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Another Great GUSTARD X16 DAC review

RoyB

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Seems all of us that bought a Gustard X16 DAC made a pretty good decision. I'm totally blown over by the improvement it made in my system I was using a Node2i with its inboard DAC or a Schiit Modi3+.....I thought it sounded great. But my curiosity got the best of me and I ordered a X16 through AMAZON so I could exercise the return policy if I didn't like it.

This review in this months "Copper Magazine" confirms exactly what I have experienced (Except the delivery issue...Ordered from AMAZON on a Saturday and it was in my hands on following Thursday......BTW, The Amazon site said I wouldn't see it for a month or more due to limited availability)


BTW, If you don't subscribe to this free magazine from, you should. Amazing articles about HiFi, Music, Industry, History and more......Can't beat the price!
 

Jimbob54

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I'm so relieved he burned it in for two days using small-combo Jazz before his critical listening - I used Rage Against the Machine to burn in a young DAC once and now it won't do what I tell it.

I felt the guy's pain when I read this:

"I don’t mean to whine, but I’ve been essentially dead in the water that entire time, and any DACs I had on hand were only 24/96 PCM capable"

Imagine the terrible thought of having ONLY 28000 hz of content you cant hear
 

TunaBug

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I have to say that I have a soft spot for Tom Gibbs because it was his article about SACD ripping that I used to figure that out: https://www.psaudio.com/copper/article/down-the-rabbit-hole-of-sacd-ripping-and-dsd-extraction/. I hadn't even heard of "Copper" before Google pointed me to that article.

There have been a few things in Copper magazine that I liked, such as their series about tape recorders. But who doesn't appreciate vintage hardware porn and stories to go with it?

But for reviews...only occasionally for entertainment value. I must say though that regularly shilling for PS Audio doesn't bother me there. I think it's because it's clearly PS Audio's web site and "magazine". It still makes for untrustable reviews, but I appreciate that it's open and obvious, as opposed to most sites that want to pretend they aren't sucking up to advertisers.
 

MaxBuck

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Interesting that PSAudio provides such a stellar review to what amounts to a competing product.

I'm not quite sure I understand what these people are trying to accomplish.
 

sq225917

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They're trying to create an audience for their high bit rate capable dacs without investing in software to enable ripping sacd themselves.

It's called a dog n pony show in marketing.
 

mocenigo

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They're trying to create an audience for their high bit rate capable dacs without investing in software to enable ripping sacd themselves.

It's called a dog n pony show in marketing.

Well, not that it would be very useful to rip SACD. Because of the extremely high quantisation noise, there is nothing useful above 30Khz and in fact at that frequency any "detail" would be swamped by noise. You have to use a brick wall at around 27khz to get something clean. I just convert DSD64 to 48khz (and it sounds better than if I convert it to 88.2khz, an experience that was shared also by a sound engineer).
 

renaudrenaud

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Blah blah blah... I do not know copper magazine but the article under the link is pure subjective old school bs, the old standard model ASR is debunking every day.

Even the simple "Paul McGowan" words are a kind of a joke here.

This link is a surprise, because this is Audio SCIENCE Review.

I have plenty of DACs and also the X16. I use this one because there is a lot of inputs, especially the AES one I love to use with an old player. And also because the USB input is still live even when another input is selected: I need this feature with the Raspberry Pi connected to the USB input.

But be sure nobody can't tell the difference with this unit and for example a D10 balanced in term of sound reproduction in a blind test. This is science. Not PSAudio bs.
 

sthaus

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SOLD my Gustard X16, a divorce relationship, pretty regret but need to move on !! .. my casual girlfriend Topping E50 (well clinical measurement) <-- but I'd like X16 more, even same chipset ES9068 but X16 is more sexy and tasty, power reliable !!! But I ended up with my current wife AK4499 in different class.
 

raif71

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SOLD my Gustard X16, a divorce relationship, pretty regret but need to move on !! .. my casual girlfriend Topping E50 (well clinical measurement) <-- but I'd like X16 more, even same chipset ES9068 but X16 is more sexy and tasty, power reliable !!! But I ended up with my current wife AK4499 in different class.
What DAC is the AK4499? In my case I got a preamp that let me connect 3 DACs (X16, Ares II and Audio GD R2R-11)
 

sthaus

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What DAC is the AK4499? In my case I got a preamp that let me connect 3 DACs (X16, Ares II and Audio GD R2R-11)
Loxjie D50 .. this is only dac with reasonable price for AK4499 I found at the time so far since their factory burnt. It kinda different signature with ESS chipset, warm and velvet signature, open stage. I also have Aries II as well .. connect to a XLR switch (allow 3 dacs in and out) .. I got rid of su-9 to keep x16 and end x16 to Topping e50 but I really found x16 is more better than e50 for all but just the value. I got e50 for just 1/2 price during promotion.
 
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