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Gustard A18

jasoncheng

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Jul 20, 2020
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Does anyone know if the A18 runs hot? It seems that the power consumption is rather high and I am afraid it consumes same power even without input source.
 

bogi

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@Ntrax
You could post your nice review on a totally different forum site like audiophilestyle.com but not here.
Sound impressions are not welcome here. I hope you know that now and you don't make such a mistake anymore.
 

KingFiercer

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Does anyone know if the A18 runs hot? It seems that the power consumption is rather high and I am afraid it consumes same power even without input source.
Mine is on 24 hours a day in Bluetooth mode. Not even warm.
 

Harmonie

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Hey @bogi
Why are your posts so harsh ?

Moreover, you put a like to @Ntrax in his post #147 and thus AFTER his "Not welcome review" #139 :rolleyes:
I think that tolerance and friendliness is even more important at ASR than the "forbidden" subjective posts ... ;)
 

themystical

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Jul 5, 2019
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@Ntrax
You could post your nice review on a totally different forum site like audiophilestyle.com but not here.
Sound impressions are not welcome here. I hope you know that now and you don't make such a mistake anymore.
I am not sure on behalf of which members you are talking for? Whilst the main focus of this forum is on measurements and objective science, I don’t think expressing a subjective impression is forbidden, no matter how biased or delusional it might be? Chill and ignore if it is of no interest to you?
 

bogi

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I really liked Ntrax's subjective review because it is in pair with other reviews I already read about A18 DAC and because it was for me easily readable and understandable. For me it was not the only but useful information into the picture. People can tell you things which you cannot read from graphs.

This forum is unfriendly to people expressing here their listening impressions. I could see that in many threads and that's also my personal experience. Therefore I recommend everyone to post subjective listening expressions on audiophilestyle, head-fi, audiocircle, superbestaudiofriends or any other audio forum but not here.
 

Ntrax

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Dec 19, 2019
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Does anyone know if the A18 runs hot? It seems that the power consumption is rather high and I am afraid it consumes same power even without input source.
I just got them for about 2 days running straight. Just little warm to touch. Think that's the normal heat.
 

Ntrax

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Dec 19, 2019
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@Ntrax
You could post your nice review on a totally different forum site like audiophilestyle.com but not here.
Sound impressions are not welcome here. I hope you know that now and you don't make such a mistake anymore.
Sorry man. Didn't know that.
 

Ntrax

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I thought I can share them on the product page mentioned.
 

majingotan

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I really liked Ntrax's subjective review because it is in pair with other reviews I already read about A18 DAC and because it was for me easily readable and understandable. For me it was not the only but useful information into the picture. People can tell you things which you cannot read from graphs.

This forum is unfriendly to people expressing here their listening impressions. I could see that in many threads and that's also my personal experience. Therefore I recommend everyone to post subjective listening expressions on audiophilestyle, head-fi, audiocircle, superbestaudiofriends or any other audio forum but not here.

I don't think posting subjective impressions here is unfriendly especially if you have detailed objective data (around 20 a/b samples) that what you're describing is certainly audible by means of a DBT volume matched test.
 

Harmonie

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@bogi,

I try to understand your statements, but they seem very controversial.
It's maybe due to the English or else, but seriously they express surely the opposite of your meaning.

In any case, I do not recommend to tell other people what to do or not to do.
It's a free world and web site with friendly and hopefully educated people who spend their time for good intentions.
I enjoy it as long as it stays like that.
 

Harmonie

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I really liked Ntrax's subjective review because it is in pair with other reviews I already read about A18 DAC and because it was for me easily readable and understandable. For me it was not the only but useful information into the picture. People can tell you things which you cannot read from graphs.

This forum is unfriendly to people expressing here their listening impressions. I could see that in many threads and that's also my personal experience. Therefore I recommend everyone to post subjective listening expressions on audiophilestyle, head-fi, audiocircle, superbestaudiofriends or any other audio forum but not here.


Honestly:
To put put it more straightforward, this is shocking:


@Ntrax
You could post your nice review on a totally different forum site like audiophilestyle.com but not here.
Sound impressions are not welcome here. I hope you know that now and you don't make such a mistake anymore.
 

BDWoody

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I thought I can share them on the product page mentioned.

You're fine... Don't worry about it at all.

Some can come in and be fairly aggressive about insisting that we are all a bunch of morons with bad systems, bad ears, and who need to be told a few things.

You are the opposite of that, and I hope you feel welcome.

Cheers.
 

Ntrax

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I'm all good. At least I dont get bombarded because I didn't say what they wanted to hear in some other pages. World of social can be as deadly in the real world. Cheers man.
 

pimy

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Jun 17, 2020
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I was fortunate to have own both the A18/D90. Ive used the d90 longer than the A18, So as soon switch DAC I know the difference. I prefer more extended treble and air from the A18. Soundstage more wider. D90 bass goes abit deeper. So you need choose a right gear to pair with. My 2C can compensate the extend treble and lesser sub bass. A18 more neutral in sound. D90 is more smooth in treble. (Rounded Treble) In a way..i do think the AKM DAC implemented better on A18. But that just down on my preference as I need more treble extension. A18 mids is very neutral, no bumps, same to its bass. D90 have a little lower frequency up therefore sound deeper. A18 a little more analytical due to more airy and extend treble. And neutral sound. D90 more musical due to more lower frequency and rounded off smooth treble. With that being said, the A18 is still musical in away it sounds natural and let you hear more in the sound spectrum. Both are very detailed and clean. Great separation and depth. Great clarity. Measurements 118 vs 120db / 6vrms vs 4Vrms, A18 volume threshold sound more lively due to that extra volume gain. There you go. Seriously there are no worst on both dacs. Both are excellent performer. Build i will give to A18 more heavy and substantial. Sorry not very good at audiophile terms and bad English.

Thank you for your detailed comments
 

ArturoKiwi

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Feb 13, 2020
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End of the game, the A18 is no more avaible.
I wrote to Shenzhen Audio to ask about it and they reply to me that Gustard has stopped production of it :eek:
 

pimy

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End of the game, the A18 is no more avaible.
I wrote to Shenzhen Audio to ask about it and they reply to me that Gustard has stopped production of it :eek:


unfortunately logical, the Akm chips are not found. They will focus on the new model X16 (ESS), but are likely to have the same problems if the demand is too high.
 

Ntrax

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Dec 19, 2019
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Fortunately i able to get them before it happen. Thats sad to know anyway.
 

hmscott

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May 17, 2020
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The AKM fire has only recently happened - they may still get their masks to other fabs and be able to restart production, likely as not it's not going to be soon. And, the way many efficient builders stock components for just in time builds - they are now all out of stock for future production.

The smaller boutique builders from past experience know to stock as much as they can for future production, they buy in bulk when they come across a good spot price, so there may be makes / models that stay in production during the AKM outage.

There are quite a few posts here on the AKM events:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?search/14684880/&q=akm+fire&o=relevance
 

ArturoKiwi

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The AKM fire has only recently happened - they may still get their masks to other fabs and be able to restart production, likely as not it's not going to be soon. And, the way many efficient builders stock components for just in time builds - they are now all out of stock for future production.

The smaller boutique builders from past experience know to stock as much as they can for future production, they buy in bulk when they come across a good spot price, so there may be makes / models that stay in production during the AKM outage.

There are quite a few posts here on the AKM events:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?search/14684880/&q=akm+fire&o=relevance
I was not aware :eek:
What a pity
 
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