Due to the need to collect some extra money for a trip, I'm selling my beloved little stack:
-1x SMSL SU-8 v2 20th Anniversary Edition.
-1x SMSL SH-8 headphone amp.
-2x SMSL Remote controllers.
-2x 30cm custom Draka Micro 22 Y cable splitters with Proel die cast XLR connectors
(for connecting...
I surely consider chromecast audio "via optical" as hi-fi and I think it's an amazing little device!
It just doesn't sound as good as (in my case) a properly setup PC using Audirvana.
You can try it yourself!
(provided that you have a good PC correctly setup for best performance in audio reproduction)
if your goal is maximum quality, then Tidal through USB using a program such as Audirvana is the deal.
Chromecast is clearly inferior in quality, but still enjoyable by all means! (I don't think it does...
As mentioned previously, from my very basic tests the following profiles (Standard, Cristal 2 and Original) on my "20th anniversary edition unit" didn't show any added harmonics at all. Might be a firmware bug, a placebo sort of joke from SMSL, or can be that those profiles are doing something...
Fast Linear was default, however I have switched mine to Fast Minimum from the very first day, after some critical listening trough the filters seemed to be the best sounding to my ears,
I totally confirm what mr. @Shoaibexpert said about the difference in sound with Fast Minimum 'cause I had...
Some time ago I did a quick testing to check if the different sound profiles where dynamically affecting different part of the frequency spectrum (resembling a multiband harmonic exciter), but the results proved not to be the case, and also revealed no frequency response and harmonics alteration...
You gotta try it out, thats the only way to know! I personally think it's worth a try since you already have SU and SH, it will certainly fit nicely on your stack with the Bronze 2 it will be a slick looking little system!
Lets be realistic, DACs have always been doing that when changing sample rate (especially those connected by USB), I've never owned one (professional or not) which was completely silent on sample rate change, there are some out there but they are not the norm, simply because is rather unusual...
I've had similar professional audio interfaces to the M-Audio mentioned, including Avid, TC Electronic and Universal Audio.
All I can say is that SU-8 DAC beats all of them, older Avid interfaces (comparable to M-Audio) are actually so "bad" in comparison that the difference is night and day. I...
It's not yet on SMSL official website, for unknown reasons.
But you can find it on shenzhenaudio website.
So far this stack has 4 units:
SU-8 (DAC)
SH-8 (Headphone Amp)
DA-8 (Power Amp)
B2 (External Clock/Bluetooth Receiver)