Gustard X16 Balanced MQA DAC Review

[k525]

I'm very happy to report that the update process is finally complete, and that DSD now plays back without any issue. The crackling sound at quiet or near-silent passages is gone. Hooray!

Grea job!

which kind of programmer did you use?

regards

 

[wisechoice]

Grea job!

which kind of programmer did you use?

regards

A Risym that is apparently a CH340. Though I don't really know what that means. Sent to me by the seller.

 

[archerious]

Anyone know any places that include a free two year warranty? I normally use Amazon or Apos but Apos told me to get a D90SE lol.
Amazon has no prime options so I’m at a loss where to buy one. I don’t want to buy SMSL or Topping had mixed results in the past with them.

 

[linger63]

Anyone know any places that include a free two year warranty? I normally use Amazon or Apos but Apos told me to get a D90SE lol.
Amazon has no prime options so I’m at a loss where to buy one. I don’t want to buy SMSL or Topping had mixed results in the past with them.

View attachment 140202

I am in Australia and got my X16 here..............
https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/...cessor-oled-screen-high-performance-audio-dac

 

[Addy]

ESS IMD HUMM can we solve by turn volume to 90-100%

 

[Gradius]

Anyone know any places that include a free two year warranty? I normally use Amazon or Apos but Apos told me to get a D90SE lol.

Well, is $500 vs $900. Almost 2x more. Totally nonsense comparison.

Btw, they should updated the old CSR8675 already, with at least a QCC5141 (BT v5.2). Not fan of BT anyway, just saying.

 

[archerious]

Well, is $500 vs $900. Almost 2x more. Totally nonsense comparison.

Btw, they should updated the old CSR8675 already, with at least a QCC5141 (BT v5.2). Not fan of BT anyway, just saying.

Agreed, huge price difference and frankly I prefer Gustard as a brand. The design appeals to my tastes better plus it would look great stacked with my H16 that arrives Sunday.

 

[0ldSchool]

After two days of use, here is a basic review of my S.M.S.L. SD-9 Streamer including some possible set up timesavers, since the manual is pretty basic.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s/s-m-s-l-sd-9-set-up-and-basic-review.24864/

 

[anphex]

Since running a DAC in preamp mode at full output would probably end my ears and I always settle for about 2/3 of the volume range I would be very curious about an intermediary volume measurement like the 5 Watt is used for the amps. Dunno what the average or most common max Vrms output is, maybe 2,5?

 

[k525]

It should also work. Make sure you have the correct driver for CP2102 and start from the second step in attached tutorial.

Hi unfortunately I was unable to update the firmware with a CP2102, the update program seem unable to check mcu it stay long time in (Checking target mcu..)

any suggestion?

regards

 

[k525]

Hi unfortunately I was unable to update the firmware with a CP2102, the update program seem unable to check mcu it stay long time in (Checking target mcu..)

any suggestion?

regards

Fixed, see the post bellow

 

[k525]

I confirm that I was able to upgrade the firmware of my X16 but the operation was not very easy:
I bought a USB-TTL converter based on a CP2102 chip, I found that the programmer recommended in Gustard's examples is based on a CH340G chip but I was confident it will work.

Opening the DAC was not a problem

The first programming attempts always failed at the "checking MCU" step (no response from the MCU), I thought the reason was the CP2102 based programmer, reading on Google I found another programming software called stcgal (https: //github.com/grigorig/stcgal) but in particular I found articles that said that programming operations can only be done by switching the MCU from off to on, so I found that by disconnecting and reconnecting the 5V pin manually the operations of detect and programming worked (the thing is however a bit delicate).

Another big problem happened! After the first programming attempt with the windows program STC-ISP I found that the display would not turn on (probably the X10 does not boot at all)!!

I was afraid I "bricked" the DAC !!

Fortunately, the programming operations continued to work, so the DAC was not completely bricked.

The programming process seemed a bit too short and one suspicious was that when selecting stc_updata_v2.0.hex STC-ISP said it was not the correct length (very strange).

So I decided to use the STCGAL program by installing it on my MacBook and fortunately the programming process was successful, here it is the commands I used:

Command to detect the MCU:
# stcgal -p /dev/cu.usbserial-0001

Response:
Waiting for MCU: done
Protocol detected: stc15
Target model:
Name: STC15F2K60S2
Magic: F408
Flash code: 60.0 KB
Flash EEPROM: 1.0 KB
Target frequency: 11.057 MHz
Target BSL version: 7.2.5S
Target wakeup frequency: 34.975 KHz
Target options:
reset_pin_enabled = False
clock_source = internal
clock_gain = high
watchdog_por_enabled = False
watchdog_stop_idle = True
watchdog_prescale = 256
low_voltage_reset = True
low_voltage_threshold = 3
eeprom_lvd_inhibit = True
eeprom_erase_enabled = False
bsl_pindetect_enabled = False
por_reset_delay = long
rstout_por_state = high
uart2_passthrough = False
uart2_pin_mode = normal
cpu_core_voltage = unknown
Disconnected!

Command to upload the HEX file:
# stcgal -p /dev/cu.usbserial-0001 stc_updata_v2.0.hex

Response:
Waiting for MCU, please cycle power: done
Protocol detected: stc15
Target model:
Name: STC15F2K60S2
Magic: F408
Flash code: 60.0 KB
Flash EEPROM: 1.0 KB
Target frequency: 11.057 MHz
Target BSL version: 7.2.5S
Target wakeup frequency: 34.975 KHz
Target options:
reset_pin_enabled = False
clock_source = internal
clock_gain = high
watchdog_por_enabled = False
watchdog_stop_idle = True
watchdog_prescale = 256
low_voltage_reset = True
low_voltage_threshold = 3
eeprom_lvd_inhibit = True
eeprom_erase_enabled = False
bsl_pindetect_enabled = False
por_reset_delay = long
rstout_por_state = high
uart2_passthrough = False
uart2_pin_mode = normal
cpu_core_voltage = unknown
Loading flash: 12062 bytes (Intel HEX)
Trimming frequency: 11.057 MHz
Switching to 19200 baud: done
Erasing flash: done
Writing flash: 12352 Bytes [00:10, 1164.27 Bytes / s]
Finishing write: done
Setting options: done
Target UID: F408C529092C87
Disconnected!

I do not know if my issues was due to the type of programmer used, but at the end everything worked!
I confirm that the DSD issue was fixed!!

Regards

 

[Gradius]

 

[wisechoice]

I don't know if I can help you. The driver of the USB programmer is in the compressed package, and the COM device can be found after installation

Thanks. This wasn't provided by the seller, but Reynaldo's link contained what I needed.

Since this the Audio Science Review, perhaps Gustard can provide a technical explanation as to what caused the DSD issue, and what changes were needed in the programming to fix it?

 

[caocaolatre199x]

Fixed, see the post bellow

I still wait for a photo inside x16 from you. Please

 

[k525]

I still wait for a photo inside x16 from you. Please

Sorry,caocaolatre199x to have a photo of the mainboard it would have been necessary to remove several other screws to slide it out, but I was already quite overloaded given the problems I had, I preferred to close everything!

 

[caocaolatre199x]

Sorry,caocaolatre199x to have a photo of the mainboard it would have been necessary to remove several other screws to slide it out, but I was already quite overloaded given the problems I had, I preferred to close everything!

Oh okay, thank you!!

 

[wisechoice]

I still wait for a photo inside x16 from you. Please

Here you go. I was curious enough the first time that I opened it and snapped a photo. Sorry about the ribbon cables.

 

[archerious]

Here you go. I was curious enough the first time that I opened it and snapped a photo. Sorry about the ribbon cables.

It’s very elegant

 

[caocaolatre199x]

Here you go. I was curious enough the first time that I opened it and snapped a photo. Sorry about the ribbon cables.

nice, thank you.