Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review

[cyberthingy]

Good for you, but still no better than 887.

I haven't heard the 887 But I do have a Drop 789 and the H16. I like the H16 Better. Don't regret the purchase one bit.

 

[cursive]

The X16 and H16 are definitely an impressive stack, very happy to see these shipping out.

Good for you, but still no better than 887.

I have to say, in my mind, the H16 is in a completely different value class vs the Monoprice 887.

Digital volume readout, remote control, relay controlled volume for perfect matching, balanced and unbal preamp out, 4.4mm and 3.5mm balanced headphone output, built in linear power supply (no wall wart), that's a lot of extra features for a $399 amp, the mono 887 is normally $399 as well (or was). Makes me wish my SH-9 had balanced pre outs, that's for sure.

 

[Gradius]

the mono 887 is normally $399 as well (or was).

It's been $350 for months now:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=39359

 

[Fjfjsh]

Thanks for your quick review. I have some questions for you:
- Have you noticed build quality issues?

Well first off let me start off by saying this thing feels wonderful in the hands. The feet are better than the ones on my $2500 (when new) Grace M903. It has a nice solid heft to it and feels solid. I was initially impressed by how the topping A90 felt until I touched the X16. Now the A90 feels a little cheap and hallow, I know this is due to the different transformers inside. The only cheap feeling thing is the control wheel. It's plasticky and has no weight to it. I have noticed no issues with the USB, or other inputs. The cables connect solidly and do not wobble when fully inserted. The driver was super easy to install that I got from the Shenzhen Audio site. So I haven't used the remote because I'm using this as a headphone only setup. I wasn't very impressed by it but seems like it would do everything you need it to. There are 3 digital filters that's supposed to make it more suitable for instruments or vocals but I haven't really messed with them much. I couldn't really hear a difference between them so I just left it in the default mode. If your going to use exclusive mode in any steaming services make sure you de-select give exclusive mode apps priority in windows sound setting. I was having all sorts of issues until I figured out that it was that setting that was causing the issues. Oh and did I mention how absolutely tiny the screen is? I hope you got good eyes lol.

 

[cbayschm]

Oh and did I mention how absolutely tiny the screen is? I hope you got good eyes lol.

I thought I had good eyesight until I tried to read that screen. Couldn't focus on those tiny letters in the setup screen, had to take out for the first time (shame) a magnifying glass to set it up!!

I must say it was night time, my eyes where tired and lighting wasn't great. Next day I managed to see it without the magnifying glass. I don't use glasses by the way.

But yeah, that screen is way to small for my taste. Only downside to the DAC.

I include a picture of my setup so you can get the scale of the screen.

 

[Fjfjsh]

It's not too bad on the main screen but the settings menu is horrible, luckily the texts were clear and crisp. My biggest complaint is no front power button. Not a huge deal because I wont be turning it off often, but would be really annoying if it was rack mounted.

 

[ABall]

X16 is a fine product, except for their HP amp (h16), and mqa part. I want a non-mqa version.

We have a saying in the UK, its called 'cutting off your nose to spite your face' I dont want MQA either but guess what, I just wont use it, find another DAC in its price range that performs this good, oh wait there isn't one, not from an engineering point of view. For me and many others its a complete no brainer, I can even free up an input on my preamp because I now don't need my Bluetooth receiver, bonus! MQA is not a reason to not buy this DAC in my opinion, not when you have a choice not to use it. Of course if you are refusing to buy it out of principle then your cutting off your nose....

 

[cbayschm]

One thing I forgot to mention, which maybe a lot of people won't even use, is the Bluetooth. I tried it out, although I will never use it, just to see how it worked.

My phone connected in LDAC mode, which was nice, since I found out my phone had it , but the antenna seems to not be so great, even in the same room, if I was further than 2-3 meters (yards for the imperial crowd), I started getting dropouts and ended up having to put it very close to the dac to not get any interference and dropouts. Not a good experience.

I have a Huawei Mate 20pro, by the way, and I have used Bluetooth connection to speakers, headphones, receivers, being able to maintain connection even from one room to another, so I don't think it's my phone's problem.

Just a heads up to those who plan on using the Bluetooth, you might have to buy a new, better or higher gain antenna.

Edit: After support from Gustard further on in the forum I was able to solve this issue.

 

[abdo123]

One thing I forgot to mention, which maybe a lot of people won't even use, is the Bluetooth. I tried it out, although I will never use it, just to see how it worked.

My phone connected in LDAC mode, which was nice, since I found out my phone had it , but the antenna seems to not be so great, even in the same room, if I was further than 2-3 meters (yards for the imperial crowd), I started getting dropouts and ended up having to put it very close to the dac to not get any interference and dropouts. Not a good experience.

I have a Huawei Mate 20pro, by the way, and I have used Bluetooth connection to speakers, headphones, receivers, being able to maintain connection even from one room to another, so I don't think it's my phone's problem.

Just a heads up to those who plan on using the Bluetooth, you might have to buy a new, better or higher gain antenna.

It could be an LDAC thing too. Anyone has an iPhone? That way you can try AAC.

 

[MalinYamato]

ESS more tricky and measured DR of 9038 with AVG-detector instead of RMS-detector(all another measure RMS de facto) that gave 3..2.5db of "improvement". Being placed in a near to ideal environment the 9038q2m shows 126..126.5db(A-weighted RMS or -123db unweighted) dynamic range/SNR, and 3-4% of samples may have result 6db worse. Dual 9038q2m configuration improves that number for 3db i.e. 126..126.5db unweighted or 129db (A).
As you can see, 9068 is exactly the same 9038 + MQA(lossy audio format similar to AAC, mp3, APTX). I didn't see the 9068 datasheet but I'm sure they did measure DR standard way(bravo Martin!) and got 126db(A), but SNR I guess was MUTE=On Every time when DR and SNR mismatched it is fishy.

what make(s) you regard MQA and AAC to belong to the same category wrt compression/encoding?

 

[MalinYamato]

mqa is a proprietary, closed, and LOSSY format, self-claiming something imposible to archive as "high resolution audio".

But above ALL that... it has DRM ! OMG!

Is worse than CD quality as the source is fully tampered with artifacts of all kinds. Is 17-bit at best, but due to all those artifacts added it only manage to make it bad, really bad.

So educate yourself:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-of-controversies-concerns-and-cautions.2407/

tracks on CD are modified in 5 or more different ways and are not as close to the Masters as MQA. Please explain how you may get approval from the owner of tracks to distribute their Masters other than MQA? Are they willing to distribute their stuff as "raw" PCMs lossless FLACs?

 

[renaudrenaud]

tracks on CD are modified in 5 or more different ways and are not as close to the Masters as MQA. Please explain how you may get approval from the owner of tracks to distribute their Masters other than MQA? Are they willing to distribute their stuff as "raw" PCMs lossless FLACs?

Really? YAMW?

 

[gustard]

One thing I forgot to mention, which maybe a lot of people won't even use, is the Bluetooth. I tried it out, although I will never use it, just to see how it worked.

My phone connected in LDAC mode, which was nice, since I found out my phone had it , but the antenna seems to not be so great, even in the same room, if I was further than 2-3 meters (yards for the imperial crowd), I started getting dropouts and ended up having to put it very close to the dac to not get any interference and dropouts. Not a good experience.

I have a Huawei Mate 20pro, by the way, and I have used Bluetooth connection to speakers, headphones, receivers, being able to maintain connection even from one room to another, so I don't think it's my phone's problem.

Just a heads up to those who plan on using the Bluetooth, you might have to buy a new, better or higher gain antenna.

1. Please check if the antenna is installed correctly;
2. Please check if there is other interference near X16 (such as router);
3. Please select balanced audio and connection quality for LDAC playback quality (please refer to the attachment)
4. As shown in the attachment, test the distance of 8 meters and play stably.

 

[cbayschm]

1. Please check if the antenna is installed correctly;
2. Please check if there is other interference near X16 (such as router);
3. Please select balanced audio and connection quality for LDAC playback quality (please refer to the attachment)
4. As shown in the attachment, test the distance of 8 meters and play stably.

Thanks Gustard for the reply.
The antenna is placed correctly, but my router is close to the X16, so that could be affecting it.

Anyway, I did change the playback quality to balanced audio and connection, because I had it in optimized for audio quality, and that helped a lot. Now I can be anywhere in the living room and no dropouts.

 

[gustard]

Thanks Gustard for the reply.
The antenna is placed correctly, but my router is close to the X16, so that could be affecting it.

Anyway, I did change the playback quality to balanced audio and connection, because I had it in optimized for audio quality, and that helped a lot. Now I can be anywhere in the living room and no dropouts.

I am very happy to hear the good news.
I wish you a happy use of the machine!

 

[boblo]

I am very happy to hear the good news.
I wish you a happy use of the machine!

Hi @gustard ,
I don't have the device yet but, from what I've seen in pictures, the Play/Pause button of the remote control seems to be the 'OK' button on the X16, isn't it? And can this button really play/pause the current playback when the DAC is connected to a computer or streamer via USB? The Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 can do this.

And the last one: Do the 'Stream', 'Dac' and 'Amp' buttons have any function?

Thanks

 

[m8o]

My phone connected in LDAC mode, which was nice, since I found out my phone had it , but the antenna seems to not be so great, even in the same room, if I was further than 2-3 meters (yards for the imperial crowd), I started getting dropouts and ended up having to put it very close to the dac to not get any interference and dropouts. Not a good experience.

I have a Huawei Mate 20pro, by the way, and I have used Bluetooth connection to speakers, headphones, receivers, being able to maintain connection even from one room to another, so I don't think it's my phone's problem.

I dont fault this unit just yet. LDAC protocol has three levels of quality. At the distance you're talking it is guaranteed to be operating at the lowest quality, negating any benefits LDAC might bring. You should be able to go into your phone's bluetooth setting (in the DEV mode config screen, not typically available in the normal bluetooth config screen) and force the LDAC codec to operate at the highest bitrate. But don't be surprised if you then find the distance from phone to device (this X16 or bluetooth headphone with LDAC) needs to be measured in inches, not feet. As was the case for me w/my Audeze Mobius. I couldnt even keep my phone on my ottoman infront of me w/o dropouts. ... the issue you describe is an inherent one with LDAC.

 

[abdo123]

Hi @gustard ,
I don't have the device yet but, from what I've seen in pictures, the Play/Pause button of the remote control seems to be the 'OK' button on the X16, isn't it? And can this button really play/pause the current playback when the DAC is connected to a computer or streamer via USB? The Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 can do this.

And the last one: Do the 'Stream', 'Dac' and 'Amp' buttons have any function?

Thanks

I think some buttons are reserved for the headphone amp (H16) and streamer (S16)

 

[mkawa]

i've been able to keep LDAC connections both with a qudelix 5k and a pair of wh1000xm4s i tried out up to 30ft+ with a pixel 4. it might have gone into low bitrate, but i didn't get any disconnects. could be a gain issue in the x16 +/ antenna issue in the receiver.

 

[nhatlam96]

Does it automatically switch to bluetooth input or do I have to manually do that?