SMSL SU-X with 2x ES9039MSPRO

[Grovkalle]

That doesn't SU-X

Just got my D-6s today and made a quick shootout with my Audiolab 9000n (ES9038PRO) and neither me nor my friend could detect any significant differences. Both sounded really good though, with very high resolution without sounding bright (no fatigue).
Filter made very little on both dacs

 

[hearone]

This constant SMSL churn of basically the same DACs every few months (maybe with a new chip, case or power supply) for just a bit better SNAD is getting old. One reason I went with the RME AD-2 FS Dac. Once you get into the $1000 SMSL/Topping range, they don't seem to offer much value. RME might not have the newest chips, but the features, quality and support is very impressive. And just a few hundred $ more- it is , for me, the no-brainer choice.

I would only get or recommend a SMSL (or Topping) DAC at the max $100-200 range. But with the Wimi Pro Plus, I am not even sure I wouldn't just not get it today for a 2nd system and a JDS Atom 2 amp.

 

[Grovkalle]

This constant SMSL churn of basically the same DACs every few months (maybe with a new chip, case or power supply) for just a bit better SNAD is getting old. One reason I went with the RME AD-2 FS Dac. Once you get into the $1000 SMSL/Topping range, they don't seem to offer much value. RME might not have the newest chips, but the features, quality and support is very impressive. And just a few hundred $ more- it is , for me, the no-brainer choice.

I would only get or recommend a SMSL (or Topping) DAC at the max $100-200 range. But with the Wimi Pro Plus, I am not even sure I wouldn't just not get it today for a 2nd system and a JDS Atom 2 amp.

I have the JDS Atom+ DAC connected to an old Denon RCD M37 and a Wiim Pro (no plus) with Tangent EVO4 speakers as a kitchen stereo and JDS seems like a nice brand.
Is the Atom 2 amp any good?

 

[Grovkalle]

I have the JDS Atom+ DAC connected to an old Denon RCD M37 and a Wiim Pro (no plus) with Tangent EVO4 speakers as a kitchen stereo and JDS seems like a nice brand.
Is the Atom 2 amp any good?

Never mind... I just realized it's an headphone amp

 

[Rhamnetin]

There is an Atom DAC 2, and JDS only improves so I would expect the Atom DAC 2 to be an improvement similar to a newer SMSL or Topping DAC compared to the outgoing model. But without the worries of failure rate and shipping back to China.

 

[pundel]

I bought my smsl su-x and am waiting for a pair of smsl sh-x

 

[simonmaggs]

I have purchased the smsl su-x. The sound is clearly reference level, with stunning transparency, resolution and separation including via blutooth which was a surprise. Build quality is superb. I was able to extensively compare the smsl su-x to the cheaper topping d70 sabre and, for me, the su-x clearly outperforms - the dual 9039 chips and toroidals of the smsl su-x do make a difference to me.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Welcome,

I was able to extensively compare the smsl su-x to the cheaper topping d70 sabre

Could you elaborate what you mean by "extensively" ?

If comparisons have been done without level-match and sighted, then there are pointless.

Both DACs show extremely high levels of performance and will be equally transparent to (any) human's ear. You won't be able to tell which is which if you do your comparison blind.

 

[simonmaggs]

Extensively just meant over many hours and many albums.

I respect and understand and am interested by what you are saying. I was careful to say 'to me'.

In my real-life practical experience: dacs that the science suggests are equally good do typically sound at least marginally different - i.e. not identical - to most when we try this. (In blind comparison, the human - who as you say often can't say which is which - can typically hear some difference.) I'm guessing something isn't being measured, of course I (or others) may be wrong.

 

[VintageFlanker]

In my experience: dacs that the science suggests are equally good do typically sound at least marginally different - i.e. not identical - to most when we conduct this experiment.

Please do not call "experiment" what clearly is not.

(In blind comparison, the human - who as you say often can't say which is which - can typically hear some difference.)

There's no such thing as controlled listening test showing difference between equally good (by measurements) DACs. It doesn't exist.

If you say it does, please point to any.

 

[mocenigo]

Extensively just meant over many hours and many albums.

I respect and understand and am interested by what you are saying. I was careful to say 'to me'.

In my real-life practical experience: dacs that the science suggests are equally good do typically sound at least marginally different - i.e. not identical - to most when we try this. (In blind comparison, the human - who as you say often can't say which is which - can typically hear some difference.) I'm guessing something isn't being measured, of course I (or others) may be wrong.

While it is entirely possible that we may not be measuring (yet) something that has an effect on the sound, the evidence so far points to a different conclusion. Namely, that it is quite unlikely that two very good measuring DACs according to a complete suite of measurements, and both used with electrical interfacing that are ideal, will sound any different. It is important that we specify that the measurements must be very good. It is more likely than not that two DACs with a SINAD of 60dB will have different sound signatures.

 

[antcollinet]

It is more likely than not that two DACs with a SINAD of 60dB will have different sound signatures.

It is possible that they will yes. But given that (at least in the Klippel test) the vast majority of people cannot detect distortion below around -45db, and most much higher than that - I think that even 60dB of Sinad (0.1%THD+N) is not going to be "night and day"

 

[Salt]

It's not night and day but within a range we can count in differences like 'warm-cold', 'wide-narrow' and so on.
That's the level and playground of vinyl (re)production and glowing amps, and it's good for personal comfort, if liked.

 

[antcollinet]

It's not night and day but within a range we can count in differences like 'warm-cold', 'wide-narrow' and so on.
That's the level and playground of vinyl (re)production and glowing amps, and it's good for personal comfort, if liked.

Warm cold - perhaps but I doubt it at -60dB of distortion, which is inaudible for most, and pretty damn close to inaudible for everyone.

Wide - narrow - no -60dB of distortion is not enough to disrupt the cues in the recording for soundstage. It would have to be really obvious as distortion to do that such that the distortion content were masking the soundstage cues.


(Disclaimer - there may be traces of opinion in this post)

 

[Smarty]

I have purchased the smsl su-x. The sound is clearly reference level, with stunning transparency, resolution and separation including via blutooth which was a surprise. Build quality is superb. I was able to extensively compare the smsl su-x to the cheaper topping d70 sabre and, for me, the su-x clearly outperforms - the dual 9039 chips and toroidals of the smsl su-x do make a difference to me.

Hello,
I got my SU-X and was surprised by its performance in terms of well-defined clean sound with deep tight bass. I would like to share with you and other owners of the SU-X about the settings and adjustments: 1. PCM filter: just followed suggestions (on Shenzhenaudio) and set it to Linear Filter. I have not tried any other settings though. 2. Sound Color: Since I didn't find any opinions or reviews on this setting I just set to the standard mode to bypass it. 3. Pre Mode: I set to Fixed to use my preamp to adjust volume. Just out curiosity I switched to Variable but didn't notice any difference, so I keep it to Fixed. 4. Inputs: I only use two input modes - AES/EBU to play via my CDT (20% of time ) and Bluetooth playing Sportify via my Galaxy S23 (80% of listening time) 5. Outputs: Balanced only 5. DPILL: never tried this setting menu
Two things I really like: sound clarity and Bluetooth convenience. So if you have any other suggestions about settings, adjustments, and other tips please share with me and other owners. Happy listening!

 

[Smarty]

This is my follow-up on "Sound Color" setting. I tried all options - Rich, Tube, Crystal - these DSP options create different sound signatures very interesting indeed. I only liked the Rich option makes the sound "richer" with better dynamics (to me). The Tube makes the sound a bit muffled, the Crystal makes it cleaner but loses low frequency dynamics. I decided to stay with Rich 2 option and I won't play with it again.

 

[JIW]

SMSL's labeling of the filters is probably incorrect from filter 5 to filter 8. Filter 5 is linear phase fast roll-off low ripple, filter 6 is linear phase slow roll-off, filter 7 is minimum phase fast roll-off and filter 8 is minimum phase slow roll-off or minimum phase slow roll-off low dispersion. This is evident from comparing the SU-X manual with the ES9039Pro data sheet. I explain it in this thread.

 

[VientoB]

Cheap Audio Man on YouTube reckons this sounds worse than their cheaper DACs.

 

[Kenny46]

Cheap Audio Man on YouTube reckons this sounds worse than their cheaper DACs.

He doesn't like dac's with a lot of filters and adjustable possibillities. He got lost in the UI and ended up with probably a bad combination. To me it's a clean detailed and transparent dac, but with a few bugs. I hope for a firmware update to fix the bugs and also the filter positions mentioned earlier in the thread.

 

[VientoB]

He doesn't like dac's with a lot of filters and adjustable possibillities. He got lost in the UI and ended up with probably a bad combination. To me it's a clean detailed and transparent dac, but with a few bugs. I hope for a firmware update to fix the bugs and also the filter positions mentioned earlier in the thread.

I don't think he saw much point in all the different filters. Hard to know why it would sound *worse* than their cheaper DACs, though