Denafrips Pontus II 12th VS Gustard R 26

Well, here’s a well-written review of the R26 that he gave an overall score of 94.  This reviewer also reviewed the Denafrips Terminator Plus and gave it the same score, so it would be logical to assume he’d prefer the Gustard to the Pontus ll 12th Anniversary as the Terminator is a couple models up in the Denafrips line and is considerably more expensive.  FWIW…

https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/a-new-point-of-reference-gustard-r26-discrete-r-2r-ladder-dac-review/

If you don't have a streamer, the choice is easy, go with the R26.  I have mine for 4 months and really satisfied.

I bought the Pontus II and the Gustard X26 16 months ago.  After going back and forth for nearly three months I decided to keep the X26 and sell the Pontus II.  I preferred the better soundstage and sense of space the X26 offered vs a somewhat richer, warmer presentation of the Pontus II.  After the R26 was introduced I read the glowing reviews and decided to leap on a Black Friday sale last November and bought the R26 in part because I felt streaming Roon through a Raspberry Pi might be one of the weak points in my system.  Within the first day of using the R26 with the LAN connection as a Roon endpoint I knew that I liked it a lot more than the X26.  The R26 is very musical and dynamic while preserving the great soundstage etc. of the X26.  It sounded like a big tube upgrade in a preamp or even the difference between streaming and vinyl.  I love it and feel it has got to be one of the best DACs out there for the money and probably for a lot more money.  Note my experience is only relevant to using it as the LAN connection to Roon but I have no reason to believe any of the other inputs are less than stellar.  And right now ShenzhenAudio has the R26 on sale.