SMSL SU-1 Stereo DAC Review

[starcat]

What I'd be curious about is, since almost all high-end DAC/AMP bundles are connected via XLR, if that would make a difference with high quality Headphones.

Yes, it makes a differences.
Also headphones can be connected balanced as well. And this works best if you have a balanced headphone amp (four channels for stereo). In this case 4 cables go to the headphones, 2 per channel for + and - directly to the speaker. In this case the signal doesn't reference ground anywhere in the chain.

High-end headphones like Stax electrostats are connected balanced only by nature. Magnetostats and normal headphones can be connected balanced (four wires) or single-ended (three wires, + for R and L and a joint ground) to the amp.

 

[starcat]

For sure the impact is more relevant with high currents; I play with Peltier cells at 36V and 30A and there an half mm can make a barbecue difference

If you can't hear it then fine but there is a difference and at 15 meters between 10 to 16 is huge; I didn't make calculations but from what I remember should be about a 10-20% voltage drop delta between the two.
I'd surprised it doesn't have a noticeable impact with high powered loudspeakers.

Of course it makes a difference, you are correct.

High powered speakers are usually driven by power amps placed near the speakers keeping the loudspeaker cable short, or are active, with dedicated (multiple) power amps for the different chassis, placed inside the cabinet, again keeping the loudspeaker wire short (thus the gauge can be less).
The long run is on the source side, thus balanced is preferred, either XLR for analog or AES/EBU for digital XLR.

 

[dmilller]

Of course it makes a difference, you are correct.

High powered speakers are usually driven by power amps placed near the speakers keeping the loudspeaker cable short, or are active, with dedicated (multiple) power amps for the different chassis, placed inside the cabinet, again keeping the loudspeaker wire short (thus the gauge can be less).
The long run is on the signal side, thus balanced is preferred, either XLR for analog or AES/EBU for digital XLR.

True for true audiophiles. But high end speakers in very expensive houses are almost never near the power amps. I find it disappointing that more speakers don't have balanced connectors. But I assume the fancypants $15K speakers do usually have balanced.

I like how the Chinese designed products often have balanced

 

[starcat]

True for true audiophiles. But high end speakers in very expensive houses are almost never near the power amps. I find it disappointing that more speakers don't have balanced connectors. But I assume the fancypants $15K speakers do usually have balanced.

I like how the Chinese designed products often have balanced

Passive speakers have only + and - on their inputs, they don't have "balanced" inputs.
They become balanced if you connect the + and - to a balanced power amp,
and single-ended if the - goes as return to ground to a single-ended power amp.

Active speakers always have their amps build in. And even the $300 Rokit active speakers have XLR analog as an input, cause you would expect the source cable run to be longer.

 

[dmilller]

Passive speakers have only + and - on their inputs, they don't have "balanced" inputs.
They become balanced if you connect the + and - to a balanced power amp,
and single-ended if the - goes as return to ground to a single-ended power amp.

Active speakers always have their amps build in. And even the $300 Rokit active speakers have XLR analog as an input, cause you would expect the source cable run to be longer.

That's interesting. While passive PA speakers are less common, I assumed that better ones would have XLR connectors.

 

[starcat]

XLR carries balanced low voltage signal, i.e. per channel + and - and the 3rd pin carries the shield (which if properly implemented according to the AES, connects source and receiver metal cases together).

Passive speakers have just two connections (going directly or through a cross-over) to the speaker drivers.
Two passive speaker are really like headphones.

And two (stereo) passive speakers/headphones are either 4 wires to a balanced power amp,
or three wires L+ and R+ and - being common between both, goes to ground of a single-ended power amp.
There is no difference to headphones, except for ground being connected on the headphone side or in the single-ended power amp in case of separate speakers.

 

[Monster]

For anyone in the UK, and possibly elsewhere in the world, Amazon have got a 20% voucher discount on the SMSL C100, which AIUI is an SU-1 with a remote control and Bluetooth. Seems like a bargain at ~£80.

I have a C100 and I am pretty pleased with it. It's fed by USB from an RPi4 running Moode and via coax from an audio extractor to stream Amazon Music Unlimited using a FireTV HD stick.

 

[schmalgausen]

Looking for a cheap DAC for TV (Spotify, YouTube etc). Is 5V@500mA USB output enough for SU-1?

 

[Saponetto]

For sure.

 

[Greenman]

Looking for a cheap DAC for TV (Spotify, YouTube etc). Is 5V@500mA USB output enough for SU-1?

Humm, possibly not…..the specs say peak of 5W power usage. 5v@500mA is only capable of 2.5W so in theory not enough. You need a 5W supply capable of delivering 1Amp. Whether in reality it’s possible I don’t know.

 

[schmalgausen]

Calling all TV users.

 

[lerp]

If I had this DAC connected to TV via optical, and to a BT speaker amp via RCA, what input mode would be selected to use the DAC with just the amp (via BT)? All it gives the option for are MQA, USB, Optical, & Coaxial, so I'm a little confused on that.

In other words, if I wanted to switch inputs between optical for the tv and BT for streaming from phone, for example, what input would I use?

Or can I even use the DAC if I'm connecting my phone via BT to the amp...? In this situation, would I instead want to connect to a DAC w/BT capability instead of connecting to the amp via BT?

 

[Olmeda]

Does the SU-1 have sleep mode?

My idea is to use it for TV via optical and turn on automatically with the TV.

 

[Toku]

Does the SU-1 have sleep mode?

My idea is to use it for TV via optical and turn on automatically with the TV.

SU-1 does not have a standby mode. Once the power switch is turned ON, the operation remains unchanged until the power switch is turned OFF again. If you turn off the power to the TV during OPT input and there is no input signal, the input selection LED lamp will only blink and the power will not turn off.

 

[Olmeda]

SU-1 does not have a standby mode. Once the power switch is turned ON, the operation remains unchanged until the power switch is turned OFF again. If you turn off the power to the TV during OPT input and there is no input signal, the input selection LED lamp will only blink and the power will not turn off.

Thank you for your response

 

[Mark S.]

Looking for a cheap DAC for TV (Spotify, YouTube etc). Is 5V@500mA USB output enough for SU-1?

I had my SU-1 powered via a USB 'isolator' dongle (from my PC) which is apparently limited to 0.5A which implies that it would work on a TV, although the isolator did get rather warm so it was probably close to its limit

All that said, I think an SU-1 is over-kill for movies and TV, I'm sure there are cheaper dongle-types (maybe a Creative Sound Blaster of some kind) would probably do the job unobtrusively.

 

[schmalgausen]

All that said, I think an SU-1 is over-kill for movies and TV, I'm sure there are cheaper dongle-types (maybe a Creative Sound Blaster of some kind) would probably do the job unobtrusively.

Not only movies. Stream music + Chromecast.

 

[strumf666]

Not only movies. Stream music + Chromecast.

Buy it and try it, if you really want an external DAC. If it doesn't work properly you can add a powered usb hub in between the TV and DAC which should provide enough power for the DAC.

 

[Mysterybug009]

this one seems really good, but i need one with a headphone jack so i can listen on my headphones and plug it in to my tv with the optical, any recommendations

 

[staticV3]

this one seems really good, but i need one with a headphone jack so i can listen on my headphones and plug it in to my tv with the optical, any recommendations

Here are some Toslink in -> Headphone out solutions below $200:

-Sound Blaster G3
-Sound Blaster X4
-Topping DX3Pro+
-SMSL C200
-SMSL DL200
-SMSL M300 SE
-FiiO K5 Pro
-FiiO K7
-FiiO K11
-Sabaj A10d