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Review and Measurements of SMSL Sanskrit 10th DAC

TechniBert

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Hello,

I don't understand why you're connecting a preamp to the chain. If the sound is bright is not because of the Sanskirth. Why do you add another volume control to the chain ? If you read this forum for some time, you'll discover that you don't need to add anything unnecessary to the chain. Also, a 5 USD power supply is just enough. Also, please read the forum about the supposed noise from the USB ports. As far as I can tell, there's no way on a ABX test to dissern this "noise" from one DAC to the other. As you can see from Amir's test, using a standard power supply is just enough.

When I first found about this site I have the same misconceptions, but after a year of reading the forum I discovered and learned a lot of things.
As I said: "..just my experience and personal taste.."

I'm not on a mission ;)
 

Rabidrat50

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I gave my unfavorable opinion about 10th sound previously, before all of these measurements came. It was connected only to PC via USB because I couldn't imagine that to be the limiting factor. But now I gave it another spin with aux power supply added (just a phone charger) to see if I can notice any difference. Well, the difference is actually very clear, now it has more punch in the bass, improved dynamics and cleaner sound overall.

It started like the least favorite DAC I tried but now with added power and new-found liveliness in the sound I actually like it and consider it one of the best sub $100 offerings. It's a very sweet mix of good functionality and decent sound.
Hi I’m a newbie with off board DAC’s so appreciate any help you can give me please. I Have the S.M.S.L Sap Pro II headphone Amp connected to my iPad pro 2nd gen ( via headphone jack)and Sennheiser HD660S headphones. I‘m looking to connect it to a separate DAC and have been looking at the S.M.S.L M100 or the Sanskrit 10th. I was going to use an USB power supply (possible a spare Apple 5volt one) with either one. Then connect it to my ipad Pro via a lightning to usb adaptor, is there a huge noticeable difference in sound quality between the M100 & the Sanskrit DACs I listen to both male & female vocal & some instrumental. James Galway, Vanessa Mae, Katie Melua, Christina Perri, Celine Dion, Elton John, Queen, & David Bowie to name a few. All my songs are encoded from CD to AIFF format.
Many Thanks
 

Rabidrat50

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I doubt any one of them could tell the difference in a double blind test.
Very true. i‘m looking at the topping D30 DAC as well as the SMSL Sanskrit to decide which one to pair with my SMSL Sap II pro headphone Amp.
 

estuardo4

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Very true. i‘m looking at the topping D30 DAC as well as the SMSL Sanskrit to decide which one to pair with my SMSL Sap II pro headphone Amp.

Any of the two options are great DACs for what you want to achieve. The Sanskrit has a remote, but as you'll be using to hear your headphones, it is not 100% necessary. If I were you, I'll choose the D30 DAC for your purposes.
 
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Rabidrat50

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Any of the two options is a great DAC for what you want to achieve. The Sanskrit has a remote, but as you'll be using to hear your headphones, it is not 100% necessary. If I were you, I'll choose the D30 DAC for your purposes.
Thanks very much as my other non remote option was the SMSL D100 which is slightly cheaper by around £30 but I will give the D30 DAC a go.
 

zanzibar

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Nov 13, 2019
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So I've had this little monster for a few days and it replaces a very fine Schiit Modi 3 in a big monoblock tube system.
The Modi 3 gives a superlative performance for the money so let's put that benchmark out there, even for a fine high end system.

Initially, not using the Sanskrit on PCM. The Modi 3 IMHO has it easily beat but I hadn't tried upsampling at all (which I'm generally skeptical of as it's a crap shoot).

The reason I bought the Sanskrit was twofold: DSD and the remote. I missed having a remote to control volume.

So let's start out and say this SMSL is underrated and I chose it in part for the fine AKM chip which is a very good match playing music through the Mac OS (Mojave) with the superlative audio software Aurdirvana 3.5.

Now, I could finally take advantage of Audirvana and use the DSD settings and then see what was what with my system. Well, it's not a small improvement and I highly recommend the software going DSD with the SMSL Sanskrit.

Performance is a big leap and not like anything I've heard since SACD was introduced and I had one of the flagship SONY players which I upgraded not once but twice.

To put this into perspective, it's a new ballgame out there and this entry into DSD with a remote no less is a marvel.
Not sure that the DSD performance can be improved going ahead but I'm pretty happy with this combo. DACs with the Sabre chipset are a different beast, so let me put that out there. I had read about the match with the AKM and it's truly one of the biggest advances with DSD offering a performance using Audirvana.

Highly recommended.
 

DUKE-DUKE

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Hola a todos. Apreciaría tu ayuda. Ayer recibí el DAC SMSL Sanskit 10, instalé los controladores para Windows 10 provistos por el fabricante y comencé a reproducir archivos desde mi PC y todo buen sonido, excepto que en la pantalla DAC solo aparece la figura 192 y de allí no se mueve, no importa la canción y la calidad, ya sea sacd, mp3, flac, etc., el reproductor que uso es AIMP (captura de pantalla adjunta de la configuración de reproducción), no sé si es un error DAC o si hecho algo malvado Como digo, agradecería su ayuda para remediar este revés. Muchas gracias a todos y un saludo.
 

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Berwhale

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Buena noches, it looks like you have told AIMP to output at 192kHz and that's what the DAC is seeing. Try switching to the ASIO driver.
 

DUKE-DUKE

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[QUOTE = "Berwhale, post: 276756, member: 9348"] Buena noches, parece que le has dicho a AIMP que salga a 192kHz y eso es lo que está viendo el DAC. Intente cambiar al controlador ASIO. [/ QUOTE]

Simplemente lo cambié a asio y ahora me da más opciones de velocidad de bits, lo configuré al máximo 384 pero la pantalla sansckrit permanece en esos 384 y no cambia incluso si la música tiene otra velocidad de bits, captura de pantalla adjunta.
 

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DUKE-DUKE

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[QUOTE = "Berwhale, post: 276806, miembro: 9348"] No uso AIMP (uso MusicBee), pero parece que AIMP no pasará la velocidad de muestreo nativa del archivo que está reproduciendo, aumentará o reducir la muestra según la frecuencia que establezca. Más aquí: http://www.aimp.ru/forum/index.php?topic=59284.0 [/ QUOTE]


Thank you very much for your response and advice, today it is a bit late but tomorrow I will try with footbar to see if the sanskrit screen changes at the same time as the bit rate of the music that plays is really as it should be, Thank you very much New and best regards.
 

Berwhale

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[QUOTE = "Berwhale, post: 276806, miembro: 9348"] No uso AIMP (uso MusicBee), pero parece que AIMP no pasará la velocidad de muestreo nativa del archivo que está reproduciendo, aumentará o reducir la muestra según la frecuencia que establezca. Más aquí: http://www.aimp.ru/forum/index.php?topic=59284.0 [/ QUOTE]


Thank you very much for your response and advice, today it is a bit late but tomorrow I will try with footbar to see if the sanskrit screen changes at the same time as the bit rate of the music that plays is really as it should be, Thank you very much New and best regards.

El gusto es mio.
 

DUKE-DUKE

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El gusto es mio.
Today I installed to try foobar and
It was not going well. Musicbee has been installed and everything is going great, in addition the DAC Sansckrit 10 immediately recognizes and marks the bit rate of each file played whatever it is. I was glad for the weekend. Now, as I write, I am listening to Win Kegel & Mark van Roon, the Drumwise album (2015) in [DXD 352.8-24] format,
Thank you very much for your help, happy Saturday and best regards.
 

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