Gustard R26 issues when connected to LAN

Connection with external Audio Devices
#1

Hi!
I tried Audirvana Origin and the behaviour is the same as A3.5
I’m in imac macos monterey, connected to Gustard R26 DAC via ethernet cable.

A3.5 + origin can detect the “gustarender” and play music to it, however, Audirvana intermittently freezes, or stays stuck on LOADING FIRST TRACK, and cannot play any music. Even if I close audirvana and reopen its stuck. If I shut off and restart the R26 dac, it will work again. Other times, even when its working, Audirvana doesn’t display the current song or progress, just showing the first song it played.

I’m wondering if USB connection would be more stable. I was contemplating getting the Gustard U18 DDC to connect to the R26.

Any thoughts what might be happening via LAN , or whether its better to use USB?

Thank you

#2

From my experience Audirvana is most stable through a USB connection.

I see your Gustard DAC has an ‘USB B in’ connection. You don’t need a DDC to connect your computer to the DAC. Just connect your computer directly to the DAC with the right USB cable and try it out. This will cost you nothing (except maybe a USB cable if you don’t have one lying around).
After that: Let your ears decide :wink:

If that works for you, you can always decide to buy a DDC later.
As far as I know your DAC’s USB input and clocks are already of excellent quality, so I doubt a DDC will bring much quality difference in your case.

#3

Thanks AndyLubke for your reply!
I’ve been trying LAN vs USB already, and USB is much more stable. LAN makes alot of problems with things crashing.

My point for the DDC was to increase sound quality, as opposed to adding FMC and fiber optics to the ethernet pathway.

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#4

Oh sorry. I did not get you already tried out USB :wink:

If you can try out the DDC before buying I still recommend that. Because if your DAC is already doing a good job at the USB input you won’t here much (if at all) of a difference.

In general Audirvana is very stable on USB. There are more problems with uPnP/Lan, depending on different devices and different protocol/interface implementations.

#5

There are zero problems with R26 detection or playing in Audirvana (Studio/3.5). I would not recommend using USB instead of LAN, as you will sacrifice transparency, accuracy, and overall sound quality. I would advise you to deal with the settings of the router.

#6

I understand that many have had success running with LAN, but I have had constant issues with both 3.5 and origin. My R26 is connected directly to my mac via ethernet, no router.
I’ll be getting a DDC for the USB pathway, hopefully that will help improve SQ.

#7

I can never understand why buying a $1400 device and then buying more devices for it to improve the sound quality. R26 sounds great without these devices. you just need to set up the network correctly. I don’t see any problems buying a router and connecting Mac and R26 separately

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#8

On my side, under Ventura, Origin and 3.5 work with the streamer of Gustard r26.

#9

So you think adding a router between the computer and R26 would help the issue, compared to connecting the R26 directly to the computer?
To me doesn’t seem logical.
I’ll add a device to get things working properly, vs having expensive equipment that doesnt work.

#10

You are not the only one telling me they have good success, it’s just not working on my system. Not sure why. I’m troubleshooting with Audirvana and with Gustard, but so far no resolution.

#11

If you’ll make it work, you’ll be happy, because the sound with this streamer is very good.

#12

Unfortunately, I’m not a telepath and I don’t see how you set up a bridge connection on Mac. For me it is just logical to separate the two devices and connect them directly to the router. Network streamer should work independently in my opinion

#13

are you sure you shared the internet for the bridge connection on Mac?

#14

Yes, I shared internet from wifi to ethernet on the mac.

While you may be right about connecting the R26 to a router, I don’t understand how adding more cabling, and a noisy router to the chain would help vs a nice clean 1 ethernet cable from mac to R26 directly. Although like I said, you may be right.

But if thats whats needed, I’ll be very happy simply using USB and I2S and call it a day.

#15

Your problem was described like this. It’s not about the purity of sound, it’s about the fact that there is no sound at all

Audirvana intermittently freezes, or stays stuck on LOADING FIRST TRACK, and cannot play any music.

I don’t hear any noise or distortion from the router. Maybe the oscilloscope will show it, but if I can’t hear it, then it doesn’t matter.

The sound quality of LAN is better than USB. I made sure of it.

of course DDС will be better than USB, but as far as I know there are problems with playing DSD in this case.

If you do not want to mess with the router, then you will have to make sure that the Mac → LAN → R26 is configured correctly.

#16

Not exactly a gustard specific thing but I run cable modem to Wi-Fi router, single cat6 cable to 8 port switch, then from switch to Mac computer and all other devices. Everyone makes their meeting at the switch. Seems to be a recommended way of getting it done.

#17

My issue was that connecting the R26 via ethernet to my imac directly, using A3.5 , would be that after a couple of songs, audirvana would not be able to play any more songs. It would stay stuck on loading first track, or intializing audio device etc.

So it would work 100%, until it stops working. My comment about noise was just a general comment about adding more devices/cabling in between the r26 and my computer.

I never heard of any issues with DSD via the U18. I hope that wont be the case in my setup.

MAC → LAN → R26 : In network preferences, sharing, internet sharing, I made sure to set up share wifi with ethernet. When I did that, Audirvana detected gustarender 1v4. So I believe I had it set up correctly. Its just that after a while, audirvana can no longer play songs

I would need to shut off the r26 and restart it. Without that, even restarting my mac doesn’t help.

On my system, I listened to the R26 via USB (without DDC), and via LAN (without FMC), and really sounded the same to ears.

#18

Network playback isn’t Audirvāna’s strongest feature though the progress on Studio has been impressive but not flawless enough for my equipment unfortunately. With 3.5 I’m going to agree with most of my peers on usb being the first choice if practical.

#19

on my system , I also had the same results with Studio.
Antoine is looking at the logs to see if anything can be done.

You may be absolutely right about going through the router / switches etc., but for me, its a desktop setup, I think the USB/DDC route will be simpler.

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#20

Desktop, easy access with a USB cable. That’s a no brainer imo take the K.I.S.S route for your own sanity. Best of luck going forward with it!