SMSL SU-9 Balanced DAC Review

[jaraheel]

I am always surprised by the unenthusiastic response SMSL gear tends to receive regardless of measures performance. It seems Topping, Matrix, Octo, and others get a much warmer reception.

If I may give an opinion here, SMSL has had a rather uninspiring history of quality control, with issues being fixed in second iterations. Their products are pretty good, especially for the money, but it’d take successful execution of several products to rehabilitate their image - just my two cents

 

[Jimster480]

Incredible performance for a "low" price.

 

[jae]

Aren't Aurender, Aurelic, and Lumin already doing this?

Are they measured? Which products from these companies perform objectively as well as the <$500 chinese products?

The only "premium" audiophile product I know of that compares is the Mola Mola Tambaqui which costs $10,000.

 

[Tks]

I just realized, it beat the DX3 Pro in the IMD test, ESS implementations haven't been known for doing much of that in the recent past. Pretty nice to see.

 

[VintageFlanker]

ESS implementations haven't been known for doing much of that in the recent past.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I just realized, it beat the DX3 Pro in the IMD test, ESS implementations haven't been known for doing much of that in the recent past. Pretty nice to see.

 

[JohnYang1997]

View attachment 84570

Ahhhhh

 

[Tks]

View attachment 84571

Well of course the most famous and recent. I mispoke when I said recent history, I meant distant history.

But also, triple the price basically.

 

[VinceS]

@amirm If you still have this hooked up anywhere any chance you could find out in the menu's if all outputs(XLR/RCA) are always on or if you can switch between them? Otherwise ill dive into the manual when this gets released.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Are they measured? Which products from these companies perform objectively as well as the <$500 chinese products?

The only "premium" audiophile product I know of that compares is the Mola Mola Tambaqui which costs $10,000.

A search brings up
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...d-measurements-of-aurender-a10-streamer.5640/
and
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...uralic-vega-g2-streamer-and-dac-review.10986/

 

[J.I.T]

wow... somewhat better than m400 on toslink.
for me, the only downside from m400 was toslink jitter measurement from amirm's review
and now, it is solved by even cheaper su-9. impressive!

amirm, thank you for the review.

 

[Veri]

wow... somewhat better than m400 on toslink.
for me, the only downside from m400 was toslink jitter measurement from amirm's review
and now, it is solved by even cheaper su-9. impressive!

ESS chips have stronger dejitter, AKM works differently. Different approach.

 

[AlexScan]

Another great DAC from SMSL, but this one is the best price/quality ratio I think...

Anyone as picture of the inside ?

 

[sonci99]

If I may give an opinion here, SMSL has had a rather uninspiring history of quality control, with issues being fixed in second iterations. Their products are pretty good, especially for the money, but it’d take successful execution of several products to rehabilitate their image - just my two cents

Their flagship dac has a butchered frequency response on RCA out,
and one SMSL guy said to solder a capacitor on a 800$ dac.. How cool is that?

 

[gvl]

No access to advanced ESS settings, eg ASRC off, from the menu, right?

 

[misterdog]

Their flagship dac has a butchered frequency response

So do my Quad ESL loudspeakers, though my M400 sounds mighty fine through them using XLR and supertweeters on the Quads.

 

[ShiZo]

Is this thing better than the m400?

 

[TNT]

That test runs at 192 kHz sampling so these filter aspects won't impact it.

Aha - ok.

Yet, 99% of played files are 44,1 - no?

Can it be run for 44,1?

//

 

[wyup]

Their flagship dac has a butchered frequency response on RCA out,
and one SMSL guy said to solder a capacitor on a 800$ dac.. How cool is that?

Well, at least they provide a solution. It's the downside of releasing some new products a year, that's how it goes in consumer industry. But they perfect their craft along the way and that is better for us. We get more for less. Chord have their Qutest and Dave for years but who can reach for that..

 

[ShiZo]

Well, at least they provide a solution. It's the downside of releasing some new products a year, that's how it goes in consumer industry. But they perfect their craft along the way and that is better for us. We get more for less. Chord have their Qutest and Dave for years but who can reach for that..

Testing should be done before releasing a product.