SMSL SU-9 Balanced DAC Review

[MalinYamato]

No. You are talking about tube amps, Sir...

talking about tube DACs ... btw, I am a lady.

 

[Ryctor87]

talking about tube DACs ... btw, I am a lady.

My Apologies, with respect. Sorry about that...

Tube Dacs it is...

 

[MalinYamato]

My Apologies, with respect. Sorry about that...

Tube Dacs it is...

just a joke

 

[Dingenus]

SMSL SU-9 is booring, flat dac like all delta-sigma. No pleasure to listen at all. Features ofc are great. If you want to listen music not sounds you should buy something else - Chord or R2R is good way.

That is very annoying for you. Fortunately I don't know that problem.

 

[MalinYamato]

when you say flat DAC, do you mean that it does not color the sound but just translates the PCM as it is? If you want more fun then isn't EQing the thing or as IFI bump the freq spectrum in HW with emphasis on more bass to get HFMs or Sennines to be more fun to listen to? Sorry, I don't understand the tech, as my brain only consists of cells enough to enjoy music, not to elaborate on how things work. What should a DAC do or not do? What is delta-sigma?

 

[JSmith]

What is delta-sigma?

The majority of DAC's;

Delta-sigma modulation - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

JSmith

 

[Katji]

So how exactly do Chord DACs inject musicality into the sound?

Only at the deep end of the "chain."
...And as you know, cost is involved too, so people often suggest wine or smoke instead.

I was in the impression that DAC consists of boring circuits that should translate as true to the source as possible, but is there an orchestra in the DAC as well that

Sometimes when people talk about amplifiers being musical, I think of these...musical boxes...

 

[Roland68]

Only at the deep end of the "chain."
...And as you know, cost is involved too, so people often suggest wine or smoke instead.

Not wine or smoke, incense is used for incantations

Sometimes when people talk about amplifiers being musical, I think of these...musical boxes...


View attachment 190046

A really nice case for a DAC or a headphone amp...
What do you use as a volume control? The key or the prima balerina?

 

[Katji]

What do you use as a volume control? The key or the prima balerina?

That's interesting. So far i know, they never have volume controls. ...Nor did chiming clocks. The only volume control is the blanket or pillow over your head.
It is binary Box open, box closed. My mother had one - when the cat hit the ballerina, it came off, but the music continued playing.

 

[Shoaibexpert]

Upgraded from SU-9 to VMV D1SE. With it's Tube 2 setting, I have to say this DAC does sound different from the SU-9, sepakers disappearing from the scene. A little Bass light (very little...that too in perception...my in room responses are identical for both DACs) but wayyy more resolving and engaging. Better/ larger sound stage and easy/ effortless in it's presentation... though very slight changes there and mostly with the sound color options engaged. Very defined vocal/ instrument placement and detailed bass. Some say it sounds like good R2R DACs...but not sure as I have not heard an R2R before...it certainly is different from any DS ive heard so far anyway.

I believe it adds 2nd harmonic distortion to add color in Tube mode...so we have an answer as to what it's doing technically. My end game as of this day and hour...which as we know changes as soon as these Chinese manufacturers release new products.

Still using the SU-9 for headphones Rig as most DACs sound identical within the headphones space....

 

[MalinYamato]

Upgraded from SU-9 to VMV D1SE. With it's Tube 2 setting, I have to say this DAC does sound different from the SU-9, sepakers disappearing from the scene. A little Bass light (very little...that too in perception...my in room responses are identical for both DACs) but wayyy more resolving and engaging. Better/ larger sound stage and easy/ effortless in it's presentation... though very slight changes there and mostly with the sound color options engaged. Very defined vocal/ instrument placement and detailed bass. Some say it sounds like good R2R DACs...but not sure as I have not heard an R2R before...it certainly is different from any DS ive heard so far anyway.

I believe it adds 2nd harmonic distortion to add color in Tube mode...so we have an answer as to what it's doing technically. My end game as of this day and hour...which as we know changes as soon as these Chinese manufacturers release new products.

Still using the SU-9 for headphones Rig as most DACs sound identical within the headphones space....

thank you for sharing your impressions. I know very little about the differences between DACs and currently use a tiny Tone Pro 2 DAC as DAC for my Singxer amp because it is so small cute and red. How much of an improvement will I get if I replace my current DAC with the one you have VM D1SE?

 

[Shoaibexpert]

small cute and red

Haha...nice reason to love an audio equipment for sure!

How much of an improvement will I get if I replace my current DAC

Thats a very individual and subjective preference and depends on what setup your using to listen. Do you use headphones? If your headphones are under $500. Dont bother as your system is already an overkill. If they are >$1500 (I know very broad approach but I wanna make it simple in $ terms) maybe but most likely you wont have noticeable improvement by changing your setup as it is very good as it is. Your DAC and amp both are as clean as they come based on Amir's tests.

I have seen that you only notice differences in DACs once you enter high end speaker setups...something with very clean amplifier, preamp and speakers. With headphones, differences are not obvious. I do not suggest to shell out $500+ on a DAC upgrade if you use headphones, unless they are in the $3000+ category.

Lastly, resist the temptation and try to focus on enjoying what you have is my suggestion. Its hard but people at ASR are here to help!-

 

[Katji]

So, very unlikely to get better sound quality, and you lose the benefit of [small red cute].

 

[MalinYamato]

So, very unlikely to get better sound quality, and you lose the benefit of [small red cute].

okay, thank you, I got it -- thus, I won't need to upgrade to a SU9 or VMV D1SE DAC, yet another big black box, because I am currently only using headphones.

well, I love to have a red theme on my small things to go with my Festin handbag and stuff... I put a knitted red headband on my phone and I am planning to put cute ribbons on its side as well. My DAC is very small and I love how it looks -- don't you? My current amp is black and too masculine and needs to go and find a big guy who likes black macho things. I found a lovely amp gsx mini on the net in red which I would love to have instead, the red on the right, which is rumored to sound well as well besides its gorgeous look. If I keep my little red DAC and just replace my black amp with the red on the right, would I get a better sound?

 

[Roland68]

okay, thank you, I got it -- thus, I won't need to upgrade to a SU9 or VMV D1SE DAC, yet another big black box, because I am currently only using headphones.

well, I love to have a red theme on my small things to go with my Festin handbag and stuff... I put a knitted red headband on my phone and I am planning to put cute ribbons on its side as well. My DAC is very small and I love how it looks -- don't you? My current amp is black and too masculine and needs to go and find a big guy who likes black macho things. I found a lovely amp gsx mini on the net in red which I would love to have instead, the red on the right, which is rumored to sound well as well besides its gorgeous look. If I keep my little red DAC and just replace my black amp with the red on the right, would I get a better sound?

View attachment 191439View attachment 191440

Or you can turn your Singxer SA-1 into a unique red item.
You bring the 5 aluminum parts and the volume button from the SA-1 to a company for surface finishing or anodizing processes and have the parts anodized red, you can also choose the shade of red, or red and the sides blue?
Matching aluminum screws in red are available from many companies.
You can now have the inscription, if you want one, lasered cheaply, but also printed, or with transfer stickers, or cut out of real self-adhesive silver or gold foil by laser, or by calligraphy, or, or, or.....

 

[Katji]

[ ...March 9, how did i miss this? ]
Nice headband...did you make it?

Why is the kettle there?....or maybe it's a flask to keep the tea hot...?

 

[stegro]

Folks, I have a question regarding the SMSL Su-9:
I connected a LG OLED TV via SPDIF (TOSLINK or COAX did not matter) to the DAC.
Everything worked fine BUT after a couple of minutes tone interrupts happened. Simple spoken: little annoying missing hick-ups.
This was not regularly but more or less once every 5+- minutes.
I connected a Loxjie D30 (with the low end build in DAC) instead and had no issues.
Do you think this is a hardware problem of my DAC or did I screw something up?
Any comment is highly appreciated!

 

[Roland68]

Folks, I have a question regarding the SMSL Su-9:
I connected a LG OLED TV via SPDIF (TOSLINK or COAX did not matter) to the DAC.
Everything worked fine BUT after a couple of minutes tone interrupts happened. Simple spoken: little annoying missing hick-ups.
This was not regularly but more or less once every 5+- minutes.
I connected a Loxjie D30 (with the low end build in DAC) instead and had no issues.
Do you think this is a hardware problem of my DAC or did I screw something up?
Any comment is highly appreciated!

This is a fundamental problem with many DACs, but it's not their fault.
Your TV does not adhere to the SPDIF Stereo protocol. You can look deep in the settings to see if you can change something in the area of sound/stereo/audio output.
Your Loxije D30 (still) has an AKM receiver chip (AK4114 or AK4118) that can process just about anything. Since these chips are no longer available (and they are also more expensive), the SU-9 has a 16-pin receiver chip that can probably only handle standard SPDIF (2-channel stereo).
However, one clearly has to blame the manufacturers of the source devices (in this case your LG TV) for not providing an option for standard SPDIF output.
A normal DAC is not an AV device.

 

[stegro]

This is a fundamental problem with many DACs, but it's not their fault.
Your TV does not adhere to the SPDIF Stereo protocol. You can look deep in the settings to see if you can change something in the area of sound/stereo/audio output.
Your Loxije D30 (still) has an AKM receiver chip (AK4114 or AK4118) that can process just about anything. Since these chips are no longer available (and they are also more expensive), the SU-9 has a 16-pin receiver chip that can probably only handle standard SPDIF (2-channel stereo).
However, one clearly has to blame the manufacturers of the source devices (in this case your LG TV) for not providing an option for standard SPDIF output.
A normal DAC is not an AV device.

Many thanks for this quick response. I meanwhile thought I need to change the DLPP setting to a higher value. WDYT?

 

[Veri]

Many thanks for this quick response. I meanwhile thought I need to change the DLPP setting to a higher value. WDYT?

Definitely worth a shot.