Gustard X16 Dual ES9068AS DAC Preview

Gustard is a China based electronics manufacturer known for making high-quality DACs (Digital to Analogue Converters) and amplifiers. It has been researching the audio field for nearly ten years, and its various audio DAC products have been widely recognized by users all over the world. 

 

Gustard is going to unveil its new DAC-X16 with Dual ES9068AS digital-to-analog conversion chips which supports MQA full decoding via USB. DAC-X16 is going for US$499.99. It is available for the 10% off pre-order now which means you can get this precious at $ 449.99, this discount will last till Nov 16,2020, all the orders will be dispatched at the end of this month.

 

 

ES9068AS is the latest SABRE series dual-channel audiophile audio DA chip launched by ESS in the United States. It is the follow-up model of the widely acclaimed ES9038Q2M. It can not only achieve the excellent performance of THD+n -120dB and DNR 128dBA, but also the world's first audio DA chip with built-in MQA hardware renderer function.

 

When equipped with ES9068AS, not only it supports MQA full decoding via USB, but also can directly process SPDIF and I2S input MQA first-order expanded digital audio signals. There is no need for X16 to add MQA-related identification and control circuits, so as to achieve as little interference as possible by external control signals when the DAC is working, and finally achieve the ideal MQA playback experience.

 

 

X16 comes equipped with a Intel's ALTERA's large high-speed CPLD logic array chip, 2 American ACCUSILICON femtosecond crystal oscillators, high-quality audio dedicated linear power supply that helps derive the excellent performance numbers from the Dual ES9068AS chips.

 

It has CSR8675 chip by Qualcomm that enables Bluetooth 5.0 and supports LDAC, AAC, SBC, APTX, APTX LL, APTX HD and other high-frequency encoding, LDAC can realize 24B/96K high code transmission, Bluetooth function can be turned off in the menu.

 

And the very first review from ASR, click and check here.

 

Product specifications:

 
Sample rate supported by digital input channels:
COAX ：PCM 16-24bit/44.1-192kHz；DSD DOP64
AES ：   PCM 16-24bit/44.1-192kHz；DSD DOP64
OPT ：   PCM 16-24bit/44.1-192kHz；DSD DOP64
USB ：   PCM 16-32bit/44.1-768kHz；DSD DOP64-DOP256；NATIVE DSD：DSD64-DSD512
IIS ：       PCM 16-32bit/44.1-768kHz；DSD DOP64-DOP256；NATIVE DSD：DSD64-DSD512
BT Bluetooth 5.0 : PCM LDAC, AAC, SBC, APTX, APTX LL, APTX HD and other high frequency encoding, LDAC can achieve 24B / 96K high code transmission
* USB input supported operating system：WIN7 SP1/WIN8/WIN10 32-64bit；macOS；Linux

 

Analog output performance：
Amplitude frequency response：20-20kHz /+-0.08 dB
DNR： >126dB
Crosstalk：-130dB @ 1kHz
THD+N：<0.00010% 1kHz
IMD：<0.0004% @-1dBFs
RCA Output level：2Vrms (VOLUME 00dB) Output impedance 100 ohms
XLR Output level：4Vrms (VOLUME 00dB) Output impedance 300 ohms