Pontus vs Gustard?

Hey I thought you already bought the Gustard I was going to ask how you liked it?

Note that the Gustard is another DAC that is crap DAC direct to amp. I noticed that after several hours of playback DAC direct to amp the hiss would increase. I had to power OFF and ON the unit decrease the hiss to negligible levels. This is one of many complaints I have about DAC direct to amp. This hiss issue is specific to the Gustard. 

I now use the Gustard with the CODA 07x preamp and it is great. 

A guy I speak audio stuff in Texas is looking to try the Gustard X26 Pro after his excellent experience with a lower Gustard model. I will post his feedback here once he gets the X26.

The Benchmark DAC3B that I have in another system is dead silent and maybe something you will like if you liked the Benchmark DAC1. I owned the DAC1 long ago and think the DAC2 and DAC3 are much better.

Hi Manoj, no I haven't pulled the trigger yet.  I am concerned that you've had so much trouble using the Gustard direct to amp.  I do have a preamp (Parasound 2100), but I consider it to be the weak link in my system, and have only been using it for sporadic vinyl listening.  I don't know what would make a DAC perform poorly without a preamp (any thoughts from Agon'ers on why a DAC would have trouble driving an amp  would be appreciated), but if that is true, it would make the Gustard about $4000 more expensive, and way out of my budget. 

I would not get the Gustard X26 Pro if you need to drive it Direct to amp. It has some bug that causes it to generate louder hiss after many hours. Going into a preamp does not have this issue.

Going direct to amp is using more circuity than into a preamp. The digital volume control for one thing. I believe that when you set the volume to MAX the digital volume circuit is by-passed. For me, this is not a problem because I really dislike direct to amp in all the DACs I have used.

That’s a shame – it sounds like a great DAC. I’m still considering it, but if I have to use it with my existing preamp, It may not sound as good as it should.