GUSTARD A26 DAC MQA Dual AK4499EX AK4191 With Streamer/Renderer XMOS DSD512 PCM768K MQA384K IIS Balanced Audio Decoder Black

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Having said all that, here are some reasons you should not take my view as gospel without more corroboration. a) I have very little DAC experience, having only owned two (plus a couple of real cheapies that don’t really count). b) I only use it as a DAC (not a streamer or a pre), so YMMV if you use it differently. Chord however got more involved when they opted to custom code an FPGA-based XC7A15T chip to their standards. Peer into the viewing glass of the Qutest and the Xilinx module can be appreciated. There's 2 parts to below answer - which actually references Fixed Output ( not using R26's Preamp as I want to do)

PCM Filter – You can choose between six digital filters provided by AKM, which are working on the hardware level. The first one sounds the most accurate, while the Super Slow Roll-Off filter sounds the most natural to my ears. Some of them are sounding quite similar and the differences are subtle at best. A26 seems much closer to DAVE as opposed to R26, always getting a highly detailed, yet organic sound that people are usually chasing. I got the itch to try a new DAC. I wanted one that was excellent that did not cost a small fortune. More on the grills adorning the sides, the silver color option does help it pop more. And, the almost closed-off internals of the A26 breathes through the slim slits carefully hidden on its upper portion.Besides, A26 supports MQA, and easy access to high-quality online streams, like Roon, UPnP, and HQPlayer NAA at present, and more protocols will be shown in near future. All things considered, starting with its build quality, impressive feature set, component selection and most importantly, sound quality, this is one of the most impressive DACs that I’ve heard at my place. Top 10? Make it in the top 5 best units I tried and that should tell you how I honestly feel about it. Late last year, AKM released a duo of flagship chips to attain complete separation of digital and analog circuitry which found a place inside the A26. sed -i 's/HiTide RasPi Streamer/Gustard R26/g' /lib/systemd/system/ifi-streamer-tidal-connect.service I initially tossed aside the USB cable provided without taking a proper look. It took me a while but when I noticed that the terminations are gold plated and the wire has a substantial gauge, I thought it was worth a try nonetheless.

Without a proper screen like in the A26, users of the Qutest will have to take time to remember the meaning of the different colors indicated on the unit. There are two physical orbs for changing inputs, filters, and accessing the hidden settings. Performance The A26 does impose a bit over the vocal region but the faintest of notes do reverberate with accuracy. With a hint of warmth, vocals are guided to handle all types of genres with the right amount of engagement and linearity. Swapping headphones to the Dan Clark Audio Ether 2, with its rather tamed tuning compared to the ATH-ADX5000, the pairing got somewhat cold. Still, the Ether 2 remained revealing in key areas such as vocals plus there is a low-end planar dynamism that brings in some peppiness and bite to the A26. In terms of build quality, both are carved on CNC machines with very tight tolerance numbers, they both look and feel like expensive units. Although in terms of looks, I’ll give an edge to the Element X which looks nicer, more futuristic and way more elegant. Element X is one of the biggest D/S DAC I’ve tested so far and it is currently the best sounding one too, it is my reference together with the Audiobyte HydraVox. Unsurprisingly, X26 PRO is even bigger, much heavier, hotter on the outside, consuming twice as much power to the Element X, thanks to its Class-A I/V conversion, LPF and output stage.As a twin to the R26, the accessories provided are practically the same. There is a remote, power cable, USB-B cable, warranty card, and a minidisc. Aoshida was awesome to deal with. It was going going to ship from China and not be here until sometime in begining of July. Well it was Shipped by FedEx on June 27 and it was delivered Friday June 30. I wasted no time hooking it up. I had to install a driver for Windows 11 and it went seemlessly as a component for Foobar 2000. I haven’t tried any other DACs utilizing the AK4191 and AK4499EX tandem nor have I come across the concept itself being used widely. So, the advantage of going to such lengths seems a bit trivial for me at the moment but I understand that the A26 doesn’t deserve anything less.