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SMSL SU-9n Review (Balanced Stereo DAC)

pseudoid

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Crap, now I got to sell my Topping D90 SE because I hate seeing that MQA lite go on.
Duct tape would be whole lot cheaper... not that I would ever do a "DSOP$" (Don't Spend Other People's Money"), on yah!
 

dmac6419

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After reading some test results on MQA, why would anyone want such a disaster in any product? Are there that many crazy people out there?
I think for myself don't care about other people opinion some people like women some like men is that wrong, Me I don't really care,thing is like what you like,thing is you'll find all kinds of BS in these forums.
 

Spkrdctr

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Paralleling DACs/ADCs is common practice in engineers.
Educate yourself before using polemic like this.

some of the best performing DACs here use Parraled DACs to to achieve this performance ESS is even mentioning it in the datasheet.

View attachment 159192

View attachment 159193
The DAC Device around the DAC chip is basilisk just an I/V converter so paralleling the output is basically the same as paralelling output of U2 (as they recommend in the datasheet).
It’s a brute force method of gaining about 3dB SNR but it only works for truly uncorrelated noise.

Also why not have a DAC per (activ) speaker to reduce Analog cable length.
Or if one has Monoblock Amplifier why not have Monoblock DACs
I misunderstood your post. You went to work to explain it to me and it was not needed. Sorry. I try to keep that to a minimum. But, all in all you gave a great response!
 

Spkrdctr

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I think for myself don't care about other people opinion some people like women some like men is that wrong, Me I don't really care,thing is like what you like,thing is you'll find all kinds of BS in these forums.
But I said testing. The actual testing is horrific. Think Bluetooth horrific. But it is advertised as voodoo magic that can't be measured. If it can't be measured, how do they know they are causing any effect? Plus, what measurements there are, scream "Junk". Scammers just keep scamming.
 

dmac6419

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But I said testing. The actual testing is horrific. Think Bluetooth horrific. But it is advertised as voodoo magic that can't be measured. If it can't be measured, how do they know they are causing any effect? Plus, what measurements there are, scream "Junk". Scammers just keep scamming.
That the craziest schitt I heard all day but I respect your opinion.
 

Toku

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strangely I do not see this DAC on the official website of the smsl company
Some SMSL products are planned and sold by specific companies. SU-9n seems to be a product planned and sold by Shenzhen Audio.
Although sales have started on Aliexpress, it is only available at Shenzhen Audio and its subordinate shops.
I don't think it will be posted on SMSL's HP for a while like it was in the past SU-8.
 

Hal Rockwell

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I thought it was the same SU-9 with a different firmware that doesn't have MQA enabled. How can it be that it measures better?
 

4udio

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Is there some information about ability to update firmware via usb. SU-9 did not have that option and whole story about firmware bug fixing has been real disappointment.
 

dualazmak

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In the inside photos of SU-9 which can be found here show ARM microcomputer chip STM32F103 (for MQA full decode, right?).
I do not know whether SU-9n also has STM32F103 or not, as I cannot find inside photos of SU-9n.
 

Labjr

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They're not identical. The USB interface is different. The MQA version uses XMOS XU216 and the n version uses XU208.
 

Toku

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In the inside photos of SU-9 which can be found here show ARM microcomputer chip STM32F103 (for MQA full decode, right?).
I do not know whether SU-9n also has STM32F103 or not, as I cannot find inside photos of SU-9n.
The STM32F103 is an MCU (CPU) chip that controls the entire SU-9. I don't think this chip does MQA decoding.
 

Toku

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They're not identical. The USB interface is different. The MQA version uses XMOS XU216 and the n version uses XU208.
With the abolition of MQA, it is no longer necessary to use the high-performance XU216.
 

Labjr

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With the abolition of MQA, it is no longer necessary to use the high-performance XU216.
Some people seem angry, almost like ANTIFA, against MQA. I can see how they think that buying a DAC which decodes MQA is helping to keep the format alive. However, I don't personally care if a DAC decodes MQA or not. I think the format will fail regardless.
 

dmac6419

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Some people seem angry, almost like ANTIFA, against MQA. I can see how they think that buying a DAC which decodes MQA is helping to keep the format alive. However, I don't personally care if a DAC decodes MQA or not. I think the format will fail regardless.
There no such thing as antifa, stupid statement if you ask me, I have a real simple solution for you, don't buy a dac with MQA or subscribe to Tidal,your choice, I like hotdogs some don't, won't see me going crazy.
 

Labjr

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There no such thing as antifa, stupid statement if you ask me, I have a real simple solution for you, don't buy a dac with MQA or subscribe to Tidal,your choice, I like hotdogs some don't, won't see me going crazy.
Well, nobody asked you.
 

RedCometZero

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Great performance, volume control, remote, good filter selection including linear phase FIR filters? This might be the one, folks. Is the volume ramping fast enough to use it as a preamp?
 
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