SMSL SH-9 THX Headphone Amplifier Review

[Music1969]

the relay based volume control is better than any potentiometer

This is the big one for me.

 

[donatom3]

I bought one a couple of weeks ago from Apos came with sw ver 1.11 hw ver 1.0 and it has the dimming feature with up to 60 seconds before turning the screen off for anyone interested.

 

[Cisco150]

Hi guys I just got the S.M.S.L SP200 for about half price of this sh-9 should i return and get this or another amp. How is the bass on the sh-9 i heard the bass on the sp200 is on the low end. Ill be running Focal clear or the Focal elegia or Focal Elex and have the Anandas atm looking for more bass. would the TOPPING A90 or the TOPPING A30 would the price difference be worth it.

 

[BressonWang]

Anyone knows the input sensitivity of sh9?

 

[ayane]

Anyone knows the input sensitivity of sh9?

Input impedance is 47k Ohm; clips at 18 dBu into low gain or 12 dBu into high gain

 

[BressonWang]

Input impedance is 47k Ohm; clips at 18 dBu into low gain or 12 dBu into high gain

Thanks!

 

[LostGoatOnHill]

Hi all, new here after long time away from decent audio gear (cyrus 5 amp and mission 7 speakers about 25 years ago!).

Just purchased an SH-9/SU-9n stack with some HiFiMan Edition XS headphones to go with it.

I'm now in search of a balanced headphone cable for connection from SH-9 to the edition XS. Please forgive my ignorance but is the balanced out on the SH-9 an XLR or XLR mini?

Also welcome any balanced cable recommendations, currently looking at those from openheart on Ali Express.

Thanks!

 

[Veri]

Hi all, new here after long time away from decent audio gear (cyrus 5 amp and mission 7 speakers about 25 years ago!).

Just purchased an SH-9/SU-9n stack with some HiFiMan Edition XS headphones to go with it.

I'm now in search of a balanced headphone cable for connection from SH-9 to the edition XS. Please forgive my ignorance but is the balanced out on the SH-9 an XLR or XLR mini?

Also welcome any balanced cable recommendations, currently looking at those from openheart on Ali Express.

Thanks!

It's just normal 4-pin XLR
Maybe also check out Lunashops, had good luck with their cables.

 

[LostGoatOnHill]

@Veri Thanks for the feedback

So something like this, with an XLR 4 pin male?

USD$50.00 - XLR 3 4 Pole 6.5mm 16 Core 7N OCC Headphone Cable For Hifiman Sundara Ananda HE1000se HE6se DEVA he400se Arya He-35x Edi - lunashops online shop

www.lunashops.com

 

[Roland68]

Hi all, new here after long time away from decent audio gear (cyrus 5 amp and mission 7 speakers about 25 years ago!).

Just purchased an SH-9/SU-9n stack with some HiFiMan Edition XS headphones to go with it.

I'm now in search of a balanced headphone cable for connection from SH-9 to the edition XS. Please forgive my ignorance but is the balanced out on the SH-9 an XLR or XLR mini?

Also welcome any balanced cable recommendations, currently looking at those from openheart on Ali Express.

Thanks!

The SH-9 is not a true balanced amp because it only has 2 power amps. However, I found it a tad better than the SP400, so it shouldn't matter.
Of course, the 4-pin XLR plug has a better quality contact than the 6.3mm jack plug.
If you can solder yourself, then build your own cable, cheaper and in most cases better.

 

[LostGoatOnHill]

Thanks @Roland68 for the feedback as well. Can solder (build own mech keyboards), but this time around I think I'll just order a cable.

Might the lunashops cable I posted above, or the one below from openheart AliExpress, look suitable?

54.19US $ 54% OFF|Openheart 8 Core 4 Pin Xlr Balance High Purity Silver Cable For Headphones 1 To 2 Jack Earphones Upgrade Replacement 3.5 Cable - Earphone Accessories - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

Thanks!

 

[Veri]

Might the lunashops cable I posted above, or the one below from openheart AliExpress, look suitable?

Yep, both perfectly suitable but @Roland68 has a point. The 4-pin is to connect balanced "headphones" to, for convenience, but this amp is actually single ended. The SP400 is SMSL's balanced amp. So you could also simply use the provided single ended hifiman cable which will give essentially the same result.

 

[LostGoatOnHill]

@Veri Thanks for this clarity! The reason behind looking for another cable is reading poor reports on the included HiFiMan cables. However, from what you are saying wrt SH-9, if I indeed wanted to replace, I could just go for one ending on a 6.35mm jack, with same results as one XLR-ended.

 

[Veri]

@Veri Thanks for this clarity! The reason behind looking for another cable is reading poor reports on the included HiFiMan cables. However, from what you are saying wrt SH-9, if I indeed wanted to replace, I could just go for one ending on a 6.35mm jack, with same results as one XLR-ended.

Yep, exactly unless you want to "future-proof". But the Hifiman XS/Ananda level of Hifiman headphones are not so insensitive they need "balanced" driving power, honestly. Single ended will suffice. Hifiman HE1000/HE6 need a lot more current than these more sensitive ones.

 

[Roland68]

Yep, exactly unless you want to "future-proof". But the Hifiman XS/Ananda level of Hifiman headphones are not so insensitive they need "balanced" driving power, honestly. Single ended will suffice. Hifiman HE1000/HE6 need a lot more current than these more sensitive ones.

However, the SH-9 already has a very high output power, higher than many balanced amplifiers.

 

[LostGoatOnHill]

Thnaks @Veri @Roland68 , really appreciate the advice.

The SMSL SU-9n/SH-9 stack turned up today, what a cracking little combo it is after an hour of listening, love it.

Any recommended changes from default? Using it to stream hifi quality from Tidal running on PC, usb sound output set to 32bit 384000Hz.

 

[Veri]

Any recommended changes from default? Using it to stream hifi quality from Tidal running on PC, usb sound output set to 32bit 384000Hz.

That is kind of a classic "mistake" if I can call it that. Ideally your application automatically sets the current rate. The one you chose in the operating system should be what is most typically used, 48kHz for games/movies, 44kHz for general purpose/music.

Just setting it to the max achieves nothing, really, since all you do is tell Windows or the OS you are using, to sample all common audio to that rate. The DAC is actually better at performing that operation: input is oversampled to a very high rate already so it makes more sense to pick 44/48kHz and dynamically use the source's input rather whenever possible (I think tidal app has an "exclusive mode" option?).

The bit depth however is fine to set it to the max (24/32 bit whatever is supported). A lower bit depth can be losslessly pushed over a high oner anyway by padding zeros to the bits, and it's very useful to have high bit depth for digital volume control.

 

[LostGoatOnHill]

Thanks once more @Veri , really appreciated as I get back into fine audio after such a time away!

Got it, set the Windows sound output back to 44kHz, and yes you are correct, exclusive mode on Tidal, has been enabled.

DAC shows sampling rate as 44 Khz, which I guess aligns with my Tidal "hifi" sub

 

[odyo]

The spec sheet is:
16ohm: 6w
32ohm: 3w
300ohm: 440mw

Measurements 1.7w and 226mw. Why is that ?

This amp seems nice. It should have a dac inside though. I hope SMSL develop some all in one units.
With the advertised power output this would be the best amp at this price range but power measurement results are low like L30. 50mv performance could have been better too.

 

[Jimbob54]

Measurements 1.7w and 226mw. Why is that ?

Amir measures amp to the "bend in the knee" ( ie where the distortion starts to sky rocket as the amp clips)- I suspect these manuf. specs are to a set THD % (1% I have seen on others)