Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review

[ninetylol]

You might as well try and check your computer latency / DPC with this program Latency Monitor

Everything seems fine more or less. Still stuttering.

So I had a similar issue while using exclusive mode on Tidal and Amazon music, where the x16 will cut out and stutter. I was able to resolve this by changing the latency in the X16's driver settings. The issue I ran into was that the latency setting for tidal did not match the latency setting for Amazon music. After a ton of frustration I figured out that if I disabled the setting in windows for allow exclusive apps to have priority, that it fixed all the problems with Tidal, and 80% of the problems with Amazon. Since Amazon music doesn't have a true exclusive mode I just leave it off on Amazon, Unless I have all other windows capable of playing sound turned off. This isn't so much an issue with the X16 as it is an issue with exclusive mode. All my other DACs were cutting out whenever you enabled exclusive mode in any streamer. It doesn't seem to want to play nicely with other windows that can play sound like YouTube. Disabling that setting in windows will fix most of your issues with exclusive mode though.

Did not work for me, still stuttering. :/

You can try, increase Buffer to avoid stuttering.

Did not work for me, still stuttering. :/

EDIT: The X16 seems to be working on exactly one USB slot which is my separate PCIe USB 3.1 card, which is noisy af though (tested a year ago with Loxjie D10-> i could hear my graphics card coil whine and mouse movement through that USB slot.)

 

[Frio]

Nor

Everything seems fine more or less. Still stuttering.
View attachment 113915

Did not work for me, still stuttering. :/

Did not work for me, still stuttering. :/

EDIT: The X16 seems to be working on exactly one USB slot which is my separate PCIe USB 3.1 card, which is noisy af though (tested a year ago with Loxjie D10-> i could hear my graphics card coil whine and mouse movement through that USB slot.)

What kind of mainboard do you use, both intel and amd have major issues with usb ports at the moment.

 

[ninetylol]

What kind of mainboard do you use, both intel and amd have major issues with usb ports at the moment.

Asus X99 Rampage V Extreme. Seems to be some USB problem for sure, what is strange though, that it only happens with MQA tracks.

 

[Frio]

Asus X99 Rampage V Extreme. Seems to be some USB problem for sure, what is strange though, that it only happens with MQA tracks.

Those tracks are sometimes quite big, so if you have a reduced bandwidth in a second you would notice it with bigger file sizes first. Well, the bad news is you find a lot of usb issues with this board, like a lot.

 

[ninetylol]

Okay another bad update. It sometimes stutters on non MQA tracks too. Gotta check if it happens outside of Tidal too now.

 

[lizhuoyin]

Asus X99 Rampage V Extreme. Seems to be some USB problem for sure, what is strange though, that it only happens with MQA tracks.

It looks like someone else had similar USB issue with that board: here

 

[ABall]

Very happy to report the x16 works with my Squeezebox Touch over enhanced USB. Surprised at this as DACs needing drivers for windows normally dont work . Just in case any potential purchaser is wondering. Oh and I am VERY happy with how it sounds compared to using the analogue outs of the SB straight into my Preamp.

 

[lizhuoyin]

Very happy to report the x16 works with my Squeezebox Touch over enhanced USB. Surprised at this as DACs needing drivers for windows normally dont work . Just in case any potential purchaser is wondering. Oh and I am VERY happy with how it sounds compared to using the analogue outs of the SB straight into my Preamp.

It's odd that it requires driver to work in Windows. Even my dap with proprietary os (non linux) can work with it thru usb without any drivers.

 

[dan kolov]

Asus X99 Rampage V Extreme. Seems to be some USB problem for sure, what is strange though, that it only happens with MQA tracks.

I use a motherboard (ga- x79 up4 and xeon E51650) and I have no problem with usb 2.0

 

[Veri]

Surprised at this as DACs needing drivers for windows normally dont work .

Pretty much all DACs are UAC2 compliant which means they should work driverless on Windows 10. And that includes this one.
Drivers tend to only add ASIO support and latency/buffer settings etc.

 

[ABall]

It's odd that it requires driver to work in Windows. Even my dap with proprietary os (non linux) can work with it thru usb without any drivers.

I just assumed it needed a driver, I dont think my Gumby worked with the Squeezebox.

 

[curiouspeter]

Okay another bad update. It sometimes stutters on non MQA tracks too. Gotta check if it happens outside of Tidal too now.

Also, check if something else on the OS could be interfering with audio playback.

I was surprised that taking a FaceTime call would somehow pause playback through Roon.

 

[Pdxwayne]

Curious, any of you noticed that x16 brand new is a little less bright and seems notes stopped earlier than expected?

Then, after many days of used, it seems better in the highs and notes decay?

I am asking this because I used E30 in my stereo setup for 2 weeks before I switched in the x16 (powered on less than 30 minutes prior in headphones setup). My first impression was the x16's highs a bit lacking and notes decays seem not as good as E30. But now it seem it is better in the highs and notes decay is satisfactory.

So basically I am wondering about burn in needed for this DAC (the whole device, not just the chip).

Thanks!

 

[curiouspeter]

Curious, any of you noticed that x16 brand new is a little less bright and seems notes stopped earlier than expected?

Then, after many days of used, it seems better in the highs and notes decay?

I am asking this because I used E30 in my stereo setup for 2 weeks before I switched in the x16 (powered on less than 30 minutes prior in headphones setup). My first impression was the x16's highs a bit lacking and notes decays seem not as good as E30. But now it seem it is better in the highs and notes decay is satisfactory.

So basically I am wondering about burn in needed for this DAC (the whole device, not just the chip).

Thanks!

It's really hard to tell, as our expectations change.

However, I would not be surprised if the analog circuitry changes slightly after some use.

 

[Pdxwayne]

It's really hard to tell, as our expectations change.

However, I would not be surprised if the analog circuitry changes slightly after some use.

Yeah, I am especially curious about the analog part of the DAC. I wonder if it needs to warm-up and cooling down multiple times to reach it's full potential.

 

[Fjfjsh]

Asus X99 Rampage V Extreme. Seems to be some USB problem for sure, what is strange though, that it only happens with MQA tracks.

So I have a older Asus laptop and the X16 will only work over usb 2.0 it wont even show up if I plug it in the 3.0 ports. It works fine on my other non Asus laptop on all usb ports.

 

[Pdxwayne]

Anyone have E30 to compare with X16 with Tidal CD quality music?

I found something really strange today when using Tidal playing back CD quality music. E30 is supposed to be about 0.7db louder than X16 when both are in DAC mode or using same volume level. However, when fed CD quality (44.1 Khz) music from my laptop via USB to the DAC, X16 is ~12db louder than E30. Very strange.

This is the track:

 

[curiouspeter]

Anyone have E30 to compare with X16 with Tidal CD quality music?

I found something really strange today when using Tidal playing back CD quality music. E30 is supposed to be about 0.7db louder than X16 when both are in DAC mode or using same volume level. However, when fed CD quality (44.1 Khz) music from my laptop via USB to the DAC, X16 is ~12db louder than E30. Very strange.

This is the track:
View attachment 114072

Do you have volume normalization or leveling enabled?

 

[Pdxwayne]

Do you have volume normalization or leveling enabled?

I am using Tidal app in my laptop.

This is the setting of E30. I don't know if there is any other option available.

 

[curiouspeter]

I am using Tidal app in my laptop.

This is the setting of E30. I don't know if there is any other option available.

View attachment 114082

What if you turn off Force Volume?