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SMSL SU-1 Stereo DAC Review

Rate this DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 11 2.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 11 2.1%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 64 12.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 427 83.2%

  • Total voters
    513
I like the sound of this device, but the frequent pops and clicks are driving me crazy!
Same issue, but im on mac. this dac is crap
This is why I changed my vote to 'Poor'. A device's core functionality should not be flawed, and any fix should be permanent without having to resort to hacks — especially if said hack works on only one operating system, and will eventually become obsolete.
 
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I don't think that makes it poor. I suspect most people won't be using it with a PC.
If one of the three inputs is unusable — especially the one that is used to connect with a PC, mobile phone, etc. — then it is a serious flaw, one that disqualifies it from my usage and recommendation.

Have you viewed my video documenting the problem? This clip is made with the C100, but the SU-1 has the same problem. The C100 was fixed with a firmware update. It's not unrealistic to assume the SU-1 can be fixed similarly.

 
If one of the three inputs is unusable — especially the one that is used to connect with a PC, mobile phone, etc. — then it is a serious flaw, one that disqualifies it from my usage and recommendation.

Have you viewed my video documenting the problem? This clip is made with the C100, but the SU-1 has the same problem. The C100 was fixed with a firmware update. It's not unrealistic to assume the SU-1 can be fixed similarly.

That is annoying, I agree!
 
That is annoying, I agree!
What's particularly bad is that the popping occurred when it should be perfectly silent. Not tremendously loud, but more than enough to be noticeable when using monitor speakers/headphones. Also, when there a length of silence (due to no audio signal sent to the DAC) and a song is then played, the starting part is not audible — about 0.5–1.2 seconds is lost.

To existing SU-1 users: does your unit have this problem when connected via USB, and you haven't enabled 'Always On' in the XMOS driver? You may have to listen closely.
 
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Sadly no, because there is no Mac OS X or Linux driver from XMOS or Thesycon — it isn't needed, as both operating systems natively provide USB Audio Class 2.0 support.

Glad to know editing the XML config file fixed it for you. Keep in mind the other inputs are not affected — only USB is.

If you care enough, contact Shenzhen Audio, point them to this thread (including my post with the video demonstrating the SU-1/C100 popping problem and solution), and ask for a firmware update (Aoshida Audio fixed the C100 in this manner). If it's created, request that it be posted on the S.M.S.L SU-1 product page for everyone to download for all of eternity.
Thanks for the expanded explanation. I agree that SMSL should correct this issue with a firmware fix. I do use Linux as well, and it would be nice to have this DAC as an option for those other systems.

EDIT: I did take your advice and sent an email to Schezhen Audio requesting a firmware fix.
 
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Update: After emailing Shenzhen, they replied back asking for a video of the problem. I sent a short clip to them on Saturday. Their reply came this morning:
hi there,
thanks for your feedback!
we have contacted with factory and get the reply.
sorry the sounds you mentioned in other system can not be resolve currently.
sorry for the inconvenience and hope you can understand,
they may research and upgrade in next version.

regards,



[email protected]


 
Update: After emailing Shenzhen, they replied back asking for a video of the problem. I sent a short clip to them on Saturday. Their reply came this morning:
hi there,
thanks for your feedback!
we have contacted with factory and get the reply.
sorry the sounds you mentioned in other system can not be resolve currently.
sorry for the inconvenience and hope you can understand,
they may research and upgrade in next version.

regards,



[email protected]
So no firmware update planned?
 
Update: After emailing Shenzhen, they replied back asking for a video of the problem. I sent a short clip to them on Saturday. Their reply came this morning:
hi there,
thanks for your feedback!
we have contacted with factory and get the reply.
sorry the sounds you mentioned in other system can not be resolve currently.
sorry for the inconvenience and hope you can understand,
they may research and upgrade in next version.

regards,



[email protected]
Thank you for posting Shenzhen Audio's reply. In my opinion, this is an unacceptable response because the USB input is effectively unusable. The workaround is temporary and requires that it's connected to a Windows machine with the XMOS driver installed. Resolving it ought to be a matter of updating the USB firmware to ensure full UAC 2.0 compliance (which is what I believe Aoshida did with the C100). Perhaps the SU-1 is somehow truly incapable of firmware updates, even though it appears to share much of its architecture with the C100?

Here is a relevant post from the author of RoPieee, spockfish (Harry ten Berge):

Hi @Teun_Romme,

Sorry for the late response.

First thing that comes to my mind that this is (obviously) a device issue and should be solved by the hardware manufacturer. But I also realise that is a somewhat naive notion ;)

The reason why the ‘USB Auto Suspend’ not makes any difference is that this is about the USB interface itself and not on the audio level. The cutoff issues mentioned are exactly that: on the audio level.

Now the complex stuff ;) Audio drivers on Windows are something totally different then on Linux. So ‘lucky’ for those that run Windows icm with this hardware, but that’s about it: luck. The proposed solution for Linux isn’t a solution at all: in is a fix with a certain combination of audio stack which uses a ‘audio processor’ (in this case pulse audio), which RoPieee does not use: we take the ‘shortest path’ from software to hardware wrt to the audio signal.

So 1: there is no ‘quick fix’ (unfortunately). 2. if I need to investigate it it requires such a device on my desk and then there’s still the chance that the outcome is still ‘no luck’.

Sighh… I wish that hardware manufacturers:

  1. test their devices on Linux instead of saying that they support UAC and leave it at that.
  2. make sure that the USB firmware (the USB chip has firmware and it’s rather complex) is updateable
  3. provide real support to their customers
Oh well. That’s just me ;)
 
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Thank you for posting Shenzhen Audio's reply. In my opinion, this is an unacceptable response because the USB input is effectively unusable. The workaround is temporary and requires that it's connected to a Windows machine with the XMOS driver installed. Resolving it ought to be a matter of updating the USB firmware to ensure full UAC 2.0 compliance (which is what I believe Aoshida did with the C100). Perhaps the SU-1 is somehow truly incapable of firmware updates, even though it appears to share much of its architecture with the C100?

Here is a relevant post from the author of RoPieee, spockfish (Harry ten Berge):
I agree. It is unacceptable. My main audio system uses a Linux streaming device (Daphile) and I'll never be able to use the SU-1 with that setup. Who knows, maybe it will get passed on and something will happen. Maybe if more people send emails to Shenzhen? There seems to be a healthy amount of ownership here with more than 470 pole votes. Its hard to believe there aren't more people that have this issue.
 
I agree. It is unacceptable. My main audio system uses a Linux streaming device (Daphile) and I'll never be able to use the SU-1 with that setup. Who knows, maybe it will get passed on and something will happen. Maybe if more people send emails to Shenzhen? There seems to be a healthy amount of ownership here with more than 470 pole votes. Its hard to believe there aren't more people that have this issue.
No one uses a mac either. i found that the only way to remove pops is to upsample every music with roon or audirvana.
 
So who exactly is Aoshida?
A retailer/distributor of mostly Chinese audio products.

Here's their About page: https://aoshida-audio.com/pages/about-us

They even have a YouTube channel:
 
A retailer/distributor of mostly Chinese audio products.

Here's their About page: https://aoshida-audio.com/pages/about-us

They even have a YouTube channel:
Does Aoshida ship free, and tax and duty free to EU countries?
 
Does Aoshida ship free, and tax and duty free to EU countries?
 
No one uses a mac either. i found that the only way to remove pops is to upsample every music with roon or audirvana.
I have the pops between tracks in my setup with a Raspberry Pi/Volumio/MConnect App/Tidal setup and also use the SU1 with my Windows notebook in combination with REW (in both cases using USB). On windows the XMOS driver software might help when switching to "Always On" mode (I had no chance to try yet). However, how do I resolve the issue on the Raspberry PI. Anybody resolved this problem?
 
I used it to stream music by phone via USB, I could not detect any problem.
 
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