove, then we’d have the fondue pot with the alcohol burner in the middle of the table. Different dipping sauces and chunks of beef on our individually color coded fondue forks.
Ralph Nadir was never invited... ; )

I must have missed that oil thing. I remember parties my parents would go to in the early/mid seventies had sweet fondue things on offer. My parents being medical professionals wouldn't touch anything communal, partially warm, and of unkown origin, when it came to food.

I've been the same my whole life. Won't touch anything other people touch and poke at. Anything on a lazy susan (gastro wheel). Yuck.
 

Jimster480

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Good performance but it is put in a tough place considering the other options on the market.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

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I've been the same my whole life. Won't touch anything other people touch and poke at. Anything on a lazy susan (gastro wheel). Yuck.
As you saw in my picture, we portion it out for everyone. As you, I don't like the idea of sharing a pot with many people.
 

Fleuch

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Both the Gustard A18 and X16 DACs are very close to "best in class" in Amir's test figures, which covers the AKM v ESS shoot out - see other threads. [ https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...stard-a18-balanced-desktop-dac-review.17088/; https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/gustard-a18.13254/; etc]

Both offerings provide "value for money".

Preferring to avoid the ESS IMD hump and, based on reviews, my subjective preference is for AKM devices, the A18 seemed to be a reasonable choice.

At the same time I was also looking for a network bridge (or transport), rather than a streamer or network player, and tried to find the Gustard S16 - also mentioned in other threads.

Neither the A18 nor the S16 are currently listed as being on the shelf at Shenzen Audio. Amazon states both products are "unavailable".

The A18 has been on the market since the middle of the year, Amir tested the A18 at the end of October; no problem there.

Just curious, but should anyone have confidence in Gustard kit if the production run is so small it lasts only a couple of months on the shelf?

In contrast, Topping devices stay around for a while longer.
 

Fleuch

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Further to my last post.

One report, dated 1st November 2020, at https://www.stereonet.co.uk/news/stock-disruptions-expected-as-akm-factory-in-japan-burns reads "News has emerged from Japanese media outlets over the last 48 hours of a significant fire at the Asahi Kasei Microsystem (AKM) factory in Nobeoka City, Japan.

Global supplies of the following DAC chips have been confirmed as affected: AK4332, AK4331, AK4432, AK4382, AK4385, AK4373, AK4396, AK4431, AK4456, AK4490, AK4493, AK4495 series - as well as the following being reported as 'potentially affected': AK5384, AK5385, AK5386, AK5397, AK5534 series."

This may explain why the Gustard A18 disappeared from the shelves, but is there an underlying issue at Gustard with limited availability of products?

So many good reports on the A18 and X16, it is a loss to both Gusttard and potential customers if production runs are limited.
 

Nemo

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I have the latest version of the A18. Even if I have no interest in MQA, and believe it is just a means to extract money from music lovers without any musical value, I downloaded a few files to test whether they would be detected, but the answer for me is no:

Any other owners had tested it?
 

wein07

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Anyone knows if u are able to control output to either RCA or XLR separately? Or is the output transmitted to both RCA and XLR @ the same time?
 
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