Gustard X26Pro Review (Balanced High-end DAC)

[axyoung9022]

For owners of X26Pro DAC(with 2 ESS ES9038Pro chips) who like to listen DSD by converting PCM source, Archimago's recent measurements are significantly helpful references:

"Unlike AKM DACs where there's a "DSD Direct" option, these ESS "HyperStream" DACs will reprocess the 1-bit data internally into multibit-SDM." ---Archimago

 

[monkey4054]

Anyone here know how this stacks up to the Singxer SDA-6?

 

[Alfer]

Buenas tardes.
Podrían indicarme como descargar, si existe. Les firmware f20 para el x26 pro, la versión definitiva no la beta.
Muchas gracias y saludos

Buenas tardes.
Podrían indicarme como descargar, si existe. Les firmware f20 para el x26 pro, la versión definitiva no la beta.
Muchas gracias y saludos

Buenas tardes, o dias.
He recibido hace pocos dias el X-26 pro, de momento solo a traves de la entrada usb conectada a un lg v-40 con la aplicacion usb Audio player pro y a traves de Bluetooth. Mucho mejor el sonido a traves de usbAudioplayer pro
Creen que valdria la pena instalar el ultimo firmware, aunque sea la versión beta? Que ventajas tiene sobre el firmware que lleva instalado?
Saludos

 

[Sue Donim]

Has anyone purchased one of these and had an issue with it not working? Then try to contact them via email and never get a response? Well, besides me?

 

[JP.Hutch]

Does anyone know how to remedy an issue of uneven levels coming out from the XLR outputs? Stark difference in L R channel levels, made more obvious when switiching between XLR and RCA. On the Soundnews "One to Beat" review, the writer points out unbalanced outputs that he then corrects. The Pre90 doesn't have balance nor the DAC so how's this work?

Appreciate your help! Apologies for any noob-ishness on my part

 

[Blue42]

There is a new driver for the Gustard Dacs: http://www.gustard.cn/?page_id=8956
Version 5.45

 

[Blue42]

The new ASIO driver for all Gustard DACs is now available (version 5.50). They are working on the website, and they are now posting firmware updates there.

 

[NoobMD]

The new ASIO driver for all Gustard DACs is now available (version 5.50). They are working on the website, and they are now posting firmware updates there.

Is this required for the mac too?

 

[elvisizer]

ASIO is windows only, you don't need ASIO drivers on MacOS

 

[NoobMD]

ASIO is windows only, you don't need ASIO drivers on MacOS

Thank you!

 

[Nooborghini]

Could someone explain to me why one would go with this product over D90LE?
Will it really make a difference on a "high-end" headphone like the Susvara or should I just stick with my FiiO M15 as my DAC?
I'm just trying to understand how scientifically validate why people are saying they prefer the Gustard X26 Pro over the D90LE as it sounds better.

 

[gvl]

I'm just trying to understand how scientifically validate why people are saying they prefer the Gustard X26 Pro over the D90LE as it sounds better.

Impossible, sorry. People fall victims of their imagination more often than not.

 

[Nooborghini]

Impossible, sorry.

I figured that was the case, ergo one can't be different than the other in an audible sense correct?
From what I understand and speculate, the people saying X sounds better than Y is due to an imbalance of dB when flipping between X and Y where our ears perceive an acoustic property change. For example, If I want to feel a specific slam on a note or "clearer" I'd raise my volume knob a bit.
I understand that EQ is doing the same thing but that would be processed through the entire track rather than when I volume DJ, it is only for those increments of dB.

EDIT:
Right now I have an X26 Pro (Black) and a D90LE (Silver) at the same price.
I have an A90D in silver so I was trying to figure out if I should even consider the X26 Pro if I can't hear the difference between the two.
I'd ideally like to stick with the same colour theme, ergo the X26 Pro vs D90 situation.
This stemmed from people raving about R2R dacs and the May/Spring vs other DAC's.

I know R2R can sound different (I assume with my limited knowledge) is due to the slight distortion it may bring to the table?
In theory, the Holo May, the cleanest R2R DAC should sound similar to the D90LE (Or whatever is the best measuring DAC out there) right? or am I misunderstanding?

 

[Robbo99999]

I figured that was the case, ergo one can't be different than the other in an audible sense correct?
From what I understand and speculate, the people saying X sounds better than Y is due to an imbalance of dB when flipping between X and Y where our ears perceive an acoustic property change. For example, If I want to feel a specific slam on a note or "clearer" I'd raise my volume knob a bit.
I understand that EQ is doing the same thing but that would be processed through the entire track rather than when I volume DJ, it is only for those increments of dB.

EDIT:
Right now I have an X26 Pro (Black) and a D90LE (Silver) at the same price.
I have an A90D in silver so I was trying to figure out if I should even consider the X26 Pro if I can't hear the difference between the two.
I'd ideally like to stick with the same colour theme, ergo the X26 Pro vs D90 situation.
This stemmed from people raving about R2R dacs and the May/Spring vs other DAC's.

I know R2R can sound different (I assume with my limited knowledge) is due to the slight distortion it may bring to the table?
In theory, the Holo May, the cleanest R2R DAC should sound similar to the D90LE (Or whatever is the best measuring DAC out there) right? or am I misunderstanding?

To keep it simple, stop worrying about DACS, just buy one that measures good to excellent with the features and aesthetic you want, and then quickly forget about it - instead put your thought into speakers, placement/room, anechoic EQ, room EQ.

 

[Snoopy]

To keep it simple, stop worrying about DACS, just buy one that measures good to excellent with the features and aesthetic you want, and then quickly forget about it - instead put your thought into speakers, placement/room, anechoic EQ, room EQ.

Let's not forget getting the best mastering of a Song people on ASR often spend so much time and money on SINAD numbers and end up listening to a stream with super compressed music that is just loud and clipping.

(Just assuming someone listens to music that is out since a couple of decades and not some recently released indie project that someone made in his living room )

 

[Robbo99999]

Let's not forget getting the best mastering of a Song people on ASR often spend so much time and money on SINAD numbers and end up listening to a stream with super compressed music that is just loud and clipping.

(Just assuming someone listens to music that is out since a couple of decades and not some recently released indie project that someone made in his living room )

There's definitely an element of that, it annoys me when music is so loudness compensated that the singer is basically at the almost the same volume the whole song - one moment where this rang true for me was listening to a live version on the TV of Adele performing on one of the British TV channels, she was doing a back catalog of her stuff (and I'm not a big Adele fan even), but it was bloody excellent - the emotion of her voice & songs carried through very powerfully, which led me to then buy every one of her albumns on CD, and I have to say I'm very disappointed by how they pale in comparison to her live performance that I saw on TV - the emotion of the voice just does not come through very well, they loudness compensate her voice way too much on all her tracks she's recorded. Recording quality varies from one artist to another, I think for female vocals that the artist Aurora is a good one to listen to, I think she has some great recordings on a technical level and I like a lot of her music too (eventhough I'm not really a fan of her overall persona when I've done some Youtube googling of her, I don't dislike that aspect of her, but I'm not a follower/fan, lol). Another snippet of information on the recording quality of tracks, I once bought a track of Becky Hill's on Apple Itunes, then happened to buy the same track on Amazon mp3, and I definitely preferred the Amazon version - again there was a noticeable amount more sway in her vocals on the Amazon version - when I put both versions through Orban Loudness Meter I could see that the Amazon version contained more visible peaks and was less compressed than the Itunes version - they basically loudness compensated the Itunes version more than the Amazon version - it was really interesting to see that an audible difference I'd noticed was then confirmed by a visually relatively subtle difference in Orban Loudness Meter. I'm a Massive Attack fan too, which started out when I bought a Greatest Hits style CD from them, which then prompted me to hunt down the original CD's that were released back in the 90's, and there's a noticeable difference there too, to me it's a more subtle difference than the Adele & Becky Hill examples I cited earlier though.

 

[Dunring]

Daczilla just arrived tonight. If you want something that can dwarf a Topping A90 I have good news for you!

I currently have a Topping D90, D90SE and LE plus a Topping E50 and D30Pro out on the tables. Some initial thoughts:
It's huge.
The vivid and gentle settings are a little more effective than the SMSL M300/M500 type "color" settings but pretty similar. It won't keep you from equalizing though. If you have the DT990 600ohm with it's treble spike, no amount of clicking "gentle" will save you when it hits that frequency.
This has the A revision, so I tried using a decibel meter and it didn't increase volume when going to vivid, so I don't think the voltage increases in that mode like was mentioned a while ago. Just had to try it since I've got the A90 amp and phone here to test anyway.
If you have a rack system and the dimension fits, it's a good reason to get one. In a large home it could scale up to big furniture and decor.
The Topping E50 I was using on this A90 all day sounds no different. With vivid then it's a little brighter/lighter sounding, but very song dependent if you'll notice it.
You don't need the remote to use it, standard 3 prong power cord.
Laser thermometer reads 99F on top and sides after running it for an hour with nothing sitting on it.
Just had an X18 last week and it sounds the same. I use a $14 Febsmart 2 port USB card, and everything sounds great on it (located on the heavily shielded side of the power supply away from everything in a mid tower case).
I sell equipment, so don't have to rationalize a purchase since I don't keep anything. It's an aesthetic and connectivity decision for someone. For a professional rack or home person with a big listening room and wants it to fit in.
I'm going to start a game now, so I can tell people I play Destiny 2 with a $1200 DAC

 

[vladc77]

Hi, I am wondering if the Gustard X26Pro can be turned off/off with the provided remote. It is quite inconvenient to be able only manually turn it on. Please clarify. Thank you.

 

[Doodski]

Hi, I am wondering if the Gustard X26Pro can be turned off/off with the provided remote. It is quite inconvenient to be able only manually turn it on. Please clarify. Thank you.

... and. Does it auto-OFF after a timeout? Like after 20 minutes?

 

[vladc77]

Never seen it did auto-off.