SMSL DA9 - Wait and see, or solid buy?

[ShinMolina]

Thank you very much for measuring the power supply output.
I always wanted to know what voltage BRZHIFI is using on this amplifier.
I'm more and more curious about the sound of Chip Infineon, because if it's better than TPA, it should come close or maybe be the same as my AB Mosfet, but consuming little energy, generating little heat and taking up little space.
If it's not too much to ask, I'd like you to make a quick comparison of your impressions between TPA3255 and DA9 when your DA9 arrives.
Thank you very much
Greetings

You're welcome! It only took a minute to do so and you make me curious as well. The power supply from the BRZHIFI seems to be well designed. Absolute zero interference produced and quite stable.

For what I see, the performance specs of the TPA3255 and the MA12070 are quite close. Both claim 0.002% THD+N and similar output power values.

I will try my best comparing the BRZHIFI and the DA-9. Bear in mind that I have tried A/B testing my many DACs without success, I can't tell the difference between them. Even tried a device which can introduce additional harmonic distortion (E1DA 9038SG3) and no luck identifying low and high values.

Some people could say I'm deaf, don't get me started on high-end cables and such...

 

[Clayton_78]

You're welcome! It only took a minute to do so and you make me curious as well. The power supply from the BRZHIFI seems to be well designed. Absolute zero interference produced and quite stable.

For what I see, the performance specs of the TPA3255 and the MA12070 are quite close. Both claim 0.002% THD+N and similar output power values.

I will try my best comparing the BRZHIFI and the DA-9. Bear in mind that I have tried A/B testing my many DACs without success, I can't tell the difference between them. Even tried a device which can introduce additional harmonic distortion (E1DA 9038SG3) and no luck identifying low and high values.

Some people could say I'm deaf, don't get me started on high-end cables and such...

I'm waiting for a switch I bought to arrive from china. It has a remote control and with it I will be able to "blind test" amplifiers. Here you can connect two amplifiers to a pair of speakers or two pairs of speakers to an amplifier and switch between them via the remote control.
I'm just about to buy the DA9, or... a pair of PCBs that contain the Infineon Chip just so I know the sound.

 

[SOUNDSONIC]

Amazing! Now I'm more excited about the DA-9 arriving. It has just cleared customs.

The BRZHIFI is already good enough, if it performs as any other TPA3255 is like top of the class for the price. But it's like a dead brick, it just amplifies and that's it. No input selection, no remote, no presets...

You are right about the lack of featutres of the BRZHIFI. Thats why I ordered the AO7. Its just a power amp and I can do a lot of tweaking on it.

Looking forward to your imptessions on your DA9. We are as excited as you....

 

[Poultrygeist]

Enjoying the DA-9/SU-9 stack with a pair of Fostex Frugal Horns and sub in near field. A Node 2i streams Amazon Music HD to the SU-9 with it's XLR's connected to the DA-9. Currently using an FX preamp that adds a bit of tube warmth to class d amps. The little TV monitor uses a 4K Fire Stick also streaming AMHD with an HDMI audio extractor's digital out to the SU-9 playing through the DA-9.

 

[SOUNDSONIC]

Enjoying the DA-9/SU-9 stack with a pair of Fostex Frugal Horns and sub in near field. A Node 2i streams Amazon Music HD to the SU-9 with it's XLR's connected to the DA-9. Currently using an FX preamp that adds a bit of tube warmth to class d amps. The little TV monitor uses a 4K Fire Stick also streaming AMHD with an HDMI audio extractor's digital out to the SU-9 playing through the DA-9.

View attachment 140820

Wow! Nice setup. Got also a FX 6N3 tube buffer. Warmer sounds indeed....

 

[Poultrygeist]

The SU-9 is the first DAC I've owned with two pair of outputs which reduces the need for a second DAC. It's RCA outputs are connected to this system. Both outputs are active at the same time.

 

[SOUNDSONIC]

The SU-9 is the first DAC I've owned with two pair of outputs which reduces the need for a second DAC. It's RCA outputs are connected to this system. Both outputs are active at the same time.

View attachment 140835

Yes. Glad you made it work. Heres mine. My SU9 XLRs are directly connected to my DA9 wc inturn have 2 speakers each channel. The RCAs are connected to my FX Tube06 then to my SA300 (ideally a second DA9) wc has also 2 sets of speakers per channel. For me, its a great sounding system. Soundstage has greatly enhanced and I can hear all the instruments playing. More airy and the tube buffer gives a tube-like warmth on the mids and highs. (I am looking at the IFI iTube2 as a better buffer).

Enjoy the hobby!

 

[Clayton_78]

Enjoying the DA-9/SU-9 stack with a pair of Fostex Frugal Horns and sub in near field. A Node 2i streams Amazon Music HD to the SU-9 with it's XLR's connected to the DA-9. Currently using an FX preamp that adds a bit of tube warmth to class d amps. The little TV monitor uses a 4K Fire Stick also streaming AMHD with an HDMI audio extractor's digital out to the SU-9 playing through the DA-9.

View attachment 140820

Wow!
Very cool setup!
What is this device below the tube preamp?

 

[Clayton_78]

Yes. Glad you made it work. Heres mine. My SU9 XLRs are directly connected to my DA9 wc inturn have 2 speakers each channel. The RCAs are connected to my FX Tube06 then to my SA300 (ideally a second DA9) wc has also 2 sets of speakers per channel. For me, its a great sounding system. Soundstage has greatly enhanced and I can hear all the instruments playing. More airy and the tube buffer gives a tube-like warmth on the mids and highs. (I am looking at the IFI iTube2 as a better buffer).

Enjoy the hobby!
View attachment 140838

Man, how nice your setup! Really enjoyed!
Cool speakers!

 

[ShinMolina]

Yes. Glad you made it work. Heres mine. My SU9 XLRs are directly connected to my DA9 wc inturn have 2 speakers each channel. The RCAs are connected to my FX Tube06 then to my SA300 (ideally a second DA9) wc has also 2 sets of speakers per channel. For me, its a great sounding system. Soundstage has greatly enhanced and I can hear all the instruments playing. More airy and the tube buffer gives a tube-like warmth on the mids and highs. (I am looking at the IFI iTube2 as a better buffer).

Enjoy the hobby!
View attachment 140838

For a second, I thought you had two DA-9 as monoblocks. Hahahahaha!

I can identify the Wharfedale bookshelf speakers but, what about the others?

 

[SOUNDSONIC]

For a second, I thought you had two DA-9 as monoblocks. Hahahahaha!

I can identify the Wharfedale bookshelf speakers but, what about the others?

The tall ones are US Audio center speakers. Any efficient center soeakers would work. They are known for their rich mids and highs.

The square ones are Targa coaxial sattelite speakers and the smallest ones are Dai-ichi fullrange sattelite speakers.

The DA9 is hooked into the Wharfedales and the US Audios while the SA300 is on the Targas and Dai-ichis.

The different character of the speakers makes the ambience in a "hall-like" environment.

Oh yes. It is much better if 2 DA9s are the workhorses....

 

[matchi]

Thought I'd share my DA-9 experience for anyone interested.

So, I bought a DA-9 few weeks back during Amazon Day for £175 direct from Shenzhen Audio. Unfortunately it suffered from a right channel pop when turning on/off. If I'm honest I don't think it affected the amp's performance, certainly not during the hours and hours of enjoyment I've had since

However, I decided to err on the side of caution and contact Shenzhen Audio via Amazon. So glad I did as they kindly offered to send out a replacement - which arrived today, with no pop whatsoever - on top of that they even let me keep the old device, so hats off to them for their aftersales and kindness

Aside from the initial pop issue, this is quite possibly the best sounding amp I've ever experienced. It's so accurate and detailed it's incredible. Paired with a CA Dacmagic 200M and powering a pair of Q Acoustic 3020s and a 3070s sub it sounds great to my ears.

One happy customer here for sure.

 

[fluxcapacitor]

Thought I'd share my DA-9 experience for anyone interested.

So, I bought a DA-9 few weeks back during Amazon Day for £175 direct from Shenzhen Audio. Unfortunately it suffered from a right channel pop when turning on/off. If I'm honest I don't think it affected the amp's performance, certainly not during the hours and hours of enjoyment I've had since

However, I decided to err on the side of caution and contact Shenzhen Audio via Amazon. So glad I did as they kindly offered to send out a replacement - which arrived today, with no pop whatsoever - on top of that they even let me keep the old device, so hats off to them for their aftersales and kindness

Aside from the initial pop issue, this is quite possibly the best sounding amp I've ever experienced. It's so accurate and detailed it's incredible. Paired with a CA Dacmagic 200M and powering a pair of Q Acoustic 3020s and a 3070s sub it sounds great to my ears.

One happy customer here for sure.

Send me the one with pop noise

 

[Toku]

Thought I'd share my DA-9 experience for anyone interested.

So, I bought a DA-9 few weeks back during Amazon Day for £175 direct from Shenzhen Audio. Unfortunately it suffered from a right channel pop when turning on/off. If I'm honest I don't think it affected the amp's performance, certainly not during the hours and hours of enjoyment I've had since

However, I decided to err on the side of caution and contact Shenzhen Audio via Amazon. So glad I did as they kindly offered to send out a replacement - which arrived today, with no pop whatsoever - on top of that they even let me keep the old device, so hats off to them for their aftersales and kindness

Aside from the initial pop issue, this is quite possibly the best sounding amp I've ever experienced. It's so accurate and detailed it's incredible. Paired with a CA Dacmagic 200M and powering a pair of Q Acoustic 3020s and a 3070s sub it sounds great to my ears.

One happy customer here for sure.

If you have a digital voltmeter, it's a good idea to measure the voltage at the speaker terminals when you stop playing music. I think the voltage is constantly fluctuating.

It seems that Shenzhen Audio continues to sell as it is without improving the SA-9.
Based on the information I got so far, I gave up on repurchasing the DA-9 and ordered the AO200. The AO200 does not have the same problems as the DA-9, and it is also nice that the display can be turned off automatically.
The DA-9 and AO200 are very similar models, but the DA-9 is a product planned and sold by Shenzhen Audio, and the AO200 seems to be a product planned and sold by Aoshida. Each has a slightly different design and function.

 

[SOUNDSONIC]

Lucky guy.

Thought I'd share my DA-9 experience for anyone interested.

So, I bought a DA-9 few weeks back during Amazon Day for £175 direct from Shenzhen Audio. Unfortunately it suffered from a right channel pop when turning on/off. If I'm honest I don't think it affected the amp's performance, certainly not during the hours and hours of enjoyment I've had since

However, I decided to err on the side of caution and contact Shenzhen Audio via Amazon. So glad I did as they kindly offered to send out a replacement - which arrived today, with no pop whatsoever - on top of that they even let me keep the old device, so hats off to them for their aftersales and kindness

Aside from the initial pop issue, this is quite possibly the best sounding amp I've ever experienced. It's so accurate and detailed it's incredible. Paired with a CA Dacmagic 200M and powering a pair of Q Acoustic 3020s and a 3070s sub it sounds great to my ears.

One happy customer here for sure.[/QUO

Thats good to hear. Congrats .

 

[matchi]

Lucky guy.

Ha, well it seems I'm not so lucky - turned on this morning and got a pop on both the left and right channels

On a side note I had my 2.5 year old RTX 2080TI GPU go bad last week so definitely not lucky

Send me the one with pop noise

Sure, how loud do you like your pop, I can cater for various tastes now

If you have a digital voltmeter, it's a good idea to measure the voltage at the speaker terminals when you stop playing music. I think the voltage is constantly fluctuating.

I'm measuring Left at 120mV and Right at 32mV. Although I didn't measure the other amp, the pop is a lot louder on this one. I'll swap them over later and measure it though.

What are the actual implications of these fluctuating voltages? I assume it's not great for the amp chips, will it cause damage over time?

 

[Wonder]

https://fosiaudio.com/products/blue...dio-bt20a-updated?_pos=1&_sid=922dcab86&_ss=r

 

[Poultrygeist]

Wow!
Very cool setup!
What is this device below the tube preamp?

That's the preamp's linear power supply.

 

[Poultrygeist]

Order for turning on any system to avoid thumps or pops:

Sources first, then preamp and last is the amp( s ). Turning off is the reverse order.

 

[Toku]

Ha, well it seems I'm not so lucky - turned on this morning and got a pop on both the left and right channels

On a side note I had my 2.5 year old RTX 2080TI GPU go bad last week so definitely not lucky


Sure, how loud do you like your pop, I can cater for various tastes now


I'm measuring Left at 120mV and Right at 32mV. Although I didn't measure the other amp, the pop is a lot louder on this one. I'll swap them over later and measure it though.

What are the actual implications of these fluctuating voltages? I assume it's not great for the amp chips, will it cause damage over time?

The measurement result is the same as in my case.

At 120 mV, there will be a noticeable level of pop noise.
According to the MA12070 standard for amplifier chips, the maximum offset voltage is 60 mV. That's twice as much. The problem is that this offset voltage is constantly fluctuating. Sometimes it will be a higher voltage. And it's a little scary to imagine if the amp chip breaks in the future.
I have tested many class D amplifiers so far, but the DC offset voltage of the output was less than 15mV.
If you bought the DA-9 and don't feel any pop noise, the output DC offset voltage is probably less than 15mV. That is the original normal value.

The DA-9 momentarily mutes the MA12070 chip when the power is turned on / off and when the input is switched. This behavior is to prevent pop noise.
When mute is turned on, the offset voltage of the SP output becomes 0 mV, and when mute is turned off, the offset voltage is generated again. A voltage fluctuation of 0 mV >> 120 mV drives the speaker and is output as pop noise.