I made various power consumption measurements right at the plug of my laptop with a KillAWatt meter. My laptop just coasting along with a browser open is cruising at 17 Watts, 1% CPU, 37% RAM. Briefly spiking to 37W when launching a new tab. HQ Player streaming Qobuz via HQP Client to DSD256/...

I am actually pretty happy with the sonics of the Gustard A26 via HQ Player conversion and direct DSD at 256 now that I have the LAN connection working. Even on the mid level HQP settings since my gaming laptop is running out of cooling to play well on the more demanding Sinc-m filters with 512+...

I am now in agreement that the Gustard A26 (and VMV D2R and probably all Delta-Sigma DACs) sounds better when converting my PCM files to at least DSD 256. Are there any types of DACs that sound their best when getting an HQ Player upsampled PCM signal instead? R2R DACs?

I went back to USB into the Gustard A26 to try the HQPlayer DAC specific correction pipeline again (which isn't available to select when connected by LAN), and find that the LAN sounds much better than the USB through what has proven with several other DACs, my best sounding USB cable. Supra...

Pure Silver 16 cores headphone cable from ebay are very transparent compared to the sliver plated 8 cores version from the same seller or the Youkamoo from Amazon. https://www.ebay.com/itm/115714280141?var=415976211065

Here is a good objective measurement comparison of USB cables which proves that they do color the signal.

My firmware shows as A115_131_247

Yeah. I almost made the same mistake and held off trying anything higher than DSD256 for several weeks based on comments like these. Relegating yourself to DSD256 is unfortunately noticeably inferior to PCM768. Which is bettered still slightly by DSD2048. There is obviously some advantage to the...

Another HQPlayer user finally prompted me to buck the theory that the best that the AK4499EX chip can do is direct DSD256. I guess I had already been bucking consensus by preferring HQPlayer PCM768 to DSD256 and when using the LAN input to bypass USB cables and receivers, preferring LAN768 using...

Did you try it?

So, I did try the PCM 7xx with LNS15 and sinc-Mx back and forth with TPDF and poly-sinc-gauss-xla. All 4 interchangeably. And still prefer p-s-g-xla with TPDF. I also prefer ASDM7 512+ to AMSDM7 512+or ASDM7EC-super. Buck convention and theory and try DSDxx at 2048.

Apparently the filter in HQPlayer works better during the conversion from PCM 24/ 48 to DSD 2048 than to DSD 256 even though the Gustard A26 display can't confess to receiving anything higher than LAN DSD512, and the dac chips then supposedly truncate anything higher to DSD256. I would LOVE to...

Which is the reason I have never contemplated trying any DSD setting higher than 256 in HQPlayer. Until now. Which presents DSD at a level that can't quite match the transparency and snap of LAN PCM768. But now that I did go ahead and try it, each higher level of DSD rate sounds better and...

My new laptop is an Acer Nitro V15 gaming laptop. i7 13th, Nvidia RTX4060, 16GB DDR5 RAM, SSD 512. It does have a typeC Thunderbolt which I haven't tried. And my requisite RJ-45 LAN. It is a good value at $1000. If I had it to do it over I would have custom ordered one with 32GB and 1 TB SSD...

I had almost almost failed to explore the higher DSD rates. I thought in weeks passed that my laptop was struggling and skipping at the higher rates, but today I can reliably play anything all the way up to the top. It is interesting that DSD1024 and 2048 both display as DSD 24.5M on the A26...

I honestly haven't tried higher DSD rates since it was suggested in the Gustard A26 thread that DSD256 was the highest rate that would pass direct and 512 would again be first directed through the AKM modulator that we are trying to bypass. What HQP/ DAC settings were your preference when you...

Comparisons of HQPlayer into the Gustard A26. PCM, DSD, and DSD using the A26 correction pipeline via USB using the excellent (but full and robust sounding?) Supra Excalibur cable, and PCM and DSD (the A26 correction option doesn't populate when on LAN for some reason) using the LAN input...

Comparisons of HQPlayer into the Gustard A26. PCM, DSD, and DSD using the A26 correction pipeline via USB using the excellent (but full and robust sounding?) Supra Excalibur cable, and PCM and DSD (the A26 correction option doesn't populate when on LAN for some reason) using the LAN input...

Doesn't the menu selection "DSD direct" enabled do this? It is a separate menu item that is not in with the choices of "Fixed" or "Variable"

Renderer firmware shows as 1V43 in HQPlayer. The DAC firmware is XXXX-247. HQPlayer A26 DAC correction can be selected and works via USB but the option does not populate any choice in the enabled correction field in pipeline when connected via LAN.

Apparently the DAC correction only works whaen connected via USB. Now I can use the Gustard A26 correction pipeline when connected via USB and the DAC does show DSD 11.2M. I can also choose PCM or DSD via LAN but the correction won't populate the field when via LAN. Listening tests to follow...

I am running Gustard A26 LAN Direct DSD. It is listed.

I can check the enable matrix and then check enable correction but the selection fields for correction are blank.

I couldn't get my laptop to find the correct permissions to share a LAN directly to the Gustard A26 so I'm running generic Cat6 LAN from the laptop to my router (ripped it off the wall and drug a cable across the house on the floor into my bedroom-some things are important), and Cat6 form the...

I'm still struggling to find any settings that allow direct DSD over LAN into the Gustard A26 to sound even close to the best I can get when selecting PCM. The DSD is overly smooth and lacking details and speed in the highs. I can use ASDM7EC-super (for a while until my processors start to...