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RE: Chord Qutest vs Gustard X26 Pro DAC

178.51.38.13

In Reply to: RE: Chord Qutest vs Gustard X26 Pro DAC posted by Jon L on December 13, 2023 at 23:57:13

Battery power seems to make all the difference here. If you could power the Gustard with a giant battery, I'm sure it would walk all over the Qutest in every department.

I also own the X26Pro and, to be honest, the first days were a disappointment (second hand unit, already burned in); to be honest I preferred my previous A18! But then I started optimizing it, and as it turns out, it happens to be very sensitive to power cable, SPDIF cable (my "old" cable, which was fine with the A18, proved to be absolutely horrendous on the X26Pro), fuse (I now have an ACME Silver Cryo CFC in there), and vibration decoupling (!). It now sounds absolutely amazing, but, it wasn't a "plug and play" situation...

Follow Ups:

RE: Chord Qutest vs Gustard X26 Pro DAC - Todd Krieger 13:40:31 12/29/23 (0)
I also own the X26Pro and, to be honest, the first days were a disappointment (second hand unit, already burned in); to be honest I preferred my previous A18! But then I started optimizing it, and as it turns out, it happens to be very sensitive to power cable, SPDIF cable (my "old" cable, which was fine with the A18, proved to be absolutely horrendous on the X26Pro), fuse (I now have an ACME Silver Cryo CFC in there), and vibration decoupling (!). It now sounds absolutely amazing, but, it wasn't a "plug and play" situation...

I did similar tweaking to my unit..... It does has a little "solid state" cast to the presentation, but power cord and fuse tamed it to a degree.

I did try several DACs at or above its price (including the Gustard R26), and preferred the X26 Pro.
Fuse - Jon L 14:35:58 12/25/23 (0)
Synergistic Purple Fuse ($200) in X26Pro sounded pretty bad and had to put back the stock fuse. I've been meaning to try ACME or Audio Magic Beewax fuse.

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