Gustard R26

I heard a rumor about a version of the R26 without the built in streamer.  Any truth to this?  I would be interested in a DAC only version for sure.

Without offense to anyone reading this imo that would not be very logical. That would be taking a step back from where the R26 is today. What is a consumers biggest fear when making a substantial purchase! That after you click buy, by the time you receive the item it will be outdated tech. Gustard has really built the R 26 to address a very wide client base sll for $1600. Almost anyone could buy the dac and have a great sounding source right out of the box and plugged into their existing system no further equipment needed. I could see it being an option say if current R26 was $3000 and building a stripped down version would sell for $1000 to bring in a whole new market. To take the current R26 and remove the lan to sell for $1200 does not sound like a good business decision. To save a couple $100 for an input you might regret not having in the future I guess is for each individual buyer to decide on. This is like living where I do in the cold. You always take extra coats with you as you never know when you will need them. To have and not need is good but to need snd not have leaves no option. Again no offense to anyone and to each their own choice. Enjoy the music!

+1 @sgreg1 

I think direct-to-ethernet is a really cool feature ... especially at this price point. From what I've been reading, the R26 even without the LAN connection is worth the asking price. The LAN is just icing on the cake. It also saves you several hundred dollars that you would have otherwise spent on buying a nice USB cable. It'll be nice to hear from someone who has compared it to >$1000 streamers. I know it competes favorably with below $1000 streamers like Bluesound Node, ifi, etc.

Well, I purchased a Pontus II from another a'gon member. I also ordered the Gustard R26 from Amazon, arriving next week. I will compare the two in my system and either return the R26 or resell the Pontus depending on what I like more.

I got the R26 this week. Not that impressed with it. Tried it against my various other equipment...Aries 12th, Pontus II, Ladder Schumann using a variety of streamers and amps. It sounded veiled, lacking dynamics and loose bass. All the others were noticeably better.

When I got the A26 a couple weeks ago I was actually pleasantly surprised. It sounded really good. It was just my preference for R2R that made me decide not to keep it.

I know the R2R DACs take time to settle in but the Aries and Ladder DACs are also recent purchases with only a few days of use so far....

Anyway for those looking for an all in one streamer DAC I would definitely go with the A26 over the R26 based on the initial experience with them.

Of course there are lots of other brands to consider. Matrix Audio I2 has not been mentioned but is in the same price range and that has a decent headphone amp and wifi built in.