SMSL SU-9 Balanced DAC Review

[Robbo99999]

(not read the comments yet)

Well this is an awesome measuring DAC and a balanced DAC too. I suppose my only problem with this DAC is the high price, but are we paying for the fact it's a balanced DAC? I mean I know DACs can go for more money than this one, but in this present day I think it's silly to spend big money on DACs when they're already transparent & excellent measuring at low prices.

Do you get a remote and an ability to run this DAC in a preamp mode? I'm kinda hoping so for this money? It's about 4 times the price of the Topping E30 DAC which can do all of that whilst measuring excellently, bar this one being a balanced DAC vs the Topping E30.

 

[Daverz]

Do you get a remote and an ability to run this DAC in a preamp mode? I'm kinda hoping so for this money? It's about 4 times the price of the Topping E30 DAC which can do all of that whilst measuring excellently, bar this one being a balanced DAC vs the Topping E30.

Yes, and it looks like you also get a nice big volume level display that can be read at the listening position this time.

I'm also curious about the different gain levels that Amir measured. Are these hardware gain settings or simply digital attenuation?

It's unlikely I'll buy this as long as my Auralic Vega is still working, but good to know that this is available should my Vega finally bite the dust.

 

[Jimbob54]

Yes, and it looks like you also get a nice big volume level display that can be read at the listening position this time.

I'm also curious about the different gain levels that Amir measured. Are these hardware gain settings or simply digital attenuation?

It's unlikely I'll buy this as long as my Auralic Vega is still working, but good to know that this is available should my Vega finally bite the dust.

The different voltages - 4.7 being best? Just numbers on the dial- 5.3 being 99, 4v being 94

 

[Daverz]

The different voltages - 4.7 being best? Just numbers on the dial- 6v(ish) being 99, 4v being 92 or whatever it was

Ah, OK, so it was just the range of the digital volume control that Amir had the patience to test? Down to 800 mV or about -16 dBFS 549 mV or about -20 dB with still 108 dB of SINAD.

 

[Jimbob54]

Ah, OK, so it was just the range of the digital volume control that Amir had the patience to test? Down to 800 mV or about -15 dBFS.

Edited my post as I got the numbers wrong. But yes, he will have seen what voltage at full vwas, what gave 4v (standard for testing) and what gave best SINAD readings (4.7v) . I dont know how he does a sweep in this one

 

[Tks]

I'd love to see bluetooth measured.

$7,000 add-on module.

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Good job SMSL btw, good to see Bluetooth finally start making headway (as Topping was seemingly the only company that cared in the past). I don't really know what people are hating on in terms of price. For a balanced DAC in this price category with this performance, this thing rocks. Has proper filters and all that.

Also, thanks bossman for testing Optical and Coax, nice to see that test make a return. All that's left now is the thermal tests that have been MIA for a while >_<

The only flaw I really see with the DAC is the insane OCD someone might have with the clock not being bang-on 1Khz, instead we get the 0.999999kHz reading.

Other than that, for a DAC, this thing is pretty great. Glad they also went with a different knob, really didn't like the look of the one used in the Sabaj D5 (the one with like a ring on the knob face itself, for some reason looks so bad to me), and also a nice bigger screen here. Good job. Now please send Amir the streamer you guys got cooking up. That thing looks really nice with that big screen.

 

[AudioTodd]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the brand new SMSL SU-9 Balanced USB DAC. It was kindly sent to me by one of their distributors, Shenzhenaudio. The SU-9 will be released September 30th and will cost US $439.99.

The SU-9 has a simpler but in my opinion more elegant look than previous SMSL DACs:

View attachment 84224

The display is now larger and courtesy of its fine resolution, nice to look at. The rotary control lets you navigate the menus by pressing and rotating. Alas, I could not figure out how to get out of the menus and had to wait for it to time out. Perhaps there is a way but not having read the manual, I did not know how. There is a remote of course which would make this simpler.

Back panel is what you expect in this class DAC plus addition of Bluetooth:

View attachment 84225

Power supply is included of course eliminating the external bricks that come with lower cost DACs. And of course balanced XLR output which I highly encourage for computer connected DACs.

DAC Audio Measurements
As usual, we start with our dashboard view:

View attachment 84226

Wow! Another DAC nearly maxing out the distortion+noise meter in my analyzer! The SINAD of 120 dB puts the SU-9 way up there in rankings:
View attachment 84227

Zooming in:

View attachment 84228

Note that the SU-9 is capable of output above 4 volts which is nice. To show the performance at other output levels, I ran a sweep:

View attachment 84229

Since the SINAD measurement is noise limited (distortion alone is at 130 dB SINAD), having the output higher helps improve it as you see it in the above graph.

IMD distortion versus level shows excellent performance:

View attachment 84230

Our old friend the "ESS IMD Hump" is still there but 90% suppressed.

Linearity which is a measure of accuracy is perfect:

View attachment 84231

Jitter over USB is non-existent:
View attachment 84232

There is a digital PLL that helps reduce jitter but since there is none with USB input, it makes no difference. It however helps with Toslink jitter:
View attachment 84233

There may be a latency penalty though so if you are using Toslink for TV sound input, you may need to play with that. Fortunately the jitter that was there with default setting was not an audible concern anyway (at -120 dB and heavily masked by the signal itself).

Lots of filters are provided for any taste (imagined or otherwise):
View attachment 84235

I like that there is a proper brickwall filter. I used that for the following test:

View attachment 84236

There is some frequency dependency here. I ran an FFT (not shown) and it showed that to be "imaging" components that were changing way up in frequency so not an audible issue.

Finally, multitone test showed how low the distortion is in SU-9 DAC:

View attachment 84237

Conclusions
Looks like we started a trend to achieve perfection in desktop DACs and the SMSL SU-9 is yet another example of that. We have another great "instrument grade" DAC on our hands providing absolute transparency to the source beyond any threshold of human hearing. If you are hearing issues I suggest you either have your hearing examined, or learn to do a proper controlled test. Either way, what you hear is what is on your recording. Guaranteed!

It is my pleasure to highly recommend the SMSL SU-9. Great job.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

I explained last night that I poked my palm last night trying to take the core out of Asian Pears in order to dry them. I swore I would not do any more but then I tasted the results this morning. Ah, they were fantastic! Sweet, full of pear flavor and all fit in a nice jar taking a fraction of space to store. So I dragged the bucket of pears out of the garage and prepared another batch to dry:

View attachment 84239

Despite filling 8 stacks I hardly made a dent in all the pears we have. And we have yet to pick the pears from two of trees!

Dehydrating uses electricity and while our rates are some of the lowest in the nation/world, it is not free. So appreciate some good sized donations to pay for it using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Just send me a box of pears with a few of those freeze packs in it and I’ll hit you back with the shipping $$$!!! Problem solved!

 

[jaraheel]

@amirm whats the dynamic range for this DAC?

 

[GDK]

Yes, and it looks like you also get a nice big volume level display that can be read at the listening position this time.

I'm also curious about the different gain levels that Amir measured. Are these hardware gain settings or simply digital attenuation?

It's unlikely I'll buy this as long as my Auralic Vega is still working, but good to know that this is available should my Vega finally bite the dust.

That’s a slick video, but isn’t it weird that, according to it, this DAC apparently has no outputs?

 

[typericey]

We've already reached the point where [Chi-Fi] DACs have performance that is close to the limits of the AP for less than $500. What now?

My personal wish is that they (SMSL, Topping) now work on making their products more user friendly. How about putting dedicated buttons/knobs for inputs, volume, mute, etc.? So that we don't have to toggle a single knob/button and access menus. Perhaps a larger display or indicator LEDs on said buttons to make the vital info visible on your listening seat? Yes, these features would probably need a bigger case but why not make a "full size" DAC (i.e. standard 1U width/height)?

I do realize that these mini desktop DACs are mainly targeted to headphone users, so I'm not sure if these manufacturers would hear me out. I would gladly pay more for the extra aluminum, buttons and knobs needed for above mentioned full size features and I think a significant population of audiophiles would like the same.

Edit: the remote ought to be full featured too, with dedicated buttons for inputs, filters, etc. to do away with scrolling through menus.

 

[PeteL]

The review don't mention it. Is there no remote control?

 

[sam_adams]

We've already reached the point where [Chi-Fi] DACs have performance that is close to the limits of the AP for less than $500. What now?

The performance of these devices is amazing. They are at the point where variations in the lots of components sourced are sometimes the only thing that really changes how these devices measure in testing. The one thing that I would really like to see from these manufacturers is the inclusion of a 12 volt trigger output. I do really like the Okto DACs and could see buying one, but if these lower cost devices were to include a trigger output, I'd be on them like a postal worker on an individually wrapped Drake's coffee cake.

@amirm, I love your prodigious agricultural output. You should get your better half to turn some of those tomatoes into Marinara to enjoy right away! I do so miss having a backyard garden...

 

[YSC]

There are so many Dacs right now have more than 110dB SINAD and basically can't be differentiated except by measurements, so we are in an era where we should just get any we like to afford (be it R2R for urban myth, or any DAC chip or brand or design) we like, and get our favourite speaker or headphone which measures good to enjoy

 

[amirm]

What is the voltage at the max volume 99?

5.3 volts.

 

[amirm]

Edited my post as I got the numbers wrong. But yes, he will have seen what voltage at full vwas, what gave 4v (standard for testing) and what gave best SINAD readings (4.7v) . I dont know how he does a sweep in this one

I sweep the digital sample values fed to the DAC.

 

[amirm]

The review don't mention it. Is there no remote control?

There is a remote and I did mention it.

 

[PeteL]

There is a remote and I did mention it.

Thanks, Yep, jump too fast to the good stuff I guess... Who needs to read when you have such beautiful graphs.

 

[alont]

Hey Amir, thanks for the review! Any chance you can measure bluetooth performance? If it's good, I think this would be an excellent upgrade over my SU-8 V2.

 

[gvl]

Shape and color excluding, why would anyone buy this over the SMSL's own M500? v2 did pretty well in Wolf's measurements, better THD(F) as well.

 

[jaraheel]

Shape and color excluding, why would anyone buy this over the SMSL's own M500? v2 did pretty well in Wolf's measurements, better THD(F) as well.

Great question. I wanna know the answer to it too