Really depends on the seller. There are a lot of junk sellers on Ali Express but also a fair few factory outlets for Chinese brands. There are good deals to be had with a bit of care and attention. If you are buying from the EU there are some decent backups and in my own experience Ali Express have been good at providing refunds when I have had disputes. I don’t feel like it is any worse (or better) than generally buying via internet shops.
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R30 is good. Too early to say a whole lot because this thing seems like it’s changing character every 20 minutes one way or another. Kinda a weird roller coaster of a burn in but I genuinely didn’t think Gustard had this level of R2R performance capabilities. For them making such measurement perfect DACs in the past, I didn’t think they’d be ones to make such a good R2R setup. Handles HQPlayer like a beast and it’s a genuinely fantastic DAC that so far seems to punch well above its price. Like WELL above. I haven’t heard a ton of R2R options between May KTE and Wavedream price wise, but from the ones I did hear, the competition didn’t seem all that…competitive in that range, and I do feel that the R30 is attempting to push into that level of performance range.
Standout characteristics so far are nearly infinitely deep stage (good sign to me), really wide while also having pretty razor sharp imaging and placement and pitch black background between objects making for a really convincing stage with great separation. Micro detail is very good but the tonal density really brings out a lot of that micro. The tonal density might be one of the biggest standout characteristics and I didn’t expect this level of refinement in an R2R from Gustard but they really kinda nailed it. Timbre has been a little up and down with burn in starting with a slight glare, to going super smooth, to back to glare, and smooth again, but while the glare has been gone, it’s sounded nearly immaculate. Raw punch/impact/slam started off pretty weak but has steadily increased and has started to get to the point where it’s starting to get really punchy and dynamic and if it continues improving at the pace it has so far, it could shape up to be a straight up dynamics monster swinging with the Wavedream Sig Bal.
Pleasantly surprised by this one, I went in with a pretty low expectation and a bit of cynical skepticism about their ability to do R2R even remotely correct, but I’m glad to be proven totally wrong. The thing kinda kicks ass.
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What chain have you ran it in so far?
My current chain right now is PC>Altor ISOUSB211 USB isolator>Holo Red>10 inch HDMI I2S>Rockna Wavedream Signature Balanced OR Gustard R30>Topping A70 Pro (preamp duty but I haven’t actually been using it in the R30 chain)>Burson Soloist Voyager Max/Timekeeper Voyager Max>Ifi iESL or another speaker tap box and most of it is plugged into a UPS and some is fed by an LPS fed 18650 battery bank. I haven’t tried it a ton with the Soloist, mostly been using the Timekeepers because they’re kinda just better. Done a small amount of listening in that setup through the Timekeepers with my Magnepan LRS+ and it’s a fantastic match in that setup, but I haven’t really given it a ton of time yet.
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Yeah I alliexpress all the time, theres just very specific products I would avoid, always do a bit of research on the higher end
The refunds and warranty from stores do work, the problem that I have never had I guess could happen is needing support from the manufacturer
its also just that since I have now the privilege to import from america without extra costs ive been really feeling the benefits, ive grown fat and complacent
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How’s the R30 doing now a few weeks on?
It settled in really really well. I ended up replacing my Holo Red with a Gustard U26 and fed it an external clock and it’s excessive, but it’ll do DSD2048 now lol. Have to upsample and then play them, 2048 is way too intensive to do in real time but DSD on the R30 is absolutely fantastic. Super organic and has more convincing realism than my Wavedream. The Wavedream almost seems a little dead, almost sterile sounding for an R2R DAC by direct comparison. There’s ever so slightly more detail on the Wavedream and very slightly more impactful bass, but overall I think for a lot of things I like the R30 more for the lush texturing and for the fact that it can be a chameleon of a DAC depending on how the settings are tuned. NOS vs OS, DSD Direct on vs off, and PCM vs DSD totally change the pathing that the decoding takes internally and it can vary from a really clean and almost D/S sounding using PCM with oversampling and it can be a super organic and R2R sounding DAC with NOS and DSD Direct being fed DSD. I’ve actually been running PCM upscaling from HQPlayer running in real time upsampling a mix from my audio interface that consists of all my windows audio stuff and it handles it all with almost zero perceptible lag (lip sync stays intact) and sounds absolutely fantastic. I think the R30 is probably the best all around DAC I’ve ever personally heard and it doesn’t really have any weaknesses, just things it isn’t necessarily the absolute best at and being able to change its sound signature so much keeps it continually really fresh sounding. I’m on the fence about selling my Wavedream and if I do, there’s a strong chance I end up getting a Wavedream Reference Signature because I heard it’s a much improved Wavedream Signature Balanced with a drastic increase in how organic it sounds and that was really my only actual complaint with the the Wavedream Signature Balanced and I didn’t really even find it an issue until I started comparing it with the R30. I thought I got a good deal on the R30 from the early pre-sale prices from China, but it might actually end up costing me 5x as much lol.
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Whilst I only had the Gustard X30 for 7 days, I listened to it a good deal over that time.
I have heard a lot of positive things about this DAC and I’m happy to report that it does what is advertised. However, we all hear differently and have different preferences and so I thought I’d just post why I so quickly got rid of it as there must be someone out that that shares my hearing quirks/presentation preferences.
It sounded too forward to me. In particular, guitars (primarily distorted guitars) and vocals sounded very close to and in front of my head. Not in my head though. While I found X30 to be good at doing depth and the images were well defined, without being etched, guitars and vocals sounded so forward to me that I found it very hard to “see” past them into the deep sound stage.
Sonic images are large/tall on this DAC. This is one of the first things that struck me - the scale is impressive. However, I think this hurt my ability to hear past the guitars into the mix and so found it too hard to zero in on bass guitars and drums.
This DAC is very resolving and impressive in every regard. But the presentation of the stage and the ease at which I can pick out any elements of the often complicated music I listen to is so key to my enjoyment that it doesn’t matter if everything else is perfect - it actually ruins the experience for me. Any DACs that are too forward, bringing the stage close to or in my head have this effect.
I have been through some DACs recently and so I intend to draw some graphics of how I perceive the stage of all of these DACs in the hope that I help someone similar to me to take a shortcut to the right DAC. I bought three DACs last week and still have the Wavelight - I want to help others avoid a similar tortuous journey - I just want to listen to music, not gear. I truly value everyone posting and even writing articles about all this stuff (I frequently reread lots of posts/articles on SA) so I must try and contribute in a similar fashion.
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I’ notice in the pics your share, you’re at the point where you NEED to address power as it will give you a much better sense of the entire chain’s capability. Not that your stage problems are going to disappear but as I said it will show each component it its best light.
Also try to chase down a DAC with a less forward, more relaxed signature like what you’re looking for. An Aqua LaVoce S3 is probably worth searching for given your description.
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Power, something I’ve been avoiding…
I’ve left it alone in part for the sake of my wallet but also because most of my kit I can take with me when we move to The States (in 6-24 months); power I guess I would I have to sell on before we move. Not necessarily a reason to not…
I have a Pontus 15th and VMV D2 (because I love the D1se2) on their way. There is an S3 floating about for sale that I’ve had my eye on. Along with a Lampizator (Frankensteined G4L4) and a TT2.
We’ll see how I do with my new toys tomorrow and then decide my next move.
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Hello,
Ah, too bad I’m late to the party.
Otherwise, I would have suggested going for the R30 or the new R26MK2.
Based on your description, I would say that the R2R seems to be more to your taste.
That’s why D/S DACs don’t make much sense for you; if they do, they would have to be more tailored to your preferences.
Um, something that hasn’t really been mentioned here is the Laiv Harmony, which is also an R2R DAC relatively close to the R26 but with a slightly different tuning.
You might want to take a look at this one, which is a Denafrips Pontus clone that is also built there.
Visually, I personally find it much more attractive than the Pontus.
I can’t say much about the R30 in general.
Most people say it’s better than the R26, but the MK2 hasn’t been tested against the R30.
This makes it difficult because the MK2 R26 has received similar updates to the R30 in terms of the clock, conductor, etc.
That’s why it might be a good idea to jump straight to the MK2 if you didn’t have the MK1.
However, if you like the R26 Mk2 in terms of tuning but want something more, then the R30 would definitely be the right choice.
But you have to admit that the Rockna is hard to beat in a good chain.
I listened to it with the Feliks Euforia and this combination is truly monstrous with Zmf headphones; the R26 can’t compete with that, despite good reviews.
D/S DACs can be good, but depending on personal taste and requirements, they can’t quite keep up with an R2R DAC; it has to be a really good tuning that you like from a personal point of view.
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Speaking of the R30, I am about to put mine (two weeks old, completely mint) on the market. If someone here is interested pm me I’ll give the customary SA discount ;)
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Sorry folks sold elsewhere…
Brah!
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Thanks to a generous forum friend, I have a gustard u26 on loan, and I have to say after spending time with it, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better value DDC out there. There’s still more time on it that it could use to break in, and still more listening/tweaking time needed, but here’s some initial impressions:
At first, I wasn’t honestly that impressed with it when I plugged it in, it sounded somewhat distant and a bit dry, especially compared to the more bombastic and up front presentation of the USB into mojo. With time though, I started noticing a larger, more accurately placed and less blurry stage with more defined verticality, sharper yet barely more harsh transients vs USB, more accurate weighting that while less consistently heavy could be thicker and deeper sounding with music that demanded it, and more microdynamics and resolving power. Things felt more proper to the music themselves, even if it was a bit less immediately engaging and forgiving than the USB input. I have to say from memory I’m pretty sure of all DDC I’ve tested with the mojo in the past, the only ones I might prefer to this would be the totaldac ddc or maybe in some setups a berkeley alpha usb (although I honestly might stick with the gustard with a mojo). It’s seriously impressive for the money, and no driver fussiness or finickiness with USB which is great.
Give it time and let it properly burn in, it will reward you. I haven’t really been able to test with cable quality yet, I still need to get in some properly good USB and spdif cables, as with a clock + solid clock cable to take it to the next level. I have messed with fuses and power cables, and I think it’s worthwhile to not skimp on either, at the moment I’m running a silver slug house igniter 5000 and also tested a SR purple and hifituning supreme, and while I actually prefer the sr purple in tonality the silver slug offers the highest technicalities and most open sound at the expense of being slightly more harsh, but with my setup I didn’t have an issue. I balanced that out with a warmer twl power cable initially, but I found that I actually liked the balance yet slightly smoothness of the shunyata x series the most, and felt that gave the blacker background in this instance and helped things pop the most.
So far, this is worth the price of admission in my setup, and I can’t wait to hear how it performs with a proper master clock and digital cabling, and I’ll have to budget to buy one when the loan is up lol.
I will say though, in my current setup, it was more subtle than I felt it should be, but then I tested without plugging into my dedicated jcat usb out, and that was the more night and day difference I was expecting, although not as good as jcat direct into dac. The jcat really both elevated and equalized the performance of it vs direct motherboard usb way more than I thought it would, which is what makes me want to push it more with a better clock to be more substantial of a change for it to stay in the setup. I do think it makes a larger difference than the gustard, but with a good psu it can be 2-3x the cost and isn’t as flexible (relies on your dac having a good usb to really take advantage of). I’ll comment on that somewhere else.
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Ahhhh…. so you’re finally coming around to the other inputs on the Mojo! lol
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Yes, it just took perfecting USB within reason to maximize the spdif source lol
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For whatever reason, the U26 really showed differences between fuses and power cables more than any other piece in my system. I’m not sure what brought it all together for me between the cables, fuses, external clock addition, or the upsampling to DSD2048, but the difference between just running my R30 native DSD from USB from my PC through a good isolator vs using the U26 to feed the R30 upsampled DSD2048 was a pretty massive in terms of overall technicalities. Even in an apples to apples comparison just with the same formats the U26 pulls ahead really hard in overall spatial realism and pinpoint accuracy. Most of my testing with it has been with the R30, and with that it has what I would almost consider a required amount of impact on the R30 to make it worth really owning lol. I love the R30, but if it weren’t for the U26 I don’t think I would have wound up keeping it but it gets dangerously close to as good as the results I get from feeding my Wavedream Signature Balanced with the U26 and that impressed the hell out of me.
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Honestly I feel like I’ve gotten the most rewarding results tweaking power supplies/fuses/cables on the digital side much more than the analog ones, imo doing those tweaks at the very top just leads to the overall downstream system getting a boost vs a tweak right at the end.
From what I’ve read it really seems like it was designed to take advantage of what it was fed and around upsampling, makes sense lol.
Pretty crazy that it can get close to the wavedream sig
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