[LarsHP]

Why I have chosen R26 over 26

Among several considerations, I thought about how natural music sound versus recorded and played back music.

When I have attended live concerts with acoustic, un-amplified instruments, I have never heard pinpointed (or holographic) sounds. A "sharp stereo-image" does not happen in real life. A singer in a concert hall or church far away will not be placed anything near precisely when using my ears. Why? Reflections from walls and ceiling masks the direct sound profoundly. A saxophone playing in the living room also throw off large amounts of reflections via the walls, floor and ceiling, which makes it very difficult to hear where exactly the saxophonist is standing. Often the concert experience will have a sense of distance (depth) and violent dynamics.

Instruments clearly coming from the far right or left? Yes, but not in the artificial way with speakers (or headphones) where it is clearly placed, and little sound reaches the ear on the opposite side of the head. If there are sounds coming that way in real life, it's typically from someone in the audience, not from the scene.

Sub bass? Not much, if any. Upper treble? I have never heard "extended highs" or "sharp" (as in lots of treble) sounding instruments, nor an "airy" sounding concert. The real concert experience sounds more like "rolled off treble", even though that doesn't "sound good" when sitting with your "high fidelity" stereo set. At least one important reason is that treble looses energy faster than mids and even more so than bass. So, in practice, the distance from musician / singer to the ears of the audience "rolls off" the treble. Another factor is that the recording engineer has the microphones placed close to the instrument or singer, and may add to that by turning up the treble because it adds definition etc.

If you compare the natural qualities versus what the reviewers say about the strengths of the two DAC's, it becomes clear to me that the R26 is the one that conveys the most real or natural sound. The A26 may sound more impressive, and it may reveal more subtle details, but I doubt it will sound more realistic - as in actual, real life.

EDIT:
Comment by pro orchestral woodwind soloist to my description above regarding live acoustic music.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/gus...ng-music-bridge.963630/page-398#post-17565716

 

[OCC7N]

Clearly an overstatement, as there is also Audio GD R8-Mk2 and not much more expensive version with regenerative power supply R-8HE Mk2. I would recommend the later, as it add the price tag very little, then R-7Mk2, R-7HE Mk2, R-27Mk2 (with preamp and headphone amplifier), all of them fitting in a target price bracket. The first one costs the same as Gustard and I am sure that sound quality is not inferior. OP had previously exposure to R-7, since then Mk2 versions bring further jump in sound quality.

Gustard R26 represents incredible value considering built-in streamer that will attract many users, then more important (the same as Audio GD) support for 10MHz external clock. The later is critical for building high end system. It is fantastic that fans of external clock can start from $1.6k, not $10k as before.

From the streaming point of view, R26 is still immature product, it require a customised firmware for each streaming technology, the one size fit all approach doesn't work well due to the RAM shortage. It probably won't be fixed by the firmware upgrade, you need to wait for the new model with more RAM to get flexibility in chosing streaming standards.

DSD handling is somehow odd. First, the I2S implementation do not auto-detect DSD stream, it require activating a special pin on the interface. It prevents from using DDC's from many other vendors, including DI-20HE. Secondly, DSD fans are upset by the way R26 handle playback, as conversion is made to the PCM. From my Audio GD experience it is not a problem, as native DSD decoder sounds similar if not inferior. In Gustard there is an option for a "Direct DSD", it is nothing than Sony Bitstream, 1-bit very old method. Poor sounding with DSD64, it requires upsampling to DSD256 to give acceptable SQ. It is a market oportunity for the HQPlayer and those on the net who push this product, very expensive software running on PC.

I highlighted some negative aspects just to balance this enthusiastic review, I am also impressed by this product.

I guess its the sounds of the op-amps that turns up the quality sound …dynamics - aint nothing wrong with op-amps

I find it hard to believe that it beats DAC solely under 3500dollars comparing with audio-gd. Preference and taste is an individual thing. But it has more features thats right.

Having said all that now Im curious, I know one guy who has the R26.

How should I test for best fairplay?

R8HE MK2 vs R26 on the same headamp?

I know ACSS will beat it to death without trying but to be fair XLR on both

 

[Sonic Defender]

And for that matter, real-life sounds different everywhere that it happens so really, there is no actual true standard of perfect musical reproduction fidelity. The same instrument, played by the same person could sound different on different days. As but one example.

 

[LarsHP]

And for that matter, real-life sounds different everywhere that it happens so really, there is no actual true standard of perfect musical reproduction fidelity. The same instrument, played by the same person could sound different on different days. As but one example.

True, but never with a sense of pinpointed focus etc., as I described in my post above. That kind of sound is only created with the use of microphones etc., not the human hearing system.

 

[sajunky]

Having said all that now Im curious, I know one guy who has the R26.

How should I test for best fairplay?

R8HE MK2 vs R26 on the same headamp?

I know ACSS will beat it to death without trying but to be fair XLR on both

I guess, better on speakers on a target system, including your DI-20HE, NOS setting. With the external clock, as Gustard according to reports implemented it well. On the top gear it will be fair comparison and in a low noise environment it will reveal small imperfections. Headphones only if not possible. You don't need to use ACSS, it would be unfair.

 

[FredA]

In all this choosing process, there is a matter of tastes. Some will favor Audio-gd r2r over the Musician Aquarius, for instance, or over the Denafrips and May dac. Or the other way around. I just got the he7 mkii. If you want a more organic (forgiving) dac with excellent staging, this is it. I just love it. I don’t know how well it measures, but as far as my ears tell me, it is awesome.

Also, phase noise not being under control under 20hz, a good external clock will bring the Gustards and Audio-gds to the next level.

 

[LarsHP]

(...)

Having said all that now Im curious, I know one guy who has the R26.

How should I test for best fairplay?

R8HE MK2 vs R26 on the same headamp?

I know ACSS will beat it to death without trying but to be fair XLR on both

If you have an Audio-gd head/pre-amp, I suggest using the ACSS connection with the R8HE MkII since that will be the best sound you can achieve with that unit/combo and of course XLR with the Gustard R26 using the LAN connection and internal renderer/streamer. In order to evaluate sound stage, use speakers. However, regarding everything else, I suggest using headphones. I expect you to have some of high quality, and they will reveal more than comparable speakers since the transducers are super close to your ears. (This approach seems to be how audio engineers work.)

I highly doubt the Audio-gd will beat the Gustard regarding details and resolution even though you use the ACSS connection. If you prefer a forgiving sound, like FredA says he does, then that is a quite different goal than high resolution. To me, high-end sound quality is not so without very high resolution (detail retrieval etc.). That's why I went for the R26 over the R7HE 2020 (based on the reviews and comments by Sandu Vitalie).

 

[FredA]

If you have an Audio-gd head/pre-amp, I suggest using the ACSS connection with the R8HE MkII since that will be the best sound you can achieve with that unit/combo and of course XLR with the Gustard R26 using the LAN connection and internal renderer/streamer. In order to evaluate sound stage, use speakers. However, regarding everything else, I suggest using headphones. I expect you to have some of high quality, and they will reveal more than comparable speakers since the transducers are super close to your ears. (This approach seems to be how audio engineers work.)

I highly doubt the Audio-gd will beat the Gustard regarding details and resolution even though you use the ACSS connection. If you prefer a forgiving sound, like FredA says he does, then that is a quite different goal than high resolution. To me, high-end sound quality is not so without very high resolution (detail retrieval etc.). That's why I went for the R26 over the R7HE 2020 (based on the reviews and comments by Sandu Vitalie).

With an ext. clock, resolution is very high with the top audio-gd. Haven't tried the r8he mkii, should be excellent as well. This adds quite a bit. Staging and detail retrieval improve. Should beat the r26.

I think the he7 mkii has even more details. But take into account my setup has numerous power tweaks. Without them, the differences would be far less obvious.

 

[FredA]

Oh and with audio-gd, the power cord has quite an impact.

 

[LarsHP]

With an ext. clock, resolution is very high with the top audio-gd. Haven't tried the r8he mkii, should be excellent as well. This adds quite a bit. Staging and detail retrieval improve. Should beat the r26.

I think the he7 mkii has even more details. But take into account my setup has numerous power tweaks. Without them, the differences would be far less obvious.

OCC7N will probably do a comparison.

Regarding the R7 2020, it was slow and muddy compared to the R26 according to Sound News / Sandu Vitalie, so I doubt any Audio-gd DAC will be able to compete with the R26 (and even less the A26) regarding resolution and "speed". When using these two Gustard DAC's, they appear to perform their best as they are, fed through the LAN port and using the built-in renderer/streamer. That's a huge advantage over other comparable DAC's.

 

[FredA]

OCC7N will probably do a comparison.

Regarding the R7HE 2020, it was slow and muddy compared to the R26 according to Sound News / Sandu Vitalie, so I doubt any Audio-gd DAC will be able to compete with the R26 (and even less the A26) regarding resolution and "speed". When using these two Gustard DAC's, they appear to perform their best as they are, fed through the LAN port and using the built-in renderer/streamer. That's a huge advantage over other comparable DAC's.

I know someone who owns the mkii and the R26. He places the r7he mkii on top. The mkii versions are sharper and more detailed. I owned a 2019 r7he and currently own the mkii. Muddy is not a term i would use with either, but the mkii is definitely sharper. Very detailed dac. The HE7 mkii is i think even more detailed and more organic. I also own it. I never heard the r26. The difference between the R7he and he7mkii is the former has more punch and very little coloration. The latter is softer but more expressive, with better staging. And more forgiving without loosing details. Ideal for old records.

One very important things, the 2020 is nowhere as good using the usb input. You could call it muddy through usb.

 

[LarsHP]

I just discovered that I wrote R7HE 2020 in my post just above, which is wrong. I should have written R7 2020 (without the HE).

Regarding which input was used in the review at Sound News, it is not stated, but he definitely tried various menu settings in order to find which was the "best", so I would expect him to have tried the various inputs too.

 

[FredA]

I just discovered that I wrote R7HE 2020 in my post just above, which is wrong. I should have written R7 2020 (without the HE).

Regarding which input was used in the review at Sound News, it is not stated, but he definitely tried various menu settings in order to find which was the "best", so I would expect him to have tried the various inputs too.

Yep, possibly. But you need a great spdif source. Read the Stereophile review of the r7he mkii, if you haven't.

 

[OCC7N]

OCC7N will probably do a comparison.

Regarding the R7 2020, it was slow and muddy compared to the R26 according to Sound News / Sandu Vitalie, so I doubt any Audio-gd DAC will be able to compete with the R26 (and even less the A26) regarding resolution and "speed". When using these two Gustard DAC's, they appear to perform their best as they are, fed through the LAN port and using the built-in renderer/streamer. That's a huge advantage over other comparable DAC's.

I have not borrowed it yet, but he is very happy about the R26 though

It comes down to preference, music choice.

AGD has wet character in general. They sound far from dry, maybe this is what you mean?

I love this wet, saturated tone with the velvet analog feeling of a mixer from the studio…

The full discrete pcb with a power design that takes up 70% of the case/internal, I seriously doubt R26 will win in the category of mature sound not SLOW. I have a theory and all dac that has op-amps are energetic/fast. This is here where audio-gd excels. The pace of the music is not synthetic(op-amped) - my TT2 is also energetic I like it for gaming, but I would never choose a DAC with op-amps again for serious music listening. Never….

EDIT: Chord TT2 is awesome btw, I like it as much as AGD, but its not for all music.

 

[LarsHP]

I have not borrowed it yet, but he is very happy about the R26 though

It comes down to preference, music choice.

AGD has wet character in general. They sound far from dry, maybe this is what you mean?

I love this wet, saturated tone with the velvet analog feeling of a mixer from the studio…

The full discrete pcb with a power design that takes up 70% of the case/internal, I seriously doubt R26 will win in the category of mature sound not SLOW. I have a theory and all dac that has op-amps are energetic/fast. This is here where audio-gd excels. The pace of the music is not synthetic(op-amped) - my TT2 is also energetic I like it for gaming, but I would never choose a DAC with op-amps again for serious music listening. Never….

EDIT: Chord TT2 is awesome btw, I like it as much as AGD, but its not for all music.

Just for the record: The R26 is a fully discrete design DAC. It's even called "R26 Discrete" for this reason. I hope you get to loan it and report back.

And yes, personal preference can't be ignored. The reason I chose the R26 over the R7HE 2020 (which was available, used locally) is and was resolution. My Reference 7.1 DAC is a wonderful DAC, but ultimate resolution and detail retrieval isn't it's strong point. It is a 12 years old design, so it won't compare well in that regard by today's standards. So, when upgrading, I wanted a considerable boost in resolution and jitter reduction compared to the Ref 7.1.