The Art of Elocution - TT D/A converter

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love Hungary.
I love the Hungarian language. Really.
I love beautiful speech, people who speak beautifully.
I love the way Latinovits recites  József Attila.

I love beautiful sound in speech, I love it in music too.
I love beautifully sounding audio systems that show this beauty. 

I especially respect the underlying meta-contents of language, our beautiful mother tongue shows magnificent richness here.
In hi-fi, when listening to / assembling demanding audio systems, this 'meta-content' also appears, and as we move up our own ladder, it gains more and more importance. Sometimes this goes against the technical / engineering approach, sometimes it is in sync with it. After a while, it is more appropriate to use terminology that includes 'fine-tuning to one's own personality, one's own taste', or something similar. This is because audio systems have many parameters, the stubborn immensity of which plunges not only the equipment and cables, but also the entire 'High-Fidelity' movement into the uncertainty of subjectivity. Opening any hi-fi forum, we find a enormous chaos, parties and faculties, skeptics and fanatics, laws and their opposites flourishing in parallel, and some terrifying money-laundering that is an absolute must for such chaotic systems.

For 'High-Fidelity' simply does not prove to be enough; we desire something more, something whose only true measure is perhaps the time spent listening to music and its enjoyment factor, relative to the given person.
So, the designers do not have an easy job, that is for sure.

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Every component of an audio system is important, but there is one category that has undergone a dizzying evolution after decades of stagnation, probably due to the spread of file-based music listening.
This is the digital-to-analog converter, a device that converts a digital data stream into an analog signal, into the music itself. Its importance cannot be overestimated; although the mathematics of the conversion and the decoding method have existed for a long time and are even somewhat standardized, the sound produced will still be different when listening to different DACs.

The hifi market offers an incredible amount of converters, the Chinese started the push with new chips, and then practically everyone got into the business. Between $50 and $10k, there were a lot of great machines.

I tried many different converters, and it turned out that there was some secret attraction hidden in the sound of AKM chip solutions for me, so I tried to listen to a few of the best implementations, and the one I liked the most, I kept it, and this became the Gustard A26.

After a few years of peace, some subtle rustling began, word got around in the hi-fi circles that there was a new Hungarian development that sounded extremly good, and that was based on the AKM chip, and in addition, it had a volume control (this is a must for me), only XLR output (this is great for me), and only USB input (this is a no-go for me, because I only listen to CDs).

A couple of weeks ago, the AES/EBU input version became available, so I borrowed one to listen to, and I would like to thank you for making this possible, anonymously and without a deposit.

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K. Ferenc wrote a great series of articles about technical details and listening (here), you can read about the content. I only got my head around this because he has heard a lot of things, he moves in a broader coordinate system, and it is certain that our sound tastes differ greatly, but he even has access to a 10M cable and the devices that match it, so if he really gets stuck on something, he says it's good, you can even go a little closer to it. :)

For my part, regarding the internal construction, only two comments.
One is the volume control. I am somewhat familiar with it, because it is also inside the Gustard used AKM chip, so it is a 'native', designed thing, the signal 'comes out' with the given volume, no need for any potentiometers, relay rows, resistor stacks, or other things in the signal path of dubious quality. Its use in hi-fi circles is about blasphemy, but I like it very much in the A26, I think it is better sonically than any preamplifier, which only performs signal-conditioning and coloring anyway, and can even enhance the sound of weaker systems, the really good ones sound good, the weak ones sound bad. There is no need for input selection, nor is there impedance matching, so their presence is not technically justified - I am about alone in this opinion.

Until I spoke to Gábor Tóth, the designer, who also considers the sound of this solution to be better from an engineering point of view. The much-quoted 'bit loss' is of course a reality, they just forget that the system is 32-bit, and the CD is 16-bit, meaning that the mathematical loss itself would begin at the very, very low volume setting, but there the narrowing due to the physiological loudness effect can be heard a thousand times better. (Then when listening, it turned out that its virtues remain even at very low volumes, just like with the A26.)
The other thing is that the power supply is very small and switch-mode, which automatically generates a half-smile of pity in hi-fi enthusiasts, it's useless to explain that for example I tried about 10 types of linear power supplies for my CD transport, but I like the original SMPSU far better. Here Gábor only said that he designed this, believe me, it's very good.
So, I finally have an engineer-ally on two important issues, that's good.

Oh, and the chip itself. The A26 has the newest, 4499, this one has the older, 4493. I ask why?, he says that it's not like we take the best part off the shelf, put it in, and the sound will be good. In the 4493 he found the technical content to which he could fully adapt his own design ideas, e.g. in the critical output stage, the 4499 was not suitable for this.

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The handling, the services: everything you need is there, a great menu system, everything can be controlled by remote. The setup takes about half a minute, because I know the AKM filters, the big favorite 'Super Slow' will also run here. These reconstruction filters are serious industry secrets, AKM has put a lot of development into them to make them sound like that.

The other complexities, the 'gain' controls and the 'AES/EBU' things, and the adjustable sound characters, these remain in the default position, and new areas of play will open up for personalization.

Nice metal case, good display, and even a 'demo clock' that counts down from the first 48 hours, so that until this is over, there is a break-in period, so don't expect miracles.

Well, it's funny because it's like it was made specifically for me, me, who is a firm opponent in break-in-time in and is able to throw the thing away after a minute if I sense the slightest tone defect on one of my beloved instruments... :)

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The sound.
What is it like?
In short: fantastic.

I started with a solo gamba, a lot of things are revealed here.

 

I admit, I didn't expect it to be this good. That it suddenly flew into the big boys' club because of the viola da gamba. Which is a particularly difficult task anyway.
Because it's very good. It has a very strange sense of presence. The seventh bass string is simply phenomenal. I've only heard something like this on the R30, but the tone there was rubbish compared to this. Here it's flawless.

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Piano.
 

It's very beautiful. The overtones, the wonder of the piano-forte, everything is in place. It strongly resembles a real piano, and there is that strange extra that one could write about in circles, but what it is, I don't know either.

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A little more complicated things.

The articulation and instrument separation are particularly good.
I would like to catch some slight tonal errors, but everything is good, everything is in place.
A little more open than I'm used to, this is completely unexpected from an AKM chip-equipped DAC. The very top doesn't go any higher than the A26, I know I caught something subtle there, but here it's something more airy. The fresh wind blew away the subtle, very slight 'Velvet' haze a little, but it left the essence, which I think is the ultra-resolution floating around the hearing threshold with these.

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Big orchestra, big choir.

Some ethereal purity.
A wonderfully beautiful performance, I completely forgot about it. I have never heard M.F.'s voice like this before. Nice, wide choir, high soundstage, but only about as much as it could be in reality, fortunately there is no unrealistic 3D that I often heard with R2R dacs.

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Finally, harpsichord.
On the first day I didn't dare to put it on, because I started to like it.... I was afraid of what would happen. What would happen there, where big names and very expensive devices often bleed, so much so that their career was only half a minute...
Let's get started, an Alpha right away, the legendary Pavana Dolorosa.
What kind of music is this? Well, anyone who doesn't get goosebumps from 1'27 on a good system is probably a robot... :)

Completely different from what I expected.
Or what I dared to hope for.
Some kind of aristocratic cool tone, and such a sound, such a cavalcade of overtones that I should immediately write to Hughues Deschaux to ask if he even knows what kind of sonic masterpiece they dreamed up for the record.
And such a bass that I literally just blinked. And the much-mentioned string multiplication is flawless.
With such a sound, you are guaranteed to fall in love with this overtone-sensitive instrument.

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So, this is really, really good.
Some distant analogy comes to mind.
About road construction.
In the old days, the new asphalt layer was put on top of the old, the curb was raised, and voila. The old cracks, bumps, potholes, distortions, non-linearities remained there, buried, but still existing; the new flaws will come out there, just like before, despite the $5000 preamplifier. The road is good, smooth, especially at the beginning, but 'otherwise' smooth.

Here, according to current technology, the old layer is scraped up, potholes, cracks, the curb remains, the base level remains, there is order in the depths, the smooth road is really smooth.
Purely metaphysics, isn't it?

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There's something with the articulation. With the manner and the meta-language. The text is the same, we understood it before, the music came through. But now the pronunciation is nicer, we understand better what we understood before.
Will more data come out? I don't think so, the situation hasn't been bad so far, but the comb has picked out the mistakes that we are sensitive to even more.

A bit of a BBC feeling. The clarity, the speech intelligibility, the music intelligibility are what are really good here. Not the highs, not the bass, not the dynamics, not the 'prat', these entrance cards were already asked for at the door. I don't feel any coloration either, although I'm not so against it in hi-fi, because we do it unintentionally, mainly with cables and pads. There's more of a purity. Some inner purity.

The A26 dares to approach Beauty a little from the side, a little more fibrous, more mystical, more fearful.
The TT dares to show things more directly, better-in-the-face. And it can be so brave because it can show good things, clean things. What's on the record, really. And that's enough.
I constantly have the feeling that the tone and the basic things are about the same, but there's definitely less confusion, error, and distortion now. One thousand percent that this is related to that spec. with power supply and ultra-short signal paths.

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I'm not a big 'Szittya Fattyak' fan, but you have to see that this converter is a Hungarian product, it was invented by a Hungarian person, it's his intellectual product, he put it together, even in terms of sound.

I know that this is how it was for me and elsewhere - considering today's market for dacs, it's like having a Hungarian racer on the Formula-I or a podium finisher at Wimbledon, the tennis cup.

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I hold our father Széchenyi in high regard, and I'm a little ashamed that I wouldn't be able to do in hi-fi what they did back then, 150 years ago, to buy Hungarian products, even if they were a little more expensive, and even if they weren't that good.

No. 
I don't have such a pardon in my search for good sound.
If I buy this dac, I'll buy it because it sounds good.
So much so that there hasn't been, and currently there isn't, a better-sounding d/a converter on my horizon.




Absolutely recommended.

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TóthTechnika Electronics - itt.
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Képek:
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HiFi sibling rivalry: Gustard R30 vs. A26

 

 

 

 

 

 

Siblings?

 

 

Or cousins? Two DA converters, one company; different technical structure, but the same development team. Maybe, the same personal taste in the background?, I don't know.
Fight? But why fight?
Well, actually because we usually listen to one converter, the one we buy because we like it, and the other one we don't because we don't like it. One will be there on the shelf.
In terms of prices, the relation is little brother / big brother, because the price multiplier is more than double.

 

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The R30 was created in the wake of the successful modern take-off of the ancient R2R technology, which was already ridden by its predecessor, the R26. By the way, right now, at the very beginning, I tell R26 owners not to rest, go to the store and buy the R30, because it is so much better. I can say this for sure, I also had an R26 for a few months. Which has a good reputation to this day, many people like it, it is no exaggeration to say that it has become part of the hi-fi public consciousness, 'putting something on the table'.

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R30.

You can read a lot about the internal content, technical details have become fashionable on websites and in reviews, you can click. For my part, all I can say is that it is extremely sophisticated design and attention, they clearly tried to get the most out of this technology. The exterior, the look, is absolutely gorgeous. Big black front panel, the necessary things are easily accessible, good menu system, very good volume control.

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A26. 

The A26 has remained a bit in the shadows, the fan base is much narrower; the aforementioned internal technical sophistication can also be said. Here the big shot is the AKM converter chip, which is a completely new creation (it was a few years ago). It is necessary to note here that this is an improved version of the Delta-Sigma principle, where the internal modulator already performs multi-bit (e.g. 5-6-7 bit) conversion, using a kind of "ladder" internal structure, i.e. an 'internal' R2R architecture exists here too.

The look is not bad here either, but it is far from the big-boy-mafia look of the R30.

Both can be connected directly to an XLR input power amp; the R30's relay/ladder, separate XLR volume control is very good; the A26's 'chip-attached' XLR volume control is also very good; this is an important or necessary option for me.

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The sound.

Let's start with the piano, a lot will be revealed here.

The R30 is very good, you can hear it after 5 seconds. Big sound, with serious movements. Great low energy, it will be seen later that it is basically very good, and in fact, it has particularly good bass. This could not be said about the R26, for example. The tone, this is the most difficult task, at first it seems to be okay. There is a faint feeling of pulling towards the midrange, but on the piano it is very appealing.
The A26 is also very good. Here there is a little more overtone, there is not so much left-hand 22Hz rumble, a subtle aura in the highs, it is also very lively.

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Large choir, complicated music.

Monteverdi.

Here the differences start to become apparent, more and more.
The R30 is quite 'BigBoy', with a bit of ML512 memories popping up... The instruments and vocals are 'separated' particularly nicely, meaning that sound-separation occurs, as in reality. And there is indeed a strange, almost strange 3D effect, a kind of 'space' appears. Minimal coverage is noticeable; the highest sounds are in a less emphasized place. Or are they not?, the Spendor runs these around the threshold of hearing by default, meaning that this question cannot be answered from here. A more 'in-your-face' speaker may produce a different result. On the BBC monitors, it is not excluded that there will be a slight lack at the top, despite the fact that the tone is nice and the lifelikeness is very good.

The A26 shows its true qualities here. There is no such space, no strange 3D effect, which is not audible in a live concert hall. None. The separation is completely similar, but the 'sound divisions within the sound', the overtones, are heard much, much better, the music itself, the sound, is broken up into many more strands. Both at the bottom and at the top, but mostly in the middle. The overall tone is a little clearer, more transparent, the upper range is much more audible. It is present and exists.

This finely performed mid-split-fibering is so striking that yes, this is where the 'Velvet' sound came from, this is where the velvety feel of the AKM chip comes from. And this brings an almost improbable lifelikeness to the sound, especially in the sensitive midrange.

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Cello. On a master instrument, very good music.

The R30 is captivating. Live. Big sound, big instrument. A little sense of lack again, something narrower, but the spatiality is impressive, I admit, even though it's not so natural to me. The low-end starts, energies, those are especially good. The tone is poorer, but it's right, no matter how hard I try, I can't get into it. It emphasizes the middle more, but it doesn't shout at all, it's not offensive. Rather, it's a fantastic mid-purity that is impressive.

The A26 is a smaller sound, a smaller instrument, not so hi-fi. Better proportions, much more extensive band edges. After the R30, it's like there's a string multiplication, so many more overtones appear. Outstanding sense of presence.

Much, much better, that's the truth.

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Harpsichord.

The R30 lost the battle here. For me, specifically, the whole war. Because it filters out, centralizes, simplifies the sound of the harpsichord. Here there is a spectacular lack of overtones. So much that the record suddenly lacks the sonic beauty for which we buy it. The only strong positive is that the tone, that is, what is left, is completely correct. The latter is a very rare phenomenon. I don't need to list big names that are downright catastrophic here.
The A26?, well, it shines here, in all its glory. It creates such a beautiful cavalcade of overtones that one just scratches their heads. The series of plucks breaks into a million strands, there are such auras and reverberations on the sounds that it is simply a physiological pleasure to listen to.

That I like Bach's music is a big exaggeration, but I'll make an exception here. The performer is great, but the sound that this cheap Naxos produces is amazingly good on the A26. Quite unbelievable.
On the R30 it's almost nothing.
No excuses. 
Because it's not good. Because 'just good' is certainly not enough here.

 

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Finally, some more sophisticated electronic-based or -accompanied music.
Pink Floyd, Brothers in Arm, and some Patricia Barber.

They all sound the same. The R30 is simply brilliant here. Huge power, dynamics, with such bass that I take my hat off to it. Good tonal ratios, live sound, nice space. R30 invented for it.

The A26 is the same here: not bad, in fact, very good, but it falls short of the R30's pulsation and power. Since there are almost no natural overtones that it can package beautifully, it can't really do anything with electric sounds, it can't do magic, it just pushes and pushes, but nothing special, at most an 'average good'.

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Overall, the R30 is a bit like Toldi Miklós. Strong, big sound.

It knows the way to Buda, shows it, unwaveringly, precisely. It's great on electric music. On acoustic instruments, it's an honest Muggle sound, it doesn't colorize what isn't there, and in the middle it makes up for the deficiencies with beautiful clarity.

The A26 is like the Ars Subtilior. A total aristocratic sound; refined, silky, over-ornamentated with incredibly extended band edges, and a midrange resolution that is second to none. 

It doesn't push with muscle, but from within, with soul, metaphysically. 

A creator of Sound Beauty.

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Considering the variety of music that hi-fi enthusiasts listen to, the above doesn't carry much useful information for most of you. There will be some classical music listeners who will be captivated by the power of the R30, e.g. on piano or Wagner, even I would say it's very OK.
Moreover, elsewhere, the rest of the chain can be so variable with the million types of equipment, cables and accessories that, together with the pure subjectivity that comes with it, practically excludes totally/tonally similar experiences.

So, it's just a kind of compass. It points to something, somewhere... :)
Don't take it too seriously.
The music, rather.

 

 

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P.S.

Please note, that in this comparison, the built-in volume controls worked. The R30 has a serious, relay-based stage, which, in my opinion, is far and away inferior to the 'native' volume control inside the AKM chip, where there is no need for any dubious quality resistor series in the signal path. In the hi-fi public consciousness, the latter is bit-losing - that's true. They just forget that the conversion takes place in 32 bits, and the CD is 16 bits, that is, the mathematical loss would start at very low levels, but here the band narrowing due to the physiological loudness effect is much more significant.
So, I suspect that the sound of the R-30 is not good from using dozens of series/parallel resistor stacks when volume control is working. Here, unfortunately, marketing considerations have overridden sound quality considerations.

Thank you for the images.

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