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Pre-order
GUSTARD

GUSTARD - U18

USB Audio Interface
Sale price₹ 54,990 Regular priceMRP: ₹ 54,999
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Color: Black

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DELIVERY

1. What is a Pre-Order product?
A Pre-order product is a product that we especially order for you from the brand. Once you place an order with us, we will order it from the brand for you.

2. How do I know when the product will be delivered?
There is a rough timeline on the product availability and once it has been confirmed with the brand, we will inform you.

3. Do you order the product from the brand as soon as I place the order?
We do not immediately order the product but add it in the upcoming order.

4. Will you be giving me updates?
Once we have ordered the product and have a confirmed timeline, we will give you an update.

5. I’d like to make changes to/cancel my order?
You can only cancel/make changes to your order until we place the order with the brand. Since the product is specifically being ordered for you, we will be unable to cancel/make changes once we order the product from the brand.

Free Shipping
7 Day Replacement Guarantee

In case you receive the GUSTARD - U18 with a manufacturing defect, please raise a return request within 7 days of delivery.

However, if you receive an incorrect / damaged / different product or one with missing accessories, please raise a return request within 24 hours of delivery. In case you receive a product with a missing, incorrect, or faulty accessory, you will be given a replacement accessory instead of the entire product.

Please make sure that the product is in the original packaging with all the accessories it came with. We'll also need an unboxing video and images of the parcel to investigate about the discrepancy. You may be asked to share images of the product and the packaging received for us to determine the damage or defect prior to approving the return request. The free replacement will be shipped only once the original order is returned.

A replacement will be issued only if:

- It is found to be defective
- It is determined that the product was not damaged while in your possession
- The product is not different from what was shipped to you
- The product is returned in original condition (with brand’s/manufacturer's box, MRP tag intact, user manual, warranty card and all the accessories therein)

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Warranty & Services

Don't sweat it, this GUSTARD - U18 comes with a 2 Year warranty from GUSTARD that covers manufacturing defects. All products featured on Headphone Zone are backed by an original manufacturer's warranty.

Read more about GUSTARD's warranty in India.

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Chi-Fi
Excellence

2 Years of
Warranty

Ideal for Audiophiles

These DAC & Amps are designed for discerning music lovers. If audio quality is important to you, a set of DAC & Amps like these would be ideal.


You can expect these DAC & Amps to present you with a refined listening experience. The audio quality exhibited by these DAC & Amps is a beautiful mix of musicality, technical brilliance and high precision.


These DAC & Amps deliver a spacious & open soundstage that makes you feel you are sitting at a live concert. Experience the magic and delve into pure sonic tranquility!


Ideal for
Indoor Use

Pair with Laptop via USB

A majority of people use a laptop as the primary source device to listen to music or watch movies. Since the laptop is an essential part of the audio chain there are headphones and devices designed to work a laptop or computer system flawlessly. With the availability of USB connectivity, it becomes easier to pair various devices like an Amp, DAC or even headphones without worrying about drivers or any additional piece of software.

Connect With
USB, 10M BNC

EQUIPPED WITH 16 CORE XMOS CHIP AND ACCU SILICON OSCILLATOR

Gustard U18 is the latest high-end USB audio interface that is equipped with an XU216 chip from XMOS. This high-end chip has dedicated 16 cores for audio processing and brings unmatched clarity and an immersive audio listening experience. With this chip, the U18 is capable of playing DSD512 and PCM768kHz natively. This XMOS chip works in conjunction with two hi-end audio oscillators from Accusilicon. U18 is equipped with two AS338 audio oscillators to deliver artefact free audio. To deliver pristine sound, each crystal is packaged with nitrogen gas and checked by a phase noise analyser. The jitter is also as low as 38fs, which greatly improves the bass quality.

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FULLY ISOLATED DESIGN WITH 2ND GENERATION CLOCK SYNTHESIZER

The Gustard U18 has been engineered with the highest quality components and the audio circuit has been carefully isolated from the grounding loop. U18 offers complete grounding isolation, which is achieved by a 200 Mbps isolator to eliminate all interference from your PC. This isolator efficiently reduces any external noise interfering with the audio signal. This grounding isolation is further enhanced with a 2nd generation OCXO K2 clock synthesiser that has an ultra-low noise floor. The K2 chip can generate audio-specific frequency using a 10MHz clock source with extremely low loss.

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INDEPENDENT CPLD PROCESSING WITH NICHICON FINE GOLD TRANSFORMER

The Gustard U18 features Altera Independent CPLD for signal shaping. In the CLPO for signal processing, the isolated IIS signal is reshaped to remove the jitter introduced by the isolator. This is very carefully implemented to balance out the effects of the isolator on the audio signal. These Altera CPLD are supported by the high-end toroidal transformers by Nichicon. The Nichicon Fine Gold transformer has been utilised to deliver a stable and artefact free audio signal.

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LINEAR POWER SUPPLY AND IIS-H CONFIGURABLE IIS PINOUT WITH 4 MODES

The Gustard U18 is built with IIS connectors to offer the highest quality of audio. The IIS connection is H configurable and offers 4 modes of operation, including Stock mode and DSDFlag mode. All you need to do is click right to change pinout and long push to change to DSDFlag mode. For its audio outputs, the Gustard U18 offers Toslink Optical, Coaxial, AES and I2S via HDMI. The power supply for the U18 has been carefully selected with LT3054 linear power supply to deliver high performance, low-dropout linear power to the device and the clock. The RMS noise is only 0.8uVRMS and ensures clean audio.

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2 Year Warranty

Don't sweat it, this GUSTARD - U18 comes with a 2 Year warranty from GUSTARD that covers manufacturing defects. All products featured on Headphone Zone are backed by an original manufacturer's warranty.

Read more about GUSTARD's warranty in India.

Affordable Excellence in Audio: The Shenzhen Revelation

Headquartered in one of China's leading tech hubs – the city of Shenzhen – GUSTARD is a company with research and development at its core. Its goal is to provide music fans with high-performance audio products at affordable prices.

GUSTARD is one of those names that has had a strong pull in the audiophile world and are known for their desktop audio solutions, with a particular focus on headphones. Their line-up of products primarily includes headphone amplifiers, DACs, clocks, and recently integrated streaming devices.Gustard is one of the most secretive and mysterious audio equipment manufacturers out there. But GUSTARD sure knows what they are doing when it comes to digital audio. They are known for utilising high-quality components like toroidal transformers, embedding dual DAC chips in a dual-mono configuration and equipping a fully discrete class-A output stage in their gear.

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Customer Reviews

Based on 6 reviews
83%
(5)
17%
(1)
0%
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Reviewer avatar
Prateek Saini (Delhi)
Incredible unbelievable upgrade

The R26 on its own is decent but nothing amazing. As compared to Burson Composer or even a Topping D30 Pro. It does the job well. And an issue is soft sibilance. Especially with dynamic driver headphones. For an R2R DAC, it does not roll off high treble at all. Its ultra revealing. You don’t feel you are lacking anything with this DAC but at the same time its not wowing you. Especially when the Burson DAC has such a crispness to it and no soft sibilance.

However when you plug in the Gustard U18 DDC, not just the R26 but also the Burson DAC are massively upgraded. Instead of buying a new DAC, I would strongly suggest look into a DDC. I am getting lot more definition of notes. It feels I am going down to the surface of the instruments. Bass definition and oomph has come on leaps and bounds. This DDC (I don’t know if other DDCs will have same effect) just seems to enhance the music and sounds. I can literally feel it has super charged the audio signal and everything is bolder & more vivid, and the point where you would hear distortion is pushed higher in the volume range.

Honestly it was difficult to appreciate the R26 on its own, but after U18 its best qualities are very apparent. The sound stage is wide but more importantly, it is arranged in a detailed and precise manner. Sounds which earlier appeared to come from a general area, or even one channel, seem like they are emanating from precise points within each channel. The soundscape is very sprawling and nothing is bleeding onto another. This is apparent in all tracks but on tracks which are well recorded, this is absolutely wonderful. Also a fun headphone like Stellia gives a good resolution with this, but a proper audiophile headphone like Audio Technica R70X is where all these above qualities of R26 are easily apparent. (Re R70X, I would say not only is it miles better than HD650, it deserves to be where HD800S is).

The R26 now has a crispy timbre to it, which is close to Burson’s timbre. The kind of timbre that usually comes from Planar Magnetics & Beryllium drivers, which Dynamic drivers like HD800S or even R70X, cannot produce.
Whereas earlier there was soft sibilance which sounds fuzzy, now there is a slight brightness. Of course a planar will sound even more incredible & crispy on it. I cannot wait to pair this DDC enhanced DAC with the Susvara.

Regarding the Burson’s upgrade because of U18 - the bass is phenomenally taut, which it struggled with earlier. (So much so it made me doubt the Susvara’s bass performance). The clarity & definition are also enhanced in the same manner for the Burson DAC too. Crispness is off the charts. There is zero sibilance. The soundstage is still blurred as compared to R26.

All my headphones & speakers are genuinely upgraded with the Gustard U18 DDC.

I would not say I agree with the theory behind why DDCs improve sound - timing information & jitter reduction etc. (I am playing 256kbps AAC at 44.1 khz Apple Music on Windows PC) I just feel that the DDC is boosting the signal and giving you a level of clarity which you don’t expect to hear. Simply increasing the volume of a DAC or Amp, sans DDC DOES NOT give this feeling of enhanced clarity and definition. Doing so increases volume but also noise & distortion. Which is not apparent on its own originally, but as compared to DDC, it certainly is!

The 1 thing in audio that wowed me the most and had the biggest impact on me is Hifiman Susvara (सुस्वरा). Gustard U18 is definitely the second best.

I still strongly feel, its the job of the DAC which the DDC is doing. Companies want to make multiple products so they can charge high for each one, rather than an all in DAC(source). But there has got to be some DACs which already have this mechanism built in and don’t need DDC. Maybe the Chord or Holo Audio DACs. But for most others, this is absolutely brilliant.

Hey there,

Thank you for taking the time to write this detailed review, we really appreciate the genuine feedback! Your review will definitely help fellow audiophiles to make an informed decision.

N
N.B. (Delhi)
Absoultely gem of product

It elevated my r26 performace to next level. Now i am looking for c18 . I honestly wanted to just try this but the combo is exceptional. Biggest performance boost

User picture

Thank you for your kind words! We're glad you're enjoying the Gustard - U18.

S
Santosh Kumar (Delhi)
Design and Comfort:
Great
Poor
Sound Quality:
Awesome
Awful
Value for Money:
Bang On!
Not at all
Gustard DDC/interface U-18

I read some good comments about Singxer U6 interface. As a result I started exploring various Interfaces in the market and read some reviews. By chance I came across Gustard U-18 on a forum. Gustard was latest interface to come compared to others which have been here for few years including Matrix and Denafrips. So just wanted to try Gustard out. I must admit anyone listening to digital audio and having a DAC owe it to himself to add an Intetface like Gustard U18 rather than upgrading a DAC. I can say with confidence that you will get 15 to 20% improvement in performance. Also in Gustard you get all options of digital out puts including I2s , XLR, RCA,Optical and BNC in and out which I don’t think others are giving.
Also it is very reasonably priced. I love this U18 and will recommend to all DAC users.

S
SATISH SUDARSAN (Mumbai)
Gustard U18

Great product

Thank you for the review! we appreciate it.

Z
Z (Mumbai)
U-18

A good enough DDC. Serves it's intended purpose.

Thank you for the review! we appreciate it.

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