Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review

[Fish17]

Wise choice. If I had the knowledge as now, I would go all in SE too.

Thanks! What do you mean SE?

 

[lizhuoyin]

Thanks! What do you mean SE?

Single ended/rca

 

[curiouspeter]

Wise choice. If I had the knowledge as now, I would go all in SE too.

But since my amp has XLR inputs, I must feel I should have an XLR DAC. Totally irrational, I know.

 

[Fish17]

Single ended/rca

I have a Freya+ so using XLR outputs to my power amp a Parasound A23 but not using the XLR inputs currently.

 

[Fish17]

But since my amp has XLR inputs, I must feel I should have an XLR DAC. Totally irrational, I know.

That was my logic too lol! But I don't have any ground loop issues in my system currently so I don't see the need.

I have a Freya+ so using XLR outputs to my power amp a Parasound A23 but not using the XLR inputs currently. The X16 was going to be my first XLR input.

 

[nerekan]

Hello everyone, I will tell about my situation after buying in the SHENZHENAUDIO.
Only the facts that I can confirm.
1. Pre-order X16, payment January 20, the order was sent on February 1.
2. After about a week, the parcel arrived in Singapore + 7 days movement in Singapore = February 13, the last tracking update.
3. After 10 days, the EMS operator confirmed that most likely the parcel is lost.
4. I asked full refund, I also promised to pay again if the parcel is found and will be delivered.
5. The SHENZHENAUDIO sent a screenshot (February 26) on which there is a tracking update, supposedly this information from the carrier, recommended waiting for another month.
6. But it turned out that the seller sent a fake tracking that does not apply to my order (error or deception?).
7. I again demanded a refund (February 28), and I also promised again, to pay again, if the parcel is found and obtained.
The SHENZHENAUDIO ignored and stopped responding to my messages (communication through E-Mail).

ps today: about the month there is no tracking update.

 

[ninetylol]

You never know what System you will connect your DAC in the future, so having XLR, I2S, AES, MQA, Bluetooth, a remote and best of all a real transparent DAC without any problems, is worth spending a bit more. I never thought I buy A DAC for over 100 two years ago, but having had ground loops and other problems and changing the system made me realise to save up a bit more and get a end it all solution even if i dont need some of the features yet is the way to go.
When i bought a enthusiast Mainboard in 2015 (for 400 bucks) I never thought i need the Bluetooth, WiFi, optical, m2 slot, and here I am today using all those features. Best money I spent.

 

[lizhuoyin]

Hello everyone, I will tell about my situation after buying in the SHENZHENAUDIO.
Only the facts that I can confirm.
1. Pre-order X16, payment January 20, the order was sent on February 1.
2. After about a week, the parcel arrived in Singapore + 7 days movement in Singapore = February 13, the last tracking update.
3. After 10 days, the EMS operator confirmed that most likely the parcel is lost.
4. I asked full refund, I also promised to pay again if the parcel is found and will be delivered.
5. The SHENZHENAUDIO sent a screenshot (February 26) on which there is a tracking update, supposedly this information from the carrier, recommended waiting for another month.
6. But it turned out that the seller sent a fake tracking that does not apply to my order (error or deception?).
7. I again demanded a refund (February 28), and I also promised again, to pay again, if the parcel is found and obtained.
The SHENZHENAUDIO ignored and stopped responding to my messages (communication through E-Mail).

ps today: about the month there is no tracking update.

Should you start a credit card dispute?

 

[ArturoKiwi]

Canceled vs. returned. Interesting...

I live in Europe, if I receive a dac and want to return it, I paid custom and I'll pay shipment from Europe to China.
Maybe it's me, but doesn't seems a great choice

 

[Fish17]

You never know what System you will connect your DAC in the future, so having XLR, I2S, AES, MQA, Bluetooth, a remote and best of all a real transparent DAC without any problems, is worth spending a bit more. I never thought I buy A DAC for over 100 two years ago, but having had ground loops and other problems and changing the system made me realise to save up a bit more and get a end it all solution even if i dont need some of the features yet is the way to go.
When i bought a enthusiast Mainboard in 2015 (for 400 bucks) I never thought i need the Bluetooth, WiFi, optical, m2 slot, and here I am today using all those features. Best money I spent.

Did you ever figure out what caused your ground loops?

I only have one system so I know what system it’s connected to I ever change my transport I’m glad I have the option to get something like an X16 with my Freya+

 

[Fish17]

Wise choice. If I had the knowledge as now, I would go all in SE too.

What's the knowledge you are referring to? XLR is a great connector but probably overkill.

 

[ceausuc]

I live in Europe, if I receive a dac and want to return it, I paid custom and I'll pay shipment from Europe to China.
Maybe it's me, but doesn't seems a great choice

Could you please tell me why you don't like it?

 

[Atanasi]

I live in Europe, if I receive a dac and want to return it, I paid custom and I'll pay shipment from Europe to China.

Import taxes should be refunded if you return.

 

[curiouspeter]

What's the knowledge you are referring to? XLR is a great connector but probably overkill.

To be honest, a DAC like the X16 or even the E30 will also likely be an overkill.

This whole hobby is partially about buying vastly over-engineered stuff.

 

[Fish17]

To be honest, a DAC like the X16 or even the E30 will also likely be an overkill.

This whole hobby is partially about buying vastly over-engineered stuff.

Haha so true!

 

[HiFidFan]

All this talk of spending more on an "end game" DAC. Heh, good luck with that. How likely is it that a new connection type or codec will never be released?

My argument is the opposite. Give me what I need, and nothing more, for a good price. My most expensive DAC, currently, is $200. If I get 5-6 years out of it I won't bat an eye if I am forced to buy another because of some unforeseen need.

 

[curiouspeter]

All this talk of spending more on an "end game" DAC. Heh, good luck with that. How likely is it that a new connection type or codec will never be released?

My argument is the opposite. Give me what I need, and nothing more, for a good price. My most expensive DAC, currently, is $200. If I get 5-6 years out of it I won't bat an eye if I am forced to buy another because of some unforeseen need.

I will have my eyes on something else whatever I buy now.

"Endgame" happens only when I lose interest in the hobby.

 

[Fish17]

All this talk of spending more on an "end game" DAC. Heh, good luck with that. How likely is it that a new connection type or codec will never be released?

My argument is the opposite. Give me what I need, and nothing more, for a good price. My most expensive DAC, currently, is $200. If I get 5-6 years out of it I won't bat an eye if I am forced to buy another because of some unforeseen need.

I agree with this approach, something like a power amp or a preamp has staying power but DACs are constantly changing.

 

[Schönramer]

Hello, after reading through half of this thread I bought a Gustard X16 and it will arrive today. No I am through the whole thread and gained quite some knowledge.
For my planned setup it would be very helpfull to get some advice regarding a good streaming bridge. I want to set the Gustard up like this:
Streaming bridge (with a good app using TIDAL MQA) ----- Gustard X16 (connected via USB or coaxial) ------ Audionet SAM G2 amplifier (connected via XLR).
I will set the Gustard to 0db and adjust the volume with the amplifier as was mentioned here many times.

for the streaming bridge please give me some advice what you can recommend regarding quality / price-value / app. Currently I am looking at:
HiFiBerry Digi+ Bundle incl. Raspberry Pi (I read that the Raspberry Pi is sensitive to jitter so I looked for a better option which is
Allo USBridge Signature - Ultra Low Noise Audio Streamer with Raspberry Pi Compute 3+ (much more expensive and dedicated to sound-optimasation but also better?) and then finally some known hi-fi companies that also offer streaming-bridges and getting more expensive by the way:
Pro-ject streambox 2 ultra
waversa wstreamer streaming bridge
SOtM sMS-200ultra

I was also looking on the bluesound node 2i and volumio primo but they have own dac's and I hope to get better results for the money if I focus on a pure streaming bridge. And I also learnt that the node 2i unfolds the first part of the MQA and let the rest do the Gustard which I do not know if it is preferable.

So my question is if you have a special recommendation for me? I like to get a very good streaming result using the Gustard DAC. Right now I am not sure if I want to spent money on the Roon license so an option without Roon would be nice.
By the way: I am also open for some other streaming bridges - the one above I just found and read a bit about them.

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[pbarata]

Hello, after reading through half of this thread I bought a Gustard X16 and it will arrive today. No I am through the whole thread and gained quite some knowledge.
For my planned setup it would be very helpfull to get some advice regarding a good streaming bridge. I want to set the Gustard up like this:
Streaming bridge (with a good app using TIDAL MQA) ----- Gustard X16 (connected via USB or coaxial) ------ Audionet SAM G2 amplifier (connected via XLR).
I will set the Gustard to 0db and adjust the volume with the amplifier as was mentioned here many times.

for the streaming bridge please give me some advice what you can recommend regarding quality / price-value / app. Currently I am looking at:
HiFiBerry Digi+ Bundle incl. Raspberry Pi (I read that the Raspberry Pi is sensitive to jitter so I looked for a better option which is
Allo USBridge Signature - Ultra Low Noise Audio Streamer with Raspberry Pi Compute 3+ (much more expensive and dedicated to sound-optimasation but also better?) and then finally some known hi-fi companies that also offer streaming-bridges and getting more expensive by the way:
Pro-ject streambox 2 ultra
waversa wstreamer streaming bridge
SOtM sMS-200ultra

I was also looking on the bluesound node 2i and volumio primo but they have own dac's and I hope to get better results for the money if I focus on a pure streaming bridge. And I also learnt that the node 2i unfolds the first part of the MQA and let the rest do the Gustard which I do not know if it is preferable.

So my question is if you have a special recommendation for me? I like to get a very good streaming result using the Gustard DAC. Right now I am not sure if I want to spent money on the Roon license so an option without Roon would be nice.
By the way: I am also open for some other streaming bridges - the one above I just found and read a bit about them.

Thanks for your help in advance!

My source for streaming is a Raspberry Pi 4 with 4GB with a HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro HAT. Although you can get very good digital signal from optical or coaxial connections from Pi, you are limited to DSD64 over PCM (DoP) and MQA is not fully decoded. Thus I’m using USB 2.0 ports for normal connection to Gustard X16 with good results.

However Raspberry Pi 3 has a very noise USB implementation which was improved in version Pi 4, thus I would advise to use the later for USB connection. Furthermore you benefit from a much performance processor and faster RAM, higher memory buffer, which can be useful if you decide to use over sampling using Volumio or other programs.

You can check the differences at :

• https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/usb/README.md
• https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/articles/raspberry-pi-4-vs-raspberry-pi-3b-plus

“Overview for the Pi 4

For the Pi 4, a fully-featured host controller drives the downstream USB ports. Downstream USB is provided by a Via Labs VL805 chip - that supports two USB 2.0 ports and two USB 3.0 ports. This is connected to the BCM2711 SoC using a PCIe link, which is extremely fast. Therefore, the Pi 4 does not have the same speed constraints of previous models, which means very fast data transfer rates, especially when using the USB 3.0 ports. All connected USB 2.0 devices are connected via an internal hub which connects to the upstream PCIe link via a single USB 2.0 bus, giving a maximum combined bandwith for all USB 2.0 devices of 480Mbits/s. All four USB ports on the device are connected to the USB 2.0 hub, whilst the USB 3.0 ports (blue) are ALSO connected to the USB 3.0 bus via the USB 3.0 specific pins in the socket. USB 3.0 devices are constrained only by the total bandwidth available over the PCIe link.

You can use lsusb -t to display how the USB devices and hubs are arranged and their allocated speeds.

Most of the technical limitations of the USB implementation on previous models are no longer present.”