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Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review

Nationalizer

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Mine came in today. Has a short 1metre power cable, and that's the only "bad" thing I can say about it. Also had an USB cable included (there were people asking about it).
Also, it seems my streamer (Atoll MS120) can send "good vibes" via coaxial in the X16. Full unfolding.
 

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curiouspeter

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Mine came in today. Has a short 1metre power cable, and that's the only "bad" thing I can say about it. Also had an USB cable included (there were people asking about it).
Also, it seems my streamer (Atoll MS120) can send "good vibes" via coaxial in the X16. Full unfolding.

Yeah, the power cable was too short for our setup, and my wife would not let me buy an "audiophile" power cable. :)

Luckily, we have a broken down printer with an appropriate cable.

I wish the X16 had a USB 3.0 Type B socket. Not that we need the bandwidth, but that one has a more robust physical connection.
 

jsm

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Still can't find any difference between the D90 and X16 with some tools that I don't know if they are of any relevance for the "purpose"...
confirmed, a photoshop scaling match and a soustraction between 2 pictures show no differences, there is just some noise in high freq and some noise from low resolution of the pictures. Maybe the same but more focused on <300hz freq in a shorter timing, for the previous bass comment?
This simple comparison trick seems a little dummy to me, but if it can help to show that we better have to focus on other parameters than DAC... (like speakers placement, room correction, speakers, amplifier, music mixing quality etc.),
 

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curiouspeter

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Does anyone know how much power the X16 draws when idle? My unit is lukewarm even when not in use (but powered on). In contrast, the case of my AX-505 feels downright cold in stand-by mode.
 

kevin1969

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Does anyone know how much power the X16 draws when idle? My unit is lukewarm even when not in use (but powered on). In contrast, the case of my AX-505 feels downright cold in stand-by mode.

I just checked mine and it was completely cold. I did have the input set to optical so I changed it to coax which is connected to my Blu-ray player so I'll see if there's any difference. Although it shouldn't make any difference because the Blu-ray player is off but perhaps that's a variable you could investigate.
 

curiouspeter

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I just checked mine and it was completely cold. I did have the input set to optical so I changed it to coax which is connected to my Blu-ray player so I'll see if there's any difference. Although it shouldn't make any difference because the Blu-ray player is off but perhaps that's a variable you could investigate.

Interesting. I have it connected to a Raspberry Pi with a live USB connection. Thanks!

I wonder if the USB will keep it from entering sleep.

Perhaps I should get a Kill-a-Watt. :)
 

kevin1969

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You may want to make sure that the Raspberry pi is not trying to deliver power over the USB connection. If so your $500 DAC is trying to burn off all of the heat from that unnecessary power. And it's probably not very good for it. You might be able to disconnect one of the power pins on the connection but don't take my word for it just do some research and look into it. There's also a good chance I have no idea what I'm talking about.
 

curiouspeter

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You may want to make sure that the Raspberry pi is not trying to deliver power over the USB connection. If so your $500 DAC is trying to burn off all of the heat from that unnecessary power. And it's probably not very good for it. You might be able to disconnect one of the power pins on the connection but don't take my word for it just do some research and look into it. There's also a good chance I have no idea what I'm talking about.
Doubtful it is from the Pi, as that is limited to something like 4.5W. However I wonder if the USB connection keeps the X16 active. It needs to be on for Roon to recognize anyway, I don't know if it will minimize the power draw.
 

joseG86

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I am enjoying the X16 so much with NOS mode and Final Fantasy orchestras...... Instruments come alive, please try classical music with NOS On and share impressions :D
 

curiouspeter

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I am enjoying the X16 so much with NOS mode and Final Fantasy orchestras...... Instruments come alive, please try classical music with NOS On and share impressions :D

I was going to ask... what is the best practice on this?
  • Should I have Roon upsample everything to 352.8/384 kHz? (Which filter should I choose in Roon?)
  • What about MQA albums? (Thought I escaped MQA but Qobuz has some albums from 2L)
 

joseG86

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I was going to ask... what is the best practice on this?
  • Should I have Roon upsample everything to 352.8/384 kHz? (Which filter should I choose in Roon?)
  • What about MQA albums? (Thought I escaped MQA but Qobuz has some albums from 2L)
Hi!

I only use Foobar and Tidal, NOS won't work when upsampling or using exclusive/ASIO modes. Same for MQA. Try it out at 48khz

Hope I helped
 

joseG86

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NOS MODE DAC-X16 has NOS, when this option is ON. Pass through the internal 8 times oversampling filter, and send the original samples to the modulator. This option is suitable for playing original mastering files with high sampling rate above CD format. It is also suitable to use the signal after the software player upsampler.

X16 Manual
 

Dannemand

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I only use Foobar and Tidal, NOS won't work when upsampling or using exclusive/ASIO modes. Same for MQA. Try it out at 48khz

Without listening, just from a technical/scientific point of view, I just don't see how you can get a decent waveform and accurate reproduction in NOS mode, unless you perform excellent quality software oversampling (which isn't trivial) or are playing very high sample rate files.

From last time it was discussed in the context of X16 (check those graphs and read the linked blog post for insight):

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-x16-owners-feedback.20055/page-2#post-667963
 
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curiouspeter

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Without listening, just from a technical/scientific point of view, I just don't see how you can get a decent waveform and accurate reproduction in NOS mode, unless you perform excellent quality software oversampling or are playing very high sample rate files.

From last time it was discussed in the context of X16 (check those graphs and read the linked blog post for insight):

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-x16-owners-feedback.20055/page-2#post-667963
And if I do software upsampling it will defeat the whole purpose of NOS. I run Roon off a NAS and I don't want to stress it with upsampling if I don't have to.
 

Dannemand

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And if I do software upsampling it will defeat the whole purpose of NOS. I run Roon off a NAS and I don't want to stress it with upsampling if I don't have to.

Then don't use NOS mode.

We're dealing with a Delta-Sigma DAC here. Oversampling and digital filtering are not unnecessary effects, but rather critical steps in reconstruction of a waveform from the sparse samples of PCM files.

If all you're playing is dial tones at frequencies that are harmonic fractions of your sample rate, then NOS is fine (the samples will align with the peaks and troughs). For music, though, just turn it off. Or perform software oversampling superior to that of the DAC chip.

Again, check the references in that linked post.

Note that I am NOT saying that NOS doesn't have its uses, or some benefits. But only if used correctly.
 
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