GUSTARD A26 High Performance Audio DAC Decoder Instruction Manual

GUSTARD A26 High Performance Audio DAC Decoder

About MQA

MQA (Master Quality Authenticated)

MQA is an award-winning British technology that delivers the sound of the original master recording. Master MQA Files are fully verified and small enough to be streamed or downloaded. When the screen displays “MQA” or “MQA .” when. ’ it indicates that the product is decoding and playing the MQA stream or file , with attribution to ensure that the sound is the same as the source material. ‘ M Q A . ‘ means it is not only playing MQA S t u d i o file that has been approved by the artist/producer ‘s studio or verified by the copyright holder.

“OFS ” confirms that the product is being received MQA stream or file . This will provide Final expansion of the MQA file and displaying the original sample rate . MQA is MQA L i m i t e d registered trademark of © 2018

front panel

1. Switch between ready state and use state. A26 turns on the power switch at the rear of the fuselage and enters the ready state.
2. The display shows the status of the current input channel, encoding format, sampling rate, volume, etc.
3. ” + ” ” – ” The button is usually used to attenuate/increase the volume; in the menu interface, it is used to switch options .
4. The setting button is used for input selection switching in the normal state; long press to enter or exit the menu; it can also switch items.

rear panel

*When operating the international voltage switching switch, please be sure to set the two switches to the same voltage at the same time, otherwise the internal transformer will be damaged after power on

Display and operating menu

1. A26 uses a large-size OLED display, real-time status display and functional operation. The following figure shows the display status of the main page of the screen.

2. Input channel selection:

   • The A26 has a total of 6 input channels. When the main page is displayed, press the switch button, you can press COAX——AES—— IIS— —USB——OPT——LAN order to cycle through the current input channel.

3. Volume adjustment ( V O L U M E ) :

   • When the screen is the home page display screen, ” + ” ” – ” Buttons can be directly adjusted A26 ‘s digital volume attenuation function. The volume can be attenuated from 00dB to -90dB , a total of 90 levels of digital volume.
   • When the volume position is at 00dB , increase the volume to enter the fixed output mode (volume bypass ) , and the volume position displays FIXED. To decrease the volume, exit FIXED first, and then adjust the volume.

4. setting menu:
   On the home screen, long press the menu button to enter the setting menu. In this state, the menu key can sequentially switch the menu items to be modified , ” + ” ”

   • ” It is used to adjust the currently selected menu option. When the screen is in the setting menu, press and hold the menu button again to return to the main page.
     The menu is switched by the movement of the digital cursor, as follows:
   1. PCM digital filter adjustment
   2. DSD digital filter adjustment
   3. DSD direct mode decoding
   4. Clock source selection
   5. Sound
   6. Attenuator
   7. Phase adjustment
   8. Screen brightness and screen saver

5. Menu function introduction:

Press the menu key to enter the menu when the main page screen is on, and the menu options are introduced below.

1. PCM FILTER (PCM digital filter adjustment ) :
   A26 use AKM Built-in high performance PCM filter, a total of 6 Class digital filtering . Sharp Roll-off
   

   • Slow Roll- off
   • Short Delay Sharp Roll-off
   • Short Delay Slow Roll-off
   • Super Slow Roll-off (NOS-like) Low Dispersion Short Delay filter

2. DSD FILTER (DSD digital filter adjustment ):
   AKM has two built-in bandwidth options, Narrowband Narrow Bandwidth option Broadband Wild Bandwidth

3. DSD DIRECT (DSD direct mode ):
   It can be configured as a DSD direct DA circuit. Disable (DISABLE) Default option Enable (ENABLE) When this option is turned on ( EN A B L E ) , it will pass through DSD , and only the most original DSD signal at the front end will be sent to the decoding circuit. At the same time, the volume function will also be bypassed, the volume position will display FIXED, and the digital volume of the unit will no longer be adjustable.

   • It is recommended to turn down the back-end volume before proceeding.
   • • When turned on , there will be a slight clicking sound when the playback data format is switched between PCM and DSD .

4. REF CLOCK (reference clock selection ) :
   GUSTARD-K2, low noise clock synthesizer. With ultra-low phase noise, the synthesized clock achieves femtosecond-level ultra-low jitter performance, and can directly transfer the near-end performance of the reference clock. Thanks to the high-precision divider, the frequency accuracy of its synthesized audio clock reaches ppb level. Thanks to this, the main clock of the built-in digital processing circuit of the A26 is also provided by the K2 high- precision lock synthesizer, and the REF CLOCK can choose INT. Internal reference, using the internal femtosecond. Or select EXT . Select an external 10M reference source, it is recommended to connect the C16 or C18 reference 10M main clock.
   When EXT mode is selected and the external 10M is correctly locked . After exiting the menu, the main screen will display EXT . When selecting the external clock, if the external clock is lost, or the deviation of the external clock is greater than +- 1 5 0 p p m , it will display EXT ERR .

5. SOUND (sound )
   Two sound modes provided by AKM Monitoring monitoring ListeningListening _

6. ATTENUATOR (attenuator )
   The A26 comes with a set of stereo analog attenuators with a range of -24dB, which can apply low-level volumes with less dynamic performance loss , such as volume settings of -40db.

   • Auto
   • It can be activated automatically when the volume reaches the switching point.
   • Off
   • Only digital volume attenuation is used throughout.
   • On
   • Turns the analog attenuator on all the way.

7. PHASE (phase setting ) :
   There are two options for this function: NON-inverted (RCA positive phase output—XLR American standard ) and Inverted (RCA reverse phase output— XLR Japanese/European standard ) optional.
   NON-inverted , the RCA output of A26 is positive phase, and the XLR balanced output is American standard polarity output, that is, 1 ground, 2 hot, 3 cold.
   Inverted , not only the RCA output is an inverted output , but the XLR balanced output will be a Japanese/European polarity output, that is, 1 ground, 2 cold, and 3 hot.

8. BRIGHTNESS (screen brightness ):
   dark dark Moderate ModeratelyBright

   • Auto off Automatic Screen Screen Saver screen saver Due to the characteristics of OLED itself, long-term high- brightness use is likely to cause screen burn-in, ghosting, etc. It is recommended to avoid long-term use of bright options.

Infrared remote control

• When used to operate DAC products, please press and hold the DAC button for more than 3 seconds to enter the DAC operation mode. AMP and STREAM modes are used to control other types of GOSTE products

  1. Ready/use button: In the ready state, press this button to light up the screen of A26 and enter the use state; when the A26 is in use , press this button to enter the ready state.

  2. Menu button: Press this button to enter the function setting menu of A26 .

  3. Four-dimensional direction button: When entering the menu of A26 , use the up/down of the four-dimensional direction key to switch the function to be adjusted, and use the left / Right to adjust options.
     Press the middle to enter or unmute.

  4. Back button: Return to the main screen display state.

  5. Volume down button: When the A26 is displayed on the main screen, press this button to reduce the output volume.

  6. Volume plus button: When the A26 is displayed on the main screen, press this button to increase the output volume.
     Note:

     • The operating distance varies depending on the angle
     • If there is an object between the remote control and the sensor, it may not operate normally
     • If the remote control will not be used for a long time (one month or more), please remove the battery
     • If the battery leaks liquid, please thoroughly clean all residues in the battery compartment and install new batteries When using other devices controlled by infrared rays, using this remote control may misoperate these devices

Installation of USB driver under Windows system

• The driver is suitable for all WINDOWS systems.
• MAC The OS system has its own driver, which can be used after plugging in, without additional driver installation.
• A CD is included in the accessories of this machine, which contains GUSTARD USB driver.
• Also available from www.gustard.cn Download related drivers, components and manuals from the website
• This driver supports Windows 7 Requires SP1 and above ; Windows 8; Windows 10; Windows 11

1. who use a desktop computer to connect to the decoder are recommended to use the native USB 2.0 interface. It is also strongly recommended to use the interface on the rear of the chassis . Because the interface on the back is directly connected to the motherboard, and the interface on the front of the chassis has an extra patch cord, it has a certain negative effect on high-speed signals.

2. use USB line will be Gosta equipment’s USB After the interface is connected to the computer, turn on the power of the device. The computer will prompt to find new hardware and try to set up the device. If there is no prompt, please try another USB interface or turn on the Gosta USB interface again.

3. Open the CD, double-click to run the Gustard_UsbAudio_v4.82.0_2020-04-17_setup.exe program (or other latest version )
   If the “User Account Control” window pops up, click “Yes”.

4. When prompted, click next or install in turn .

5. Detect equipment, if there is a red text prompt: Setup requires that the device is… , please restart the Gosta USB interface or re-plug the USB cable.

6. On the successful driver installation screen, click Finish to complete the installation. If any other English prompt box appears, just select YES .

Foobar2000 software realizes the setting of DSD hard solution

1. Open the folder foobar2000_DSD_0.7.X , double-click to run ASIOProxyInstall-0.7.2.exe , and click next or install to complete the installation.
2. Run the Foobar2000 program. Click on File —> Preferences .
3. “C o m p on e n t s ” on the left ( Chinese version is “Component” ) , and then click on the lower right ” Ins t a l l ” ( Chinese version is “Installation” Use the mouse to select two files at the same time, or press Ctrl to select two files at the same time. Then click ” O p en “, which means “open” in ChineseTwo lines of component information will be added in the component list, and then click ” A p p ly ” ( the Chinese version is “apply “) . A box will pop up and click “OK”. The Foobar2000 software will then rerun.
4. Click on the file (File )-> parameter option (Preferences ) again.
5. P l a y b a ck ” ( Chinese version is “Playback” ) – ” Ou t p u t ” ( Chinese version is “Output” ) – ” A S I O ” on the left , and then double-click ” foo_dsd_asi
6. In the pop-up small window “foo_dsd_asio v0.7.2 . Select “Gustard USB Audio ” from the drop-down menu of ASIO Driver in the first line Second line DSD Playback Select ” ASIO ” from the drop-down menu of Method Na t i ve “. Others make the same selection according to the red box in the figure . Then click the X in the upper right corner to exit
7. Click ” O u tp u t ” on the left ( Chinese version is “output “) , and then select “ASIO:foo_dsd_asio” from the drop-down menu of ” D e vi c e ” ( Chinese version is “device” ) on the righ
8. Then click Tools—>SACD , Output on the right Select ” DS D ” from the drop-down menu of Mode . Finally, click “OK” below to complete the setup

Foobar2000 The solution to the failure to play back DSD normally

1. Why is there no ASIO in the playback ( Playback)->output (Output ) of my foobar2000 parameter option ? Because the ASIO component is not installed. Copy the foobar2000_DSD_0.7.X folder
   Drag the foo_out_asio.fb2k-component file to the blank space on the right side of the foobar2000 component option box, then click the “Apply” button in the lower right corner, and click OK in the pop-up restart foobar2000 dialog box. After restarting foobar2000 , you can find the ASIO option.

2. Why is there no SACD in the tool ( Tools ) of my foobar2000 parameter option ?
   Because the SACD component is not installed. Copy the foobar2000_DSD_0.7.X folder
   foo_input_sacd.fb2k-component drag the file to foobar2000 In the blank space on the right side of the component option, click the “Apply” button in the lower right corner, and restart in the pop-up foobar2000 Click OK in the dialog box, restart foobar2000 Then you can find the SACD option

3. Why the above settings are all correct, but an error as shown in the figure below is reported when playing DSD file Because the version of ASIOProxy conflicts with the version of the SACD decoding component. The correct version matching is as shown in the figure below, both are 0.7.X….

Some users are using the old version of foobar2000 , and its SACD decoding component is still using version 0.6.X. If the ASIOProxyInstall-0.7.2.exe program is installed, the version of the small window foo_dsd_asio is 0.7.2 , which is compatible with SACD decoding Components conflict. There are two solutions, one is to update the version of the SACD component, the installation method is as above [Question 2]. However, some versions of foobar2000 components are locked and cannot be replaced. Please reinstall the official version of the new version to solve the problem. Second, if you don’t want to reinstall foobar2000, you can install an old version such as ASIOProxyInstall-0.6.5.exe. Baidu and Google search for ASIOProxyInstall-0.6.5.exe can be downloaded, and conflicts can also be resolved.

Product parameters

Digital input:

• COAX/AES/OPT input format support :
  • PCM 16-24bit/44.1-192kHz; DSD DOP64
• USB/LAN input format support:
  • PCM 16-32bit/44.1-768kHz; DSD DOP64-DOP256; NATIVE DSD: DSD64 -DSD512
• IIS input format support:
  • PCM 16-32bit/44.1-768kHz; DSD DOP64-
  • DOP256; NATIVE DSD: DSD64-DSD512.
• *USB input operating system support:
  • WIN7/WIN8/WIN10/WIN11 32-64bit; Mac OSX; Linux

10M input interface:

• BNC: Input impedance 50 Ohm, 0dBm-20dBm, CMOS square wave 0.2V-3.3V, sine wave 0.5-3.3V .

Analog output:

• Frequency Response :
  • 20-20kHz /+-0.2dB
• SHARP Digital filter dynamic range:

  • 127dB

• Signal-to-noise ratio:

  • 126dB

• Channel crosstalk:
  • -139dB @
• 1kHz THD+N:
  • <=0.0001% @1kHz
• IMDs:
  • ≈0.001% @ – 1dbfs
• RCA output level:
  • 2.5Vrms (VOLUME FIXED)
• RCA output impedance:
  • 100Ω
• XLR output level:
  • 5.0Vrms ( VOLUME FIXED)
• XLR output impedance:
  • 100Ω

Other parameters:

• AC power:
  • AC 115V/230V 50/60Hz
• machine power consumption:
  • <30W
• Body size:
  • width 330mm
  • Height 65mm
  • Depth 260mm (excluding protruding parts)
• Weight:
  • 7Kg (including packaging)

After-sales service

Thank you very much for purchasing GUSTARD brand HIFI products. In order to protect your rights and interests, please read the following warranty clauses carefully so that you can obtain the perfect after-sales service provided by GUSTARD in time.

1. Product warranty period:
   • GUSTARD promises to enjoy 2 -year free warranty service and life-long maintenance for all kinds of electronic products under its brand from the date of purchase . Return to the factory for a new one within 15 days from the date of purchase (no scratches on the fuselage ) , free warranty within one month, and the manufacturer is responsible for the round-trip freight . 1 month – 2 years Warranty for each shipping cost.
   • The manufacturer only bears the freight in mainland China, and the overseas part of the freight and taxes are negotiated between the user and the merchant.
2. Under what circumstances to enjoy free warranty service:
   • GUSTARD electronic products are within the free warranty period from the date of sale. If the user uses the product normally, the product will Failures caused by component quality or manufacturing problems.
3. In one of the following situations, the product will not enjoy the warranty service:
   • The product has exceeded the specified warranty period from the date of purchase, and the product is no longer entitled to warranty service.
   • The actual product does not match the product model, barcode and purchase date on the warranty card.
   • without the authorization of GUSTARD technicians.
   •  Damage caused by irresistible natural external forces.
   • Damage caused by exceeding the allowable use environment.
   • Damage caused by incorrect use or improper storage (including but not limited to: excessive voltage causing damage to the circuit or components; collision causing damage to the shell or internal components; damage caused by water, oil and other liquids entering the product, damage caused by excessive dust ; product oxidation or corrosion, etc. .)
4. Services beyond the scope of warranty:
   • For machines beyond the warranty period and warranty scope, such as damage to individual components, man-made damage to the appearance, unauthorized software modification by the user, resulting in inability to work, etc. GUSTARD promises to charge for maintenance when the conditions are met (large-area components or circuit boards are burned and cannot be repaired ) , and the freight, maintenance fees, and material fees need to be borne by the user.

References

• 歌诗德官网

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