What's inside Gustard's R26 R2R HiFi DAC? Review & Comparisons

And literally after I shoot the video they provided firmware which makes the menu larger and more readable! Pic here: www.head-fi.org/threads/gustard-dac-r26-balanced-d…

This is the most thorough review of this Dac on YouTube. As one of the Head-Fi guys, we have went really deep with this Dac for over 6months now, and you covered all of the bases. Especially the the LAN input, streamer, and FMCs! Personally I feel like my Dac search is over. Stepping up from this DAC based on sound quality and features would imho start at $5000. It’s that good. Top marks!

Great review, thanks for the detail. I purchased the R26 2 months ago and have been very happy. I listen mostly to jazz and softer music and wanted something musical and warm, which is what I experience. I've got a bluesound node with upgraded power board + external linear power supply feeding the R26 via coax and feel the sound is extremely clean, smooth, and warm. To round things off the R26 feeds my Rogue Audio Chronus Magnum3 all tube integrated amp, driving Magnepan LRS+ speakers. I finally have a system that sounds like music.

Finally, an honest review without all the hype. Thank you.

Listening now. I was waiting for this one!

This review is excellent, only one ive seen to go into detail about the tuning that influences the sound being output.

Great review and super informative. In my humble opinion the R26 is the best "bang for the buck," on the market. I have tried Top tier Denafrips, Holo Audio and many $3k D/S DAC's in my system and while yes, when you get over $5k for a DAC there is superior audio differences from the sub $3k DAC's but the difference is so small with the R26 the I would rather spend the $1650(USD) on the R26 and invest the other monies in a high quality headphone amp, which I did with the Ferrum OOR / Hypsos. Simply, the R26 is not better than the Holo May / Spring, Denafrips Terminator but it is a VERY close second at a fraction of the cost.

Thank you for a very good review and even pronouncing 'processor' correctly!

I have had this DAC for almost 3 months and quite enjoy it! I find it sounds best through LAN using FMCs.

This is the most thorough review of this item I've seen. Gustard etc are not only getting close to hifi but are also offering great value for money & sometimes embarrassing the hi end boutique racket. According to Mike Moffat - sigma delta sounds like haemorrhoidal ass 🤣🤣 ✌😎👍

Another nice review and I’ll be watching this again when I am sitting in front of my R26. I got the R26 a few months back, managed to listen to it here and there so definitely not listening enough. I stream Apple Music with my MacBook Pro M1 or pull out my HDD with over 20TB of FLACS, WAVs, DSDs. I am a headphone user and currently, the R26 is paired to iFi Pro ICAN Signature or Topping A90. Got myself a 3-in-3-out switcher and interconnect cables, I just finished rearranging my equipments on the Burson Mothership with the new cables and repositioning the stack on another cabinet instead of my work desk (saving space for a pair of apolitical R200 perhaps). Being a complete dummy, I am depending on friends I haven’t met personally to guide me through with step by step instructions so next up is to try Roon and Qobuz and running the R26 using LAN. I have to update the firmware too and now, need to search online for instructions in this one.

I was blown away by this DAC. I went from a aune x8 with sparkos op-amp. the rest of my system is a first watt f5, focal 807v speakers. I went beyond my expectations, even my GF couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was very upset that I had spent money on a "stupid music box" until she heard it..

Hello. Thank you for a quality and honest review. R26 is really good if cooked right. I built my final kit and there is no desire to change anything else. And the main ingredient for Gustard R26 is Trafomatic Head 2. Believe me, it's hard to describe in words. What this couple does is magic.

As usual, A good review. The thing is that the K2 clock syntheseizer and the integration of it make 90 % of the value of the Gustard gears. othervise they are "Average" in my opinion. Get a high performing master clock from Cybershaft or Mutec with quality cables and You are "taking off" as a few of us are. Based on the very wellperforming K2 clock syntheseizer I have 2 x U18's, a X26 Pro, a R26 and now a A26. Without the master clock ability (K2) they should not have been intereresting for me. A good master clock of 50 Ohm are key with the Gustard gears. Thanks for good reviews/Jan

I purchased this DAC to replace my Gustard X18. Which was good. But the Gustard R26 is mush better. .I love the sound of this. There's always going to be a better mouse 🐁 trap.. the more you pay the More 💰 money up will lose if you want to upgrade. So I am very happy but will go no further down this path.

Thank you, you are the best!

I will tell you adding the LHY AUDIO OCK-2 master clock does take this thing to a whole new level <3

Thank you for the review.

Great review! Speaking of rabbit hole I bought a BG7TBL 10 MHZ clock for $100 and power it with a good quality 12V power supply. For the small investment, the improvement is notable with better bass, soundstage and even instrument overall tones. The music sounds louder when actually it is not. For the price of a cable upgrade you get more than that.

Do you have enough headphones? Obviously NOT........love it. Thanks for posting and explaining all this r2r and i2s stuff.