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GUSTARD DAC-X16 MQA USB DAC DSD512 PCM768kHz ES9068AS DAC Bluetooth 5.0 Full Balanced Desktop Decoder With I2S/AES/COAX/OPT Input (Black)

£9.9£99Clearance
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U18 revitalized the X18, it added more soul into my tunes, while improving every single aspect that was good but not great. For all of the reasons combined, I decided continuing my review with the U18 in place and if you’re still using a PC as a transport, then this thing should be mandatory, it’s that good. At about 2.5 kilos or 5.5 pounds, it is considerably heavier than its competition like the Topping D70S, D90 and SMSL M400. I have a bigger confidence in heavier devices and if we are talking about DACs, a heavy unit equals with a nice linear power supply and with a bigger capacitance for power storing and filtering. High-quality toroidal transformer, multiple sets of linear voltage regulators, and TI high-current ultra-low noise LDO chips used in key parts The module board that can be removed is dedicated for the Heahphone and comes with 2 OP amps 4580. Out of the box, it sounds awesome already !

Brightness: 8 brightness positions, none of them are completely dimming its display. The lowest position worked great at night though. DSD Filter: 4 positions. You are going to select the roll-off of the DSD content, 47K position sound more natural to me. I did hesitate a long time to switch the X16 with X18. I did not test the X18 but i would bet that X16 is better.PCM Filter: 3 positions. Those filters will be altering the FR past 20 kHz. If you want the fastest treble roll-off, go with H-FAST and if you want the most extended treble response go with M-SLOW. Subjectively, I can’t spot a difference between them, since I don’t possess super-human hearing past 20 kHz. Mid-band is lush and full and is where the Gustard scored really highly. Vocals were easy to decipher and there is a good insight into tone and detail in the performer’s voice. In lots of ways, I could see some describing this as an “audiophile” sounding DAC. IEMs: FiiO FH9, FH7, FA9, FA7S, FD7, Meze Rai Penta, LittleDot Cu KIS, Kinera Skuld, 7Hz Timeless & others

In a headphone setup, it was connected to its soul mate H16 balanced headphone amplifier, or to (much) higher performing units like Ferrum OOR + Hypsos and later on to the Enleum AMP-23R, driving several high-end planar-magnetic headphones and a bunch of dynamic headphones. Okay folks, enough with the talk, my ears are itching for some music, so let’s hit some ear-drums! Sending music from a smartphone that was using streaming services as Qobuz and Tidal worked as a charm and LDAC codec sounded almost indistinguishable to its wired connections. Bottom line is that X26 PRO performed amazingly well in here, rising the bar yet again and becoming a new benchmark when it comes to Bluetooth receivers. Combined with my Hypex NC252MP / David Munyon HD Playlist it is really close to my Gustard X16 and just noticed a lower gain. Anyway : I willl test with my favorite HD Audio Playlist soon. It is important to know that its digital section is powered by a 50W linear, regulated and encapsulated toroidal transformer and they put another one for its analog section. For example, if a use an audio sample with white noise, there is a clear difference in the highs in benefit of Nuforce DAC-9, with much more gain and hissing. Wonder which device is more flat in the audio spectrum, but I would guess DAC-9 is exaggerating in the upper top (I say this, because sometimes the sibilance’s of voices can be quite pronounced, as if the singer was spitting at our face, literally!!). If however I select in the amplifier the correspond input, without any music reproduction (be careful), and increase the volume to the limits of the amplifier, there is an audible hiss coming from the DAC-9, while from the X16 just a dead silence (this was done with balanced outputs). Amazing this rejection of noise in the X16 outputs.You can access its user menu by pressing the Menu button on the remote or by a long press on the button to the far right. Once you do that, a user menu like this will appear: The USB-B input is associated with a high-performance XMOS XU216 chip. It supports PCM files up to 32bit 768kHz, DSD files up to DSD512 and 384kHz MQA files.

As it was already written the X16 is capable of decoding MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) files via its Coaxial, AES, Optical and I2S inputs. Just to remind: MQA allows sound reproduction quality to be as close as possible to the original recording.I remember my Gustard X16 experience as if it was yesterday, it was good when it came to treble delivery, it was less impressive in the midrange and quite shy when it comes to bass and in this regard, the newest X18 feels like a substantial upgrade.

Its side plates are rounded and the front plate is rounded at the edges, I’m swapping electronics on a daily basis be it amplifiers or DACs and sometimes they might touch each other. With rounded cases, I’m more confident that I’m not going to see scratches or dents anytime soon. I personally don’t hold a lot of respect for forgiving sounding DACs, I personally value non-forgiving sources, that are giving me everything on a plate, it should be my only decision to look and hear all those micro-details, and mastering errors or not. I can count on X16 because it always appeared as detailed and transparent sounding no matter the song. It was so obvious hearing people inhaling and exhaling air in their lungs, fingers touching musical instruments, low-level notes and air casually passing around in well-mastered music. When I jumped to their X26 PRO, the images became bigger, like I was looking at a bigger TV that could render the full color gamut. X16 was almost there, leaving room for improvements. X26 PRO is 3 times more expensive and it shows when critically comparing both units. X16 is a good sounding DAC when it comes to stage size, spatial cues and depth information, but it’s not legendary. However, putting a preamp and some bigger amps after it, prepare for an expansive sound that is preserving the spatial cues and depth information. At this size, weight and capacitance, it was clear that at least several days of burn-in are needed before I can take it seriously for a long listening session. While I was writing and filming my Musician Andromeda review, the X26 PRO was connected to a balanced headphone amplifier, so that its entire circuit would be used. One week passed, I calmed my spirits and I sat down for a long listening session. Certainly, the new chips from ESS do their job perfectly. At the same time, Gustard managed to present them properly prepared and at a really nice price for this level. It is difficult to name competitors in this price today. For example, the latest SMSL or Topping DACs don’t offer anything like X16: either a little cheaper and much worse, or much more expensive and almost the same in the best case. However, Gustard managed to find a middle ground and their own sound emphasis, and we really like it.Gustard X16 is the latest Desktop DAC featuring a fully Balanced output with full MQA decoding support. It houses premium chipsets including the latest ES9068AS DAC chips, XU216 USB signal receiver, and more, providing the best sound quality experience to its users. Dual ES9068AS DAC Chipset:- I don't have this issue with my Topping DX3 Pro (1st version) in DAC mode. I can fully control the DX3 Proi volume from my Logitech Mac keyboard. Very strange that this issue occurs on Mac OS, not on Windows 10. Maybe Gustard should release a driver for Mac users to solve this issue.

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