Gustard R26 vs hi end streamer

@deep_333 

I am not sure if you actually own Linton or had given it a fair trial.  The trerrific soundstage, flat response (see below) and nimble bass are the three main reasons I kept them for a good two years and might be many more years to come.  Look at the flat in-room response from Erin's measurements.  Lack of details, might be, but that is not the trait I had concern with. 

The concern I am having is related to the elevated treble beyond 10khz.  The tactic is to mitigate it is to toe them out a bit but that does not fully address the issue.  That is why I am looking for a DAC that could do the trick, starting with r2r DAC.  I acquired Saga 2 when it was announced and like it.  But the Cambridge Azur 851A's preamp could sweeten the sound as good as Saga 2 if not better.  I had tried AKM chips-based DAC but sound is a bit too warm for me.

I will give R26 one more week and, if not working, move onto the next which might be Qutest, gumby (as you have suggested) / yggi or hybrid or pure tube DAC like Black-Ice.

I could eq the treble region too but not really like what wiim pro + sounds in comparison (w/ MXN10).  Additionally, eq sound does not really sweeten / liquify the sound I found.

@lanx0003 

Yes, i've heard the Linton, opened it up, etc. P. Comeau never engineers a bad speaker. It is well designed, but, constrained by the budget he worked with. Elysian 2 or higher (3-way Elysians) is his high end, bigger budget item. The latter's AMT tweeter integration with mid driver, choice of crossover, crossover parts quality, etc sum to a higher resolution speaker than the Linton. 

The resolution bottle neck is always the aft end, i.e., speaker and room...and dacs hit diminishing returns a lot quicker, i.e. within a couple of hundred bucks when the aft end bottleneck didn't get any better.

Inadequacies ( digitosis, whatever) in the front end can be salvaged to some degree, made to sound pleasant with class A-ish linestage/amps. I suggested the Saga 2 class A as it is at a charity price from the Schiitr for what it is. I've been using it with my headphones in recent days. Since you don't seem to be a purist guy, lots of things open up for you. Wiim Ultra full PEQ...adjust to taste...sweeten/liquify it up with some class A-ish aft end...Gungnir plays well in the middle there, etc (not to mention the  5 year Schiit warranty and ease of getting things fixed with local shipping to Texas, if needed. Chifi, Euro stuff....no such luck)

@lanx0003 I'm listening to Maria Duenes and it sounds wonderful. I don't care for a lot of classical music, but this is something I enjoy. As I mentioned, I'm not a good judge of violin music, but it sounds great.

I wasn't trying to say anything negative about your Cambridge gear. They make great stuff. I own some. I bought my first Cambridge piece around 35 years ago. 

I didn't get great results hooking my cd player to the R26 using coaxial digital. I felt that the dac in the Denon DCD-1700NE sounded better. I bought a better coaxial cable and that closed the gap. I never tried optical.  But, that could be why the Cambridge streamer/dac sounds just as good as the R26..  I used the I2s connection on the R26 for streaming. 

Thanks for the music recommendation.

@sls883  I need to apologize for claiming the R26 streamer's performance was awful. I believe there’s a glitch in the unit I currently own. For some unknown reason that I haven’t yet identified, the LAN output weakens to a very low level. When I increase the volume, the sound is indeed 'awful' and I jumped to a conclusion after experiencing it once. The streamer in the R26 actually sounds as good, if not better, as the MXN10 and better than Ifi ZS.  Fortunately, this glitch did not affect the volume level when I evaluate R26 as a DAC. As you know also my unit has another clicking noise glitch.

@lanx0003 I recall your post about clicking. Sounds like your R26 has issues. I think I'd send it back if you can.

It sounds like the Cambridge streamer sounds good.  My son's cxa60 has a built-in dac and it sounds really good.  Better than the dac in a Node. And your Cambridge is a big step up from the cxa60. 

This crazy hobby can be a real money pit. I don't want to spend your money for you, but I don't think you'd be disappointed with the X-30. It's as good as I'll ever need.  I could have sent it back to Aoshida, but I opted to keep it. 

Responding to the original post.  I can weigh in on the 2nd question.  I would go with a separate streamer.  I started with integrated like many others and have moved to separates in all my equipment over time.  Bought a used Innuos Zen Mk3 from a local dealer to stream to my Holo Audio Cyan 2.  It sounds better than using my Blusound Node N130 as a streamer.  I like the BluOs app and operating system but the Sense app and system is even better in my experience.