[amix]

So, I hear a lot about qualities, that make the music approachable on a sort of material level, like texture, sound stage, instrument separation, someone mentioned he could hear the singer lick her lips, etc.

But nobody talks about "groove", whether it made them tap their feet (pace, rhythm and timing), nod their head. Does the unit "boogie".

Most important for me would be the "tapping the feet" factor. How would it rate on a 10 scale with 10 being "always". R2Rs tend to be a bit handicapped in this regard, but also DS DACs lack this often.

Thanks, much appreciated!

 

[dericchan1]

So, I hear a lot about qualities, that make the music approachable on a sort of material level, like texture, sound stage, instrument separation, someone mentioned he could hear the singer lick her lips, etc.

But nobody talks about "groove", whether it made them tap their feet (pace, rhythm and timing), nod their head. Does the unit "boogie".

Most important for me would be the "tapping the feet" factor. How would it rate on a 10 scale with 10 being "always". R2Rs tend to be a bit handicapped in this regard, but also DS DACs lack this often.

Thanks, much appreciated!

Compared between the Cyan 2 and my IFI Pro IDSD, Cyan 2 is the more neutral, organic, natural, believable, real sounding dac. The IFI Pro is the more colored, musical, toe tapping dac, and it hits harder in bass, and more flowery in the mids and highs, sometimes it sounded so beautiful you know for a fact its not real. hahahaha

I love them both in different ways.

 

[amix]

I guess I will pass on this, then. Too bad. I love the general sound signature of R2R but they all seem to be lacking the boogie.

Flowery mids, toe tapping, hmmm... like it! Too bad ist's nearly triple the price. Thanks for sharing your experience!

What is this IFI company all about? Weren't they once originating from some web-forum, such as this here?

 

[dericchan1]

I guess I will pass on this, then. Too bad. I love the general sound signature of R2R but they all seem to be lacking the boogie.

Flowery mids, toe tapping, hmmm... like it! Too bad ist's nearly triple the price. Thanks for sharing your experience!

What is this IFI company all about? Weren't they once originating from some web-forum, such as this here?

https://ifi-audio.com/

They've been around for some time now. Parent company Abbingdon Music Research aka AMR from the UK.

I do love the Cyan 2 for the smooth and neutral sounding, I am thinking of changing my target curve and extend the bass a tiny bit that will give a bit more grunt. I do think you can't go wrong with the Cyan 2, its a matter of preference but nothing a proper PEQ can not improve...

With the IFI pro IDSD, it does have more grunt, it hits harder and I had to trim down the bass and steepen the bass roll off a bit. Now with the Cyan 2, I probably need to extend the bass a bit more...

 

[photobillyli]

After using the HQplayer to conver all PCM to DSD before feeding the Cyan 2, I simply CANNOT listen to PCM again.

 

[dericchan1]

After using the HQplayer to conver all PCM to DSD before feeding the Cyan 2, I simply CANNOT listen to PCM again.

Agreed, once in a while I still go back to 20/1536 pcm and it just sounded weird to my ears now

 

[photobillyli]

Agreed, once in a while I still go back to 20/1536 pcm and it just sounded weird to my ears now

Exactly, HQplayer DSD is now my standard. Roon DSD is okay, but it still falls quite behind HQplayer.

 

[dericchan1]

Exactly, HQplayer DSD is now my standard. Roon DSD is okay, but it still falls quite behind HQplayer.

Well I do want pcm to sound good, that would be a nice option for a different sound with a pcm nos r2r dac but as Miska had suggested, the pcm performance is quite a bit behind dsd…

 

[Erick Muller]

I do not have/had the R26 even it should have been an obvious choice for me . I "only" have the X26Pro (ESS DAC), P26 (preamp) and H26(headphone amp) from Gustard.
The Cyan2 is now the R2R DAC option in my setup(s):

Really impressive audio setup, I have two questions.

1. What are your sound impressions of the Gustard H26 amp? I'm interested in that amp but haven't seen a lot of people talking about it
2. Why are you using the gustard P26 yo pre-amp those amps, in particular the H26 and the SS2590 means that you change sparko op-amps?

 

[godmax]

1. What are your sound impressions of the Gustard H26 amp? I'm interested in that amp but haven't seen a lot of people talking about it

Yea, the H26 seems to be very overlooked currently, looks like the Aune S17 Pro took all the glory. I had the Aune before but returned it because of heat issues (my unit did not switch back to 50ma mode from 100ma when reaching 69C, but just froze and had to cut the power). The H26 is less dense sounding than the S17 Pro, but with much wider soundstage. I really like it.

2. Why are you using the gustard P26 yo pre-amp those amps, in particular the H26 and the SS2590 means that you change sparko op-amps?

I use the P26 to get the Sparkos SS2590 (yes, I replaced the stock opamps) into the chain (the opamps in the H26 only affect preamp, not headphone output), because I really was impressed by the Sparkos Gemini that also use these opamps.

Also the combination of the Cyan 2 with the P26[SS2590] and the H26 is really good

 

[gammi]

After using the HQplayer to conver all PCM to DSD before feeding the Cyan 2, I simply CANNOT listen to PCM again.

Which filter(s) do you prefer with your Cyan 2?

I will say one thing about DSD, the 6dB drop sucks. When I'm using my RAAL CA-1a I have 6dB loss from DSD, 8dB loss from the convolution filters for it and 3dB loss for HQPlayer clipping overhead. A whopping 17dB loss all together! I have to basically max out my Holo Bliss when I'm using DSD with my CA-1a and that's quite a powerful amp.

 

[Erick Muller]

Yea, the H26 seems to be very overlooked currently, looks like the Aune S17 Pro took all the glory. I had the Aune before but returned it because of heat issues (my unit did not switch back to 50ma mode from 100ma when reaching 69C, but just froze and had to cut the power). The H26 is less dense sounding than the S17 Pro, but with much wider soundstage. I really like it.

So sad to hear that you had issues with your S17, I hadn't had those problems but now that things are starting to heat up where I live, I find my self turning on the USB fans more often to manage the temps on the amp when I'm running it on 100ma mode.

I was checking the power delivery of this amp and it seems it might run tungsten just fine given the specifications, the H26 seems like a great amp, unfortunate that it hasn't gotten more attention.

 

[JjB067]

New YouTube video review just posted on the Cyan2 from New Record Day. He compares it to the May KTE and concludes they are very close. So a bargain at the price for the Cyan2.

 

[LXMc]

New YouTube video review just posted on the Cyan2 from New Record Day. He compares it to the May KTE and concludes they are very close. So a bargain at the price for the Cyan2.

Nice, thanks for the heads up, been hoping a review was coming from him soon

 

[dericchan1]

New YouTube video review just posted on the Cyan2 from New Record Day. He compares it to the May KTE and concludes they are very close. So a bargain at the price for the Cyan2.

Ron is my favorite YouTube reviewer whom his comment I completely trust!!!

I have to believe Ron has good ears and know what to listen for. His room is well treated and the rest of his gear is up to the task. So as much as ppl looking at measurements and claim there is some gap in performance between the Cyan 2 and the Spring, these differences just may or may not be totally audible.

I think what makes Ron's review on the cyan 2 even more impressive is the fact that he didn't even bother with dsd and hqplayer that everyone has measured would bring the cyan 2 much closer to the spring