It was interesting to read about your experience. Eventually, it all boils down to what suits us best in our systems.
My experience with Gustard A26 is the opposite. It was tempting for me to have everything in one box. The streamer inside A26 is a great idea. Using LAN (internal streamer) A26 sounds excellent. So, overall, as a complete, ready-made product, it is an excellent choice at its price. My setup sounded better when A26 was fed with I2S over HDMI from Ian's steamer (SC-Pure clocks) than its built-in streamer. It is not a day-and-night difference, but it was better enough for me to skip the built-in steamer eventually.
Ultimately, I sold A26 because Ian's Dual Mono ES9038Q2M sounds much better in my system. There are, however, several differences between our DAC parts. The differences are:
- SC-Pure Clocks, which are damped with Sorbothane pads. (SC-Pure clocks have been a noticeable improvement, and damping the vibration was a similar improvement to installing the SC-Pure clocks themselves).
- Each power supply input of ES9038Q2M is powered individually (especially other inputs are isolated from DVCC)
- The UcPure power supply for FiFoPi Q7 is separated from ES9038Q2M
- OPA861 board supplied with a high-quality power supply. The LinearPi is OK but far from delivering the quality at which the OPA861 I/V can sound.