GUSTARD R26
GUSTARD DAC-R26 is an excellent R2R DAC, I used to have SMSL D1s, they are quite decent, however, GUSTARD is far away in sound, has stronger dynamics, clear highs, solid bass, full mids, settings are simple, then I did not try RJ45, nothing USB works great, I probably wouldn't use Roon, it's a parody of Audirvan, everything can be set much better there and with good tuning it gives excellent performance. Of course, it plays even better with the HQ player, which I would recommend. The conversion to DSD 512/1bit is fantastic. MQA also has very good results in presenting the sound space. You will then receive an excellent signal into your amplifier. This DAC is an excellent choice for more advanced connoisseurs. I recommend listening to the album Jean Guillou – Orgue et Percussions. You will get excellent space, wonderful acoustics, perfect dynamics, of course it depends on the type of your amplifier and speakers. This DAC is so good that I am considering buying another one. I can definitely recommend

Excellent et compatible ROON
Très rapide sur les frappes de cordes et peaux, fin et détaillé. Spatial
pas de distorsion a fort niveau. géré par ROON est très pratique

Des les premières écoute le Gustard fait de la très belle musique
Mais avec un coté un peu glacé
Il faut être très patient.
Mais une fois rodé je confirme que ce Dac est vraiment fantastique la musique est libérée aucune coloration.
Et encore meilleur avec un drive extérieur 3Dlab.
Bravo..!

Can it get any better than the R26?
I read a lot of reviews beforehand, also about this DAC, also with regard to comparisons with other DACs. From "This could be your last DAC!" to "This could be the new best DAC up to 3000€" or "The new reference", I read everything meticulously and studied the videos. All very positive tests that raised my expectations. And that's my opinion:

Even with the first notes in the warm-up, you notice the capabilities of this DAC, what incredible control it has over all frequency ranges, the lows are clear, deep and also dark, but still not too dark, the highs are neither sharp nor sharp, they are clear, transparent, just right, pleasant and not tiring, the mids are the best I've heard so far. The mids in particular expand the richness of the sound, it's really surprising what you get to hear here.

I also had to try out the internal streamer straight away and was also very pleasantly surprised by the sound. DLNA/UPNP works excellently and the sound thrills me from the spot. I haven't found anything yet that could surpass the sound of the SMSL SD-9, this integrated streamer in the R26 is indistinguishable from the SD-9 in terms of sound, they are both equally good! Perhaps the R26 is even a shade better, because the cable connection naturally has no influence, as with an external streamer.

After the randomly selected track of Michael Jackson's "Why you wanna trip on me", I can only say: I didn't realise that Jackson experimented so much with the background music! Now I was curious about this album and just had to listen to it. The album "Dangerous" is a real treasure trove of new insights into his music.

With R26, you get the feeling that he's finished with the music, so that you can hear the background music perfectly. It's almost as if you've inserted a soundtrack and the R26 creates the pauses to uncover this soundtrack. And what you hear is what brings the music to life, old music is brought back to life.

Like "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits, great again this control and transparency, especially at the beginning when the drum solo starts, where otherwise everything sounds like a wild mess, almost like chaos, not with this DAC, here structure and order prevail. 3rd track "In the Air Tonight" Phil Collins, never before have I heard his voice so clear and real and the depth of the drums behind the vocals, wow now the goose bumps come, yes here the music lives and how. Then something newer, "Entropy" by Mallin Pettersen, where the previous DAC often had some problems, the R26 plays uncompromisingly, linearly and with controlled dynamics. "Bug like an Angel" by Mitski, the voice is always more genuine, rougher, nothing is smoothed out and the chorale part once again gives you goose bumps.

I've only ever had Delta/Sigma DACs and there were always certain sounds that were annoying when you heard them over and over again. Of course, I tried exactly these tones with the R26 and the annoying thing about these tones is actually not there. Exactly these notes now have structure and layering and then the realisation comes "ah, that's what I meant!" It's downright fun to listen to these passages because they suddenly sound completely different.
Quiet music used to be a weakness with my chip-based DACs, it was too linear, too flat. Listening quietly didn't make me want to listen to music at all, so I preferred not to. With the R26, the sound doesn't lose anything here either, the dynamics are there, including the depth and the dark background and, very importantly, nothing remains hidden, the mids and highs are just as great, the voices just as powerful as at higher volumes.

Some reviews have always attributed a certain darker sound, a darker background to the R26 when they compare it with the A26, for example, but I can't agree with that. The darker background is the more natural background of the performance; if this were lighter, the music would become flatter and lose the very life that the R26 breathes into it. Perhaps it's also down to the power amplifier. I have two different ones, a Rotel and an Advanced Paris, and the R26 works much better with the second one. The differences are so great that you would never think that they could be the same DAC. So don't always rely on reviews that only refer to the DACs, your devices and cables play a further and even essential role in the audio chain.

Can it get any better than the R26? Of course there are more expensive devices that promise more, but the Gustard R26 is certainly not the weak point in my audio chain, I would have to replace other devices first. Maybe I'll question other devices in the foreseeable future, but for now I'm very happy with the R26 and it's a big upgrade for my system.

It's always a little cautious to get too euphoric when reviewing something like this, but sometimes I just can't find any other words to express what this device is capable of. I didn't take any measurements into account either, I just focussed on the sound, what do I feel, what do I hear. I don't know if you can measure the sound, you can measure the technology, but not the feeling of the music that is then transported with it. I have tried enough Delta/Sigma DACs, all with top measurement results, but there was not one device that conveyed the music to me in a similar way. No DAC has ever dealt with music like this one, no one has been able to convey the feeling like this, the sadness, the joy, the melancholy, the peace, the love, the art of music itself. Yes, think what you want, stick to your data and measurements, in the meantime I enjoy my music.

Top
Faisons court : top.
Naturel, fluide, bref musical.
Distance de très très loin un petit dac khadas qui se situait lui même un petit peu au dessus du dac d’un Atollcd200.