Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review

[A Surfer]

Mine will go directly to my NAD M3.

 

[boblo]

The X16 does display MQA when it's playing MQA. I don't see the need to put another useless sticker on the beautiful aluminum exterior just to show that its MQA compatible.

Did you see this attachment? Where do you see the letters 'MQA' on the display? I can only see 'OFS' and then the sample rate. I already know it doesn't matter, but it doesn't cost anything to put the letters on it for user convenience.

 

[bartgign]

A Gustard P26 for me

 

[kopczas]

Mine will go directly to my NAD M3.

I tried direct connection from Topping D90 to Adam A77X speakers using DAC for volume control but for some reason with Topping A90 between is my prefered config.

 

[lizhuoyin]

I tried direct connection from Topping D90 to Adam A77X speakers using DAC for volume control but for some reason with Topping A90 between is my prefered config.

Any reason you can share?

 

[Toropicana]

Probably an Onkyo A-9150 for me

 

[cbayschm]

Did you see this attachment? Where do you see the letters 'MQA' on the display? I can only see 'OFS' and then the sample rate. I already know it doesn't matter, but it doesn't cost anything to put the letters on it for user convenience.

I might be wrong, but I think Gustard was answering based on question one, where the first unfold is done by Roon, it will show OFS? Because I got my X16 and when I play MQA with full decoding through USB it shows MQA.

 

[cbayschm]

Ok found this, hope this answers the question.

 

[m8o]

Ordered mine! Woohoo What stereo/power amps are you guys connecting to your gustard x16 to preserve the signal path quality?

Either a Woo WA-22 or McIntosh MHA-100; where with the latter I use the autoformer output for all headphones except for the HiFiMan HE-1000; with that I use the 50wpc speaker tap output; that combo gets 95% of my head time.

Neither will come close to preserving the perfection of the X16. But at least their imperfections added will not be compounded ontop of any imperfections from the DAC. That's key. ( I once read an article, I thought at Elliott Sound Products, that did a fantastic job at illustrating the effect of compounding distortions from one stage to another. When I see a device with a splash of high harmonics in these review measurements that are not multiples of the fundamental, I always think to myself ah, seems that earlier stage harmonics & IMD are being generated and built on by later stages in the audio circuit and displaying themselves to us. But I can't find that paper there so maybe it was from somewhere else.)

I really thought those two headamps mentioned would be the last purchased. But the SMSL SP400 is extremely compelling (if I get re-employed, maybe Benchmark HPA4).

 

[cyberthingy]

Ordered mine! Woohoo What stereo/power amps are you guys connecting to your gustard x16 to preserve the signal path quality?

I ordered the X16/H16 stack. I already have the H16 and it sounds great. I also have a Drop THX 789 as well. I have a XLR switch that I can use to choose which amp I want driven by the DAC.

 

[boblo]

Ok found this, hope this answers the question.

Now it's clear. Thanks for your explanation.

 

[kopczas]

Any reason you can share?

Soundstage is wider and for some reason I feel more relaxed while using combo.

 

[Neel]

AFAIK Only Roon Can conserve the necessary bits for the DAC to identify the track as MQA while applying DSP. so Dirac will break that.

Once I have my Gustard X16, I will test it. As you said, highly unlikely that it will get the (unmolested) MQA signal.

2. Can support;

However, if it is working, as @gustard mentioned above - It will be awesome!

 

[Fjfjsh]

Did you see this attachment? Where do you see the letters 'MQA' on the display? I can only see 'OFS' and then the sample rate. I already know it doesn't matter, but it doesn't cost anything to put the letters on it for user convenience.

That might be because your Using coax in. It does say coax does support MQA rendering but I think you need to be going through USB to get any sort of MQA unfolding. If your outputting MQA to the coax in and your getting sound in your headphones then it's obviously doing what its supposed to, if not then there is an issue. I can verify that when using the USB input the X16 will display whatever signal it's decoding whether it's MQA, DSD, or PCM. Note this only works if your giving whatever player your using exclusive control over the X16. The only player I've had issues with is Amazon music because it still using the windows sound processor even in exclusive mode. Amazon music will only display whatever you set windows sound setting to. Tidal and Foobar2000 worked perfectly. You can see it in the image below that the display does show when its unfolding MQA.

 

[SHENZHENAUDIO]

It has been nearly three months since the release of Gustard X16. While it has not been able to ship it in time due to various reasons. Hereby, we would like to express our apologies again. And greatly thanks for your long-awaited. What is worth looking forward to is that X16 will be dispatched immediately and will be delivered according to the order sequence. It will reach your hands pretty soon.

 

[SHENZHENAUDIO]

@SHENZHENAUDIO ,

Hello! Good day. Hoping you can jump in here with a quick note regarding the shipping schedule of the X16 orders you have queued. I suspect many readers here are like me and preordered after this review. We are eager to hear news of when you expect to begin shipping and how long you expect that to take. Much thanx!

Hello, thanks for your mention, you no worries, we must strive to ship your X16 out, pretty soon!

 

[SHENZHENAUDIO]

Very good news. Do you know when @SHENZHENAUDIO can ship the unit. THANKS for the update.

We have the priority to get the first batch, thank you.

 

[nerekan]

We have the priority to get the first batch, thank you.

Are X16 silver available for shipping?

 

[SHENZHENAUDIO]

Are X16 silver available for shipping?

Yep, definitely.

 

[dmac6419]

Yep, definitely.

X16 on the way from Apos just this minute