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Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review

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I b I'll ugh this Gustardx16 and had problems right from the start which I videoed and sent to Gustard, which showed clearly an intermitent, static or click. I t would come and go. I ran a hertz generated signal and you could clearly hear the problem. Gustardx16 claimed it was the environment, but I have had a number of cheaper dacs which didn't have a problem. In the end after sending the dac back, and Gustardx checked the problem. Smirk has the video and confirmed the noise. Al I can say is that the Gustardx16 and the Gustard company are not reliable and don't stand by there product or the warranty. The problem was in the coaxial and optical. These have the best sound and broader band width. My experience ,I says don't go near Gustard.
You can share more clearly how you encounter problems, music file parameters, connection type, ... I will test on my x16 see if there are the same problem?
 

Ashley Salmond

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If you give me your email, I will send you a video. The video is me using a hertz generater at 1000hz. The intermittent click would come and go. When it was clicking it would happen repeatedly every three seconds. Some times the screen would flicker. So I would switch it of. Maybe an hour or the next day try it and it would be fine. Then if you tried it again either 10min later or half a day, it was back. When they saw the problem on the video, Gustard said to send it back and get a refund. Then, when they had the dac back they said there was nothing wrong with it and only repaid me $660of the $800. Let me know if you would like the video.
 

Dannemand

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Could someone explain the NOS function, got a little confused reading the manual.
My files are almost all DSD and I leave it OFF

Leave it OFF unless you oversample in software. And only do so if you have top quality oversampling (such as HQPlayer) which can do a better job than the DAC chip.
 

Ashley Salmond

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Hi Dannemand., I never got that far with my Gustardx16 although I did try the NOS. I had to return my Dad due to a fault. How is your working. I recommend you check all inputs as my coaxial and optical had a itermitent click or jitter sound, which appears to get worse.
 

dmac6419

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Hi Dannemand., I never got that far with my Gustardx16 although I did try the NOS. I had to return my Dad due to a fault. How is your working. I recommend you check all inputs as my coaxial and optical had a itermitent click or jitter sound, which appears to get worse.
What's wrong with your dad,hope everything's okay, don't mind me just being silly lol :D
 

Dannemand

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Hi Dannemand., I never got that far with my Gustardx16 although I did try the NOS. I had to return my Dad due to a fault. How is your working. I recommend you check all inputs as my coaxial and optical had a itermitent click or jitter sound, which appears to get worse.

I was simply replying to @Reynaldo's question about NOS. I am not using NOS myself. In fact, my DAC is Gustard A18, which doesn't have a NOS setting. This DAC has been absolutely awesome (and still is). I am very glad I bought it, even though it was more money than I had originally planned to spend on a DAC.

Good advice to check all inputs before your return window expires. In my case I use it daily on USB (from RPi) and Coax (from TV) and occasionally on Optical (BluRay). The other inputs I don't have sources to test them.
 

misureaudio

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Update.

X16 presents itself with both WASAPI and ASIO possible choices, visible in all the players used for testing the DSD crackling noise. In Audirvana using the WASAPI interface allows to choose the DoP mode (convert to PCM, DoP 1.0, DoP 1.1), but in the ASIO mode this setting is not available. WASAPI however has identical behaviour to that of ASIO wrt the noise problem during DSD playback.
 
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Can someone confirm this help me? On the left is a real photo from the @ABall member and the right is an advertisement from Amazon. Relay was removed in commercial products?
xxx.jpg
 

misureaudio

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Update 2

Extensively tested X16 ASIO driver 5.0.0

It works only on the recent MSI GT65 gaming laptop. (Unusable on a Toshiba satellite L755 which however works fine with the 4.86 generation). Audirvana is ok and doesn't hang with it. Setup options available are unchanged wrt v.4.86.

(Notice that the same apparent incompatibility with older machines having identical Win 10 version happens with the Topping licensed Thesycon drivers too, and the different generations of Thesycons licensed to AeVee Labs for Bricasti).

The defect in DSD replay shows itself identically in the X16 even with the newest driver installed.
 

Gradius

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Last edited:

Gradius

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Do you know how much price for each unit ES9068As? I think it will be cheaper than ES9038 Pro. Same ES9026Pro.

Just look around.

ES9026PRO: $18 or less (in 100 qty and beyond).
ES9038PRO: $45 or less (from 100 and up).
ES9068AS: not available anymore, but is around $10~$12.

Looks like gustard brought them all. :p
 

misureaudio

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FYI, last one is 5.12.0

I dunno if Gustard released it or not, they are from Thesycon after all:
https://www.thesycon.de/usbaudio/TUSBAudio_history.txt

Edit:
"The defect in DSD replay shows itself identically in the X16 even with the newest driver installed."

TIP: The driver isn't the culprit.
Agreed on. I wrote previously that the incompatibility with older PCs is there for the v5.0.0, whichever licensed (branded) version of the Thesycon I tried for the various DACs compared. Only the most recent pc I can test pc is able to use the v5.x. (identical update level for the Window 10 version installed in the various PCs).
It looks like it is effectively a problem in the X16
 

Gradius

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Agreed on. I wrote previously that the incompatibility with older PCs is there for the v5.0.0, whichever licensed (branded) version of the Thesycon I tried for the various DACs compared. Only the most recent pc I can test pc is able to use the v5.x. (identical update level for the Window 10 version installed in the various PCs).
It looks like it is effectively a problem in the X16

Probably is just a bug on firmware, you need to e-mail them and let them know.
 
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Just look around.

ES9026PRO: $18 or less (in 100 qty and beyond).
ES9038PRO: $45 or less (from 100 and up).
ES9068AS: not available anymore, but is around $10~$12.

Looks like gustard brought them all. :p
9068 has a higher than 9026 PRO parameters. I think it's on par with 9028 PRO or 9018s: D
 

devopsprodude

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Upgrading to Big Sur didn't solve the problem.
MacOS...X16 just isn't showing up as a USB device no matter what I do now. I'll check later to see if it works when connected to Windows or an iPhone.
For anyone who was wondering, I got a new Anker USB-C hub with ethernet for the Mac and now everything is working just fine. Ended up not being a problem with the Gustard X16 at all.
 

Ashley Salmond

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the just announced Gustard X16 Balanced USB DAC with hardware decoding. It was kindly sent to me for testing by SHENZHENAUDIO. The X16 costs US $499.

The X16 is based on the new ESS ES9068AS DAC which has built-in hardware decoding of MQA bitstream. Until now, this was performed upstream of the DAC but now the functionality is core to the DAC chip itself.

The X16 has a solid feel to it but doesn't distinguish itself from other desktop DACs:

View attachment 92496

While a remote control is provided, navigation is easy enough using the rotary control and center button. I like the informative display but as with other Gustard products, I question showing the volume level in such tiny letters. It needs to be center and large with the sample rate shown small.

Back panel shows the usual connection including Bluetooth:

View attachment 92497

Like the nice gold plated connectors.

Gustard X16 Measurements
Let's open the show with our usual dashboard:
View attachment 92498

Wow! I must say, I did not know in advance they were shooting for the moon this way. This is superb performance in a $500 package, placing the X16 second in the list of all DACs tested ever:
View attachment 92499

Here is our top 10 list:

View attachment 92500

So little separates these DACs from each other.

Here is the performance of the RCA output:

View attachment 92501

In both cases, full audible transparency is achieved and then some. Sum of noise+distortion is well below the self-noise of our ears.

Signal to noise ratio is wonderful:

View attachment 92502

If you have noise in your system, this is NOT the place to look!

Intermodulation distortion vs level shows a bit of our famous "ESS IMD Hump" which we discovered two years ago:
View attachment 92503

Shame on ESS for not helping its licensees solve this issue across the board. Fortunately the impact here is very small and it really shows up because the system noise floor is so low.

Jitter and spurious tones are almost nonexistent (difficult in a low noise DAC) and this is even true of Coax input which these days is typically neglected:
View attachment 92504

Intermodulation distortion using our 32-tone test is extremely low:
View attachment 92644

THD+N versus frequency where a lot of DACs fail is excellent as well:
View attachment 92506

This is partially due to good filtering of which only three are available:
View attachment 92508

Did ESS take out the other options or did Gustard? Either way, it is fine by me. I used L Fast for my testing by the way. Default is M Slow I think. Wonder if that is also the MQA filter?

Linearity which is a test of accuracy was the most perfect I have seen:
View attachment 92509

This thing glued itself to the 0 dB error line like nobody's business!

Conclusions
The Gustard X16 comes in an unassuming package making you think you have bought a mid-priced DAC. But looks are deceiving as it produces some of the best measurements I have seen out of some 350+ DACs I have tested! Talk about getting ready to battle with the best of the best. Yes, there is a hint of ESS IMD Hump but it is not excessive enough for me to worry about it although I hope they look at eliminating this.

It is my pleasure to strongly recommend the Gustard X16 MQA DAC.

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

Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I bought a Gustardx16 and from the get go it had a intermittent clicking sound. I have checked with Apos Audio and they have stated that they have discontinued this item. Amazon don't stock this dac as well. I think Amirm should makes these checks before giving a dac or product his recommendation. I think he is being quiet nieve to accept a product from a manufacturer and then promote it without doing a simple check with a company like Apos. It could also give the impression that he is receiving kick backs for doing so.
 

Toku

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I bought a Gustardx16 and from the get go it had a intermittent clicking sound. I have checked with Apos Audio and they have stated that they have discontinued this item. Amazon don't stock this dac as well. I think Amirm should makes these checks before giving a dac or product his recommendation. I think he is being quiet nieve to accept a product from a manufacturer and then promote it without doing a simple check with a company like Apos. It could also give the impression that he is receiving kick backs for doing so.
I purchased Topping's DX3 Pro, D50, D50s, DX7s, E30, D30 Pro and SMSL's SU-8, M500 with reference to the ASR data. But none of the products played the music normally. All the products had serious defects.
I am very grateful for the ASR measurement data. But this is the reality of the product.
 
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