I would never buy a DAC! I want a decent one built in to my integrated Amp. It's just a chip. Hopefully the new Wiim Amp tests well. SVS, Sonos, Bluesound, FOSI, Yamama...you all get a chance too. Build a great inexpensive streaming Class D Amp or watch companies like Wiim take all of your business away.
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VMV D2R Stereo DAC Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
I purchased the SMSL SU8s for $360, being a third of the price of this DAC, same connections and slightly better performance. So I don't understand SMSL's marketing logic that induced them to produce this.
I connect the balanced outs to a Buckeye amp and the RCAs to stereo subs. I run the mains full range and cross the subs at 65hz. Sounds incredibly clear at very loud volumes.
Shows how far DAC technology has come when we complain about spending $1,000 on a DAC that measures this well when not that long ago we were paying 5x for European (and USA) DACs with less performance. Not sure where DACs can go from here except adding features (e.g. DSP).
www.audiosciencereview.com
I connect the balanced outs to a Buckeye amp and the RCAs to stereo subs. I run the mains full range and cross the subs at 65hz. Sounds incredibly clear at very loud volumes.
Shows how far DAC technology has come when we complain about spending $1,000 on a DAC that measures this well when not that long ago we were paying 5x for European (and USA) DACs with less performance. Not sure where DACs can go from here except adding features (e.g. DSP).
SMSL SU-8s Review (Balanced Stereo DAC)
This is a review and detailed measurements of the SMSL SU-8s Balanced USB Stereo DAC with Bluetooth input. It was sent to me by shenzhenaudio and costs US $360. The SU-8s is typical of the later desktop products from SMSL: Pushing in the volume control shows the menu options. A remote...
www.audiosciencereview.com
Not just chips, a lot of the integrated stuff is just quite subpar.
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it’s baffling how a they can ruin the Design with this cheap display.
"We payed for all the colors and all the fonts so we going to use all the fonts"
Makes it look like 20$ knock off soldering station from aliexpress.
Maybe for 1000$ we get galvanic isolation from D to A?
"We payed for all the colors and all the fonts so we going to use all the fonts"
Makes it look like 20$ knock off soldering station from aliexpress.
Maybe for 1000$ we get galvanic isolation from D to A?
solderdude
Grand Contributor
What do you mean? Filterless does not mean there are stair steps. Or do you mean R2R? Maybe you do - I am very confused this morning
If it is not R2R, I don't understand what is the point of this device. How is it different than all of the other 36 DACs SMSL has in their portfolio these days? Did they fire the Product Manager and hired another design engineer again?
It is an emulation of 'sample and hold' to mimic the response of a filterless R2R DAC.
I would presume a 24-bit R2R (for 24 bit files) or 16-bit R2R (for 16 bit files) but without seeing scope shots we don't know.
The DAC has different looks and is default set not to comply to the sampling theorem and thus will sound different from the vast majority of DACs which makes it differ from the other models which may or may not have better reconstruction filters engaged in default condition.
Loxjie D40
So, do they use the Cu or Au bondwires? I can imagine that they want to match the Cu bondwires with Cu leads to minimize the passive intermodulation (PIM). But on the die side, connections are not done with Cu anyway (something like titanium–tungsten and aluminum–copper sandwiches)...
JayGilb
Major Contributor
I'm not sure, as I can't find any information on which metal provides "a more delicate instrumental tone".
That's why I voted great, what's wrong isn't audible...and the looks are stunning.
Design....my wife can use a Walmart purse - it does the job, but she prefers Coach or Brahmin.
But that is almost never the argument. It’s rarely not about audibility.
I’m trying to get though this “white paper” from the DAC chips’ manufacturer Rohm:
It’s clearly pandering to an audiofool audience and because all the nonsense this manufacturer should be dismissed by default
It’s clearly pandering to an audiofool audience and because all the nonsense this manufacturer should be dismissed by default
Yes. Many of these Chinese products seem to like to mix fonts, like suddenly using Cooper Black for "PCM" here. It invariably makes the unit look less premium to me.
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Similar how they cringe at our Chinese tattoos.
Think it would be quite difficult to get a good feel for fonts in a foreign alphabet/characters.
AuricGoldfinger
Member
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The ROHM white paper:
Normally, a white paper includes a technical description and explanation of the function of the DUT. This one was entirely comprised of subjectivity from a classical music listener’s viewpoint. The focus seems to be on the spatial reverb decay effects in classical music.
In reality, it performs almost identical to the AKM 4499 in the D400 Pro, right down to the IMD and jitter, and both also only have two filter options.
Normally, a white paper includes a technical description and explanation of the function of the DUT. This one was entirely comprised of subjectivity from a classical music listener’s viewpoint. The focus seems to be on the spatial reverb decay effects in classical music.
In reality, it performs almost identical to the AKM 4499 in the D400 Pro, right down to the IMD and jitter, and both also only have two filter options.
You are way too generous, how about this one:
SMSL SU-1 Stereo DAC Review
This is a review and detailed measurements of the SMSL SU-1 stereo USB DAC. It was arranged to be sent to me by shenzhenaudio from the company and costs US $79.99. Despite its simplicity, the SU-1 manages to look elegant with nice fonts and LED indicators for different inputs. Back panel has...
www.audiosciencereview.com
Uses AK4493S
They talk about the filter being programmable, so perhaps it's on the DAC manufacturer to provide various filter settings which SMSL didn't pursue to the full extent possible. I admit I didn't read into the details what programmable actually means.
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