Gustard R26

I bought the Gustard A26 a couple weeks ago for one of my headphone setups. I wanted to see what all the hype is about....

For wifi I have good results with this basic bridge:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5RCZQH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Anyway I thought it sounded very good and well built. Very punchy and good width of sound stage. Then I swapped for one of my Denafrips R2R DACs and realized I need to return the A26. R2R is so much more organic sounding and much better soundstage.

I'll give the R26 a try instead to see how it compares. 

But Gustard did a good job with these. I like the style of the A26 better than the R26. Good value for what you pay for them. 

System matching is important but if you really want to compare the sound quality of DACs try listening to them thru a good headphone amp. It gives you a lot more detail that can be lost in room acoustics with speakers.

@kairosman

 One thing that I think can get lost in the discussion is all in cost. I have made the comment myself that this dac will compete with others costing $5000 to $6000. Truth be told the R26 costs $1600 US and then to squeeze out the performance we talk about the all in price is pushing $2600 to $3000. Guess what has to be assumed is the comparison to others that the same upstream mods are in play so a $5000 dac is pushing $6000 all in and $6000 dac is $7000 all in. Hope this does not trigger our lan troll.

@sgreg1 yup in order for the comparison to be fair we have to assume a $5-10K DAC will need to be optimized to the same degree, and actually the extra cost is more like $1.5K in my setup. On another note, it is fascinating to me that the way in which the incoming digital signal is routed/clocked/converted/filtered/amplified inside the DAC is either obfuscated and/or misunderstood by me and most other folks who are into digital playback... why don't we demand to know what this process end-to-end looks like for each DAC PRIOR to purchase lol? Seems important info if one wishes to optimize one's source chain, no?

@sgreg1 Why dude?

If you conduct yourself in a respectful fashion I’ll do the same. Veiled attacks and name calling is cowardly the other poster has nothing to do with you and others disagreeing with me. No need to drag someone else into whatever you’re still feeling. Grow up,I’m over the lan thing you should be too.

@calieng 

Anyway I thought it sounded very good and well built. Very punchy and good width of sound stage. Then I swapped for one of my Denafrips R2R DACs and realized I need to return the A26. R2R is so much more organic sounding and much better soundstage.

I'll give the R26 a try instead to see how it compares. 

I'm looking for a reasonably priced dac for my second system in the home office. Been doing a lot of research and it sounds like your assessment about Denafrips sounding more organic holds true even in case of R26. For example, the British Audiophile guy likes the R26 for its treble, soundstage, and speed but he thinks if you want more solidity in the midbass region and below and prefer a more organic sound, then Pontus is still the way to go. This is not to say one is better than the other ... horses for courses. Since my taste leans towards jazz, vocals, blues, etc. I'm thinking I'll be happier with the Pontus. The R26 is great for electronic, rock, pop, etc. 

Another reviewer compared the R26 to the new Denafrips Ares 12th Edition and said he would go with the Ares due to the same reasons I outlined above. Interesting problem to have. Of course, I'm saying all this without ever having listened to the R26 so take it with a giant grain of salt :)