But here at ASR we do have "A person with great knowledge of audio can measure and carry out appropriate tests" . Send your DAC to amirm for testing.
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S.M.S.L. SU-1 Dac listening fatigue, headache.
- Thread starter Eprpop26
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But here at ASR we do have "A person with great knowledge of audio can measure and carry out appropriate tests" . Send your DAC to amirm for testing.
Just bought the SU-1 myself - and from Amazon too!
And I have to agree with the OP, my first reaction was - "this is much 'harder' than I'm used to". And at 75 years old, I've lost a lot of 'top-end'.....
My second reaction was: "Boy, the clean separation and placing of instruments is amazing".
But the 'hardness' is still there - maybe a mis-match somewhere.
I remember a lot of discussion about the great-sounding but unlamented LHlabs DAC, where particular attention had been paid to the audio-out section.
If I can't get a 'sweeter' sound (I've got the stuff to do that), without muddying that wonderful image, I'll have to send it back.
Regards,
And I have to agree with the OP, my first reaction was - "this is much 'harder' than I'm used to". And at 75 years old, I've lost a lot of 'top-end'.....
My second reaction was: "Boy, the clean separation and placing of instruments is amazing".
But the 'hardness' is still there - maybe a mis-match somewhere.
I remember a lot of discussion about the great-sounding but unlamented LHlabs DAC, where particular attention had been paid to the audio-out section.
If I can't get a 'sweeter' sound (I've got the stuff to do that), without muddying that wonderful image, I'll have to send it back.
Regards,
Just a quick update on my previous comment about 'hardness'.
I hadn't spent time in 'breaking-in' this component.
I let it run over several days, with zero level audio amplification, and found that the 'hardness' was less noticeable.
Maybe still a bit fatiguing.
I have an equalizer, but it operates in the 24/96 digital domain only.
This really needs some EQ on the SU-1 analog output, or on the amplifier input.
Lupin
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Aah yes expectation bias.
D
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In other words your ears have gotten used to the sound. Almost.
Just EQ until you are happy, dude.
I think it's more likely the position of the moon affected your listening experience. Maybe try so critical listening around midnight at full moon...
jimboaz
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Probably Klipsch
Being new here I am somewhat confused as my impression of a dac, and in particular this one is that it should be completely transparent in these use cases. The dac itself should not be eq'ed, the dac itself should not have any frequency response to speak of, anything like this would simply be an imperfection. If you are eq'ing anything it would be imperfections in the speaker response, no? Are there some critical details I am missing?
What in the world are we even talking about here or am I entirely out of sync?
What in the world are we even talking about here or am I entirely out of sync?
D
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One of the main reasons for EQ'ing speakers are because of what the room they are in does to the sound. -And taste, of course.
Everything else in my chain I want to be transparent so that I have only one variable in the equation that I need to bend to my will. -The speakers. And speakers are always a compromise of design, size, materials etc. That makes speakers inherent imperfect. Add the rooms' effect to that and there is always something to gain from EQ.
I just received a Samsung USB-C dongle/cable with DAC/Headphone Amp - and the improvement in clarity is something that I was not expecting. Never heard anything sounding so clear, and in some cases where the music already includes distorted elements, it's so easy to hear - e.g Amy Winehouse's music.
For now, I had to implement a slight tilt EQ/slope, with some boosting of the lower frequencies, to soften up that high end.
A lot of the music we listen to, has more high frequency content than we would imagine, cos in my opinion either that's part of the genre/production style, or its cos they were produced on speakers with not very transparent high end.
So the advent of much better flat frequency converters, is a double edged sword. It takes a bit of acclimatisation.
But it depends on the music or audio we are listening to. I think today's dacs are simply delivering what was in the audio - and we are the one's surprised.
It would have been interesting, if the OP was genuinely inquisitive, and not a troll, what reference music they were listening to, to arrive at the opinion, that the SMSL SU-1 was "sharp" and fatiguing.
I'm listening now to some Bebe and Cece - their greatest hits album from 2003. Many years ago when all I had was a CD player and I was listening to these on really cheap headphones, I came to the impression that the album was bass light, but having the confidence that my "new" acquisition is NOT lying to me, it's so much more obvious, that this album is bright, but its the music, and NOT the DAC.
I think what a good DAC does, is show you how different every track is, because it adds no colour of its own. Every piece of music/audio becomes a revelation - wow - I did not know that was on the track !.
But then I listen to some Norah Jones(Come away with me album) , and there is nothing "sharp/treble prominent" in these songs, just clear, and so easy to hear every word. No possibility of any fatigue, none.
I had the same impression the first time I heard a Bryston amp, but I later came to understand that they were ultra clean and neutral to the point of being 'sterile' or 'clinical' to my ears. I still somewhat have that feeling today, but I've never generalized to the point that all Canadian products sound sterile due to poor quality control, because they don't. If you don't like the SMSL's sound, that's more than fine, but having prejudices does you no favours.
No clue what you're talking about. And you are off-topic.
Quoting your post:
I had the same impression the first time I heard a Bryston amp, but I later came to understand that they were ultra clean and neutral to the point of being 'sterile' or 'clinical' to my ears.
This was in response to the equally remarkable leap of logic from the OP:
but with this device i just feel sick very soon. It is like the motion sickness feeling.
There are multiple posts from multiple posters on this thread, questioning the cause-and-effect logic being employed by the OP. Are they all off topic?
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olds1959special
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I also experience some fatigue with this DAC unless I am sending it to a tube amp. So for my system that's based on a class D amp, I'm going to add a tube buffer after the SU-1. I believe this will help make it less fatiguing.
You would say that though.....
Indeed, it's a very clean and sparkly DAC and can cause that if your amp/speakers/headphones are already bright or close to it.
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