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Gustard X26 Pro - experiences?

G

Greyandy

pfm Member
This DAC seems to have praise heaped on it from all directions, any PFM'ers heard one and if so do they live up to the hype?
 
I had one for a month or so - just returned it to Amazon in fact, along with the U18 DDC.

X26Pro connected by USB is very good, probably a tad better using the "Gentle" filter setting. Alsa tried it with optical from a Ibasso DX200, dynamic, full-bodied and very enjoyable.

For my use case (playing files upsampled offline and stored on a computer) I had a very specific reason for choosing the X26pro and U18. The U18 converted the files (upsampled to16fs) from USB to IIS (often referred to as I2S), and fed that to the DAC over an hdmi cable. This enabled me to set the primary oversampling filter section of the dac to off. The results were very impressive (my current dac is a Chord Dave so I have a goodish reference point).

The X26Pro is very good indeed. I'd be happy with it and if I do decide to sell the Dave, I would happily buy the Gustard pairing. I have previously owned the RME AD-2, the Qutest, then TT2. I'd buy the Gustard over any of those. It has a big, expansive, rich sound - nothing like the internet's default view of a Sabre Dac sound - worked flawlessly and is well made.

Downsides - the DAC is not small and gets quite warm, needs some space around it.

Many people on the enthusiastic forums are swapping fuses and adding external clocks - I have no idea if that makes a difference but it'll just be garnish I suspect.
 
I bought one and will say I think it walks over a (also very highly hyped) Denafrips Aeris I'd previously tried. A DDC seems to tidy and tighten everything up and is definitely considering. Yes, it gets hot, I run my 24x7 and get a 37C case temperature with a 80mm Noctua and a 3D printed shroud.
 
I have X26Pro & U18 and very happy with it. Excellent levels of detail, more natural than Qutest, good timbre. I suspect the next level up would be several £k, its a real bargain.
 
gtv4 said:
I bought one and will say I think it walks over a (also very highly hyped) Denafrips Aeris I'd previously tried. A DDC seems to tidy and tighten everything up and is definitely considering. Yes, it gets hot, I run my 24x7 and get a 37C case temperature with a 80mm Noctua and a 3D printed shroud.
Click to expand...

Do you know why it runs so warm?
 
cb01 said:
Do you know why it runs so warm?
Click to expand...

Nevermind. It's drawing 60 w of quiescent current at all times and has no external heat sinks. A significant portion of that 60w of quiescent current flowing to multiple discrete circuits that are biased heavily into class-A territory. Even though it weighs 16lbs and the chassis appears to be aluminum, zero external thermal transfer devices are seen in the images of the interior. These could be silicone thermal pads, heat sinks, ceramic couplers, etc.

So it's dissipating 60w at all times, weighs 16lbs (good), and has zero external heat sinks and minimal external venting. My old Adcom GFA-5500 (a MOSFET amp designed by Nelson Pass for Adcom) weighs 45 lbs, has very large heat sinks that cover the sides of the device (these alone might exceed 10lbs), and has a well ventilated bottom plate with fully perforated top plate.... and it's "only" drawing ~190w quiescent current. Yet it gets VERY warm to the touch when up to temperature and idling. That with orders of magnitude more thermal mass and surface area, better internal ventilation, and direct thermal coupling to the outside (heat sinks).

No wonder the Gustard is getting hot. Lol.

Granted the internals look to be SMD or through-mount and generally of high quality.

https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/gustard-x26-pro-dac-review/
 
The heat - as SQ225917 & cb01 have said - is a result of the output stages. The Sabre9038 is eight current-output dacs on a chip, and Gustard have implemented individual IV stages for each output (most designers either go with a voltage output stage or combine the individual outputs and convert the combined current to voltage output which is much less heat). The Gustard has a eight channel dac for left and another for right so that's sixteen heat sources to get the low distortion output that is one of the key design elements to maximise the implementation of the ESS9038 dac.

As I said above, you should aim to keep some space for airflow around the X26Pro.
 
Lol i might actually try that one on my Freya! I also raised it up a bit and that did help too.
 
cb01 said:
Nevermind. It's drawing 60 w of quiescent current at all times and has no external heat sinks.
Click to expand...

The spec says <60W.

60W of dissipation is just about manageable with a Quad 405 case/heatsink - where the heatsink would be too hot to hold but not hot enough to burn.
No way the Custard case could dissipate 60W continuously without getting dangerously hot.
 
Riotvan said:
Lol i might actually try that one on my Freya! I also raised it up a bit and that did help too.
Click to expand...
I haven't measured it, but the case temp goes from 'hot' to 'warm' (before, couldn't hold hand on it for very long - after, could comfortably do so), so a significant drop in temp.
Would look better in silver but black was the only one I could find in a suitable size. Cost about £22 posted. I actually bought it for my Mac Mini but fits the Freya just fine.
It's just placed on the top, not bonded or fixed in any way but the mating surfaces are both very flat so it has good contact area.
 
Greyandy said:
I haven't measured it, but the case temp goes from 'hot' to 'warm' (before, couldn't hold hand on it for very long - after, could comfortably do so), so a significant drop in temp.
Would look better in silver but black was the only one I could find in a suitable size. Cost about £22 posted. I actually bought it for my Mac Mini but fits the Freya just fine.
It's just placed on the top, not bonded or fixed in any way but the mating surfaces are both very flat so it has good contact area.
Click to expand...
Where did you order the heatsink from? My Freya is black so it would look great :)
Personally i'd probably get a thin thermal pad if only to reduce the risk of scratching the paint.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Greyandy said:
See here:- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/29509566...d=link&campid=5338728743&toolid=20001&mkevt=1

It's gone up from £21 to £28 since I bought it.

Do you have a link to a suitable thermal pad?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link, no i haven't found something yet but you can use a couple smaller ones as well. Will let you know if i find something.
Quick google search found this: https://gelidstore.com/collections/gp-extreme/products/gp-extreme-thermal-pad-series-0-5mm-1 Use 3 where you cut one to size.
Or this: https://www.amazon.com/FBApayipa-40...&qid=1658835712&sprefix=gelid,aps,147&sr=8-21
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Greyandy said:
I haven't measured it, but the case temp goes from 'hot' to 'warm' (before, couldn't hold hand on it for very long - after, could comfortably do so), so a significant drop in temp.
Would look better in silver but black was the only one I could find in a suitable size. Cost about £22 posted. I actually bought it for my Mac Mini but fits the Freya just fine.
It's just placed on the top, not bonded or fixed in any way but the mating surfaces are both very flat so it has good contact area.
Click to expand...

a .5mm or even .25mm thermal pad would likely increase thermal conductivity by quite a bit.

Something like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1721769103...d=link&campid=5338728743&toolid=20001&mkevt=1
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
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