Gustard R26

@soix

and in the end it’s what’s on the inside that counts unless you’re an insecure audiophile who needs the bling to show it off to friends. I’m not one of those.

I don’t think it’s fair to assume that audiophiles who care about how the equipment looks are necessarily driven by the need to ’show it off to friends.’ Many audiophiles, myself included, care about the way our equipment looks. If I’m listening to my music I also tend to look at the speakers, amps, racks, etc. At least for me it adds to my enjoyment if the view is equally pleasing to my eyes. I’ve put in a lot of effort to make my listening room aesthetically pleasing (to my eyes). It is important to me that the equipment fits in with the overall vibe of the room. But I can assure you, it has nothing to do with showing off to anyone else.

@kereru Thanks for the wonderful feedback. Since I already have the Bluesound Node 2i in my second systems, I'm debating if I should go with only a DAC (e.g. Denafrips Pontus 2), or get the R26 and sell the BS Node. I like the fact that you can use a DDC with both DACs, i.e., R26 and Pontus.

@arafiq Point taken and totally get and respect that.  I’m not a fan of the Gustard’s look either, especially in silver.  Yuck.  But I do think getting something that performs at the level of the R26 that also looks good will cost multiples of its price — think along the lines of the Denafrips Terminator, etc.  Ouchee!

I am going to wait for the non streaming R2R Gustard that will surely release in few months after they’ve drained our pockets for the R26. I don’t want to pay for a capability I cannot easily use. I’m sorry but a “streamer” that can only be connected via lan these days… really? No thanks.

Additionally don’t doubt for a minute smsl isn’t in the basement developing a $1,000-1,500 r2r that will likely be the flavor of the month soon. Dacs and ddc’s is where the $$$ is these days the level of performance is going to skyrocket for good value dacs etc.(it already has really). I could be wrong…but I don’t think so.I’m enjoying my popcorn.

@balooo2 

A streamer you can’t easily use! What is hard about plugging in a wifi extender. Run a piece of cat 6 to the R26, download Jplay and you are up and running using a lan port that sounds fantastic. If you don’t wan lan R26 has Bluetooth, usb, coax, spdif what more do you want?