Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review

[jules]

I use Mconnect too! So i can answer your question (Great app btw).

Mconnect cannot do the first unfold of MQA, now this is not a problem as the Gustard X16 is capable of doing the first unfold. However, the first unfold only happens via the USB input, not the SPDIF input.

To solve this:

1) use the Tidal app to directly stream to the Chromcast, thus doing the first unfold in the Tidal App

2) replace the Chromcast with something like the raspberry pi that has a USB output.

Thanks for the replies, unfortunately I can't get my head around your advice

If I use the tidal app (on Android) I can only cast in Hifi which is 16/44.1 (?) Feeding this into the SPDIF on the X16 won't give sufficient data for MQA decoding?

 

[abdo123]

Thanks for the replies, unfortunately I can't get my head around your advice

If I use the tidal app (on Android) I can only cast in Hifi which is 16/44.1 (?) Feeding this into the SPDIF on the X16 won't give sufficient data for MQA decoding?

What happens when you cast in Master Quality?

 

[jules]

What happens when you cast in Master Quality?

If I play a master quality file on tidal with my Samsung S8 phone it shows as Master at the. bottom in gold. But as soon as I choose CCA as the target the symbol changes to blue Hifi

 

[Piotr]

If I play a master quality file on tidal with my Samsung S8 phone it shows as Master at the. bottom in gold. But as soon as I choose CCA as the target the symbol changes to blue Hifi

Because your DAC cannot render MQA from Toslink. Only GUSTARD X16 afaik is capable to do so.

 

[abdo123]

If I play a master quality file on tidal with my Samsung S8 phone it shows as Master at the. bottom in gold. But as soon as I choose CCA as the target the symbol changes to blue Hifi

it appears Tidal doesn’t support Master Quality over Chromcast on Android. Can you try running the windows/mac client and see if you get the same behavior?

it appears like the Tidal app on Android is not the best way to remedy the situation.

the way i use Mconnect is that i stream to my raspberry pi over DLNA. And the raspberry pi outputs to my DAC over USB.

Unfortunately Chromcast is a proprietary technology which you will only find available on commercial streamers. so if you want to use Chromcast for everything else + DLNA for Tidal you might need to invest in a high end streamer.

 

[abdo123]

Because your DAC cannot render MQA from Toslink. Only GUSTARD X16 afaik is capable to do so.

This has nothing to do with the DAC, the Tidal app just forwards the data to Chromcast. It appears it’s simply not supported.

 

[ArturoKiwi]

Hi to all, I'm sorry asking here, but X16 is not available and I didn't find any thread about ES9068as chip.
Is there any other dac with this chip at the horizon?

 

[jules]

it appears Tidal doesn’t support Master Quality over Chromcast on Android. Can you try running the windows/mac client and see if you get the same behavior?

it appears like the Tidal app on Android is not the best way to remedy the situation.

the way i use Mconnect is that i stream to my raspberry pi over DLNA. And the raspberry pi outputs to my DAC over USB.

Unfortunately Chromcast is a proprietary technology which you will only find available on commercial streamers. so if you want to use Chromcast for everything else + DLNA for Tidal you might need to invest in a high end streamer.

Yep it's same with the Windows app using Windows 7 on a laptop, as soon as CCA is selected the quality goes from Master to Hifi

 

[cbayschm]

Yep it's same with the Windows app using Windows 7 on a laptop, as soon as CCA is selected the quality goes from Master to Hifi

Yes, I have been investigating and found on several other forums that people trying to stream MQA from Tidal could not because Tidal doesn't support Master streaming to the CCA. Maybe you can try out the 14 day trial of Roon and see if Roon will do the MQA first unfold for you?

 

[abdo123]

Yes, I have been investigating and found on several other forums that people trying to stream MQA from Tidal could not because Tidal doesn't support Master streaming to the CCA. Maybe you can try out the 14 day trial of Roon and see if Roon will do the MQA first unfold for you?

This should work

@jules

CCA has been discontinued a long time ago, it appears that Tidal didn’t bother supporting Master Quality for it. But Roon or Audirvana could do the first unfold and then stream it to the Chromcast. But these solutions requires you to 1) pay for them 2) to have a ‘core’ that acts as a server for streaming.

If you’re planning on buying the Gustard, and you only use Chromcast to listen to music. Then I recommend that you switch to a raspberry pi. You can continue to use mconnect exactly the same way you’re using now, with the added benefits of Spotify connect and Airplay.

 

[zachery2006]

Careful, you might be enchanted !
The only things I dislike are rather matter of ergonomic. Small font size for volume, the driver is not super easy to install; but it does it's job well.

Thank you for your suggestion, I've already asked hifigo swapped, haha

 

[AudioTodd]

Hey, I sorted through the search of this thread and still am not sure what the answer to a simple question (well 2) is: Will this DAC completely “unfold” MQA from a Coax or Optical S/PDIF input from, particularly, a Bluesound Node2 or 2i, and, if so, should the Node be set to the “external MQA” mode?

Would seem simple but some language barriers make the various answers and many speculations a bit like verbal spaghetti.

 

[abdo123]

Hey, I sorted through the search of this thread and still am not sure what the answer to a simple question (well 2) is: Will this DAC completely “unfold” MQA from a Coax or Optical S/PDIF input from, particularly, a Bluesound Node2 or 2i, and, if so, should the Node be set to the “external MQA” mode?

Would seem simple but some language barriers make the various answers and many speculations a bit like verbal spaghetti.

Are you using Roon or Tidal connect? Then yes.

The first unfold will be done in the app and the second will be done by Gustard X16.

If you’re using the Tidal integration on BlueOS then you need to check if the streamer can do the first unfold. I’m not sure.

 

[abdo123]

Hey, I sorted through the search of this thread and still am not sure what the answer to a simple question (well 2) is: Will this DAC completely “unfold” MQA from a Coax or Optical S/PDIF input from, particularly, a Bluesound Node2 or 2i, and, if so, should the Node be set to the “external MQA” mode?

Would seem simple but some language barriers make the various answers and many speculations a bit like verbal spaghetti.

External MQA will pass through the file without any unfolds. Over SPDIF this will not work with the Gustard X16, vut it’s perfectly fine over USB.

 

[AudioTodd]

External MQA will pass through the file without any unfolds. Over SPDIF this will not work with the Gustard X16, vut it’s perfectly fine over USB.

My understanding is that the Node will ”unfold” the FIRST “fold” of a Tidal MQA stream in its normal setting - and I see this on my DACs as they show the higher bit depth and sampling rates when I stream MQA tracks. The site selling Gustard in the USA has a description that is a bit incomprehensible but draws a distinction without being clear what exactly it is other than it is USB versus S/PDIF input.

So, will the Gustard detect and decode both ”folds” from the original unfolded bitstream as is the output over S/PDIF with “external MQA DAC” set on as I understand it, or does it need the Node to do the first “unfold” and then it will detect MQA and do the second “unfold” in hardware resulting in a fully decoded “unfolded” MQA output?

The Node does not output USB and I do not desire, need and will tolerate a PC in my listening room even if it is the only way to MQA. I will just Qobuz high rez files instead LOL!

I guess if the Gustard has a display that says it is doing the MQA decoding that would solve it, but I do not know if it has such an indicator.

 

[abdo123]

My understanding is that the Node will ”unfold” the FIRST “fold” of a Tidal MQA stream in its normal setting - and I see this on my DACs as they show the higher bit depth and sampling rates when I stream MQA tracks. The site selling Gustard in the USA has a description that is a bit incomprehensible but draws a distinction without being clear what exactly it is other than it is USB versus S/PDIF input.

So, will the Gustard detect and decode both ”folds” from the original unfolded bitstream as is the output over S/PDIF with “external MQA DAC” set on as I understand it, or does it need the Node to do the first “unfold” and then it will detect MQA and do the second “unfold” in hardware resulting in a fully decoded “unfolded” MQA output?

The Node does not output USB and I do not desire, need and will tolerate a PC in my listening room even if it is the only way to MQA. I will just Qobuz high rez files instead LOL!

I guess if the Gustard has a display that says it is doing the MQA decoding that would solve it, but I do not know if it has such an indicator.

There is definitely an indicator for when MQA is active on the DAC, otherwise you wouldn’t know that you’re in Audio nirvana

When you’re using SPDIF outputs on your node 2i (or any streamer really), the first unfold has to happen outside the DAC. You mentioned that the bluenode is capable of doing the first unfold, so great!

You just need to tinker with the settings, because i’m a little confused with what you/they mean by ‘External MQA DAC’. Is it skipping the first unfold when this is enabled?

If all else fail just ditch BlueOS ‘s and use Tidal connect on your phone or something.

Don’t worry, as long as you’re getting the first unfold from the node (96 or 88.1 khz) then the DAC will upsample and do the final unfold.

 

[AudioTodd]

There is definitely an indicator for when MQA is active on the DAC, otherwise you wouldn’t know that you’re in Audio nirvana

When you’re using SPDIF outputs on your node 2i (or any streamer really), the first unfold has to happen outside the DAC. You mentioned that the bluenode is capable of doing the first unfold, so great!

You just need to tinker with the settings, because i’m a little confused with what you/they mean by ‘External MQA DAC’. Is it skipping the first unfold when this is enabled?

If all else fail just ditch BlueOS ‘s and use Tidal connect on your phone or something.

Don’t worry, as long as you’re getting the first unfold from the node (96 or 88.1 khz) then the DAC will upsample and do the final unfold.

Thanks! I think going over it again and again and with your help I now may get it and and I’m going to believe that it would work with the normal Bluesound settings where it does the first “unfold.”

My real question is based on a desire to try an MQA DAC other than the built-in Bluesound solution to see if I can tell a difference with the regular stream and normal DAC without spending a fortune. I was thinking I might have to have two Nodes - one set normally and the other set to output the unfolded stream for the DAC to do ALL of the processing. That would cost an extra $550 so not really an “affordable” way to go. BUT if the regular output would then get the final unfolding in the DAC, I could level match and compare the Gustard for only its cost, which is pretty amazingly low for the level of performance and I would then have it, sell it, or could build another system around it for me or a friend if I didn’t find it worth putting in the main system permanently.

Thanks for the help!

 

[abdo123]

Thanks! I think going over it again and again and with your help I now may get it and and I’m going to believe that it would work with the normal Bluesound settings where it does the first “unfold.”

My real question is based on a desire to try an MQA DAC other than the built-in Bluesound solution to see if I can tell a difference with the regular stream and normal DAC without spending a fortune. I was thinking I might have to have two Nodes - one set normally and the other set to output the unfolded stream for the DAC to do ALL of the processing. That would cost an extra $550 so not really an “affordable” way to go. BUT if the regular output would then get the final unfolding in the DAC, I could level match and compare the Gustard for only its cost, which is pretty amazingly low for the level of performance and I would then have it, sell it, or could build another system around it for me or a friend if I didn’t find it worth putting in the main system permanently.

Thanks for the help!

I remember the node 2i’s DAC’s SINAD rating is quite mediocre (below 90), so you might here a noticeable difference depending on your setup. If you already have a good external DAC then I personally don’t think you will hear much of a difference. As the second unfold step is just upsampling.

I don’t have a software that can do the first unfold (which unveils all the relevant data) but i will be connecting the DAC over USB. So for me this is a decent future proof investment.

You mentioned both the node 2 and the node2i, do you have the node 2 and would you like to sell it?

 

[AudioTodd]

I remember the node 2i’s DAC’s SINAD rating is quite mediocre (below 90), so you might here a noticeable difference depending on your setup. If you already have a good external DAC then I personally don’t think you will hear much of a difference. As the second unfold step is just upsampling.

I don’t have a software that can do the first unfold (which unveils all the relevant data) but i will be connecting the DAC over USB. So for me this is a decent future proof investment.

You mentioned both the node 2 and the node2i, do you have the node 2 and would you like to sell it?

I am using both - my old Node 2 works in my Wife’s system for mostly background music (still sounds pretty darn good despite not the best measuring equipment) and the Node 2i serves in my main system. Her system uses the Node 2’s onboard DAC, but I use the 2i’s digital output. I would say there really is no difference - and there should not be - between the two from the digital outputs using the same streaming source. Sorry I need them both as it is always good to see gear get a good new home!

Thanks again!

 

[James. B. Lansing]

You can rest assured if you ordered with Audiophile Store AU you will get first release of stock