Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review

[cbayschm]

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

You have to change it manually.

 

[Morla]

You have to change it manually.

And that's probably a good thing unless you want the neighbours having fun by playing some tunes on it in the middle of the night

 

[cbayschm]

And that's probably a good thing unless you want the neighbours having fun by playing some tunes on it in the middle of the night

Actually in the settings you can set it to only turn on Bluetooth when you set the input to Bluetooth, or always on. But either way, you need to set the input manually to Bluetooth to use it.

 

[Morla]

Actually in the settings you can set it to only turn on Bluetooth when you set the input to Bluetooth, or always on. But either way, you need to set the input manually to Bluetooth to use it.

Yes, unlike the SONCOZ SGD1 (I think)

 

[Laserjock]

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.

Might want to edit your first comment about this. ?

I've seen several people comment on the original, possibly not knowing it was remedied.

 

[A Surfer]

So for those of you who have the X16 already, mine is almost here, what have you learned about the buffer setting and what has worked for you? I also wonder if there is an extra layer of complexity with the buffer when one uses Bluetooth, in particular LDAC. Any guidance based on experience would be appreciated.

 

[ShadowNeko]

I think this discount was extended for next 2 weeks. I remember that 15th Nov should be last day if discount , so I thought is was last minute to order.
The day the this review was published X16 had already been offered on hifigo with 50$ off.

Morla was talking about how shenzhenaudio gave a $20 refund for every month the dac was delayed on top of the $50 discount. The $50 discount was for preordering early which was on shenzhenaudio and hifigo. So people that bought on shenzhen audio got a $90 discount in total where as hifigo only got the $50 discount.

 

[dmac6419]

Morla was talking about how shenzhenaudio gave a $20 refund for every month the dac was delayed on top of the $50 discount. The $50 discount was for preordering early which was on shenzhenaudio and hifigo. So people that bought on shenzhen audio got a $90 discount in total where as hifigo only got the $50 discount.

I got $70 on Apos could have gotten$20 more if I pressed them, I'm not greedy Apos has been berry berry good to me.

 

[Gradius]

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?

PERHAPS, the CD is modified like you said, but still has better quality (and trully lossless) than mqa+drm+artifacts.

The CD is just downsampled from 96kHz @ 24-bit (very common format in studio today) to 44.1kHz @ 16-bit.

 

[cbayschm]

Might want to edit your first comment about this. ?

I've seen several people comment on the original, possibly not knowing it was remedied.

I tried but I only get the "report" and "reply" options, does the edit option disappear after a time?

If someone can let me know how to edit an older post I will gladly edit it.

 

[cbayschm]

PERHAPS, the CD is modified like you said, but still has better quality (and trully lossless) than mqa+drm+artifacts.

The CD is just downsampled from 96kHz @ 24-bit (very common format in studio today) to 44.1kHz @ 16-bit.

I understand your dislike of MQA, that comes off from your posts and Avatar, and can accept your opinion, but to say that CD quality is "truly lossless" and then state that it is "just" downsampled from 96KHz@24 bits to 44.1KHz@16 bits (a lossy transformation) is just seeing what you want to see, and denying facts.

 

[dmac6419]

I understand your dislike MQA, that comes off from your posts and Avatar, and can accept your opinion, but to say that CD quality is "truly lossless" and then state that it is "just" downsampled from 96KHz@24 bits to 44.1KHz@16 bits (a lossy transformation) is just seeing what you want to see, and denying facts.

This guy on every forum talking about MQA,that's his life

 

[Geared4me]

If you click on a members avatar you can then click on "ignore" and you wont see their posts, that's what I have done.

 

[Sanlitun]

Any thoughts on how this or other similar DACs like SU9 or D90 compare to something older like the NAD M51?

I was going to order an X16 but I have hesitated as I am worried I will get it and find it is no better than what I already have.

 

[A Surfer]

Any thoughts on how this or other similar DACs like SU9 or D90 compare to something older like the NAD M51?

I was going to order an X16 but I have hesitated as I am worried I will get it and find it is no better than what I already have.

I owned the M51 for about 2 years, lovely DAC, even though it didn't measure stunningly. I still very much enjoyed it. It was a nice mate with the M3, but truthfully I would be shocked if anybody could tell them apart in blind, level matched situations. That is why I sold the M51. At the time I also had the Chord Mojo and iFi iOne DAC on hand and really all three sounded great so I opted to sell off the Mojo and M51. I did upgrade the iOne soon thereafter to the SMSL SU8 V2 as I wanted balanced out, and next moved onto the M200 as I still really wanted Bluetooth. Now my X16 is due to arrive this week, probably by Tuesday if not tomorrow.

 

[renaudrenaud]

About the remote, @gustard do you think you can give the codes?

 

[dan kolov]

What I saw and heard from my X16:
I didn't hear any difference between PCM FILTER L-fast, M-slow, F-fast.
RCA and XLR work together, I have included two amplifiers.
NAD-3020 and NAD C370.My main one NAD-3020 with speakers Kenwood LS-505.
Bluetooth works fine for me.I played CD from my Marantz CD-65 mk2 which has a dac (tda 1541A and digital filter SAA 7220 P / B).
Marantz CD-65 mk2 there is also a coaxial output.I connected the Gustard X16 through it and turned on the NOS mode
on X16.I also played through Marantz's original dаc and Gustard x16.
There was a difference in the sound only when I turned off NOS MODE from X16.
When the X16's NOS MODE is ON, it cuts the high frequencies. And I don't like that.
If X16 is playing from my computer NOS MODE ON/OFF, I find no difference.
I guess it completely decodes the MQA.When I play through TIDAL, the display shows the (MQA. KHz ) in which the recording was made.
In TIDAL,MQA have files from 44.1KHz to 352.5KHz. Higher no have I seen.
Phase Invert (disable/enable) I still don't find a difference.DSD512 and SACD play normally in Foobar2000.
OPT and Coaxial also works normally.I haven't tried IIS and AES.
From volume, it can only decrease but not increase.

 

[Laserjock]

I tried but I only get the "report" and "reply" options, does the edit option disappear after a time?

If someone can let me know how to edit an older post I will gladly edit it.

Arrow next to “Report” will give a drop down to edit or delete.

 

[cbayschm]

Arrow next to “Report” will give a drop down to edit or delete.

Yeah, I don't see that on that post. Seems like after a time limit that option disappears? I do see it on newer posts and are able to edit them.

Edit: Including this one

I attach a screenshot.

 

[my_naim]

Impressive. My worry about Gustard is product support. Last time I checked, they didn’t have a website and were only sold through eBay. I guess they are sold some other places now but I’d still like to know a little more about the company.

Billy, they are part of Shenzhen Audio.... I was amazed to find that in addition to SMSL, Topping and Gustard, Chord is also one of their brands. Scroll to the bottom of https://shenzhenaudio.com/