Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review

[Dannemand]

pure direct: for sure
My regular test
https://tidal.com/track/81952773
https://tidal.com/track/158796990
https://tidal.com/track/151829
https://tidal.com/track/77168304
https://tidal.com/track/96098345
https://tidal.com/track/95496474
https://tidal.com/track/165682542
https://tidal.com/track/166790191

Nice test tracks there. Great imaging, particular tracks 2-8. I made a playlist with them:

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/06394610-9906-45f6-b271-8a008700994f

For excellent imaging tests, I recommend downloading the free David Elias MQA Track Sampler. They are not my music style at all, and yes it's MQA, but that is besides the point. They are just very well made.

Of course there is also the good old 2L Test Bench with some excellent recordings in different genres available for free download in a number of formats from RedBook to DXD (352.8KHz) and MQA and DSD. Great for comparing the formats and sample rates. They are all recorded in DXD. The classical ones tend to be mastered a little hot, but still excellent.

2L also has these tracks (and others) in Tidal playlists and albums (some links below) but those are all MQA which I know some will want to avoid. The Test Bench web page has whichever format you want.

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/3f6a06c7-0dfc-4170-bac3-dce62aa6c42e
https://tidal.com/browse/album/2400318
https://tidal.com/browse/album/59883218

For excellent recordings in general, I like almost everything from Reference Recordings (Keith Johnson & Co). I can share a list of Tidal links if anybody is interested. No MQA, all RedBook

Sorry, back to to the X16...

 

[maxwell3e10]

Could anyone post pictures of the circuit board?

 

[gustard]

DAC connected through rca, regardless if it is switched on or off. It pushes through a buzzing sound to the amplifier, which is audible turning up the receiver to -40 db.
So dissapointing seems like a bad power circuit design.

This is a ground loop.
Please do the following:
1. Use a two-core plug power cord, or cut off the ground pin (the purpose is to disconnect the X16 ground wire);
2. After turning off the power of the machine, if there is still noise, please try to unplug the other wires connected to the post amplifier to find the source of the loop.

 

[gustard]

usb but does the same when there is nothing connected at all.

Another question though: is there a way to switch to dac only mode and go with fixed volume control without pre-amp mode?
the guide says push the dac button for 3 secs but that practically does not do anything.

X16 is pure decoding, no pre-stage circuit. Adjusting the volume is a digital attenuation, not a preamplifier. Please adjust the volume to maximum (0dB) to pass.
Are you talking about pressing and holding "DAC" on the remote control for three seconds before operating it? This is the remote control switching mode. X16 and H16 share the remote control, which can be switched by pressing the "DAC" and "AMP" keys.

 

[kopczas]

Listened to from 1pm till 9pm

I`m not judging I received my x16 yesterday. I listened one song after out of the box, then again few hours later. It changed somehow. I left it to play something for the night.

 

[idkwho]

The official version is changed to:
RCA Output level: 2Vrms VOLUME 00dB)
Output impedance 100 ohms

I have just received the unit and connected it to the Monoprice THX 887 headphone amp using RCA and I can hear clearly clipping when using volume at 00dB on music with foobar output ASIO. I believe the RCA Output level is not 2Vrms and is in fact higher.

 

[Frio]

RCA output:

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

Well, we had this here,''max 3,3V''. I have the same amp and in xlr I don't hear clipping on high gain but I read it somewhere else to stay at the middle gain setting.

 

[Pdxwayne]

I have just received the unit and connected it to the Monoprice THX 887 headphone amp using RCA and I can hear clearly clipping when using volume at 00dB on music with foobar output ASIO. I believe the RCA Output level is not 2Vrms and is in fact higher.

What is interesting is that when I used REW (set at -16 dB) to check RCA voltage out for x16 (at 0db), I found that it has the lowest voltage output as compared to KTB and E30....

But, when listening at max from laptop and 0db at x16, it is much louder via L30 as compared to max from laptop and 0db at E30. I wonder what could be the difference? X16 responded to max signal from laptop differently than E30?

 

[Morla]

So mine arrived and after some time to let the unit warm up to room temperature I let it do its work. Using AES in and XLR out. Switching through the inputs (which I am not going to do often anyways) produces a little pop when hitting (not connected) iis input. Generally: Love the sturdy bit of metal that box is. Which was my main interest in buying it apart from the nice measurements.

 

[idkwho]

Well, we had this here,''max 3,3V''. I have the same amp and in xlr I don't hear clipping on high gain but I read it somewhere else to stay at the middle gain setting.

If you are using the same amp and using XLR on high gain (3) you should have clipping due to the design of the amp. Anything over 2.1V on high gain will cause clipping.

 

[frankh]

I just received my Gustard X16 today and installed the X16 v5 driver on my Windows 10 PC and everything is working perfectly and I was enjoying the beautiful sound from Gustard X16 with full volume control from my keyboard.

Next, I connected it to my new Mac Mini M1 with latest Big Sur 11.2 and I can't control the volume of the Gustard X16 from the keyboard no matter what I try in the audio setting. I then tried to search for the Gustard X16 dirver for MAC but unfortunately I can't find any. I then connect my X16 to my Macbook Pro (Intel) on High Sierra and same "no volume control" issue again. Does anybody here have the same issue on their Mac Mini M1 or Macbook Pro (Intel version)?

I don't have this issue with my Topping DX3 Pro (1st version) in DAC mode. I can fully control the DX3 Proi volume from my Logitech Mac keyboard. Very strange that this issue occurs on Mac OS, not on Windows 10. Maybe Gustard should release a driver for Mac users to solve this issue.

I've attached 3 photos to show you the "no volume control" issue on the X16 and the other photo is the Topping DX3 Pro without this issue.

 

[idkwho]

What is interesting is that when I used REW (set at -16 dB) to check RCA voltage out for x16 (at 0db), I found that it has the lowest voltage output as compared to KTB and E30....

But, when listening at max from laptop and 0db at x16, it is much louder via L30 as compared to max from laptop and 0db at E30. I wonder what could be the difference? X16 responded to max signal from laptop differently than E30?

This does seem to be to do with the X16 putting out more voltage at 0dB than the 0dB of the E30 as I found it caused clipping when I used it at 0dB volume. A quick way I tested this was to play the windows sound with my headphones plugged in - I tried with 3 pairs (LCD-X, PM3 and DT770 PRO) and heard the clipping on all of them. Windows volume is set to 100%.

 

[frankh]

This does seem to be to do with the X16 putting out more voltage at 0dB than the 0dB of the E30 as I found it caused clipping when I used it at 0dB volume. A quick way I tested this was to play the windows sound with my headphones plugged in - I tried with 3 pairs (LCD-X, PM3 and DT770 PRO) and heard the clipping on all of them. Windows volume is set to 100%.
View attachment 110124

Have you checked your buffer size of your X16 on the X16 driver panel that is on your Windows 10 taskbar? Mine is set to 512 and safe mode is checked. Sometimes when the buffer is set too low, audio glitches can surface and some people mistook it for distortion. I don't know if this is the issue you're facing so no harm giving it a try and see if this solves your problem.

 

[idkwho]

Have you checked your buffer size of your X16 on the X16 driver panel that is on your Windows 10 taskbar? Mine is set to 512 and safe mode is checked. Sometimes when the buffer is set too low, audio glitches can surface and some people mistook it for distortion. I don't know if this is the issue you're facing so no harm giving it a try and see if this solves your problem.

Yes I have tested all the buffer sizes (it was on 512 with safe mode on by default) however it did not make any difference. What did make a difference was changing the volume from 00dB to -04dB in which case I could not hear the distortion when doing the same test.

 

[frankh]

Yes I have tested all the buffer sizes (it was on 512 with safe mode on by default) however it did not make any difference. What did make a difference was changing the volume from 00dB to -04dB in which case I could not hear the distortion when doing the same test.

Glad you've solved your distortion issue attenuating to -04dB. As for me I'm still waiting for a fix for the "no volume control" issue I'm experiencing on Mac Mini M1 and Macbook Pro (Intel CPU). Thankfully I don't have this "no volume control" issue on my Windows 10 PC. I love the sound of the X16 though.

 

[netcipher]

Me interested in the reasons for the discrepancy in the measurements of THD + N versus frequency (90kBW) from Amir and from @WolfX-700 ?
https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/measurements-of-gustard-x16-9068dac/
I have a feeling that @WolfX-700 had the digital filter turned off.

 

[ABall]

Could anyone post pictures of the circuit board?

Here you go.... Here is a link if you want to see some more, some are even in focus, sorry used my phone.... X16 Naked

 

[dmac6419]

Yes I have tested all the buffer sizes (it was on 512 with safe mode on by default) however it did not make any difference. What did make a difference was changing the volume from 00dB to -04dB in which case I could not hear the distortion when doing the same test.

What gain do you have set

 

[Dannemand]

I just received my Gustard X16 today and installed the X16 v5 driver on my Windows 10 PC and everything is working perfectly and I was enjoying the beautiful sound from Gustard X16 with full volume control from my keyboard.

Next, I connected it to my new Mac Mini M1 with latest Big Sur 11.2 and I can't control the volume of the Gustard X16 from the keyboard no matter what I try in the audio setting. I then tried to search for the Gustard X16 dirver for MAC but unfortunately I can't find any. I then connect my X16 to my Macbook Pro (Intel) on High Sierra and same "no volume control" issue again. Does anybody here have the same issue on their Mac Mini M1 or Macbook Pro (Intel version)?

I don't have this issue with my Topping DX3 Pro (1st version) in DAC mode. I can fully control the DX3 Proi volume from my Logitech Mac keyboard. Very strange that this issue occurs on Mac OS, not on Windows 10. Maybe Gustard should release a driver for Mac users to solve this issue.

I've attached 3 photos to show you the "no volume control" issue on the X16 and the other photo is the Topping DX3 Pro without this issue.

My A18 doesn't have hardware volume control through USB. At least not from Windows 8.1 with Gustard drivers (including with Asio) nor from UAPP on my phone (which detects USB hardware volume when supported by a DAC).

Of course X16 may be different, but are you 100% sure you are getting hardware volume control on your Windows 10 PC and not just Windows modifying the stream? If so, the Macs are just more keen on preserving bit-perfect.

One way to test is to try playing an MQA file in Windows. If you are getting hardware volume, the display will show MQA regardless of your volume setting on the PC. If the display only shows MQA at max volume, you know it's software volume control (i.e. modifying the stream).

If you don't have any MQA files then try this small one from the 2L Test Bench. Select Download from the Dot-menu when it starts playing. It doesn't matter if you hate MQA or love MQA or are indifferent to it. This is just a test.

 

[idkwho]

What gain do you have set

Gain 1