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SMSL SU-8 Version 2 Balanced DAC

Oukkidoukki

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Can owner of su 8 with other dacs give some kind of opinion? Maybe you have rme adi 2 dac, mytek, gustard, or other high end dac. Is this in the ball park? I need highly detailed dac for mixing music. All is done inside pc so I need as clean window inside as possible to get balance right.
 

cecelo01

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I will use this dac with an integrated Luxman and a pair of MA Golds 200.
 

badyard

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I am having trouble with the ASIO drivers, Chrome (on Win10) randomly drop the audio and get stuck while watching videos, uninstalling the ASIO drivers fix the problem but then I can no longer use the DAC at it's best. This is so far the only real complain I'm having with this unit. Also the fact that doesn't have digital input implemented in ASIO drivers is such a shame.
 

Veri

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I am having trouble with the ASIO drivers, Chrome (on Win10) randomly drop the audio and get stuck while watching videos, uninstalling the ASIO drivers fix the problem but then I can no longer use the DAC at it's best. This is so far the only real complain I'm having with this unit. Also the fact that doesn't have digital input implemented in ASIO drivers is such a shame.
Can you find the ASIO config utility and increase the latency/ buffer to safe or extra safe?
 

badyard

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Can you find the ASIO config utility and increase the latency/ buffer to safe or extra safe?
Well to be precise ASIO isn't the problem, but rather WASAPI, I did everything i could to resolve the problem, even a clean install of windows 10 didn't solve it, not even changing settings under the hood of Chrome.
 

badyard

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I'm sure some Windows 10 update is what caused this problem.. However my other audio interfaces are not affected, just the SU-8
 

Toku

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Well to be precise ASIO isn't the problem, but rather WASAPI, I did everything i could to resolve the problem, even a clean install of windows 10 didn't solve it, not even changing settings under the hood of Chrome.
If WASAPI is currently set to Exclusive Mode, it will be such behavior.
Switch to Shared Mode or restart the PC, the problem will be resolved.
ASIO only works in Exclusive Mode.
 
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badyard

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If WASAPI is currently set to Exclusive Mode, it will be such behavior.
Switch to Shared Mode or restart the PC, the problem will be resolved.
ASIO only works in Exclusive Mode.
I've just reinstalled Thesycon drivers after a graphics driver update, exlusive mode is off, so far no issues. I hope that's it!
 

Pluto

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Well to be precise ASIO isn't the problem, but rather WASAPI
Sorry - I think you have to state the nature of your problem rather more clearly. You refer to Chrome, but unlike a more specialized audio application, Chrome's only way of playing sound is via the system default audio device so you may well be dealing with a Chrome issue – nothing to do with the Topping ASIO driver which is Thesycon software that does not have a reputation for instability.

I think you ought to determine the health of your audio installation using an app. such as Foobar and if that works flawlessly (as it ought) then you are stuck with whatever behaviour Chrome exhibits.

...a graphics driver update...
Poor graphics drivers can be at the root of all manner of (apparently unrelated) system instabilities so good luck. But you should not rely on Chrome to test the stability or quality of the audio subsystem – you need software with proper support for WASAPI or, preferably, ASIO. Foobar does so.
 

badyard

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Sorry - I think you have to state the nature of your problem rather more clearly. You refer to Chrome, but unlike a more specialized audio application, Chrome's only way of playing sound is via the system default audio device so you may well be dealing with a Chrome issue – nothing to do with the Topping ASIO driver which is Thesycon software that does not have a reputation for instability.

I think you ought to determine the health of your audio installation using an app. such as Foobar and if that works flawlessly (as it ought) then you are stuck with whatever behaviour Chrome exhibits.


Poor graphics drivers can be at the root of all manner of (apparently unrelated) system instabilities so good luck. But you should not rely on Chrome to test the stability or quality of the audio subsystem – you need software with proper support for WASAPI or, preferably, ASIO. Foobar does so.

The problem was happening on video streaming like Youtube or Netflix, it basically was loosing audio and stopping randomly and required to either restart the DAC or restart Chrome in order to continue watching.
Weirdly enough was only occurring when using Thesycon drivers.

Both Thesycon's ASIO and WASAPI where not showing any instability in Audirvana.
Also my other audio interface with Avid drivers was working fine on Chrome, hence why my suspects were on Thesycon drivers causing this problem.

I'm the kind of guy that prior to posting about an issue tries every possible solution, yesterday Radeon has released a new driver for graphics (prior graphics driver updates were not solving the problem) so I've decided to clean uninstall graphics drivers and cleanly install the new driver.
So far the problem seems to be resolved, finger crossed.
 

headwhacker

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got my SU-8 ordered directly from Shenzhen audio. Only have a short time working on it last night. But I can't make it work for some reason.

I am using the bal out connected to the bal In of my MD THX amp. Macbook is my source via USB using Audirvana. The DAC is detected and all sample rate are detected, but DSD512 is greyed out.

When I play a song no sound comes out but the little display in my SU-8 detect a signal coming in and display the sample rate of the file being played.

I can't seem to do anything on my SU-8 via remote. So I'm not sure if there is a device setup I need to follow. I also can't figure out how to do a factory reset. Will try and look for the manual tonight when I'm not busy. But if this sound familar to you guys I appreciate any comments.
 

headwhacker

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^ thanks the "C" button did the trick. Now it's time to relax and enjoy the music.
 

dasfast

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It seems the "10th anniversary" adds a 10th sound color profile called "original". I am currently enjoying this sound color.
 

obc

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I have a question for the europeans (austria), when the voltage selector is set to 230v i can just plug it in right?
 

Toku

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I have a question for the europeans (austria), when the voltage selector is set to 230v i can just plug it in right?
The outlet in Austria is 230 V 50 Hz so it is OK with that selection.
 

unicore

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Hi, I'm new around, must admit great forum and a lot of information about music tech.
Planning to buy SU-8, does one support automatic selection of appropriate clocking rates for optical and coaxial modes, like EL DAC?
 

Music57

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This is an update to my previous review of SMSL SU-8. At a retail price of USD $212 on Amazon and balanced outputs, the SU-8 could provide a very compelling proposition. Unfortunately the performance of the balanced output in my first review sample was disappointing, showing significant switching noise. SMSL was kind enough to send me a second unit recently and I put it to test.

There is no functionality difference so see the previous review for details of that. Briefly here, you get a nice looking unit with a tiny display and remote control:

[the 44.1 kHz on the display is not showing all the way due to my camera shutter not being in sync with its refresh rate.]

Let's get into measurements and see how she performs.

Measurements
Let's start with our unbalanced dashboard:
View attachment 18140

This is some 8 dB improvement in SINAD/distortion relative to original review sample! Let's see how our previously problematic balanced output performs:
View attachment 18134

Nice! As I show in the inset, SINAD used to be just 87 dB but now is a whopping 110 on average! This puts the unit in the upper echelon of DACs tested: [click on chart for larger size]
View attachment 18135


We can clearly see the reason in sweep of distortion versus frequency:

View attachment 18136

Good news translates into intermodulation distortion too:
View attachment 18137

There is no saturation as the levels go up to maximum as we had before.

Jitter was good before but we still see some improvements:

View attachment 18138

Low level linearity remains the same though:
View attachment 18139

Balanced (red) is near excellent. Unbalanced especially in one channel falls short though (still transparent though for CD rate music).

Conclusions
I must say, I did not have any expectation of improvements and I was pleasantly surprised. Looks like SMSL went on hunting for sources of distortion and noise and annihilated just about all of them! This is proof that better design can be had without any cost premium. The unit sells for even less now than it did then, yet its performance -- especially in balanced mode -- has massively improved. It has gone from "nearly broken" to "nearly state-of-the-art."

I am a big fan of balanced interconnects to break nasty ground loops that can be hard to deal with when you string a PC, DAC and amp together. If you look at the balanced dashboard and compare it to unbalance, you see complete absence of any mains leakage/tones. This is the power of balanced. With advent of high-performance balanced headphone amps like the Massdrop THX AAA 789, there is even more of a requirement in my mind for balanced output DACs. And here we have one great option.

Needless to say, I am happy to recommend the SMSL SU-8 for both its functionality and performance. Great to see them focus on performance clean up the design of previous version.

I understand there is a sale going on on Massdrop for a couple of days more. I would jump on it if you are in the market for such a DAC.

OK, I took it apart and here is a quick picture. Higher fidelity ones will come later:

View attachment 18145

I have circled the revision on the left: September 27th, 2018, version 1.2.
How Would you say this compare to the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital?
Thanks you.
 
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