They are both transparent, they are not supposed to sound different. But the x16 feels much more like something that won't be outdated in the next years. There is not much to improve here and it can be the centre of a great Hifi setup for the next decade or so. Went from e/L 30 stack to monolith 887 and x16.
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Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review
- Thread starter amirm
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I’m looking at the X16 or the D30Pro, with more inputs, Bluetooth and MQA support it is leading my race but that ESS IMD Hump!
Can someone educate me on this?
I’m also slightly concerned with support, topping has a much longer track record, but in my opinion the D30 is little pricey for what you get.
What has been everyone’s experience with Gustard and product support? Have they been responsive with firmware updates etc?
Have there been any issues I should look out for?
Can someone educate me on this?
I’m also slightly concerned with support, topping has a much longer track record, but in my opinion the D30 is little pricey for what you get.
What has been everyone’s experience with Gustard and product support? Have they been responsive with firmware updates etc?
Have there been any issues I should look out for?
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Both are transparent. I doubt you can hear any sound effects caused by the Hump.
As you say there are feature differences. You need to balance what you need.
D30Pro has selectable outputs etc.
The X16 doesn’t have selectable outputs? I suppose it doesn’t matter as I would only use the balanced outputs.
My list is pretty short:
1) Balanced Outputs
2) Display so I can track source quality
3) Coax input with no jitter
The Bluetooth, MQA support are nice to haves but I’m using my Node 2i as a transport so neither are critical.
My list is pretty short:
1) Balanced Outputs
2) Display so I can track source quality
3) Coax input with no jitter
The Bluetooth, MQA support are nice to haves but I’m using my Node 2i as a transport so neither are critical.
Yep both are always on.
Do you have the X16 how’s it treating you?
It's doing great first it was just hooked up to the pc for headphones, but now I looped it through to the stereo and it sounds great there as well. Overall it is doing it's job and goes unnoticed as I want it to be. The issue with the locked mode, I mentioned a couple of posts before, was solved by turning off all other pc audio outputs I don't need, like realtek audio drivers.
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Thank you for this. I will be needing this answer once my X16 arrives.
I am enjoying a lot NOS fed with everyhthing upsampled to 32 bits and 352 or 384 kh by Audirvana(SoX) and Dirac Live (also within Audirvana). Marvellous.Hello X16 Owners,
what digital filter are you enjoying the most or do you hear no difference?
Veri
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No effect.NOS Mode on. Sounds just marvelous
Is the L-Fast filter in this case still active or does it have no effect?
I understand the L-Fast filter is active (that´s the one I also use). NOS simply deactivates the internal oversampler in the X16, leaving that hard work for Audirvana/SoX. I also tried upsampling to 704/768: The sound was just as good, but then a very high frequency hiss starts as well (I guess it comes from the PC, but I am not sure; may be using the balanced output will remedy that).Thanks for this advise
I try to upsampling everything in Roon to max sample rate (32 bit 768 KHz) and use the L-Fast Filter with NOS Mode on. Sounds just marvelous
Is the L-Fast filter in this case still active or does it have no effect?
Veri
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L-Fast is a filter, NOS disables the filters. So yeah.
@gustard says don't turn on NOS below 176.4kHzHello X16 Owners,
what digital filter are you enjoying the most or do you hear no difference?
I'm using L-FAST filter, mostly because is more accurate and neutral together with NOS ON (don't want any oversampling).
Using NOS OFF all bit rates are oversampled 8x, or just the CD quality (16 bits @ 44,1kHz)?
DSD is also oversampled?
Using NOS OFF all bit rates are oversampled 8x, or just the CD quality (16 bits @ 44,1kHz)?
DSD is also oversampled?
Veri
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-NOS on disables all filters, including L-FAST. So that doesn't work the way you think it does.
-NOS OFF the Sabre OSF is disabled, NOS ON the OSF is enabled so all data goes through oversampling filter
-DSD should be bit-perfect as long as volume control is off. not 100% sure though..
I'm really confused now...
NOS OFF => Means that oversampling is disable on SABRE chip & filters (L, M and H) are ative.
NOS ON => Oversampliing is active and not filtering is avaiable.
Are these assumptions correct?
How to disable volume control? (I'm assuming that adjusting the volume at 00db gain works like a bypass for the internal pre-amp).
Veri
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I'm really confused now...
NOS OFF => Means that oversampling is disable on SABRE chip & filters (L, M and H) are ative.
NOS ON => Oversampliing is active and not filtering is avaiable.
Are these assumptions correct?
How to disable volume control? (I'm assuming that adjusting the volume at 00db gain works like a bypass for the internal pre-amp).
The opposite, NOS OFF > filters (L, M and H) are active, these are the Sabre filters.
NOS ON > OSF(OverSampling Filter) off. To be used only with higher-res input.
00dB gain => volume control is bypassed.
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