Price point will be interesting. Because so far DACs with built-in NAA support have been relatively expensive. Like the exaSound s82/s88 and T+A HV have been relatively expensive.
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It says USD 1299 in link above, and it does look interesting but of course we don’t know how it sounds.
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Should sound as good as Neo iDSD unless iFi stuff up something after adding a computer inside
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I totally agree, I actually have both devices, but now since I’ve upgraded to a dedicated hqplayer desktop mini to feed DSD512x48 to my NEO iDSD I had to drop the Zen Streamer
I have to say the ZS is not bad performing DSD256. But the Rpi4 NAA is more solid detecting the DAC when you turn it off/on or just connect on the fly. Unlike ZS needs to see the DAC on before you turn it on, otherwise you need to go to the app and select it on the source menu.
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Just read/viewed some reviews of Gustard R26 R2R DAC, very competitively prices at $1600 with build in streamer. Anyone tried it with HQPlayer? How does it compare to more expensive R2R DACs like Holo Audio?
Here is one review: The Best DAC I've heard below $3.5K - Gustard R26 Discrete Review - YouTube
@jussi_laako have you tried this one?
Doesn’t measure anywhere near as well as Holo’s. Note this is the R26 version. ESS version measures better.
Just read that the newest update to the R26 comes with NAA installed, so there is no need for an external streamer. And this time I decided not to be bothered with measurements (looking at measurements only would mean buying a new Topping and convincing myself that it sounds as good as it can).
I even think it will run on an NAA image, but not sure.
Looking at forums and what “normal” people think about it is in my opinion the best way to get an impression of how it sounds without actually listening to it.
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Not really when it comes to DSD-to-analogue conversion (like this thread is about). Some models behave in a funky way. ASR doesn’t measure with DSD input.
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Yea, the R26 is probably focused on PCM. On the other hand, if it does sound better with PCM then that’s fine as well. It’s not like I have to upsample to DSD 
Here is what one user said:
it’s very close performance when you get up to PCM768 vs DSD512/256 levels, both are exceptionally dynamic, crystal clear and focused soundstaging. There’s maybe a fraction more precision with the DSD but this is to me outweighed by the PCM768’s more palpable and weighty presentation.
He does not mention what modulator he used for DSD though, which in my experience matters a lot.
I just wanted to say thanks to everybody. It is exactly the kind of thread that I need for my Dac upgrade.
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Where did you see that? Did you mean that the latest firmware supports embedded NAA?
For example T+A and Holo measure nicely with DSD.
Gustard R26 PCM side can be probably improved similar way as for example Holo with external upsampling and tuned noise-shaper.
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Thanks, that’s really interesting.
I had a Gustard X16 working off an embedded NAA in a SOtM SMS-200 Neo. Not an R2R ladder DAC (ESS) but sounded great. Problem was it was really unstable. Plagued with drop-outs. Couldn’t get to the bottom of it and eventually just abandoned it.
I would be interested in any feedback concerning the stability of the R26 with embedded NAA.
If you still have your SOtM sMS200 Neo which I own too the solution I could find was to set the Buffer time to 10ms in HQPlayer (embedded) and everything works fine
But the main question is: how good will R26 sound with the help of HQPlayer (DSD or PCM) compared to how good other DACs sound with HQPlayer. And for me personally, how good can HQPlayer make R26 sound compared to DSD256 with ec modulator on RME ADI-2 fs (AKM 4490).
I don’t expect it to sound as good as for example Holos or T+As best models, but how does it sound compared to for example Pontus II.
I still have the SOtM but I don’t remember being able to set the buffer time thru Eunhasu. Where did you get your screen shot from?
I did try a lot of buffer settings on HQPlayer. I cannot remember now if I specifically set 10ms but I can try as a last throw of the dice.
It is from HQPlayer embedded settings, there is nothing to set in eunhasu
Ok. That I never tried. So it is possible to access the embedded NAA directly without going through eunhasu? How do you do that?
No. There is nothing to set in NAA. Just set Buffer time to 10ms in HQPlayer embedded Network audio backend section. I’m using HQP embedded but I’m sure there is an equivalent setting in HQPlayer Desktop