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Pontus vs Gustard?

I'm looking to upgrade my Benchmark 1, and am very interested in the Gustard X26 Pro.  My only concern is the dearth of reviews (one, excellent performance and value) and Agon posts (one member, yyzsantabarbara, has it in his excellent system and loves it).  Before looking at the Gustard, I was interested in the Pontus, which is similar in price and has many high marks from users on this forum.  Has anyone here had a chance to compare them, side by side after burn-in?
cheeg
cheeg's avatar
cheeg OP
247 posts
 
The challenge with these types of DACs is that the output stage may not be beefy enough or have the ability to push enough current to drive the input impedance of amplifiers. That is where a separate preamp can come it.

@auxinput  Thanks for your input -- I'm surprised the Gustard wouldn't have enough current in its output stage to drive an amp, since they seem to have paid a lot of attention to their electronics, but that could be the case.  I noticed that you also weighed in on a much older post about LKS, Okto DAC8 Stereo and others (https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/has-anyone-auditioned-an-lks-mh-da004-dac?sort_order=asc )  ; do you have any thoughts on how the Gustard DAC might compare with them?
westcoastaudiophile
469 posts
 
"The challenge with these types of DACs is that the output stage may not be beefy enough or have the ability to push enough current to drive the input impedance of amplifiers”
lol you’ve made my day!

Currently use A22 Gustard DAC (AK4499), which from design standpoint has excellent discrete class A output stages (unlike most DACs Op-amps), and very “beefy” ultra-low noise linear power supplies powered by two toroidal transformers, and it has no problem to beat $$ preamps (x10 price), driving top class amplifiers. 

antigrunge2
1,463 posts
 
Has anybody used the XA26 Pro with a 10M clock? Delta Sigma designs benefit frrom better clocking, partcularly in upsampling mode
yyzsantabarbara
5,037 posts
 
@antigrunge2 I am looking for feedback on this too. I was hoping that Sandu from Soundnews.net does a follow-up review of the X26 Pro with the clock. That guy is on the money with his reviews. I bought 3 items based on his reviews and I agreed with his findings.

- Gustard X26 Pro DAC
- Matrix Audio Mini-3 Pro DAC
- Topping A90 headphone amp

ja_kub_sz's avatar
ja_kub_sz
275 posts
 
Just placed and order for the Gustard X26 Pro and will put it up against my DACMagic 200m next week. Figure it'll upstage it significantly, which excites me since I love my DACMagic 200.

I'm running it to my integrated amp (Azur 851a) to power amp (Azur 851w) to KEF LS50 Meta's with Kube 12b sub.

I either us my tablet or laptop as a source, but am looking for suggestion on a DACless streamer (or DAC bypassable streamer) other then a Room Nucleus.

Will let you know.
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