S.M.S.L. SU-1 Dac listening fatigue, headache.

[sailor2005]

It's the Havana Syndrome......

 

[HarmonicTHD]

It sounds warmer than the Arturia Minifuse, maybe there is some sort of subsonic event that is causing me that fatigue.

Same thing happened to me with the Fossi Audio BT20A Pro class D amplifier, maybe i am allergic to chinese products.

Boy. I didn’t hear such a nonsense for a while. It’s hard to imagine why you even joined? Trolling?

 

[Redclaw]

I never understood the term "listening fatigue". Maybe you have anxiety, maybe you are tired, maybe you just don't feel like listening to music at that moment.

I think is not fatigue, probably is due tinnitus than produce the treble with a lot of details in high frequency, how to avoid.? . Trying some warm dacs, some r2r dacs , tube amps, warmer headphones.. the problem now ita to find what of those could fit you.

 

[sailor2005]

I think is not fatigue, probably is due tinnitus than produce the treble with a lot of details in high frequency, how to avoid.? . Trying some warm dacs, some r2r dacs , tube amps, warmer headphones.. the problem now ita to find what of those could fit you.

Not tinnitus. Tinnitus occurs inside the head and does not have an external source. So called "warm" DACs, tubes or anything of the sort would help

 

[Gruesome]

Subsonic rumble maybe? There supposedly are (military) sound devices that will cause symptoms similar to motion sickness. But what music source would contain sufficient subsonic content?
Can you observe slow large amplitude movements of your speaker membranes?

 

[Soria Moria]

Guessing you got excited because of the new shiny product causing you to listen louder.

 

[Greenman]

Probably not a great match for the rest of your system, I found similar with the Su1, i didn’t enjoy listening to it for extended periods. That’s despite the fact it appears to have a very slight treble roll off in amirs measurements.

 

[Gruesome]

So, did we scare away the OP?

 

[Boris Badinov]

So, did we scare away the OP?

 

[TonyJZX]

Why would OP return? He's probably gone and sold pallet loads to the fine folks at Guantanamo Bay... literal torture devices for $80!

maybe smsl is a psyops company?

 

[radix]

It's just a matter of finding the right transparent sound signature that measures subjectively well.

 

[Lupin]

but you never know with this cheap chinese products and their quality control.

I can sell you a SMSL SU-1 for $10.000 problem solved!

 

[TonyJZX]

that comment tells me this guy is full of shit

i can fully understand how some people may not like Chinese cars... a car is full of components that do various things from cooling to heating to spark to aircon to whatever... there's a lot going on

but an $80 dac?

you know that we can pull it apart and inspect the PCB right? we can catalog every goddamn component and work out the traces and see what its doing

there is no mystery to uncover... dacs are 'settled science'... anyone who's an E.Eng can tell you all about whats going on... and its repeatable... someone in the US can confirm what someone finds in the UK

and people seem to think there's mystery circuits there causing 'havana syndrome'?? like wtf???

 

[sailor2005]

Not tinnitus. Tinnitus occurs inside the head and does not have an external source. So called "warm" DACs, tubes or anything of the sort would help

I just noticed I made a boo boo... it should have said "would NOT help"

 

[krabapple]

He needs to buy and return at least a dozen more DACs until he's happy. Maybe.

 

[Jimbob54]

He needs to buy and return at least a dozen more DACs until he's happy. Maybe.

Only 2 pages of trying to diagnose the unpossible though. Improvement.

 

[Max_1]

it CANNOT is making peoples' heads blow up as if its a Russian mind melter...

I'm from Russia. What is Russian mind melter? We don't have that. Probably.

 

[Marcos Mazur]

I´m using bookshelf speakers.

What speakers do you use?
It could be a pairing problem, basically it's a combination dac / amp / speaker, for example, using a dac like this that almost all reviews describe as airy and expressive in the treble, with an amp and speakers that are also considerably high in the treble (and which can be exacerbated by resonances, ambient acoustics or a certain level of distortion), can cause this, but the highs alone are not always the case, fatigue and harshness can also happen with the mids, changing this dac for a more ''warm'' one can solve the problem, but it depends on the dac and it would be difficult to choose the right on, the ideal would be for you to have a setup with a more balanced sound without exacerbation, this is certainly the case and obviously considering that you experience the problem you describe..

From my experience with dac and amp, I would say that most entry level class d and bookshelf speakers have a drier and somewhat fatiguing sound and will not sound good whatever dac is used, generally a good dac that presents good measurements is not the problem, I generally say, is because I have a topping e30 and I feel like it never sounds good enough to listen to for hours and hours and has a kind of ''disturbance'' in the midrange (I think), as the treble I always found great, I've already tried using it via USB or optical, on the PC , with streamers, active or passive speakers, different amps and environments, etc., we don't always have good experiences following reviews and measurements, it depends on several factors, today I use the SMSL a300 integrated amp, with the internal dac via bluetooth or usb, I would say which is very decent and good for music and games, at least I no longer have this problem of ear pain, fatigue or harshness that many people suffer. Have you returned the dac yet? I would recommend selling or returning and then buying an SMSL A300, it is one of the best amp/dacs I have ever heard, the price is relatively affordable and the sound is more refined for something in this price range, it has a more neutral sound and '' rounded'', maybe it sounds better on your speakers.

 

[Lupin]

What speakers do you use?
It could be a pairing problem, basically it's a combination dac / amp / speaker, for example, using a dac like this that almost all reviews describe as airy and expressive in the treble, with an amp and speakers that are also considerably high in the treble (and which can be exacerbated by resonances, ambient acoustics or a certain level of distortion), can cause this, but the highs alone are not always the case, fatigue and harshness can also happen with the mids, changing this dac for a more ''warm'' one can solve the problem, but it depends on the dac and it would be difficult to choose the right on, the ideal would be for you to have a setup with a more balanced sound without exacerbation, this is certainly the case and obviously considering that you experience the problem you describe..

From my experience with dac and amp, I would say that most entry level class d and bookshelf speakers have a drier and somewhat fatiguing sound and will not sound good whatever dac is used, generally a good dac that presents good measurements is not the problem, I generally say, is because I have a topping e30 and I feel like it never sounds good enough to listen to for hours and hours and has a kind of ''disturbance'' in the midrange (I think), as the treble I always found great, I've already tried using it via USB or optical, on the PC , with streamers, active or passive speakers, different amps and environments, etc., we don't always have good experiences following reviews and measurements, it depends on several factors, today I use the SMSL a300 integrated amp, with the internal dac via bluetooth or usb, I would say which is very decent and good for music and games, at least I no longer have this problem of ear pain, fatigue or harshness that many people suffer. Have you returned the dac yet? I would recommend selling or returning and then buying an SMSL A300, it is one of the best amp/dacs I have ever heard, the price is relatively affordable and the sound is more refined for something in this price range, it has a more neutral sound and '' rounded'', maybe it sounds better on your speakers.

I think you made a typo in the adresbar... this is Audio Science Review not Head-Fi.

 

[Marcos Mazur]

I think you made a typo in the adresbar... this is Audio Science Review not Head-Fi.

I wouldn't completely leave aside personal experience as I said before, our friend had this ''inexplicable'' problem of discomfort with a good dac just like I and many others had, this SMSL is objectively proven to be of good quality, I see that there is no longer any way to resort to numbers and more objective forms in cases like this, just change the dac or change the rest of the setup, because in practice there will be expenses and in the end we are alone in these cases, it will be trial and error. A person with great knowledge of audio can measure and carry out appropriate tests and who also has help from people close to them in the audio field can be better assured, but this is not the case for the majority who are getting into this hobby.