rontoolsie
pfm Member
I have lived with the R26 for almost a year, and found it to be an extremely transparent source.
IF you pay attention to the details, it is a bona-fide high end front end.
These extra details however take it from a $1650 player to a $3000+ player.
Here is what I have done to the Gustard, in order of increasing price...
1. Replacing its internal fuse with a higher spec one.....I have tried both the HiFi Tuning fuses at $50+ and the Gustard fuses at $25+ and they are about equivalent, and both superior to the provided fuse. If you are a non-fuse believer than skip over this- at your own peril.
2. The R26 is extremely sensitive to the support it is placed on. I have tried a variety of different supports, and by FAR the most effective was the $50/3 Herbie Audio Labs soft Tenderfeet. Because of the asymetrical weight distribution, there was a better support with 3 Tenderfeet than 4...which cuts the cost by $17.00
The effects of the Herbie Tenderfeet have got to be heard to be believed. Without them the bass was quite curtailed as was the dynamics and soundstaging. Putting in a triplet of them sounded like a multiple kilo-buck improvement for just chump change. And yes, I also tried far more expensive supports.
3. The quality of the mains cable matters....I easily noticed the difference from the generic cable to some $250 Pangea 14XL.
4. The next biggest bang for the buck is a D2D converter. I use a Gustard U18 that takes in a USB input from the Node N130 and puts out an IIS output. This really cleans the sound up and removes several subjective layers of hash. Not cheap at circa $500, but do it ONLY if you have got the R26 on a sympathetic support and AC cable.
I tried two different types of IIS cables...a 2m Pangea Premier SE one at $200+ and a $100 0.5m pure silver one from Ali Express. The shorter cheaper cable was better, possibly because it was only 1/4 of the lenght of the Pangea...but maybe because it was silver, not copper.
5. After all of these have been done, then an external master clock will provide additional benefits. I tried two different ones...a $350 LHY OCK-1 and a $600 LHY OCK-2.
If you have not addressed any of the above, neither of these will offer any subjective improvement. But if you have, both clocks allow a cleaner and more transparent presentation. The OCK-2 also gives a more 3-D soundstage and faster, deeper bass. The clock has two outputs....one for the R26 an the other for the U18 D2D.
And the quality of the 50-Ohm coax matters. I have used $13 from Ali and $75 ones custom made from LMR 400 50Ohm coax with the latter being easily better sounding.
6. What I have not yet tried are network switches. I do have a $300+ IFi Elite power supply on the router, but I have not yet tried putting its output through a switch.
In summary the R26 is a pheomenal front end at $1600+; but if you are willing to put another $1500 to maximise its performance, you will have a near unbeatable digital front end.
And yes, I have tested a Chord Qutest, which sounded very detailed, but also sterile.
IF you pay attention to the details, it is a bona-fide high end front end.
These extra details however take it from a $1650 player to a $3000+ player.
Here is what I have done to the Gustard, in order of increasing price...
1. Replacing its internal fuse with a higher spec one.....I have tried both the HiFi Tuning fuses at $50+ and the Gustard fuses at $25+ and they are about equivalent, and both superior to the provided fuse. If you are a non-fuse believer than skip over this- at your own peril.
2. The R26 is extremely sensitive to the support it is placed on. I have tried a variety of different supports, and by FAR the most effective was the $50/3 Herbie Audio Labs soft Tenderfeet. Because of the asymetrical weight distribution, there was a better support with 3 Tenderfeet than 4...which cuts the cost by $17.00
The effects of the Herbie Tenderfeet have got to be heard to be believed. Without them the bass was quite curtailed as was the dynamics and soundstaging. Putting in a triplet of them sounded like a multiple kilo-buck improvement for just chump change. And yes, I also tried far more expensive supports.
3. The quality of the mains cable matters....I easily noticed the difference from the generic cable to some $250 Pangea 14XL.
4. The next biggest bang for the buck is a D2D converter. I use a Gustard U18 that takes in a USB input from the Node N130 and puts out an IIS output. This really cleans the sound up and removes several subjective layers of hash. Not cheap at circa $500, but do it ONLY if you have got the R26 on a sympathetic support and AC cable.
I tried two different types of IIS cables...a 2m Pangea Premier SE one at $200+ and a $100 0.5m pure silver one from Ali Express. The shorter cheaper cable was better, possibly because it was only 1/4 of the lenght of the Pangea...but maybe because it was silver, not copper.
5. After all of these have been done, then an external master clock will provide additional benefits. I tried two different ones...a $350 LHY OCK-1 and a $600 LHY OCK-2.
If you have not addressed any of the above, neither of these will offer any subjective improvement. But if you have, both clocks allow a cleaner and more transparent presentation. The OCK-2 also gives a more 3-D soundstage and faster, deeper bass. The clock has two outputs....one for the R26 an the other for the U18 D2D.
And the quality of the 50-Ohm coax matters. I have used $13 from Ali and $75 ones custom made from LMR 400 50Ohm coax with the latter being easily better sounding.
6. What I have not yet tried are network switches. I do have a $300+ IFi Elite power supply on the router, but I have not yet tried putting its output through a switch.
In summary the R26 is a pheomenal front end at $1600+; but if you are willing to put another $1500 to maximise its performance, you will have a near unbeatable digital front end.
And yes, I have tested a Chord Qutest, which sounded very detailed, but also sterile.
