Gustard A26 DAC & Streamer Review

[mocenigo]

Not to mention, they believe in burn in and will feed you what you want to hear on that topic.

They definitely believe that R2R DACs sound more organic. And agree on that, while being unable to describe what it means

 

[Trhu1_1]

So there will be always “used” ones on stock on Amazon ?!!

Yes but 950 is the lowest it ever got to

 

[dogmamann]

Yes but 950 is the lowest it ever got to

And thats just plain lucky thing which is not a normal case. For instance I bought topping d90 for just 600 new (not user returned)from Amazon. Now it’s 800 everywhere as usual and I had followed it after that for months and never the price went down to 600 even for a user returned one!

The prices of Amazon warehouse has no consistency. I had bought lot of things from warehouse way below the retail prices, but I cannot say it will happen every time.

 

[arunthegr8]

I bought a Gustard A26 unit from the U.S.A. I am currently sending it to a friend in the U.K with 230V. What is the position of the two power switches that should be set for usage in U.K at 230V. Is this the correct setting or should the switch be moved up?

 

[CleanSound]

I bought a Gustard A16 unit from the U.S.A. I am currently sending it to a friend in the U.K with 230V. What is the position of the two power switches that should be set for usage in U.K at 230V. Is this the correct setting or should the switch be moved up?

Check instruction manual but I pretty sure you need to switch of these switch to 230v. These Gustard have dual power supplies in there.

 

[arunthegr8]

Check instruction manual but I pretty sure you need to switch of these switch to 230v. These Gustard have dual power supplies in there.

The instruction manual is pathetic - absolutely no info about it. Absolutely no info. The above question may sound dumb to a lot of the experts here. But I don't want to blow up the unit. The confusing thing about the unit is the voltage is printed on the switch instead of on the backplate of the unit. So when actually set in 220V setting which is what I had hoped I have done the 110V sign is visible.

 

[CleanSound]

The confusing thing about the unit is the voltage is printed on the switch instead of on the backplate of the unit. So when actually set in 220V setting which is what I had hoped I have done the 110V sign is visible.

Huh? Not understanding.

Why is it confusing to have the voltage printed on the switch?

 

[Greenman]

The voltage you see visible is the voltage it is set to, I.e. in above case that’s set to 110v, you need to flick both switches up so 220 is visible if you are going to use in UK.

 

[arunthegr8]

The voltage you see visible is the voltage it is set to, I.e. in above case that’s set to 110v, you need to flick both switches up so 220 is visible if you are going to use in UK.

That would be logical Sir. But unfortunately the units are set to the respective voltage in the factory depending on the voltage of the country of sale and the way the unit was shipped and used so far in the U.S is with the switch up such that 220V was visible. Not sure how that worked which make me wonder if the voltage is what you see or what the protruding/lifted bump part of the switch is moved to. Even if you see the picture that @amirm has posted in the first page where the unit is being tested in the U.S the lifted bump part of the switch is in the upper position which means 220V will be displayed. I am attaching a picture of what @amirm has posted.


Can someone who owns and is running the A26 in the United States post a picture of the voltage setting from the back of the unit.

 

[Greenman]

I use an X26 and an R26 in the UK. Both look identical in their implementation of the voltage selection. In both cases 220 is visible for UK usage. now it’s possible that they have changed how this works but that would be bizarre in the extreme.

 

[arunthegr8]

Huh? Not understanding.

Why is it confusing to have the voltage printed on the switch

This is why it is confusing. Which one of the 2 pictures should the unit be set to to work in a 230V country voltage.

 

[yodog]

This is why it is confusing. Which one of the 2 pictures should the unit be set to to work in a 230V country voltage.

That’s a yikes of a situation but I would be doing the exact same thing as you and reach out to fellas here, despite the rather “stupid” comments n attitude of responses that come with this sort of thing.

I hope someone who is a real owner of this equipment at a location that’s relevant to you will be able to provide the straight forward picture reassurance of proof that is so critical.

I have and had a Rotel michi s5 power amplifier and I too did something so small and “stupid” and it broke the power amplifier requiring it to be crate and freight shipped back to the east coast of the USA from California on a pallet weighing 190lbs to get it serviced. Luckily it was all covered under their warranty, but yikes situations like these and what you’re facing should never be underestimated.

Fwiw my personal guess would be it would have to show the 110v to be UK valid but that’s me lol because if it’s anything how topping thinks (Chinese manufacturer), stuff is ass backwards when it comes to what I’m used to here in the USA.

 

[arunthegr8]

That’s a yikes of a situation but I would be doing the exact same thing as you and reach out to fellas here, despite the rather “stupid” comments n attitude of responses that come with this sort of thing.

I hope someone who is a real owner of this equipment at a location that’s relevant to you will be able to provide the straight forward picture reassurance of proof that is so critical.

I have and had a Rotel michi s5 power amplifier and I too did something so small and “stupid” and it broke the power amplifier requiring it to be crate and freight shipped back to the east coast of the USA from California on a pallet weighing 190lbs to get it serviced. Luckily it was all covered under their warranty, but yikes situations like these and what you’re facing should never be underestimated.

Fwiw my personal guess would be it would have to show the 110v to be UK valid but that’s me lol because if it’s anything how topping thinks (Chinese manufacturer), stuff is ass backwards when it comes to what I’m used to here in the USA.

Thank you so much. The whole confusion arose because the person who originally owned the unit in the United States was running it with 220V being visible but according to @Greenman 's response here he is doing the same in a 230V country. How can the unit then run in both countries with the same setting bewilders me. I am attaching a picture of how the unit was set to when running in the U.S by the previous owner.

 

[Greenman]

This is why it is confusing. Which one of the 2 pictures should the unit be set to to work in a 230V country voltage.

I know you are getting conflicting advice here, but the picture on the right (showing 220) is how my x26 and R26 are set for UK usage and I have been using them this way since day one.

Whether the same setting would work in the US I cannot say (you wouldn’t expect it to blow the fuse but i wouldn’t expect it to work), but I would not plug a unit showing 110 into a UK plug.

 

[CleanSound]

This is why it is confusing. Which one of the 2 pictures should the unit be set to to work in a 230V country voltage.

220v. Power supplies usually have a tolerance, so 220v works for 220v and 230v. Just like 110v works for 110v and 120v.

 

[Guilherme_BR]

Did anyone compare A26 to Smsl Su10?

 

[Centuriaromano]

Did anyone compare A26 to Smsl Su10?

I have not found the comparison with the SMSL SU-10, but I have found it with the SMSL D400EX (almost brother in configuration with the Gustard A26). Enjoy.

 

[Guilherme_BR]

I have not found the comparison with the SMSL SU-10, but I have found it with the SMSL D400EX (almost brother in configuration with the Gustard A26). Enjoy.

Thank you

 

[Aaron7]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Gustard A26 network streamer and balanced stereo DAC. It was sent to me by Shenzhenaudio and costs US $1,499.
View attachment 276147
The case is extremely heavy and stout. It looks more modern than previous Gustard products which I much appreciated. FYI the display is near white, not blue as you see in the image. Back side shows the differentiation from typical balanced DAC:
View attachment 276148

The Ethernet "LAN" input allows streaming from Roon player or UpNP servers. The interface was easy to navigate with the remote. I like the longer timeout on such settings as Filter so you could change them without going through the menu sequence again.

Gustard A26 Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard of USB in and XLR output with volume adjusted by -2 dB to get us nominal 4 volts output:
View attachment 276149
Combination of noise and distortion lands at -120 dB which is well below threshold of audibility so transparency is proven. Competition is tough though:
View attachment 276150Zooming in:

View attachment 276151

Here is dashboard with RCA output:

View attachment 276152

Still transparent. Same when we use the LAN input and stream to it:
View attachment 276153

The reason SINAD is not any better despite vanishingly low distortion spikes at -135 dB is because noise while excellent, is not class leading (as far as DACs are concerned):
View attachment 276154

Multitone showcases the superbly low distortion:
View attachment 276155

There is a bit of jitter/spikes but fortunately well below audibility:

View attachment 276156

Linearity is perfect:
View attachment 276157

IMD is excellent but again, a touch noisier than best of the best DACs:
View attachment 276158

We have the usual AKM DAC filters:
View attachment 276159
View attachment 276160

We see the impact of noise once again in our wideband THD+N measurement:
View attachment 276161

Conclusions
The Gustard A26 gives up a tiny bit of measured performance compared to best of the best DACs but compensates by giving you a streamer. I am quite fine with that trade off especially since performance is provably transparent still. The overall design is professional looking and fits better in a home stereo rack than many desktop products do.

Overall I am happy to recommend the Gustard A26 DAC and streamer.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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It is hilarious that some Toping and SMLS DACs are rated above this DAC. This DAC smokes them. It really is no contest in the real world. Topping and SMLS get their high specs by using endless amounts of negative feedback. High amounts of negative feedback can have a notorious effect on sound. Also switching in a Class AB circuit does not sound as good as a well-designed Class A circuit. Hence, Gustard specs are amazing considering they designed it to also sound really good and avoid the known pitfalls of some designs.

 

[Beave]

It is hilarious that some Toping and SMLS DACs are rated above this DAC. This DAC smokes them. It really is no contest in the real world. Topping and SMLS get their high specs by using endless amounts of negative feedback. High amounts of negative feedback can have a notorious effect on sound. Also switching in a Class AB circuit does not sound as good as a well-designed Class A circuit. Hence, Gustard specs are amazing considering they designed it to also sound really good and avoid the known pitfalls of some designs.

A what?