GUSTARD - U18

USB Audio Interface

Sale price₹ 54,990 Regular priceMRP: ₹ 54,999
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In a nutshell, ships within 24/48 hours basically means that your product will be shipped out or dispatched from our warehouse within 24/48 hours after placing the order. It also indicates that the products are readily available at our warehouse and once we receive your order, we dispatch it out at the earliest either on the same day or the next working day depending on when you’ve placed your order.


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A lot of our customers assume that it means their order will get delivered to them within 24/48 hours, but that’s not what it means. For an order to reach you, it can take anywhere up to 3-4 business days, depending on which part of India you are placing an order from.

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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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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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Other Details


Generic Name Digital Audio Converter
Importer Details Importers Name: Ferrari Video
Address: 63/18, 1st Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Chennai - 600020
Contact No: 044-24420733
Net Quantity 1
Package Contents GUSTARD U18

Manuals & Guides



User Manual | U18

USB Audio Interface



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Customer Reviews

Based on 7 reviews
86%
(6)
14%
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Reviewer avatar
Prateek Saini (Gurugram)
gives Richness to Desktop audio

If you have a Desktop PC, a DDC is absolute must. It's not snake oil! I thought it was. The upgrade to sound is Royal! Harshness is tamed a little bit. But the biggest change is that sound becomes richer, bass becomes taut and extremely tactile. A lot more bass notes are being heard, deep rumble, which previously wasn't. Difference is beyond obvious. It cleans all the electrical noise that comes via USB cables from your PC, so you hear more. Unfortunately, even very expensive DACs are not provided with the power supply/electrical capacity to filter out the electrical noise that comes from PCs. Using Optical from PC to DAC also avoids all electrical noise but it brings another problem - jitter or time domain errors which are heard as noise artefacts. It makes the sound fuzzy and also harsh. This is because Optical/Coaxial SPDIF is a very old and limited technology and the one found on your PC Motherboard is the cheapest kind. This interface sends a Data stream that is Synchronous in nature and hence needs to be perfectly timed, which a PC has absolutely no hope of doing. You can find audio samples online with jitter and hear the harshness and fuzziness for yourself. Please don't consider Audio Science Review, they are STUBBORN & DUMB. Gustard U18 takes in USB Data which is Asynchronous and has a more than good enough clock to re-clock it and send via Optical/Coaxial without any jitter or electrical noise.

If you use a mobile/iPad wired via USB to your DAC, then you absolutely don't need a DDC. MacBook probably won't need one either, but I think Windows Laptops will because of no high/standard design.

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.

A
Aspi Pithawalla (Mumbai)
U-18

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

Thank you for the review! we appreciate it.

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

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

S
Santosh Kumar Rupramka (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.

V
Vipul Patel (Bengaluru)
Design and Comfort:
Great
Poor
Sound Quality:
Awesome
Awful
Value for Money:
Bang On!
Not at all

GUSTARD - U18

Thank you for the awesome reviews, Vipul!

S
SATISH SUDARSAN (Mumbai)
Gustard U18

Great product

Thank you for the review! we appreciate it.