Gustard A26 – Desktop DAC & Network Audio Streamer/Renderer (DUAL AK4499EX CHIP)

INTRODUCING THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED HI-RES DAC, THE MAGNIFICENT GUSTARD A26

Gustard is a high-end HiFi audio manufacturer of desktop-grade audio products. They have provided several incredibly high-quality products, including desktop DACs, power amplifiers, headphone amplifiers, and other Hi-Fi equipment. Building on the lineage, Gustard is proud to introduce Gustard A26, a brand-new flagship Desktop DAC + Network Streamer & Renderer. The Gustard A26 promises to deliver flagship performance with rich tonality, exceptional clarity, and a wealth of details thanks to its high-quality components. It includes a dual DAC arrangement with the industry’s best independent digital-analogue architecture and high-performance LPF and I/V circuits. Additionally, it offers Renderer and Streamer features with support for various applications and protocols. The Gustard A26 is here to blow your mind away with exceptional performance without any compromises!

FEATURES HIGH-END DUAL AKM DAC CHIPS FOR AN EXHILARATING SONIC PERFORMANCE WITH MQA SUPPORT

Gustard has trusted AKM Technologies with their flagship AK4499EX DAC chips for the core of A26. The Gustard A26 features dual AK4499EX DAC chips to deliver rich tonality and excellent details. The engineers at Gustard have designed a balanced audio circuit consisting of dual AK4499EX DAC chips arranged independently for each channel. This design architecture with an independent power supply and grounding for each channel eliminates electromagnetic interference and delivers an ultra-pure signal for you to experience pure sound. An AK4191 modulator chip for analogue and digital circuits (independent) supports this design architecture. Gustard has featured XMOS’s XU216 16-core USB processor for unprecedented USB signal transmission. It enables high-resolution PCM, DSD audio signals supporting up to 32-bit/768kHz PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) and Native DSD512 (Direct Stream Digital) audio signals. It also has full MQA rendering and features multiple digital filters for PCM and DSD signals.

A TRUE INDEPENDENT DESIGN FUSED WITH GUSTARD’S K2 ULTRA-LOW NOISE CLOCK SYNTHESISER AND FPGA TECH

The Gustard A26 is designed around independent regulators with various stages of bypass capacitors to avoid interference. It also hosts two specific toroidal transformers for audio applications, isolating the digital and analogue power supply. The Gustard A26 features one exclusively designed FPGA architecture (Field Programmable Gate Array), which includes Signal routing, Clock management, 2nd order PLL, DoP decoding, and Depop for PCM & DSD (pop-and-click protection/suppression). The Gustard A26 houses an independent femtosecond crystal oscillator, and Gustard’s in-house developed K2 ultra-low noise clock synthesiser. It works flawlessly with built-in and external clock interfaces with a 10MHz clock input.

DOUBLES-UP AS A STREAMER & RENDERER HOSTING AN ICONIC DESIGN WITH A TOUCH PANEL OLED SCREEN

Gustard A26 brings easy access to high-quality online music streaming with app support, including Room, UPnP, and HQPlayer NAA. The Gustard A26 is not just a high-end Desktop DAC, but also a Network Streamer and Renderer. Gustard has created a completely symmetrical design, placing its OLED screen display directly in the centre to get rid of physical buttons in favour of elegant touch panels. This DAC has a sharp appearance, and its approachable user interface ensures its viability in the future.

NOTE: Gustard is working to add more protocols and applications to the A26’s supported list.

Affordable Excellence in Audio: The Shenzhen Revelation

Headquartered in one of China’s leading tech hubs – the city of Shenzhen – GUSTARD is a company with research and development at its core. Its goal is to provide music fans with high-performance audio products at affordable prices. GUSTARD is one of those names that has had a strong pull in the audiophile world and is known for its desktop audio solutions, with a particular focus on headphones. Their line-up of products primarily includes headphone amplifiers, DACs, clocks, and recently integrated streaming devices. Gustard is one of the most secretive and mysterious audio equipment manufacturers out there. But GUSTARD sure knows what they are doing when it comes to digital audio. They are known for utilising high-quality components like toroidal transformers, embedding dual DAC chips in a dual-mono configuration, and equipping a fully discrete class-A output stage in their gear.

Specifications

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