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Review and Measurements of SMSL Sanskrit 10th DAC

Patrykowski

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Just one note, you can not hear any noise normally. Only when the music is turned off and volume is im max. In my opinion DAC gives very good sound quality, what are your observations, apart from all these measurements, charts, etc.?
 
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amirm

amirm

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I have a problem. The DAC is turned on and connected to the amplifier, but the music is turned off. However, when I give the volume knob to the max, I hear hissing and light impacts in mid-range speakers. It occurs both with USB and external power supply. When connect a CD player or phone directly to the amplifier (not via the DAC), there is silence.
Only DAC causes noise. The same is true when turning on music from DC player, via DAC / spdif. CD player -> the amplifier is quiet.
Sounds like noise bleeding through USB through the DAC to your amp. There is no galvanic isolation here so when you use normal RCA interconnects this kind of thing can occur.
 

Tatteredmidnight

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I have a problem. The DAC is turned on and connected to the amplifier, but the music is turned off. However, when I give the volume knob to the max, I hear hissing and light impacts in mid-range speakers. It occurs both with USB and external power supply. When connect a CD player or phone directly to the amplifier (not via the DAC), there is silence.
Only DAC causes noise. The same is true when turning on music from DC player, via DAC / spdif. CD player -> the amplifier is quiet.
I had this issue on my SMSL M8, to resolve it, I took a sharp pair of electronics tweezers and poked out the power and ground pins from a small USB extender, leaving D+ and D- untouched. Using this adaptor, its now dead silent on max gain and volume with nothing playing. I'm not sure if the Sanskrit 10th would function properly without USB power over the data connection, but it may be a place to start.
 

Patrykowski

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Wszesze
Sounds like noise bleeding through USB through the DAC to your amp. There is no galvanic isolation here so when you use normal RCA interconnects this kind of thing can occur.
The same happens when the DAC is not connected to the computer only to external power and the music is played with: CD player - DAC - amplifier. Power supply 5V charger.
 

Roen

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I'm surprised these noise reports aren't impacting SINAD.
 

sophie smith

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Would be interesting to know if using dual USB (separate connectors for power and signal, made by pangea and other vendors) would fix the mains noise issue. Can this be tested with the DAC known to have this problem using regular and dual head USB cables?
Dual USB is quite a bit more expensive than regular units, but still a lot cheaper and simpler than stand alone galvanic isolators or DAC units with galvanic isolators built-in.
 

deffusse

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Would be interesting to know if using dual USB (separate connectors for power and signal, made by pangea and other vendors) would fix the mains noise issue....
actually I'm waiting for delivery of this dac and I didn't know the're dual usb cables .. could you post a link?
 

deffusse

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I still wonder what would the best power connection for 10th looks like .. for the money ofc
 

bigx5murf

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Seeing how this thing performs when given adequate power. I'm wondering how the SMSL sanskrit pro-b compares. It's also a AK4490 implementation by SMSL, and it can take regular barrel connector power supplies at 9V.
 

Aibo

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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.
 

Sangram

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I still wonder what would the best power connection for 10th looks like .. for the money ofc

I have a linear 5V supply connected to the power in port and a data cable with the +5V line taped off for the actual data stream. I have used it like this from day one, well before I read any forums or any reviews, as it is what makes the most sense.

The internals seem to show that the two power inputs are in fact connected in parallel and in reality they are. This means that it there is a small chance of power bleeding from one USB input to the other if the voltages are slightly different from each other (and they will always be different by a little bit). Though most devices and power supplies should be fine with this, there are undesirable currents in all the cables and the output circuitry for both power sources.

The power supply cost me about $10 in parts plus a few hours to knock together. Nothing fancy, a small transformer and a handful of discrete parts. The sound is excellent (for the money) and there is zero noise. My amp is run wide open (no volume control, the SMSL remote is used to vary the volume) and you can't hear a thing with your ear up the tweeter's kazoo. It outclasses my Dragonfly by a country mile (I have original 1.1, the $250 unit)
 

deffusse

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I have a linear 5V supply connected to the power in port and a data cable with the +5V line taped off for the actual data stream. I have used it like this from day one, well before I read any forums or any reviews, as it is what makes the most sense.
My unit arrived a few days ago, and I'm very happy with this dac+amp separate setup... I use an old 5V smartphone micro usb power source and included usb data cable together, there is no noise no buzz nothing wrong. I bought the unit from massdrop and it literally cost me 60euro which is a bargain for the sound quality.. Well a had a problem with playing a specific dsd d-2 mode on display file.. I have heard some scratch ,,, but nothing serious.
 

Hamilton

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Hi all, first post as I just received this dac after following this thread and wanted to thank everyones input. I am using an appropriate power supply as has been suggested. Running a Pi 3b+ with volumio and after a few minutes of frustration I was finally able to play some DSD tracks without issue. My question, last night I found the display showing d-8 and didn't know what this meant as nothing was playing. Today it displayed d-1 and d-2 while playing dsd. Does anyone know what each d value denotes?

Thanks again
 

Hamilton

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Most appreciated Hugo. I also assumed this as was showing on volumio 2.82 MHz 1 bit (d-1) and 5.64 MHz 1 bit (d-2). Not sure what the d-8 may have denoted though. Perhaps someone has encountered this as is not in the manual.

Btw this is fantastic and great value for the cost. For reference I have only used an SMSL 1995+, Audioengine D1 and a Grant Fidelity dac11.
 

yue

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Hi all, first post as I just received this dac after following this thread and wanted to thank everyones input. I am using an appropriate power supply as has been suggested. Running a Pi 3b+ with volumio and after a few minutes of frustration I was finally able to play some DSD tracks without issue. My question, last night I found the display showing d-8 and didn't know what this meant as nothing was playing. Today it displayed d-1 and d-2 while playing dsd. Does anyone know what each d value denotes?

Thanks again
With raspberry pi You should be able to hear pop noises when playing hires files. See

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/.../anyone-using-raspberry-pi-with-dx3-pro.6516/

The problem presents in cd quality as well though perhaps you can hear one pop every five minutes. With DSD256 it would become more frequent.

Please check your system and see if you have the same issue.
 

Hamilton

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I will have more time tomorrow night to test different rates and report back to the thread attached. I did notice some slight clicks at the beginning of most dsd tracks but they settled and to be honest I was more excited to finally hear music through the pi/DAC combo utilizing dsd while not critically listening.
 
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