This is a review and detailed measurements of the Schiit Syn DAC, pre-amplifier, headphone amp and surround upmixer. It was kindly sent to me by a member and used to cost US $399 before being discontinued.
Member sent me this product a year ago but due to some misunderstanding on my part, I am just getting to review it now.
I did not expect a product introduced in 2023 to be already discontinued but I can see why: few if anyone wants an analog stereo to 5.1 upmixer. There is no reason to not perform proper Dolby Digital 5.1 decoding as a minimum. Fortunately the device also has a DAC, preamp and headphone output which can be very useful. And that is what I focused my testing on.
Here is the back panel and a shot of the bulky AC transformer:
Schiit Syn DAC Measurements
Company emphasizes the use of the device with a smart TV using its Toslink output and that is how I tested its digital input. USB should be similar.
I must say, this is better than I expected, putting the Syn in "competent" category of all DACs tested:
There is some widening of our tone though and I suspect that is due to jitter. Indeed, that is how it turned out:
Noise performance is very good:
But not as good as one would want in this day and age:
Likely the analog processing stages, even though turned off, are impacting it. There must also be be some ultrasonic noise:
I didn't see the need to run more DAC tests.
Schiit Syn Pre-amplifier Measurements
Let's test RCA input/Output with volume set to max:
Wow, this is once again better than I expected! Distortion is below threshold of hearing and noise that dominates SINAD, should be plenty for most content.
Frequency response is impressively flat:
IMD noise+distortion is excellent as well:
Channel separation is good:
Wideband noise+distortion is a bit weak but OK for class:
Channel matching is disappointing though with variations due to volume control selected:
Schiit Syn Headphone Amp Measurements
Let's see how much power we have with 300 ohm load and how clean:
Ah, that is disappointing in power department. I like to see minimum of 100 milliwatts and we are shy of that by a factor of seven! Don't expect much volume with high impedance headphones.
32 ohm load though, changes the picture:
Even though distortion picks up, it is still reasonable as it delivers nearly half a watt of power.
Conclusions
Schiit Syn delivers a very good (B) DAC, an excellent preamplifier (A-), and OK headphone amplifier (B-) in an integrated package. I wish they would produce it again, minus the silly surround features at slightly lower cost.
Assuming you can find one on used market for less, I am going to recommend the Schiit Syn.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Member sent me this product a year ago but due to some misunderstanding on my part, I am just getting to review it now.
I did not expect a product introduced in 2023 to be already discontinued but I can see why: few if anyone wants an analog stereo to 5.1 upmixer. There is no reason to not perform proper Dolby Digital 5.1 decoding as a minimum. Fortunately the device also has a DAC, preamp and headphone output which can be very useful. And that is what I focused my testing on.Here is the back panel and a shot of the bulky AC transformer:
Schiit Syn DAC Measurements
Company emphasizes the use of the device with a smart TV using its Toslink output and that is how I tested its digital input. USB should be similar.
I must say, this is better than I expected, putting the Syn in "competent" category of all DACs tested:
There is some widening of our tone though and I suspect that is due to jitter. Indeed, that is how it turned out:
Noise performance is very good:
But not as good as one would want in this day and age:
Likely the analog processing stages, even though turned off, are impacting it. There must also be be some ultrasonic noise:
I didn't see the need to run more DAC tests.
Schiit Syn Pre-amplifier Measurements
Let's test RCA input/Output with volume set to max:
Wow, this is once again better than I expected! Distortion is below threshold of hearing and noise that dominates SINAD, should be plenty for most content.
Frequency response is impressively flat:
IMD noise+distortion is excellent as well:
Channel separation is good:
Wideband noise+distortion is a bit weak but OK for class:
Channel matching is disappointing though with variations due to volume control selected:
Schiit Syn Headphone Amp Measurements
Let's see how much power we have with 300 ohm load and how clean:
Ah, that is disappointing in power department. I like to see minimum of 100 milliwatts and we are shy of that by a factor of seven! Don't expect much volume with high impedance headphones.
32 ohm load though, changes the picture:
Even though distortion picks up, it is still reasonable as it delivers nearly half a watt of power.
Conclusions
Schiit Syn delivers a very good (B) DAC, an excellent preamplifier (A-), and OK headphone amplifier (B-) in an integrated package. I wish they would produce it again, minus the silly surround features at slightly lower cost.
Assuming you can find one on used market for less, I am going to recommend the Schiit Syn.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
