LarsHP
Headphoneus Supremus
This thread is for COMPARISONS between the Gustard A26 and R26 Discrete DAC.
There are two separate threads, one for each DAC. The R26 thread is already almost 400 pages and the A26 thread is more than 40. Not surprisingly, a lot of people (including me) are specifically looking for comparisons between the two DAC's. In order to better get an overview, I decided to copy-paste as much as possible from reviews etc. on the internet and post here. Others are of course more than welcome to add their findings.
My tentative, overall conclusions after reading and listening to reviews of the A26 ($1500) and R26 ($1650) DAC's is that both are excellent, particularly for their price, but different, particularly regarding treble rendering and soundstage presentaion. The A26 is a Delta-Sigma, chip-based, DAC while the R26 is a ladder / R-2R DAC, but A26 sounds closer to R-2R DAC's than most other similar units and likewise the R26 sounds closer to Delta-Sigma DAC's in their price class. In other words, both units are both very detailed and smooth sounding. The R26 clearly has the upper hand regarding soundstage depth, while the A26 is close to a reference class resolution DAC (Chord DAVE) and has a sharper sound (including imaging). It appears to me that the A26 may be for the listener who wants as much "truth" as possible, while the R26 is for the listener who wants to enjoy all albums, even those that may be not so well recorded. R26 conveys emotions more, while the A26 impress more. (This is only based on what I have read and heard from reviewers.)
Manufacturers web pages:
Gustard R26 DAC
Gustard A26 DAC
Measurements
A26 measurements by Audio Science Review measurements
Google translate from Chinese:
R26 measurements by L7 Audiolab
A26 measurements by L7 Audiolab
YouTube reviews
iiWi Reviews
No written reviews of these DAC's, but here is the website.
Tharbamar
Sound News (by Sandu Vitalie, Romania) has posted two reviews of these DAC's:
https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/gustard-a26-dac-review-can-it-get-any-better/
https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/...-gustard-r26-discrete-r-2r-ladder-dac-review/
In the comments section to the Chord DAVE review at Sound News, there is this interesting dialog:
Guest: Hi, How far different between Dave and R26? Thank you.
Sandu Vitalie: Hi, Honestly, not that much in its stock configuration (without the MScaler). Dave is slightly faster, more detailed and holographic, while R26 is a little smoother and sweeter sounding. With Mscaler, the difference is growing larger and Dave is no longer losing in the "sweetness" department.
Since these are quite long and there are several comparisons mixed along in the A26 review, I have extracted what I found to be the most important sonic descriptions of the two DAC's. (Underscore and bold by me.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Excerpts from the A26 review by Sound News
I tuned my whole rig around the Chord DAVE DAC (around $14,000) because in the right conditions, it can go to eleven. While I can tune its tonality back and forth with cables and additional electronics, there is no way I could tune its realism and lifelike lucidity. … With A26, … in the right conditions, especially via its internal streamer, it was only by a notch behind the DAVE while costing a tenth of its price, and that my friends is an unbeatable price-to-performance ratio.
As a general rule of thumb, you are getting a softer sound with resistor ladder DACs and a speedier one with chip-based converters. If you wanted to have them both, then you needed to eat more bread and less pudding & cook your own meals for a few blood moons. Nonetheless, Gustard shattered my preconceptions with R26, which I’m still using on a daily basis.
Combining a mid-forward sound with a clearer image, the sound felt stronger and somewhat weightier, carrying more music with every single strike. … Sounds weren’t traveling long distances as A26 felt more intimate, delivering higher energy when hitting my eardrums at the cost of a less impressive layering. In this regard, A26 was very impressive, getting clear and defined bass notes that were playful and quite fun at the same time.
A26 was smaller sounding and you can feel that music emanated from a nearer inception point versus the R26, ultimately getting a faster decay and better control of the drivers. With all that said, the transient response guy won’t be side-grading his R26 with an A26, as the former still has plenty of life in it, hiding a few aces under its sleeve which will be revealed later into the game.
The sound didn’t want to offend me via R26, showing mostly the beautiful side of this track, while A26 was showing its true, unspoiled nature. Subsequently, I can easier enjoy the R26 with solid-state electronics regardless of their quality, even with less-than-perfect ones that leaned towards brightness. A26 won’t mate well with all and everything as a few solid-state amplifiers could still be problematic.
A26 is an excellent machine when pointing out the location of the notes and honestly, it’s even better than R26, getting clearer and sharper sounding along the way. A26 draws your attention more often, something that R26 will rarely do when multitasking in front of a computer. A26 has this ability to show off, always trying to impress with its immaculate technicalities. When listening to live recordings, you can easily hear things happening deep in the background. It could be foot movements, musicians inhaling and exhaling air, or fingers touching the fretboards or piano keys. With all that being said, the music never felt limitless as was the case with R26.
Via R26, the sound has no boundaries, coming from a black void of nothingness, appearing out of thin air and flying a longer distance until reaching its final destination. While R26 isn’t that sharp or precise in its stereo image, it is considerably deeper and wider sounding. As I mentioned before, A26 is both impressive and excellent, two specific words I chose to describe its sound staging capabilities, but it is not as legendary as R26 performs with acoustic or live music. I’m always getting chills when R26 starts playing, getting bigger void spaces in between the notes, bringing along more music without bumping the notes into each other. A26 wasn’t as impressive in this regard, getting a sound closer to your face, pushing things a little closer, altering the depth and the perception of a borderless sound.
A26 seems much closer to DAVE as opposed to R26, always getting a highly detailed, yet organic sound that people are usually chasing.
A26 outperformed my R26, as it was a hair punchier and more dynamic sounding.
Many chip-based converters tried mimicking the sound of R-2R ladder DACs, but none of them approached so close to their velvet, smooth, and organic nature like Gustard’s A26 did for me. The magic started when acoustic music mixed with vocals started playing. You can almost feel it in your gut that everything sounds just right. The voices sounded as humanly possible, having longer decays and an irregular vibration. Snare drum hits had the thump and a short echo that I’m not usually getting with chip-based converters. There was more life, everything bloomed and intertwined nicely, without creating muddy waters.
… the biggest difference was felt in the treble. R26 always juggles with the idea of providing as much joy and satisfaction to the listener. It tells you fresh jokes and beautiful lies, and it does that with a happy face, getting so sweet and pleasant in the process. R26 will never offend you in the treble, even put on bright-sounding amplifiers, speakers, or headphones. While it didn’t slash bits of information, always sounding extended by going past the top octave, it just removed over-sharpness and timing errors. It felt just right, sometimes gently rounding the top octave that removed listening fatigue for good. A26 is doing that as well but to a lower degree. X26 PRO was detailed and sharp sounding (on a few occasions), R26 was detailed without being sharp …
… A26 felt sharper sounding and slightly more defined, as the contours of the notes were outlined via A26. The latter has a higher dynamic range and with the right equipment and selection of music, you can hear that.
By far, the biggest difference lies in the soundstage department. Regardless of what I was listening to, A26 had a sharper stereo image, placing the notes precisely around me. R26 appeared fuzzier and not as sharp and accurate. However, when trying to expand or close in the sound going from live to regular tunes, A26 didn’t feel as impressive, especially with live and reference recordings which were hitting an imaginary wall at some point. There was a sense of grandeur and depth that A26 couldn’t apprehend even on world-class electronics. In this regard, R26 felt closer to what I have heard on Denafrips Terminator Plus (around $6400) and higher priced Rockna converters, easily expanding and shrinking the sound depending on the music.
With R26, I couldn’t tell from where the sound was emanating, music was just popping out of thin air. … R26 was putting more space in between the notes and I could easier zoom in on the tiniest sounds playing in the background. A26 pushed things on the foreground and while it felt more resolving, it was more difficult wandering around my tunes, especially via open-back headphones.
A26 felt sharper sounding, with notes popping in and out faster. With all that being said, R26 was always beautiful sounding and quite magical as well.
While R26 is still a true bargain and I won’t part ways with it anytime soon, A26 is the true value king, the giant killer that will be remembered for a very long time.
Tonality-wise, this is quite probably the best chip-based D/A converter I have tested so far, getting a perfect dose of technicalities, while bringing life back into your music. A26 was always refined and velvety, preserving the soul of the music as no other chip-based converter did to this day. There’s an abundance of energy every time I hit that play button, getting positive vibes along the way.
The highest bang for the buck I’ve experienced thus far!
Not as deep, open, and wide sounding as R26.
Overall score 94/100
Value 96/100
Background Noise 95/100
Resolution 94/100
Dynamics 95/100
Frequency Response 95/100
Stage Size 92/100
Build Quality 93/100
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Excerpts from the R26 review by Sound News
Background Noise 94/100
Resolution 93/100
Dynamics 94/100
Frequency Response 94/100
Stage Size 95/100
Build Quality 92/100
Making clean, detailed and fast sounding R-2R ladder DACs is extremely difficult, time consuming and costly, as usually these units need a custom FPGA that will solve of the errors made by the ladders. That’s precisely why technical sounding R-2R DACs are usually unobtanium material, sky being their limit price wise.
I am quite shocked by how…technical, clean, resolute and fast sounding R26 Discrete really is! Without a single doubt in my mind, there is not even a contest, as R26 Discrete seems much clearer sounding than the Denafrips Venus ($3000), it seems clearer than the Musician Pegasus ($1100) and dare I say…it’s more impressive than the Musician Aquarius ($3200).
For starters, I find it extremely technical for an R-2R unit, especially when used with a nice DDC like their own U18 or with a Singxer SU-6, scoring huge points as usually resistor ladder DACs are slower, muddier, less focused and not that precise or fast sounding. Gustard bumped that resolution so high, that I no longer feel a gap in between it and the X26 PRO.
Nothing was fighting for a prime time or for my full attention, everything felt spread out and so defined in its own bubble of air. The soundstage was massive…easily on the same level with the Musician Aquarius and approaching dangerously close to the Denafrips Terminator Plus – which so far, was the soundstage king in my book. R26 Discrete felt bigger sounding than any of the Delta-Sigma Oversampling DACs and the difference was literally…night and day, even with drivers sitting centimeters away from my eardrums.
… I’m dealing with a 10 out of 10 bass slam and impact, with a 9.5 out of 10 speed and decay of the notes – a point where X26 PRO sounded by a hair faster. Still for an R-2R DAC getting a lightning-fast speed and decay? I’m taking my hat off; it was masterfully done!
I’ll go and say it out loud, that this is one of the fastest sounding R-2R ladder DACs that I’ve tried to this day and it’s one of the most impactful one as well, as it somehow reminds about the kick of the Rockna Wavelight and Audio-GD R7, which were always explosive and mood-lifting. Instead of being ultra-linear to a point of becoming boring, R26 Discrete infuses pure joy, regardless of the musical genre or mastering quality.
Long story short, if you love modern and impactful tunes, but still want that life-like and natural presentation of R-2R ladder DACs, then R26 Discrete is so far, the easiest recommendation to make.
While this unit completely discards over-sharpness and remaining traces of listening fatigue, it never discards bits of information …
… I kid you not that my chin started shaking, I was almost crying alone in my office. This is a very emotional sounding unit as the track was so touching and soul-grabbing. Just a few minutes ago I was joking and smiling with a big month and now a tear was rolling on my cheek…if a unit can do this in a span of half an hour, then words are really, unnecessary. … It is clear to me than R26 Discrete is not only an amazing goose-bump machine, but a very technical sounding unit as well, merging everything I want a high-end DAC to be.
It goes without saying that R26 is an exceptional converter when it comes to layering, width and depth, exactly as the biggest majority of well-made R-2R converters are performing.
… R26 felt by a hair more organic and freer (vs Musician Aquarius) like listening to unamplified music. … Neutral tuned setups like mine will be getting a much-needed presence and soul, changing their tonality upside down, adding richness into your listening space and dopamine into your blood stream. There wasn’t a single musical genre that R26 didn’t do well…something that I can rarely write about chip-based converters as of late.
It doesn’t roll-off treble information, not in the slightest, as I’m constantly hearing low-intensity bells and brush sticks hitting the drums and crawling under my skin. I also like that R26 never shouts trying to get my full attention with a metallic treble delivery. It gets the right intensity, weight and decay, just enough to feel that this is how treble needs to be rendered.
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.
If Gustard R26 Discrete would cost two times its price, I would still be recommending it left and right and if it would be even pricier, then it would still perform great at a less appealing price. … It goes without saying that R26 Discrete is more than an impressive sounding unit and from this very moment, I will be recommending it as the best R-2R ladder DAC bellow $3500.
… it’s an absolute steal and I mean it! Chip-based converters move away, there’s a new sheriff in town.
Considerably clearer and more detailed sounding to R-2R ladder DACs of the same price bracket and the difference wasn’t small.
Massive, huge and holographic sounding at all time, layered and well-spread around the listener
Incredibly transparent sounding, focusing on things playing in the background felt as a child’s play
Hefty and bold, punchy and visceral sounding with bass intensive music, amazing transients and quick shifts in dynamics!
(No real cons)
There are two separate threads, one for each DAC. The R26 thread is already almost 400 pages and the A26 thread is more than 40. Not surprisingly, a lot of people (including me) are specifically looking for comparisons between the two DAC's. In order to better get an overview, I decided to copy-paste as much as possible from reviews etc. on the internet and post here. Others are of course more than welcome to add their findings.
My tentative, overall conclusions after reading and listening to reviews of the A26 ($1500) and R26 ($1650) DAC's is that both are excellent, particularly for their price, but different, particularly regarding treble rendering and soundstage presentaion. The A26 is a Delta-Sigma, chip-based, DAC while the R26 is a ladder / R-2R DAC, but A26 sounds closer to R-2R DAC's than most other similar units and likewise the R26 sounds closer to Delta-Sigma DAC's in their price class. In other words, both units are both very detailed and smooth sounding. The R26 clearly has the upper hand regarding soundstage depth, while the A26 is close to a reference class resolution DAC (Chord DAVE) and has a sharper sound (including imaging). It appears to me that the A26 may be for the listener who wants as much "truth" as possible, while the R26 is for the listener who wants to enjoy all albums, even those that may be not so well recorded. R26 conveys emotions more, while the A26 impress more. (This is only based on what I have read and heard from reviewers.)
Manufacturers web pages:
Gustard R26 DAC
Gustard A26 DAC
Measurements
A26 measurements by Audio Science Review measurements
Google translate from Chinese:
R26 measurements by L7 Audiolab
A26 measurements by L7 Audiolab
YouTube reviews
iiWi Reviews
No written reviews of these DAC's, but here is the website.
Tharbamar
Sound News (by Sandu Vitalie, Romania) has posted two reviews of these DAC's:
https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/gustard-a26-dac-review-can-it-get-any-better/
https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/...-gustard-r26-discrete-r-2r-ladder-dac-review/
In the comments section to the Chord DAVE review at Sound News, there is this interesting dialog:
Guest: Hi, How far different between Dave and R26? Thank you.
Sandu Vitalie: Hi, Honestly, not that much in its stock configuration (without the MScaler). Dave is slightly faster, more detailed and holographic, while R26 is a little smoother and sweeter sounding. With Mscaler, the difference is growing larger and Dave is no longer losing in the "sweetness" department.
Since these are quite long and there are several comparisons mixed along in the A26 review, I have extracted what I found to be the most important sonic descriptions of the two DAC's. (Underscore and bold by me.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Excerpts from the A26 review by Sound News
I tuned my whole rig around the Chord DAVE DAC (around $14,000) because in the right conditions, it can go to eleven. While I can tune its tonality back and forth with cables and additional electronics, there is no way I could tune its realism and lifelike lucidity. … With A26, … in the right conditions, especially via its internal streamer, it was only by a notch behind the DAVE while costing a tenth of its price, and that my friends is an unbeatable price-to-performance ratio.
As a general rule of thumb, you are getting a softer sound with resistor ladder DACs and a speedier one with chip-based converters. If you wanted to have them both, then you needed to eat more bread and less pudding & cook your own meals for a few blood moons. Nonetheless, Gustard shattered my preconceptions with R26, which I’m still using on a daily basis.
Combining a mid-forward sound with a clearer image, the sound felt stronger and somewhat weightier, carrying more music with every single strike. … Sounds weren’t traveling long distances as A26 felt more intimate, delivering higher energy when hitting my eardrums at the cost of a less impressive layering. In this regard, A26 was very impressive, getting clear and defined bass notes that were playful and quite fun at the same time.
A26 was smaller sounding and you can feel that music emanated from a nearer inception point versus the R26, ultimately getting a faster decay and better control of the drivers. With all that said, the transient response guy won’t be side-grading his R26 with an A26, as the former still has plenty of life in it, hiding a few aces under its sleeve which will be revealed later into the game.
The sound didn’t want to offend me via R26, showing mostly the beautiful side of this track, while A26 was showing its true, unspoiled nature. Subsequently, I can easier enjoy the R26 with solid-state electronics regardless of their quality, even with less-than-perfect ones that leaned towards brightness. A26 won’t mate well with all and everything as a few solid-state amplifiers could still be problematic.
A26 is an excellent machine when pointing out the location of the notes and honestly, it’s even better than R26, getting clearer and sharper sounding along the way. A26 draws your attention more often, something that R26 will rarely do when multitasking in front of a computer. A26 has this ability to show off, always trying to impress with its immaculate technicalities. When listening to live recordings, you can easily hear things happening deep in the background. It could be foot movements, musicians inhaling and exhaling air, or fingers touching the fretboards or piano keys. With all that being said, the music never felt limitless as was the case with R26.
Via R26, the sound has no boundaries, coming from a black void of nothingness, appearing out of thin air and flying a longer distance until reaching its final destination. While R26 isn’t that sharp or precise in its stereo image, it is considerably deeper and wider sounding. As I mentioned before, A26 is both impressive and excellent, two specific words I chose to describe its sound staging capabilities, but it is not as legendary as R26 performs with acoustic or live music. I’m always getting chills when R26 starts playing, getting bigger void spaces in between the notes, bringing along more music without bumping the notes into each other. A26 wasn’t as impressive in this regard, getting a sound closer to your face, pushing things a little closer, altering the depth and the perception of a borderless sound.
A26 seems much closer to DAVE as opposed to R26, always getting a highly detailed, yet organic sound that people are usually chasing.
A26 outperformed my R26, as it was a hair punchier and more dynamic sounding.
Many chip-based converters tried mimicking the sound of R-2R ladder DACs, but none of them approached so close to their velvet, smooth, and organic nature like Gustard’s A26 did for me. The magic started when acoustic music mixed with vocals started playing. You can almost feel it in your gut that everything sounds just right. The voices sounded as humanly possible, having longer decays and an irregular vibration. Snare drum hits had the thump and a short echo that I’m not usually getting with chip-based converters. There was more life, everything bloomed and intertwined nicely, without creating muddy waters.
… the biggest difference was felt in the treble. R26 always juggles with the idea of providing as much joy and satisfaction to the listener. It tells you fresh jokes and beautiful lies, and it does that with a happy face, getting so sweet and pleasant in the process. R26 will never offend you in the treble, even put on bright-sounding amplifiers, speakers, or headphones. While it didn’t slash bits of information, always sounding extended by going past the top octave, it just removed over-sharpness and timing errors. It felt just right, sometimes gently rounding the top octave that removed listening fatigue for good. A26 is doing that as well but to a lower degree. X26 PRO was detailed and sharp sounding (on a few occasions), R26 was detailed without being sharp …
… A26 felt sharper sounding and slightly more defined, as the contours of the notes were outlined via A26. The latter has a higher dynamic range and with the right equipment and selection of music, you can hear that.
By far, the biggest difference lies in the soundstage department. Regardless of what I was listening to, A26 had a sharper stereo image, placing the notes precisely around me. R26 appeared fuzzier and not as sharp and accurate. However, when trying to expand or close in the sound going from live to regular tunes, A26 didn’t feel as impressive, especially with live and reference recordings which were hitting an imaginary wall at some point. There was a sense of grandeur and depth that A26 couldn’t apprehend even on world-class electronics. In this regard, R26 felt closer to what I have heard on Denafrips Terminator Plus (around $6400) and higher priced Rockna converters, easily expanding and shrinking the sound depending on the music.
With R26, I couldn’t tell from where the sound was emanating, music was just popping out of thin air. … R26 was putting more space in between the notes and I could easier zoom in on the tiniest sounds playing in the background. A26 pushed things on the foreground and while it felt more resolving, it was more difficult wandering around my tunes, especially via open-back headphones.
A26 felt sharper sounding, with notes popping in and out faster. With all that being said, R26 was always beautiful sounding and quite magical as well.
While R26 is still a true bargain and I won’t part ways with it anytime soon, A26 is the true value king, the giant killer that will be remembered for a very long time.
Tonality-wise, this is quite probably the best chip-based D/A converter I have tested so far, getting a perfect dose of technicalities, while bringing life back into your music. A26 was always refined and velvety, preserving the soul of the music as no other chip-based converter did to this day. There’s an abundance of energy every time I hit that play button, getting positive vibes along the way.
The highest bang for the buck I’ve experienced thus far!
Not as deep, open, and wide sounding as R26.
Overall score 94/100
Value 96/100
Background Noise 95/100
Resolution 94/100
Dynamics 95/100
Frequency Response 95/100
Stage Size 92/100
Build Quality 93/100
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Excerpts from the R26 review by Sound News
Overall score 94/100
Value 95/100Background Noise 94/100
Resolution 93/100
Dynamics 94/100
Frequency Response 94/100
Stage Size 95/100
Build Quality 92/100
Making clean, detailed and fast sounding R-2R ladder DACs is extremely difficult, time consuming and costly, as usually these units need a custom FPGA that will solve of the errors made by the ladders. That’s precisely why technical sounding R-2R DACs are usually unobtanium material, sky being their limit price wise.
I am quite shocked by how…technical, clean, resolute and fast sounding R26 Discrete really is! Without a single doubt in my mind, there is not even a contest, as R26 Discrete seems much clearer sounding than the Denafrips Venus ($3000), it seems clearer than the Musician Pegasus ($1100) and dare I say…it’s more impressive than the Musician Aquarius ($3200).
For starters, I find it extremely technical for an R-2R unit, especially when used with a nice DDC like their own U18 or with a Singxer SU-6, scoring huge points as usually resistor ladder DACs are slower, muddier, less focused and not that precise or fast sounding. Gustard bumped that resolution so high, that I no longer feel a gap in between it and the X26 PRO.
Nothing was fighting for a prime time or for my full attention, everything felt spread out and so defined in its own bubble of air. The soundstage was massive…easily on the same level with the Musician Aquarius and approaching dangerously close to the Denafrips Terminator Plus – which so far, was the soundstage king in my book. R26 Discrete felt bigger sounding than any of the Delta-Sigma Oversampling DACs and the difference was literally…night and day, even with drivers sitting centimeters away from my eardrums.
… I’m dealing with a 10 out of 10 bass slam and impact, with a 9.5 out of 10 speed and decay of the notes – a point where X26 PRO sounded by a hair faster. Still for an R-2R DAC getting a lightning-fast speed and decay? I’m taking my hat off; it was masterfully done!
I’ll go and say it out loud, that this is one of the fastest sounding R-2R ladder DACs that I’ve tried to this day and it’s one of the most impactful one as well, as it somehow reminds about the kick of the Rockna Wavelight and Audio-GD R7, which were always explosive and mood-lifting. Instead of being ultra-linear to a point of becoming boring, R26 Discrete infuses pure joy, regardless of the musical genre or mastering quality.
Long story short, if you love modern and impactful tunes, but still want that life-like and natural presentation of R-2R ladder DACs, then R26 Discrete is so far, the easiest recommendation to make.
While this unit completely discards over-sharpness and remaining traces of listening fatigue, it never discards bits of information …
… I kid you not that my chin started shaking, I was almost crying alone in my office. This is a very emotional sounding unit as the track was so touching and soul-grabbing. Just a few minutes ago I was joking and smiling with a big month and now a tear was rolling on my cheek…if a unit can do this in a span of half an hour, then words are really, unnecessary. … It is clear to me than R26 Discrete is not only an amazing goose-bump machine, but a very technical sounding unit as well, merging everything I want a high-end DAC to be.
It goes without saying that R26 is an exceptional converter when it comes to layering, width and depth, exactly as the biggest majority of well-made R-2R converters are performing.
… R26 felt by a hair more organic and freer (vs Musician Aquarius) like listening to unamplified music. … Neutral tuned setups like mine will be getting a much-needed presence and soul, changing their tonality upside down, adding richness into your listening space and dopamine into your blood stream. There wasn’t a single musical genre that R26 didn’t do well…something that I can rarely write about chip-based converters as of late.
It doesn’t roll-off treble information, not in the slightest, as I’m constantly hearing low-intensity bells and brush sticks hitting the drums and crawling under my skin. I also like that R26 never shouts trying to get my full attention with a metallic treble delivery. It gets the right intensity, weight and decay, just enough to feel that this is how treble needs to be rendered.
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.
If Gustard R26 Discrete would cost two times its price, I would still be recommending it left and right and if it would be even pricier, then it would still perform great at a less appealing price. … It goes without saying that R26 Discrete is more than an impressive sounding unit and from this very moment, I will be recommending it as the best R-2R ladder DAC bellow $3500.
… it’s an absolute steal and I mean it! Chip-based converters move away, there’s a new sheriff in town.
Considerably clearer and more detailed sounding to R-2R ladder DACs of the same price bracket and the difference wasn’t small.
Massive, huge and holographic sounding at all time, layered and well-spread around the listener
Incredibly transparent sounding, focusing on things playing in the background felt as a child’s play
Hefty and bold, punchy and visceral sounding with bass intensive music, amazing transients and quick shifts in dynamics!
(No real cons)
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