SMSL SU-9 Balanced DAC Review

[Hemi-Demon]

I sent my device to San Diego, CA, and it was returned to me, well packed and updated (per my own equipment testing) within 10 days. I am very impressed that ShenzhenAudio was able to coordinate this in the US versus the silence from SMSL. Major kudos from me. I do hope @liu comes back as an active membe. I also hope his test becomes part of the standard test regiment for all ess dacs moving forward.

Thanks to all that helped in this endeavor, Wolf, Liu,Amir ShenzhenAudio, Cloris and Zhenlin

 

[Addy]

Aks for usb cable from PC or player decide to dac, what cable type you use and brand please, usb c to usb, or usb a to usb c.

 

[SHENZHENAUDIO]

I sent my device to San Diego, CA, and it was returned to me, well packed and updated (per my own equipment testing) within 10 days. I am very impressed that ShenzhenAudio was able to coordinate this in the US versus the silence from SMSL. Major kudos from me. I do hope @liu comes back as an active membe. I also hope his test becomes part of the standard test regiment for all ess dacs moving forward.

Thanks to all that helped in this endeavor, Wolf, Liu,Amir ShenzhenAudio, Cloris and Zhenlin

Thanks for your update.

 

[Magnifico]

I´ve sent mine from germany to france.
It´s been sooo easy to work with Audiophonics. I mean they run a tight ship in this process.
But that´s to my liking. I´d rather have them like this instead of that unreliable booth of SMSL.
They even send pre and after measurement graphs.

How on earth do they not change the Firmware-Version of something broken bringing a shitstorm to them?
I can´t take them serious anymore and instead of a SH-9 it´s going to be the gustard one. Even though I once was hoping for a matching stack.
But that´s never going to happen after all this and how it was handled.

Kudos for finding a european repair-service that fast... but any other detail with this desaster is just worrying for any future customer.

Just my opinion....your findings may vary.

 

[Bds3151]

I sent my device to San Diego, CA, and it was returned to me, well packed and updated (per my own equipment testing) within 10 days. I am very impressed that ShenzhenAudio was able to coordinate this in the US versus the silence from SMSL. Major kudos from me. I do hope @liu comes back as an active membe. I also hope his test becomes part of the standard test regiment for all ess dacs moving forward.

Thanks to all that helped in this endeavor, Wolf, Liu,Amir ShenzhenAudio, Cloris and Zhenlin

Thanks for reporting this. Would it be possible for you to post the results of the actual tests?

 

[Cajunchuck]

Thanks for reporting this. Would it be possible for you to post the results of the actual tests?

This is what I would like to see.

 

[Daiyama]

Quick question: Does anybody know if audiophonics.fr are selling now only fixed SU-9 units?

 

[KaasNL]

Yes, check a couple pages back.

 

[Oliver92150]

my su-9 was updated by audiophonics very quickly.
On the other hand I discovered an anomaly, visual this time.
The minimum brightness is much stronger than before. This contrasts with the sh-9 on top

 

[JoostE]

So what has been the cause of this bug? Did this get introduced just a couple of months ago, or was everyone just happy with their dac up until they saw these problems on here?

 

[Addy]

Just risk order will arrive on Jul-22,

 

[Magnifico]

@oliver is there a difference in brightness....or may they have scxrewed up again by locking the brightness to high ?
May be a special problem to your device only though.
Did you check the serial number?

 

[Lupin]

So what has been the cause of this bug?

Firmware issue

Did this get introduced just a couple of months ago

Confirmed firmware issue. Since firmware's don't have the habit of spontaneously reprogramming themselves this has been an issue since release.

or was everyone just happy with their dac up until they saw these problems on here?

Everyone was happy with their M500 and/or SU-9 until this was discovered by a member. Everyone was actively recommending these units until hours before the thread about the issue was posted. People read the thread and suddenly they hear all kind of things...
Doesn't take away that SMSL did and still does an extremely poor job handeling the situation.

 

[Oliver92150]

@oliver is there a difference in brightness....or may they have scxrewed up again by locking the brightness to high ?
May be a special problem to your device only though.
Did you check the serial number?

the dac returned by audiophonics is mine.
The brightness is always variable but it starts at a higher level. Therefore I have to increase that of the sh-9 to be homogeneous.

 

[muslhead]

which firmware rev has this problem?
I just got mine from ShenzhenAudio 4 days ago and mine isnt plagued with this problem.

 

[dpippel]

which firmware rev has this problem?
I just got mine from ShenzhenAudio 4 days ago and mine isnt plagued with this problem.

SMSL didn't bother to revise the firmware version when they corrected the problem, so there's no way to tell by looking at it. From what I've read regarding Shenzhen Audio, yours is probably fine. Best to contact them directly with your order and serial numbers and ask to be sure. I think they've been putting stickers on the corrected units.

 

[muslhead]

SMSL didn't bother to revise the firmware version when they corrected the problem, so there's no way to tell by looking at it. From what I've read regarding Shenzhen Audio, yours is probably fine. Best to contact them directly with your order and serial numbers and ask to be sure. I think they've been putting stickers on the corrected units.

I did that before ordering. They confirmed it was good to go.
I was referring to the brightness issue mentioned by @Lupin above and it being a change in firmware.

 

[Nettuno]

I received the SU-9 and it has no problems, indeed, after a week of testing from my collection, I can say that it is truly an excellent DAC.
The sound is clean, clear in detail throughout the range, fantastic stage presence but, if I have to find faults, it is the lack of standby and the Display with that useless 99 that I just can't look at it

 

[JoostE]

Yeah I am still waiting on my singxer amp, so I don't have the dac on right now, but I am afraid that 99 is going to bother me lmao. I am kinda sad they fixed the bug where the screen would completely disable on lowest brightness. That seemed like an awesome feature to me lmao. If it is really going to bother me, I am going to hide mine under the desk

 

[muslhead]

I received the SU-9 and it has no problems, indeed, after a week of testing from my collection, I can say that it is truly an excellent DAC.
The sound is clean, clear in detail throughout the range, fantastic stage presence but, if I have to find faults, it is the lack of standby and the Display with that useless 99 that I just can't look at it

Couldnt agree more with your fault identifications
Maybe SMSL is monitoring this board and would like to fix this (via a firmware update) to help minimize the past indiscretions? Nah, never mind. What the hell was i thinking?