fritobugger
Member
It has a remote control and can be used as a digital pre-amp.
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SMSL SU-6 Review (Desktop DAC)
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Veri
Master Contributor
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Interesting! Looking forward. Seems like a cute desktop stack.
MalinYamato
Senior Member
I love SMSL for trheir internal PSUs -- I am sick of external power bricks.
Still waiting for info on BT chip model.
Curious if anyone has received one from Shenzhen Audio yet? Mine is in transit, no idea how long it might take.
MRC01
Major Contributor
Same here. Estimated delivery around Dec 20.
Curious as to where you see the estimate? They gave me a link to 17Track but it doesn't show an estimate. Black hole until the package hits USPS I believe.
MRC01
Major Contributor
IME, these Chi-Fi companies have non-existent factory support. So I buy through Amazon in order to have the generous return policy and not have to deal with the manufacturer. Tracking just says, "shipped with 4PX". No other details.
Nick_L
Member
Same for me. The package reached Hong-Kong 7th of December (4PX In-Transit status) and I hope to get the package to Germany before Christmas.
MRC01
Major Contributor
That's good to know. When it arrives I'll ring it out as well as I can. If I find any bugs (as I did with the EX5) I'll simply return it.
(Note to @SHENZHENAUDIO) The only reason I bought the SU-6 was because of the EX5 bugs (displaying incorrect sample rate and undocumented left channel auto-mute).
If they fix the EX5 bugs before my return window closes, I'm keeping the EX5 and will return the SU-6.
If they don't fix the EX5 bugs and the SU-6 is bug-free, the EX5 is going back and I'm keeping the SU-6.
Otherwise, I'm returning both and will consider other devices.
(Note to @SHENZHENAUDIO) The only reason I bought the SU-6 was because of the EX5 bugs (displaying incorrect sample rate and undocumented left channel auto-mute).
If they fix the EX5 bugs before my return window closes, I'm keeping the EX5 and will return the SU-6.
If they don't fix the EX5 bugs and the SU-6 is bug-free, the EX5 is going back and I'm keeping the SU-6.
Otherwise, I'm returning both and will consider other devices.
Smsl devices are all problematic,, no support ..no future firmware updates.. if there is bug they will ask u to return the unit to china with buyer has to pay the freight and custom charges to china.. they will fix it not thru firmware update..they are all after profit not welfare of the customer unlike the U.S.A. Firm
Nick_L
Member
Hello mrlongar,
please don't blame SMSL so much. I am quite happy with the quality of their products as I am using an SA-36A for years and never had any issues. If I should encounter any issues I will still have Shenzenaudio for support as well as SMSL. And I have to consider delay caused by transportation of course. BTW I am also not aware of any US company not looking for profit.
Cheers Nick
please don't blame SMSL so much. I am quite happy with the quality of their products as I am using an SA-36A for years and never had any issues. If I should encounter any issues I will still have Shenzenaudio for support as well as SMSL. And I have to consider delay caused by transportation of course. BTW I am also not aware of any US company not looking for profit.
Cheers Nick
fritobugger
Member
Similar experience for me. SA-36A and M8 DAC for years. M8 is used daily and sounds great. If I could get the M8 sound with more modern features I would be very happy.Hello mrlongar,
please don't blame SMSL so much. I am quite happy with the quality of their products as I am using an SA-36A for years and never had any issues. If I should encounter any issues I will still have Shenzenaudio for support as well as SMSL. And I have to consider delay caused by transportation of course. BTW I am also not aware of any US company not looking for profit.
Cheers Nick
MalinYamato
Senior Member
No MQA
fritobugger
Member
No MQA is a feature. No money or license fees going to the lying snake oil weasels at MQA is a good thing.No MQA
MQA is lossy format which was propagated as lossless and "as artist intended". When people analyzed the format and found that it is not true, they changed the propaganda for "perceptually lossless", like MP3 at higher bitrates also is or may be.No MQA
Tidal is currently streaming no lossless content. From source: https://goldensound.audio/2021/11/29/tidal-hifi-is-not-lossless/
– ‘MASTER’ quality setting – Track streamed in MQA. Tidal client or your DAC can do the unfolding depending on setup. MQA is not lossless.
– ‘HiFi’ quality setting – Track streamed in what was claimed to be ‘lossless’, but it was actually seemingly just the MQA version without any MQA flagging or metadata, so it would not be unfolded. And is also not lossless.
– ‘High/Normal’ – Track streamed in compressed format.
How is the future of MQA seen by some audiophiles today: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30381-mqa-is-vaporware/?do=findComment&comment=1171946
Grooved
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To be exact, it's not that simple, especially for the second point.
On the first point, there are mainly 24bit MQA (in 44.1 and 48kHz, that once decoded to 24/88.2 or 24/96 will be rendered/upsampling), BUT there are also some 16bit MQA when they didn't get a master at 24bit, and some album are only available at 16bit MQA.
So when you see "Master", it only means that it's an MQA file, and that it will be at least decoded, by the app or by your MQA DAC (and rendered if you have a MQA DAC), but it doesn't mean it's a 24bit MQA for sure.
On the second point, it may end like that, but until now, it's only in few cases.
It's hard to count, but I would say at least half the tracks are still in real 16/44.1 FLAC in the Hifi category. And almost the other half is 16bit MQA. These last ones started more than one year ago.
And now, since the MQA debat/change of main owner/new pricing, it seems some tracks/album have only 24bit MQA and 360/Atmos, and that if your are on Hifi sub, it will be reduced to 16/44.1
So the second point can't be generalized like that, there are at least three different cases. Now, it would be simpler to have one case only.
They also need to fix the ads saying Hifi is lossless at 1.411Mbps, and Hifi Plus up to 9Mbps, because it's wrong. All real FLAC and 16bit MQA are mainly lower than 1Mbps, and mainly all 24bit MQA are lower than 2Mbps
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