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Gustard X16 Owners feedback...

raif71

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Sep 7, 2019
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I hadn't noticed it before......but all of a sudden, it is clear as day. All my DSD64 tracks had crackling noises.

Funny---when I play from Roon, it converts to PCM but I get the crackling. And if I skip Roon and play the album from Amazon Music HD direct to the Gustard - I get crackling. But if I play the same album from JRiver using an ISO file and DSD on the Gustard, it is clean --no noise. All FLAC and MQA is clean as well.

So, I wasn't going to do the fix. Now, I can't stand it....I have to. If I buy the Amazon kit, is the cable that comes with it sufficient or do I have to buy a 4 pin cable?
Welcome to the power of of suggestion :p. Joking aside, I haven't noticed any such crackling noises but I play the dsd via DAP and not via windows.
 

HARMAN

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Nov 24, 2019
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IMG_20210829_162007.jpg
 

HARMAN

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Nov 24, 2019
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Excellent dac, big improvement from blusunde, modi3 +
And the dac inside the amp, no Sabre glare at all. Absolutely amazing dac. the dac in the integrated is "ESS Saber 9016S DAC working on 8 channels. Thus, 4 channels are allocated to each channel, in order to optimize the analog conversion" is no much to the gustard not even close
 

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Dennis_FL

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shwnwllms

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Bummer. I still have mine too, including instructions: Gustard_X16_MCU_Update.zip

I wonder if there's some issue with this firmware that required Gustard to remove it…

Well, I uploaded it to Dropbox for Dennis and Dropbox immediately flagged it, disabled my links and suspended my sharing privileges for 24 hours (which has never happened in my life and I've been a customer of theirs since day one). I'm wondering if they flagged it for malware.
 

dsnyder0cnn

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Well, I uploaded it to Dropbox for Dennis and Dropbox immediately flagged it, disabled my links and suspended my sharing privileges for 24 hours (which has never happened in my life and I've been a customer of theirs since day one). I'm wondering if they flagged it for malware.

Hmm. Neither of my A/V scanners have found any issues, but download at your own risk, I guess.
 

Dennis_FL

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I sent an email to Gustard and they directed me here. A little daunting.
 

dsnyder0cnn

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I sent an email to Gustard and they directed me here. A little daunting.

Hmm, that does not look like MCU firmware. The timestamp on that firmware is pretty old too (relative to how long the X16 has been out):

Code:
  Length      Date    Time    Name
---------  ---------- -----   ----
  1048576  01-09-2019 16:16   GSD U16_V1.61.rom

Just let them know that their mediafire link has expired or give my copy a try. Full disclosure: I have not actually tried to do the update using these files yet. Apos accidentally shipped my STC programmer tool to the wrong address, but I should have it back in a week or so.

Edit: The file you're looking for is:

Code:
  Length      Date    Time    Name
---------  ---------- -----   ----
    34914  2021-06-18 19:30   stc_updata_v2.0.hex
 

shwnwllms

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Just let them know that their mediafire link has expired or give my copy a try. Full disclosure: I have not actually tried to do the update using these files yet. Apos accidentally shipped my STC programmer tool to the wrong address, but I should have it back in a week or so.

Edit: The file you're looking for is:

Code:
  Length      Date    Time    Name
---------  ---------- -----   ----
    34914  2021-06-18 19:30   stc_updata_v2.0.hex

Can confirm this is the correct firmware for the update. I used the same hex file to flash the new firmware to the X16 and the DSD problem was gone. No issues with the upgrade as long as you follow their instructions and have the correct programmer, drivers, upgrade program and the above hex file. If the firmware update hangs you might need to unplug the pins and replug them in (or at least the 5V power pin anyway) then it should kick off.
 
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doze off

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Sep 9, 2021
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Hi. I'm new to the forum and I'd like to say that I'm learning a lot from you guys about sound.
The current kit that I have the final decision came from this forum so cool.

Well, I have a question, would it be possible to use MQA filtering @ 384KHz? If yes, how? In Tidal the filtering is at 96KHz as in the photo.
The Gustard X16 is paired with the Singxer SA-1 via XLR and the very usb cable that was included with the Gustard X16.

I thank you and apologize for my English, I live in Brazil and my language is Portuguese.

img_8174hcjxl.jpg
 

shwnwllms

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Yes its certainly possible, but you are going to lose the rendering of the MQA on the X16.

I can't speak to the Tidal interface, as I use Roon to stream Tidal but here are a couple of examples.

If I choose to upsample in Roon using their upsampling DSP then Roon is smart enough to exclude MQA from the upsampling chain. Non-MQA files will get upsampled to what your DSP settings are and MQA will be preserved and render on the X16 (if the rendering capabilities are important to you this is ideal)

If I instead use HQPlayer to upsample (set up as a zone in Roon) instead, Roon will do the first unfold of the MQA (decode only). Then HQPlayer will upsample from there, there will be no preserving of the MQA signal for the X16 to perform the second unfold.

I chose the second route as HQPlayer's upsampling engine is far superior to Roon. The X16 also benefits from upsampling to the highest DSD possible as its a Sabre DAC. I have mine in NOS mode and upsample to DSD256 prior to sending the signal to the X16 which gives it an incredibly clean detailed sound IMO (this also has the added benefit of bypassing the DACs internal filters). Unless there is a reason you are limited to upsampling to 384kHz I would suggest 768kHz for PCM or going DSD. (Others may have differing options on this but this sounds best to me and more of an illustrative point on how to accomplish upsampling MQA)
 
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