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SMSL Sanskrit 10th MK II DAC Review

attoutekina

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I am using the S10thMkII on Manjaro Linux and here are my observations.

Under PulseAudio and usb-mode the sampling rate seems to be locked to whatever the primary rate is set to. Sometimes a video I play will get glitchy (probably it is to do with 48k vs 44k audio). For now, I am using Toslink instead of usb and 48k and 44k play as expected. An experiment for me to run in the future is to use Pipewire instead of PulseAudio.

I am wondering if anyone knows what the "d-8" message means.

If I were to give SMSL advice I would tell them to make the LCD display adjustable in colour and brightness. I put a blue-blocker sunglasses lens in front of the display and now it is tolerable.
 

Diable

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Try adding "avoid-resampling = yes" to your pulseaudio .conf file. This will disable resampling in PA so each file will play at it's encoded sample rate.
 

attoutekina

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Try adding "avoid-resampling = yes" to your pulseaudio .conf file. This will disable resampling in PA so each file will play at it's encoded sample rate.
Yes, I have fiddled around with the conf file a fair bit, but from what I read the avoid-resampling option is glitchy. Theoretically it should work.


I was getting some choppy video and out of sync audio - all the while the LCD never changed from "44". At first I suspected that the resample method was to blame, but from my experimenting I doubt that now (cpu specs are not amazing but not that bad either). Now everything is fine and it recognizes 44k and 48k. Downloaded Bitchute videos - which are in 33k(!?) - play at the alternate rate, 48.

In the how-to on Hi-Res audio on the Manjaro forum the poster recommends setting the primary rate to 96k and the alternate to 44k. However, an Archimago article I found on this forum led me to believe that up-sampling everything could be harmful to sound quality. Other tutorials recommend setting the primary sample rate to 44k or 48k and then the alternate one to 96k. I don't play much 96k audio so having just 44k and 48k are fine for now.



So yeah, Pipewire when I work up the nerve to potentially bork my install :)


If anyone knows why Linux has the option of "analogue" output to go along with the "digital IEC958" output for DACs please share. (I chose digital). In this link someone says that the analogue option takes the analogue signal from your onboard sound chip, but other people say that usb is not capable of doing such a thing.:confused:

 
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Loathecliff

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Under PulseAudio and usb-mode the sampling rate seems to be locked to whatever the primary rate is set to. Sometimes a video I play will get glitchy (probably it is to do with 48k vs 44k audio). For now, I am using Toslink instead of usb and 48k and 44k play as expected. An experiment for me to run in the future is to use Pipewire instead of PulseAudi
ALSA with Audacious (or DeadBeef) would seem a purer, less 'cluttered' route ?
 

Haze

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I am using the S10thMkII on Manjaro Linux and here are my observations.

Under PulseAudio and usb-mode the sampling rate seems to be locked to whatever the primary rate is set to. Sometimes a video I play will get glitchy (probably it is to do with 48k vs 44k audio). For now, I am using Toslink instead of usb and 48k and 44k play as expected. An experiment for me to run in the future is to use Pipewire instead of PulseAudio.

I am wondering if anyone knows what the "d-8" message means.

If I were to give SMSL advice I would tell them to make the LCD display adjustable in colour and brightness. I put a blue-blocker sunglasses lens in front of the display and now it is tolerable.
Manjaro doesn't use Pipewire? With that you can set multiple sample rates for the dac to switch between.
 
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attoutekina

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For anyone considering this unit, my complaint about the lcd screen is minimal because you can set it to off mode. It's just that I think a good lcd screen is aesthetically pleasing and it is a missed opportunity.
Manjaro doesn't use Pipewire? With you can set multiple sample rates for the dac to switch between.
Not by default it doesn't, but that Hi-Res tutorial I linked says that it's pretty simple to install it - just install one package and the installer will do the rest. The hesitancy for me is the un-doing part if I don't like it. It's less clear how one does that (but there is the TimeShift function in the OS, which I have to learn more about).

I tried again using usb mode with PA and the laggy video issue crept in after pausing and playing a few different sources. Another problem I've been having since following that Hi-Res tutorial is that sometimes there was popping in the audio stream. The weird thing is that it was intermittent. That was another tip off that perhaps upsampling everything to 96k and enabling avoid-resampling was a bad idea. This occurred with other DACs I had as well, so it's a PA problem.

Hi the d-8 is DSD
Thanks m8 :)


ALSA with Audacious (or DeadBeef) would seem a purer, less 'cluttered' route ?
In Deadbeef I used one of the DAC options for the output instead of PA and then the sample rates seemed to work... however, my video player had no sound :rolleyes:

Yup, looking forward to trying Pipewire at some point.
 

vrobec

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If I buy this DAC now, are they built with the same tranceiver chip as the older ones or smsl switched to other chip like topping did with E30?
 

attoutekina

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If I buy this DAC now, are they built with the same tranceiver chip as the older ones or smsl switched to other chip like topping did with E30?
I didn't open mine up but the box has an AKM logo on it. It could be that the Chinese companies had big stockpiles of chips. Whereas somehow Schiit didn't have their sh*t together. I notice that the Modius seems to have been raised in price from 199usd to 229/249usd. And was it always called the "Modius E" or did they have to go to an ESS chip for that model as well?!

The Modius caught my attention but I couldn't justify the price right now. Modi 3 would have probably been the pick if they still had the AKM chips.
 

attoutekina

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Tanquary with lime made me brazen tonight, so here is your money shot. Read it and weep: AKM 4493 chip with 4700uF caps :D (edit: it was purchased on le Bay. I am interested in trying out ABB sometime tho).

legit.JPG


legit2.JPG
 
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Haze

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I think I have figured out what causes the audio latency. When a dac wakes from a low power state it often causes an audible pop. Most dac's with this problem mask it by muting the audio for around a second on wake. The SMSL doesn't seem to do this. The SMSL seems to delay the audio by around a second to eliminate the pop. If this is true it is an awful way of handing the problem. It also should be fixable by a firmware update but has SMSL ever released a firmware update for any of their dacs? I think we are just stuck with it.
 

Haze

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Quick question, does anyone know if this has a service menu? If it did it might be possible to change sleep behavior.
 

Paspolc

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Only to say that i tried smsl dac su-6 and i went back to the sanskrit 10th. I hear brighter, crispier and more analytical sound, can that be?
 
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Haze

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SMSL released a new driver recently that may have fixed the lag issues. It's early days yet but I installed it two days ago and I haven't noticed any latency since.
 
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