Best Pirce 👍 GUSTARD – DAC-X16 😍

Human hearing identifies the direction of the sound and this is exactly what allows our brain to imagine a 3D sonic picture. Like when you are listening to a live concert, you can sense where the sound of the instruments is coming from. This makes your listening experience more lively and powerful and if you take this as a reference for a good music listening experience you would be disappointed listening to most of the recorded music. That’s when MQA comes to the picture, a one-of-its-kind technology that gives you an experience similar to that of live concerts.

When analogue signals are converted to digital, more often than not, a lot of details and clarity are compromised. That’s why digitally your music tends to sound flat as it does not give you the sense of direction or other sonic nuances. Here MQA cleans up the distortion to let you experience a 3D soundstage for a real, life-like experience. While common digital audio filters take away time resolution, leading to ‘ringing’ before and after the transient, MQA reduces this ‘ringing’ more than 10 times for better sound transmission. Following the de-blurring process, MQA employs ‘Music Origami’, a process that makes high-resolution music files compatible with playback devices without losing the resolution.

Powered with the latest Dual ESS E59068AS SABRE chip, the GUSTARD X16 can deliver excellent audio performance of THD+n -120dB and DNR 128dBA. This is the world’s first audio DA chip to have a built-in MQA hardware renderer function. This in-build MQA renderer allows the GUSTARD X16 to directly process SPDIF and 12S input signals to achieve ideal, interference-free MQA playback. There are a host of technologies including the self-constructed digital integrated circuits with logic functions, clock management, 2nd PLL, digital shaping, DOP decoder, PCM / DSD depop switch among others that lay the foundation for excellent sound quality. The IV conversation circuit and single-ended outputs adopt an OPA1612 operational amplifier for low distortion, low noise for excellent performance.

Using the XMOS XU216, the GUSTARD A18 adopts IIS-H digital interface and high specification input to support PCM768K, DSD512 and MQA384k. There are 3 digital filters including L-Fast, M-Low and H-Fast. To further support quality audio transmission, the GUSTARD X16 comes with independent voltage stabilization, multiple groups of filtering, left and right channel separation. The GUSTARD X16 uses instrument-level low noise linear regulators—TPS7A47 and TPS7A33 along with American ACCUSILICON femtosecond crystal oscillators—AS318-B.
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Installed with a CSR8675 chip, the GUSTARD A18 extends support to HD wireless audio and is compatible with a host of audio codecs like LDAC, AAC, SBC, APTX, APTX LL, APTX HD, LDAC. With a high code audio transmission of up to 24Bit/96k, you can listen to your favourite music in HD wireless audio. However, you can turn off HD wireless audio from the menu. Apart from Bluetooth, you get a range of audio inputs and outputs including XLR & RCA digital outputs along with optical, AES, IIS-H, coaxial and USB digital input.

The 4 LME49860 dual op-amps are aided with four groups of independent IV circuits. This setup matches the requirement of a high power supply of AK4499EQ DAC chip seamlessly without any shortcomings. Designed to be far better than the ordinary chip resistors, the MELF-resistors offer enhanced function, mechanical structure, electrical characteristics, and safety. The MELF resistors lower noise and have higher electrode strength with accuracy. It is because of the linear power supply that the GUSTARD A18 can supply high-quality audio. The power supply groups do not interfere with each other.