Gustard R26 R2R DAC with roon

[migo77]

If it's that bad it would make more sense to use a raspberry pi with the DAC

That is the route I've decided to go, but with technically better DAC. Gustard uses highly optimized custom kerne in R26, all modules compiled in and there is one special timer that is not present/available to external USB connection, only in internal connection to DAC, so maybe they can take some advantage of it. But 128M RAM is limiting factor. I'm happy without G3 timer on RPi2.

root@Gustarender-1v3:~# cat /proc/asound/timers
G0: system timer : 10000.000us (10000000 ticks)
G3: HR timer : 0.001us (1000000000 ticks)
P0-0-0: PCM playback 0-0-0 : SLAVE

 

[johnybear]

Just some information for those that still spin the silver discs. My standard cd transport playing mqa cd displays on the R26 mqa at 88.2. The only mqa cds that I have are Three little words by Dominique Fils-Aime and Temptation by Chantal Chamberland and both sound very good indeed.

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

I've used this guide for Tidal connect integration: https://gist.github.com/NoaHimesaka1873/8ef2396d5296765c37170e54c4ab1745 but there are more guides available for RPi.

View attachment 256022

And, how do you have tidal connect?

Correct me if I am wrong because I don't have the R26 (thinking about getting it), but if R26 is a Roon Endpoint, isn't Tidal Connect already provided by Roon natively?

Is this because R26's Roon support is only partial?

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

Also, the "A26" version with "Dual AK4499EX AK4191 chips" has been released that is slightly cheaper than R26.

This may make choosing the right model harder. Would they have massively different sound signatures?

 

[migo77]

Correct me if I am wrong because I don't have the R26 (thinking about getting it), but if R26 is a Roon Endpoint, isn't Tidal Connect already provided by Roon natively?

Is this because R26's Roon support is only partial?

R26 is fully roon compatibile, but not everybody uses roon, like me...

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

Quick question to owners of R26/A26. Does it have some kind of auto-on or auto-off on time out?

I don’t think leaving the OLED screen on all the time is a good idea?

 

[migo77]

Quick question to owners of R26/A26. Does it have some kind of auto-on or auto-off on time out?

I don’t think leaving the OLED screen on all the time is a good idea?

R26 had nothing like that, but Gustard promised (according to their support) to add display off function in future to save oled panel.

 

[ilan5555]

When something goes wrong, don't worry. Run original Gustard 1v4 flash that will re-flash whole SD card and redo your changes. I also recommend to disable Roon-bridge service to save RAM when you are not using it. I was able to get stuttering less playback on LAN with tidal connect and disabled roon integration.

How do you disable roon-bridge service?

 

[ilan5555]

Sorry for my newby question - how do you mount the r26 in linux?

 

[migo77]

Sorry for my newby question - how do you mount the r26 in linux?

first poweroff R26 with power switch on r26 back. Connect usb-c cable to R26 and your PC with booted Ubuntu and it is possible that Ubuntu mounts it itself. When not, run Files and there click on unmounted devices to mount it.

 

[migo77]

How do you disable roon-bridge service?

when loged in to R26 type:
systemctl disable roonbridge.service
to re-enable it type:
systemctl enable roonbridge.service

 

[gryphongryph]

My first post here, have been very interested in the r26, especially because I can use it as a Roon endpoint also, at the moment I am using the Primare Dac 30 as my dac.
I have a tube pre and class A power amp with a pair of bbc speakers, I really dislike too analytical a sound with sharp treble and upper midrange focusing. As I understand normally a r2r dac’s have a more analog sound and therefore would suit me better.
It is unfortunate that Gustard seems to have problem with drop out using the lan input as that would be ideal for me as I have two systems in different rooms, so less boxes to worry about.
An other observation is that some listeners complained about the focus, in that the Dac has a very wide sound field but the middle seamed a bit light, a YouTube reviewer said that sound is all around you with this dac! Something I don’t understand, if one is listening to music, you would not want you sound coming from the side and behind! How can you hear a stage of musicians if they are all around you? Of course if it is mixed that way, then all good. But mostly music is produced to be in between speakers, with good depth and reasonable width.
A would like to hear reviews of this dac from people that know how an un amplified instruments sound like, is this dac true to these instruments?

I wish this could be my next dac as it looks to tic all the right boxes, but I would need to hear more from people that have more experience listening to real instruments, be it classical or other un amplified instruments.

 

[Veri]

My first post here, have been very interested in the r26, especially because I can use it as a Roon endpoint also, at the moment I am using the Primare Dac 30 as my dac.
I have a tube pre and class A power amp with a pair of bbc speakers, I really dislike too analytical a sound with sharp treble and upper midrange focusing. As I understand normally a r2r dac’s have a more analog sound and therefore would suit me better.
It is unfortunate that Gustard seems to have problem with drop out using the lan input as that would be ideal for me as I have two systems in different rooms, so less boxes to worry about.
An other observation is that some listeners complained about the focus, in that the Dac has a very wide sound field but the middle seamed a bit light, a YouTube reviewer said that sound is all around you with this dac! Something I don’t understand, if one is listening to music, you would not want you sound coming from the side and behind! How can you hear a stage of musicians if they are all around you? Of course if it is mixed that way, then all good. But mostly music is produced to be in between speakers, with good depth and reasonable width.
A would like to hear reviews of this dac from people that know how an un amplified instruments sound like, is this dac true to these instruments?

Dsiregard the 'all around sound' nonsense. Also, read the full 7 pages here, it seems to me there are at least as many people disappointed in this R26 DAC as there are people that actually like it...

If you need a streamer DAC, please look into the Matrix audio audiophile product line. It offers so much more than this Gustard R26, really...

Search - Audiophonics

Search page

www.audiophonics.fr

Or the X-Sabre, if you prefer..

MATRIX X-SABRE 3 DAC ES9038Pro WiFi DLNA AirPlay Roon Ready 32bit 768kHz DSD512 MQA Black - Audiophonics

After 4 years of research and technical accumulation, the new X-Sabre DAC is born. The X-Sabre 3, a high-end DAC perfectly optimized and intelligently designed, offers exceptional performances, an intuitive use and a clear reproduction.

www.audiophonics.fr

Matrix Audio X-SABRE 3 DAC/Streamer Official Thread

Hi guys, today got delivery of the New Matrix Audio X-SABRE 3 DAC/Streamer which is the updated version of the X-SABRE PRO MQA reviewed by @amirm exactly 2 years and 2 days ago. First let me tell you that I'm a big fan of Matrix Audio products. They are to me the Oppo of streamers. Their...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[gryphongryph]

R26 has one big (for me) flaw, music playback stutters when playing HighRes music like MQA. ;( It does with LAN and USB input too. I've tried UAPP app on Android which played without problem on X26Pro over one year and tried native Windows Tidal app with the same result.

Sorry but MQA is not HighRez.

 

[linger63]

My first post here, have been very interested in the r26, especially because I can use it as a Roon endpoint also, at the moment I am using the Primare Dac 30 as my dac.
I have a tube pre and class A power amp with a pair of bbc speakers, I really dislike too analytical a sound with sharp treble and upper midrange focusing. As I understand normally a r2r dac’s have a more analog sound and therefore would suit me better.
It is unfortunate that Gustard seems to have problem with drop out using the lan input as that would be ideal for me as I have two systems in different rooms, so less boxes to worry about.
An other observation is that some listeners complained about the focus, in that the Dac has a very wide sound field but the middle seamed a bit light, a YouTube reviewer said that sound is all around you with this dac! Something I don’t understand, if one is listening to music, you would not want you sound coming from the side and behind! How can you hear a stage of musicians if they are all around you? Of course if it is mixed that way, then all good. But mostly music is produced to be in between speakers, with good depth and reasonable width.
A would like to hear reviews of this dac from people that know how an un amplified instruments sound like, is this dac true to these instruments?

I wish this could be my next dac as it looks to tic all the right boxes, but I would need to hear more from people that have more experience listening to real instruments, be it classical or other un amplified instruments.

Love my X26Pro.
Why not try one of those?................and also the new A26 with AKM chips as well.

 

[migo77]

My first post here, have been very interested in the r26, especially because I can use it as a Roon endpoint also, at the moment I am using the Primare Dac 30 as my dac.
I have a tube pre and class A power amp with a pair of bbc speakers, I really dislike too analytical a sound with sharp treble and upper midrange focusing. As I understand normally a r2r dac’s have a more analog sound and therefore would suit me better.
It is unfortunate that Gustard seems to have problem with drop out using the lan input as that would be ideal for me as I have two systems in different rooms, so less boxes to worry about.
An other observation is that some listeners complained about the focus, in that the Dac has a very wide sound field but the middle seamed a bit light, a YouTube reviewer said that sound is all around you with this dac! Something I don’t understand, if one is listening to music, you would not want you sound coming from the side and behind! How can you hear a stage of musicians if they are all around you? Of course if it is mixed that way, then all good. But mostly music is produced to be in between speakers, with good depth and reasonable width.
A would like to hear reviews of this dac from people that know how an un amplified instruments sound like, is this dac true to these instruments?

I wish this could be my next dac as it looks to tic all the right boxes, but I would need to hear more from people that have more experience listening to real instruments, be it classical or other un amplified instruments.

Most reviewers are expressing only their feelings in reviews, reality can be miles away... I've tried R26 and was not impressed at all, it had some problems and I was not able to hear anything like reviewers. X26Pro is better choice with higher fidelity and maybe A26 too, when all problems are solved...

 

[ilan5555]

first poweroff R26 with power switch on r26 back. Connect usb-c cable to R26 and your PC with booted Ubuntu and it is possible that Ubuntu mounts it itself. When not, run Files and there click on unmounted devices to mount it.

Thank you!!
I haven't seen your response.
And how I do SSH to disable roon and install Tidal connect?

 

[ilan5555]

My first post here, have been very interested in the r26, especially because I can use it as a Roon endpoint also, at the moment I am using the Primare Dac 30 as my dac.
I have a tube pre and class A power amp with a pair of bbc speakers, I really dislike too analytical a sound with sharp treble and upper midrange focusing. As I understand normally a r2r dac’s have a more analog sound and therefore would suit me better.
It is unfortunate that Gustard seems to have problem with drop out using the lan input as that would be ideal for me as I have two systems in different rooms, so less boxes to worry about.
An other observation is that some listeners complained about the focus, in that the Dac has a very wide sound field but the middle seamed a bit light, a YouTube reviewer said that sound is all around you with this dac! Something I don’t understand, if one is listening to music, you would not want you sound coming from the side and behind! How can you hear a stage of musicians if they are all around you? Of course if it is mixed that way, then all good. But mostly music is produced to be in between speakers, with good depth and reasonable width.
A would like to hear reviews of this dac from people that know how an un amplified instruments sound like, is this dac true to these instruments?

I wish this could be my next dac as it looks to tic all the right boxes, but I would need to hear more from people that have more experience listening to real instruments, be it classical or other un amplified instruments.

I have the R26.
The first was malfunctional.
The second is nice, has a good sound but couldn't hear what other can hear.
This guy is the most professional reviewer I saw. Discard all others.

I hear partially what he hears.
The sound is a bit more open than my old SMSL dac, the decay is fabulous and well recorded songs sound very good, especially from their UPNP "streamer"
Many songs sound very good, mostly live and guitars but it's not warm, neither fun to hear.
I needed to change the power cables for all my equipment and now I hear much better.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002038792711.html

This cable can help.
The Gustard fuse for 22 USD is like putting a blanket on my speakers.
When my wife and I want to enjoy a song at dinner, we prefer much to use our Denon 8500 as a preamp and streamer connected to our Denafrips Preamp and amp.
At night when I can put high volume and hear critically, I use the Gustard.
But the hype behind him is too high in my opinion.

 

[migo77]

Thank you!!
I haven't seen your response.
And how I do SSH to disable roon and install Tidal connect?

Someone on HeadFi R26 thread was asking for Tidal connect testing solution provided by Gustard itself, so no hacking needed.

 

[ilan5555]

Someone on HeadFi R26 thread was asking for Tidal connect testing solution provided by Gustard itself, so no hacking needed.

I received the file from Gustard but it didn't work on PC neither on phone.
Is this already available in working state?
Another question, maybe you can help me:
Unfortunately I bought the Mano MK2 streamer with Ps Audio I2S output.
I want to connect it to the R26 but cannot find a compatible cable.
I asked Gustard if they know about any solution but they told me to ask on forums.
Do you know where can I buy something like that?
Thank you!