Gustard R26

@pinwa I find it hard to believe the Iris works with the X26 but not with the R26. That makes no sense to me, nor does it make any sense that the i2S connection makes little difference over USB. What HDMI cable are you using for i2S and how long is it. i2S doesn’t work well over distance and my i2S cable is 6”. Also, what’s the rest of the equipment in your system?  Make an apples to apples comparison or this is pretty useless IMHO. 

@soix The Iris connects to the X26 through AES or Coax.  I2S doesn't work.  What does or does not make sense to you makes little difference to me but rationally the  better the DAC the less important the DDC should be.  In my experience the Iris made a big difference with the Ares II, a little difference with the Pontus II, and very little difference with the X26.  There is a guy on the Denefrips Facebook page that tested dozens of I2S cables and his conclusion was that longer is better.  

The Iris connects to the X26 through AES or Coax. I2S doesn’t work.

@pinwa Then why not connect the Iris to the R26 via AES/EBU or SPDIF?

The Raspberry Pi endpoint might be the weak point in my streaming setup so directly connecting the LAN to the R26 was attractive.

Then why not hook up the X26 this way as well? Either way at least you’ll be doing an apples-to-apples comparison. Not sure why you wouldn’t want that type of comparison.

There is a guy on the Denefrips Facebook page that tested dozens of I2S cables and his conclusion was that longer is better.

No offense to “a guy on Facebook,” but using a longer HDMI cable for i2S, assuming he was using HDMI cables, makes no sense given that an i2S signal degrades rapidly over distance given the way it was designed. If he was using USB cables that might make some sense I guess but not sure about how i2S travels through USB so maybe someone here might chime in on that.

@soix I have no interest in spending my time doing an apples to apples comparison of the X26 vs the R26.  I was careful to specify the configuration of both DACs to let the reader draw their own conclusion.  The only thing that is relevant to me is my impression that the R26 in the configuration I intend to use it it sounds better than the X26 in the best configuration I have found to use it.  I have no  idea why you feel you can "task" me with answering your questions but I suggest you buy both DACs and write an exhaustive review of your own if that is what you are interested in.  

I have no interest in spending my time doing an apples to apples comparison of the X26 vs the R26.

@pinwa Gotcha.  Makes total sense.  Can’t even believe I had the nerve to even suggest such a silly thing. 

I have no  idea why you feel you can "task" me with answering your questions

Hey, let’s be clear here — I don’t give one great God Damn what you do or don’t do, but understand your perception of both DACs is heavily flawed given the different setups and therefore is of little/no use to anyone here.  I was just trying to give a helpful suggestion that maybe you hadn’t considered and that would be more useful and interesting to those of us here who actually think apples-to-apples comparisons are a worthwhile thing.  How was I to know I was talking to an ostrich who’d rather just bury his head in the sand instead of just simply changing a couple connections and perhaps learning something useful?  My bad.  Sheesh.