SMSL SU-1 Stereo DAC Review

[Nutul]

That page need to be put on a blacklist to protect clueless people.
Amazing what kind of utter bullshit they are able to come up with.


Take a look at this reference gold network cable for $700, lol
but there is a signature level LAN cable for $1300 as well advertised as the best "sounding" Ethernet cable...

Hahahahahaha.
Seriously, there is people that can be fooled by this kind of false information.
They are clever, though...

 

[DeepCuttaBeats]

Has anyone plugged the SU-1 in to their chain and found it clinical, flat, sterile? I am still waiting for mine to arrive. It is replacing a MOTU M2. (hopefully)

 

[Rhamnetin]

Has anyone plugged the SU-1 in to their chain and found it clinical, flat, sterile? I am still waiting for mine to arrive. It is replacing a MOTU M2. (hopefully)

Both of them aim for transparency; neither SMSL nor MOTU want you to hear their DACs, they want you to hear your speakers/headphones as it should be. The M2 was reviewed here as well. If you do level matched blind testing between them, you'll almost certainly be unable to distinguish them.

 

[Greenman]

Has anyone plugged the SU-1 in to their chain and found it clinical, flat, sterile? I am still waiting for mine to arrive. It is replacing a MOTU M2. (hopefully)

Yes. But you’re not allowed to say that on this site. Just be happy you are getting transparent SINAD.

 

[TonyJZX]

Has anyone plugged the SU-1 in to their chain and found it clinical, flat, sterile? I am still waiting for mine to arrive. It is replacing a MOTU M2. (hopefully)

why dont you listen to yours before you make any comment?

why are you going with this "some people are saying..." as the first thing?

 

[DSJR]

Has anyone plugged the SU-1 in to their chain and found it clinical, flat, sterile? I am still waiting for mine to arrive. It is replacing a MOTU M2. (hopefully)

What you'll arguably find is a clean bass free of bloom and distortion, a clear midrange able to change with the recordings fed it (not sounding the same on everything) and high frequencies which again, change with the recording and production without sickly-sweet and samey 'audiophile' tones.

Many audiophiles don't like the truth as presented by properly reproduced recordings, but if you hear live unamplified music regularly, the 'straight' presentation of electronics like the SU1 and so on starts to make sense and you realise that more expensive usually means facilities and expensive cases, yet the SU1 does come smartly presented in a well fitting little black box.

 

[DeepCuttaBeats]

why dont you listen to yours before you make any comment?

why are you going with this "some people are saying..." as the first thing?

I’m anxious to hear it that’s all. I ask for peoples first impressions about everything in life, not just DACs

 

[DeepCuttaBeats]

What you'll arguably find is a clean bass free of bloom and distortion, a clear midrange able to change with the recordings fed it (not sounding the same on everything) and high frequencies which again, change with the recording and production without sickly-sweet and samey 'audiophile' tones.

Many audiophiles don't like the truth as presented by properly reproduced recordings, but if you hear live unamplified music regularly, the 'straight' presentation of electronics like the SU1 and so on starts to make sense and you realise that more expensive usually means facilities and expensive cases, yet the SU1 does come smartly presented in a well fitting little black box.

That well fitting little black box and objective performance documented here on ASR are the reasons I bought it. It will take up less space on my desktop and does not draw any attention to itself. I do have an interest in hearing my favorite music the way it was intended to be heard. Fingers crossed that it works for me.

Question: When "reviewers" mention that a certain DAC, integrated amplifier, or speaker, allows you to listen to and enjoy poor recordings. Is that a good or a bad thing?

 

[DSJR]

That well fitting little black box and objective performance documented here on ASR are the reasons I bought it. It will take up less space on my desktop and does not draw any attention to itself. I do have an interest in hearing my favorite music the way it was intended to be heard. Fingers crossed that it works for me.

Question: When "reviewers" mention that a certain DAC, integrated amplifier, or speaker, allows you to listen and enjoy poor recordings. Is that a good or a bad thing?

Just my 'subjective' take - a good system is often able to get the best out of bad recordings and mixes, the best ones sounding phenomenal! Tailored 'audiophile' systems with character either flatter everything to sound more similar, or they pull the music apart unnaturally, all in the quest for DEEEEEEETAIL!!!

 

[Rhamnetin]

Question: When "reviewers" mention that a certain DAC, integrated amplifier, or speaker, allows you to listen and enjoy poor recordings. Is that a good or a bad thing?

It's typically entirely unsubstantiated and meaningless, namely when they say one DAC does such a thing and another DAC doesn't. I doubt such claims ever involve level matched blind listening. All I'll say is, having been on both sides of the DAC spectrum (that is, NOS R2R junk vs perfect measuring ES9039PRO), no matter what I'm listening to I far prefer the perfect performing DACs, but this is something you'd have to figure out for yourself.

 

[MajorMajorMajorMajor]

They might make mostly good stuff, but I had a dud (DO200) (would cut out and make massive static noises) and I didn't like their customer service setup/don't really trust them.

 

[maudio]

Yes, it's a 25€ USB card with a 150€ oscillator.
It's nice that you are happy with it but it's completely useless.
Unless you have one of the very first ancient DAC without a clock or only supporting obsolete USB Audio.
Which the SU-1 isn't.

On top it's detrimental without an USB galvanic isolator; the USB ports on that card are noisy.
Then the fancy OXCO will be even more useless since will just feed the USB isolator.
Which will reclock the data packets with a 20 cents oscillator...
Nothing wrong, the result will be just as good, but sad considering the price of that card.

your watching too little SciFi

 

[Jazz]

Mine has had no audio issues this first month running from Airport Express v2 with firmware set to Airplay 1 using Toslink. I covered annoying light with black tape. On Schiit Modi light house beacon bright LED I used auto window tint film. But the blinking is the problem with SMSL.
I do wish it had a second USB power port though.

 

[jooc]

Question: When "reviewers" mention that a certain DAC, integrated amplifier, or speaker, allows you to listen to and enjoy poor recordings. Is that a good or a bad thing?

I think this is actually an interesting question. On the face of I'd say it's bad, because it probably means the amp/dac/speakers aren't picking up all the track volume mismatches and things the recording studio put in to make the song sound better on extremely low-fi AM/FM radio. (I have a good example of a song like this, I'll try to remember it)*

I know there are some rock recordings I actually prefer to hear on my Edifier 1850 powered speakers - they just sound 'better,' more like I remember. On the other hand, every jazz/classical recording I've ever heard (and most rock songs) sound much better on my bigger, better speakers and discrete amps/dacs.

* Here's one I remember encountering, not the perfect example because I don't like the song, but:

In the BeeGees' "Jive Talkin'," there's a part where the lead singer, Barry Gibb I think, is singing and there's a bit of a breakdown where the instruments fade back and the resrt of the Gibb brothers are repeating the chorus, which is just "..Jive talkin'..." over and over for a while. During that chorus, I can hear one of the Gibb brothers leaning in to the microphone to help with the chorus - and he has a terrible, froggy voice. He might be a good musician or songwriter, but his voice was horrible. On my good speakers/equipment, that part of the song sounds grating and bad. On radio, por maybe the Edifier speakers, it sounds 'normal.' I think that's an example of a recording studio decision meant to get the chorus audible on AM radio, but with current equipment it falls apart a bit.

 

[DeepCuttaBeats]

I think this is actually an interesting question. On the face of I'd say it's bad, because it probably means the amp/dac/speakers aren't picking up all the track volume mismatches and things the recording studio put in to make the song sound better on extremely low-fi AM/FM radio. (I have a good example of a song like this, I'll try to remember it)*

I know there are some rock recordings I actually prefer to hear on my Edifier 1850 powered speakers - they just sound 'better,' more like I remember. On the other hand, every jazz/classical recording I've ever heard (and most rock songs) sound much better on my bigger, better speakers and discrete amps/dacs.

* Here's one I remember encountering, not the perfect example because I don't like the song, but:

In the BeeGees' "Jive Talkin'," there's a part where the lead singer, Barry Gibb I think, is singing and there's a bit of a breakdown where the instruments fade back and the resrt of the Gibb brothers are repeating the chorus, which is just "..Jive talkin'..." over and over for a while. During that chorus, I can hear one of the Gibb brothers leaning in to the microphone to help with the chorus - and he has a terrible, froggy voice. He might be a good musician or songwriter, but his voice was horrible. On my good speakers/equipment, that part of the song sounds grating and bad. On radio, por maybe the Edifier speakers, it sounds 'normal.' I think that's an example of a recording studio decision meant to get the chorus audible on AM radio, but with current equipment it falls apart a bit.

I guess there are parts of some recordings that are better left unheard In your example, what is surfacing that lackluster component of the chorus? Your systems more resolving DAC? Improved midrange and/or top end on the speakers? something else?

 

[jooc]

I guess there are parts of some recordings that are better left unheard In your example, what is surfacing that lackluster component of the chorus? Your systems more resolving DAC? Improved midrange and/or top end on the speakers? something else?

It's something I started noticing once I moved from the Edifier powered speakers with built-in DAC to a SoundEngine D1 DAC/A07 amp/Emotiva B1+ combo. So basically all three components were replaced at once and that horrible middle Gibb voice started appearing. But now I hear it on all my discrete combos/speakers. I should go steal those Edifiers back from my kid and do a Jive Talkin' A/B test this afternoon.

 

[Mantra]

hi
may i know where can i downlaod drivers for windows 10/7 and mac please?
i'm looking for them in the webpage ,but can't find them
thanks

 

[staticV3]

hi
may i know where can i downlaod drivers for windows 10/7 and mac please?
i'm looking for them in the webpage ,but can't find them
thanks

You can download the driver here: https://www.smsl-audio.com/upload/portal/undefined/SMSLUSBAudioDriver.zip

It should work for Windows 10 and 11.
I don't know if it's compatible with Windows 7.

Afaik, Mac does not support manually installing USB drivers. The SU-1 should be plug-and-play play there.

The SU-1 should also be plug-and-play with Windows 10 and 11, since those come with a generic Microsoft device driver.

Manually installing SMSL's driver on Win10/11 is only required if you need native ASIO support.

 

[Mantra]

You can download the driver here: https://www.smsl-audio.com/upload/portal/undefined/SMSLUSBAudioDriver.zip

It should work for Windows 10 and 11.
I don't know if it's compatible with Windows 7.

Afaik, Mac does not support manually installing USB drivers. The SU-1 should be plug-and-play play there.

The SU-1 should also be plug-and-play with Windows 10 and 11, since those come with a generic Microsoft device driver.

Manually installing SMSL's driver on Win10/11 is only required if you need native ASIO support.

hi Staicv3
does asio suport play a good or big change outside latency?
does it perform so better compared to the build in audio cards?
thanks

 

[staticV3]

does asio suport play a good or big change outside latency?

No.

does it perform so better compared to the build in audio cards?

depends on the audio card.