Gustard H16 Review (Headphone Amplifier)

[Inkey31]

How about the Singxer SA-1?

Not a step up in power, maybe... it lacks the 3rd gain stage the THX and a90 have, so pushing things like the Susvara are a no go unless you crank the volume up to max.

It sounds amazing however... Great AMP, makes all my other headphones sound like I am in a wet dream.

 

[pimy]

The A90 does more power, the Burson only does 4W into 32Ohm's, the A90 does 4.8 into 50Ohms.

H16 also does more power then the Burson, so does the SA-1. The Flux Labs does more power however, the 16W into 32ohms, so that should be 7w at 64, one would imagine. However, there are no reviews on that AMP, IDK how clean or if drops off in power. It says it has a -81db SINAD, which is not good either, but its that bad either.

For information:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/burson-soloist-3x-performance.24591/reviews#item-review-24434
https://soundnews.net/amplifiers/headphone-amps/burson-soloist-3x-review/

https://www.headfonia.com/flux-lab-acoustics-fa-10-review/2/

 

[pimy]

It sounds amazing however... Great AMP, makes all my other headphones sound like I am in a wet dream.

What other headphones have you tested Singxer SA-1 ?

 

[Inkey31]

What other headphones have you tested Singxer SA-1 ?

Yes, I have the SA-1, A90, Liquid Plat, A50s, Schiit Magnius, Gehessli 2.5, THX 887, 789, and I have the Gustard on the way. Probably going to get the Jot2 soon as well. Just sold the Schiit Mjolnir.

While I think SoundNews is a nice guy its his subjective review, he was telling people the Susvara was turning off his 789 and A90 because it was drawing so much power which I find very hard to believe unless he has some wiring problems in house. The A90 pushes the Susvara just fine, 789 and 887 do OK. He was always saying the 888 by SMLS was super powerful because it was 12W into 16ohm's without noting the drop off at 32Ohm that matches it to the A90. He's like Z-Reviews, I appreciate his content but some things I take with a grain of salt.

The other post is interesting, I will review, from what I can tell the Burson only does 4w into 32ohm's, which is 2w behind most other AMPs. This guy measured it in Volts too, IDK why he didn't bother to convert to Watts for us laymen. Now I need to figure out the AMP's to get the Watts, maybe I am missing something, still reading it.

 

[Inkey31]

Yes, I have the SA-1, A90, Liquid Plat, A50s, Schiit Magnius, Gehessli 2.5, THX 887, 789, and I have the Gustard on the way. Probably going to get the Jot2 soon as well. Just sold the Schiit Mjolnir.

While I think SoundNews is a nice guy its his subjective review, he was telling people the Susvara was turning off his 789 and A90 because it was drawing so much power which I find very hard to believe unless he has some wiring problems in house. The A90 pushes the Susvara just fine, 789 and 887 do OK. He was always saying the 888 by SMLS was super powerful because it was 12W into 16ohm's without noting the drop off at 32Ohm that matches it to the A90. He's like Z-Reviews, I appreciate his content but some things I take with a grain of salt.

The other post is interesting, I will review, from what I can tell the Burson only does 4w into 32ohm's, which is 2w behind most other AMPs. This guy measured it in Volts too, IDK why he didn't bother to convert to Watts for us laymen. Now I need to figure out the AMP's to get the Watts, maybe I am missing something, still reading it.

I post the specs of that AMP, there is as screenshot, it says 4w at 3ohm and 330mw at 300 which is low now a days. The new toppping AMP does 750mw at 300ohms single ended. I do appreciate you sharing the information, thank you.

 

[Inkey31]

I was just listening the Susvara's off the 887 and RME ADI 2 DAC FS, sounded great, pushed them well actually.

 

[Nitrium]

Yes, I have the SA-1, A90, Liquid Plat, A50s, Schiit Magnius, Gehessli 2.5, THX 887, 789, and I have the Gustard on the way. Probably going to get the Jot2 soon as well. Just sold the Schiit Mjolnir.

While I think SoundNews is a nice guy its his subjective review, he was telling people the Susvara was turning off his 789 and A90 because it was drawing so much power which I find very hard to believe unless he has some wiring problems in house. The A90 pushes the Susvara just fine, 789 and 887 do OK. He was always saying the 888 by SMLS was super powerful because it was 12W into 16ohm's without noting the drop off at 32Ohm that matches it to the A90. He's like Z-Reviews, I appreciate his content but some things I take with a grain of salt.

The other post is interesting, I will review, from what I can tell the Burson only does 4w into 32ohm's, which is 2w behind most other AMPs. This guy measured it in Volts too, IDK why he didn't bother to convert to Watts for us laymen. Now I need to figure out the AMP's to get the Watts, maybe I am missing something, still reading it.

Damn dude, that’s quite the amp setup.

 

[Nitrium]

I got mine today. So far I like it a lot, replaces my THX 789. More testing is needed, of course.

The only issue so far is that the remote doesn't seem to work, which is a major bummer. Tried many battery sets already, no dice. Am I doing something wrong? Thought it was just having to put the batteries in, click "Amp" and that's it.

 

[cursive]

I got mine today. So far I like it a lot, replaces my THX 789. More testing is needed, of course.

The only issue so far is that the remote doesn't seem to work, which is a major bummer. Tried many battery sets already, no dice. Am I doing something wrong? Thought it was just having to put the batteries in, click "Amp" and that's it.

I believe you need to press and hold the "AMP" button for at least 3 seconds for it to switch to that control mode. I suppose this is so you don't accidentally change it.

 

[Nitrium]

I believe you need to press and hold the "AMP" button for at least 3 seconds for it to switch to that control mode. I suppose this is so you don't accidentally change it.

This is absolutely HILARIOUS. Yeah, that did the trick, Thank you very much, cursive!

 

[Inkey31]

MY question is.. how do you turn the thing off?

 

[Nitrium]

MY question is.. how do you turn the thing off?

Yeah... that's another interesting question. Seems like there isn't a way, aside from reaching to the back of the amp - are they taking cues from Schiit now?

 

[Inkey31]

Yeah... that's another interesting question. Seems like there isn't a way, aside from reaching to the back of the amp - are they taking cues from Schiit now?

Between that and the gain stages, I just wish they were louder, those are my only complaints.

 

[Nitrium]

Between that and the gain stages, I just wish they were louder, those are my only complaints.

You mean the ones outlined by Amir in the review? The fact the low gain is noisy or useless?

 

[Inkey31]

You mean the ones outlined by Amir in the review? The fact the low gain is noisy or useless?

Yea, just in general.

 

[pimy]

Gustard H16 review:

https://www.hifinext.com/gustard-h16-review/

 

[Fly2High]

the one thing I am not thrilled about this amp is the single ended performance. The most it will do is 1W. Check the graph from the manual. For what this is to compare against, isn't that rather weak? Do they expect everyone to only run this balanced?

 

[Veri]

Do they expect everyone to only run this balanced?

For many of these discrete amps, basically; yes. Same with the Singxer SA-1, same with the Jotunheim 2, much better performance and power when outputting balanced. So then all your headphones which are not terminated for it are out of luck...

 

[Inkey31]

the one thing I am not thrilled about this amp is the single ended performance. The most it will do is 1W. Check the graph from the manual. For what this is to compare against, isn't that rather weak? Do they expect everyone to only run this balanced?

View attachment 119975

What are you driving that's single ended you need more than a Watt?

If you have more expensive headphones that need the power you can get balanced cable. I would go with Hart Audio, they have good cheap cables.

 

[Fly2High]

It is not the one watt but that it drops off fast so that you do not have much headroom in the 300 ohm or more compared to other amps. Sure, it should be fine for most < 200 ohm but I would like more security in case I go for high ohm cans.

the big point is that so many other amps in its price range put out so much more.