• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

SMSL SU-8 Version 2 Balanced DAC

pantag

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2019
Messages
17
Likes
5
Location
NJ, USA
No, they give you everything. It is just that this is no longer needed post Windows 10 Creators edition. If the device is USB Audio Class 2 (UAC2) compliant, as SU-8 is, no driver is needed. By using the Windows driver you are relying on tested and common driver.


Of course. This is an option in your player usually. Here it is in my Roon player:

View attachment 21830

Exclusive mode bypasses the operating system audio processing giving the bits exactly to the DAC as they came from your player.
Amirm, what is the case for OSX? WASAPI is just for Windows devices. How can you have something similar on the OSX side for bit-perfect audio? Any settings and/or application recommendations?
 

soundwave76

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Dec 28, 2018
Messages
730
Likes
1,364
Location
Finland
It's not yet on SMSL official website, for unknown reasons.
But you can find it on shenzhenaudio website.

So far this stack has 4 units:
SU-8 (DAC)
SH-8 (Headphone Amp)
DA-8 (Power Amp)
B2 (External Clock/Bluetooth Receiver)

Thanks! Amrir needs to test this SH-8 asap! :)
 

pantag

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2019
Messages
17
Likes
5
Location
NJ, USA
Apple has CoreAudio which is also capable of bit perfect performance.

Here is a Roon FAQ talking about bit perfect on Macs.

https://kb.roonlabs.com/Audio_On_OSX

Excellent, thanks for sharing. It matches the search I've done on this after my post. So, all you have to do is just select the DAC in the Sound menu in OSX and you are set. Any recommendation for a good FLAC player in OSX besides the iTunes plugin "Bitperfect" and Audirvana?
 

Gomjab

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Messages
37
Likes
48
Excellent, thanks for sharing. It matches the search I've done on this after my post. So, all you have to do is just select the DAC in the Sound menu in OSX and you are set. Any recommendation for a good FLAC player in OSX besides the iTunes plugin "Bitperfect" and Audirvana?

That and select exclusive mode. I have tried many players including the Bitperfect plugin but settled on Audirvana up until this year when I broke down and paid for a lifetime subscription to Roon.

Audirvana is very nice. I also own a bunch of software plugins for recording (DAW) and Audirvana would allow me to use those in the playback path if I wanted to add EQ or some headphone cross-feed.

I ended up going to Roon last month for the incredible flexibility of streaming multiple things bit perfect to multiple destinations from a single server. My wife can select a song from her iPhone and send it to the computer in her craft room while I’m listening to another song on my headphone setup in the living room. It has a wonderful interface and has been bulletproof so far. The only downside is that it is pricey. Hopefully they stay in business long enough for my lifetime subscription to break even over the yearly cost!
 

cecelo01

Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2018
Messages
93
Likes
30
My headphones,

Beyerdynamic DT 990 / 250ohms, Beyerdynamic DT 880 / 250ohms, Audio Technica M50x, AKG K702 and Sennheiser HD598



 
Top Bottom