SMSL Sanskrit 10th MK II DAC Review

[Andrex]

Hi All,
I received the DAC yesterday, and I'm very satisfied. A step forward compared to my DAC based on a 9023 chip, whose USB was poorly isolated.
Can the volume adjustment option be turned off at the DAC? And how?

THX

 

[ichonderoga]

If this is important to you - SMSL do not remember volume position when turn off and on.

Weird. My MKII remembers all its settings fine even when completely off for >10hrs.

@Andrex and others. I wrote some of my impressions in this post: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...e-sanskrit-10th-mkii-v2-ak4493-edition.12410/

 

[Andrex]

@ichonderoga,

thx a lot.

 

[nathan]

If this is important to you - SMSL do not remember volume position when turn off and on.

Thanks for pointing this out. That could be important in some of the ways I might use it.

 

[tomstoll]

im getting a lot of noise at moderate volumes from my sanskrit via usb via a pair of audioengine a5+ via RCA cables.

ive tried different rca and usb cables( connected directly to mac or via powered usb hub)

any ideas?

is it the dac itself?

 

[Vini darko]

im getting a lot of noise at moderate volumes from my sanskrit via usb via a pair of audioengine a5+ via RCA cables.

ive tried different rca and usb cables( connected directly to mac or via powered usb hub)

any ideas?

is it the dac itself?

You could try turning down the volume on your speakers and increasing the volume of the dac. That would get you further from any noise floor on the dac. I have the mk1 version and it has a annoyingly high noise floor that's very audible through my power amp.

 

[tomstoll]

You could try turning down the volume on your speakers and increasing the volume of the dac. That would get you further from any noise floor on the dac. I have the mk1 version and it has a annoyingly high noise floor that's very audible through my power amp.

i have my dac at 100% and and can only run my speakers at what appears 50-60%. seems awful low.

i get a constant hum even at moderate speaker levels.


ill compare when i get my modius but this was dissapointing.

my monolith dac was only slightly noisier.

 

[Vini darko]

i have my dac at 100% and and can only run my speakers at what appears 50-60%. seems awful low.

i get a constant hum even at moderate speaker levels.


ill compare when i get my modius but this was dissapointing.

my monolith dac was only slightly noisier.

Ah if its hum then there's probably a ground loop occurring. Are your devices plugged into different power socket outlets? That seems to be a common source of hum.

 

[tomstoll]

Ah if its hum then there's probably a ground loop occurring. Are your devices plugged into different power socket outlets? That seems to be a common source of hum.

yeah they are all on a single power strip connected to the outlet.

 

[ichonderoga]

im getting a lot of noise at moderate volumes from my sanskrit via usb via a pair of audioengine a5+ via RCA cables.

ive tried different rca and usb cables( connected directly to mac or via powered usb hub)

any ideas?

is it the dac itself?

Something seems fishy with that setup.

My guesses would be one or more of a couple of things. Grounding (or lack/loop there of) (you tried this). Faulty cabling. Dac not getting enough power (use aux power). I’m hesitant to say the dac is defective - my reasoning being that if it plays/responds to input it’s probably fine.

I also have this dac and in my setup it’s whisper quiet* and has plenty of volume to power my power amp. Very seldom do I get close to 00 (without the risk of blowing my eardrums).

Ps have you tried using toslink to see if that works?? Please use aux power when doing this (not hub/Mac/usb bus power).

*no noise at any volume setting between 40 and 00 when outputting music.

 

[tomstoll]

Something seems fishy with that setup.

My guesses would be one or more of a couple of things. Grounding (or lack/loop there of) (you tried this). Faulty cabling. Dac not getting enough power (use aux power). I’m hesitant to say the dac is defective - my reasoning being that if it plays/responds to input it’s probably fine.

I also have this dac and in my setup it’s whisper quiet* and has plenty of volume to power my power amp. Very seldom do I get close to 00 (without the risk of blowing my eardrums).

Ps have you tried using toslink to see if that works?? Please use aux power when doing this (not hub/Mac/usb bus power).

*no noise at any volume setting between 40 and 00 when outputting music.

so its not the dac.

i connected a different mac laptop via usb and its super quiet.

i guess ill have to dig deeper in the other mac connections.

ugh.

 

[tomstoll]

i identified the source of the noise to be the macbook display ports, either of them to two different monitors and both exhibited the same issue.

with just the display port connected and the usb to sanskrit connected the noise is readily apparent. i tried connecting the display port monitor power cord and speaker power cord to the same power outlets and nothing else via a shared surge protector and the noise is still there.

at this point im using toslink and the noise is gone.

any other ideas on how to get the noise taken care of?

 

[ichonderoga]

i identified the source of the noise to be the macbook display ports, either of them to two different monitors and both exhibited the same issue.

with just the display port connected and the usb to sanskrit connected the noise is readily apparent. i tried connecting the display port monitor power cord and speaker power cord to the same power outlets and nothing else via a shared surge protector and the noise is still there.

at this point im using toslink and the noise is gone.

any other ideas on how to get the noise taken care of?

Very sad that interference from dp bleed into it’s usb interface. And also a bit sad that this then bleeds into the dac. Thought the dacs construction and isolation from such things would be better (if the power is bad, it’s bad, no amount of reasonable trickery can make that better). My guess would be that the usb power (5V) from the Mac is “bad”. Only way around this is either what you did - which is a great option since toslink is an excellent isolator (It’s light). Or using aux pwr + a usb cable that doesn’t have 5V wires (I don’t know any).

Ps have you tried other shielded / thicker gauge usb cables?

Pps. I’m guessing you kept aux power (from using toslink) connected when using usb?

 

[tomstoll]

Very sad that interference from dp bleed into it’s usb interface. And also a bit sad that this then bleeds into the dac. Thought the dacs construction and isolation from such things would be better (if the power is bad, it’s bad, no amount of reasonable trickery can make that better). My guess would be that the usb power (5V) from the Mac is “bad”. Only way around this is either what you did - which is a great option since toslink is an excellent isolator (It’s light). Or using aux pwr + a usb cable that doesn’t have 5V wires (I don’t know any).

Ps have you tried other shielded / thicker gauge usb cables?

Pps. I’m guessing you kept aux power (from using toslink) connected when using usb?

i have another usb cable to see if it makes any difference. i also have a schitt modius arriving soon that ill check to see if it makes any difference.

yes i tried both aux power and without on usb and it didnt make any difference.

 

[tomstoll]

so i got my modius connected via same USB and its whisper quiet.


ill be returning the sanskrit and will be ordering another modius.

 

[Veri]

so i got my modius connected via same USB and its whisper quiet.

Good to hear. Schiit doing good these days..

 

[Ciccio84]

Hi guys, just checking... I've changed my laptop from a Dell to a Macbook pro (thanks, work!!).

For the Dell I had to download some driver for the Sanskrit. I believe I don;t have to download anything for the Mac to use the DAC properly. Am i correct?

Thanks!

 

[tomstoll]

Hi guys, just checking... I've changed my laptop from a Dell to a Macbook pro (thanks, work!!).

For the Dell I had to download some driver for the Sanskrit. I believe I don;t have to download anything for the Mac to use the DAC properly. Am i correct?

Thanks!

No driver needed for Mac. Just change output via midi app in Utilities folder

 

[frogmeat69]

Good to hear. Schiit doing good these days..

No doubt because of this forum, .

 

[confucius_zero]

so e30 polarity issues (fixed on usb but still there on optical and coax) makes this SK10mkII the winner of the duel?