I've been exited to hear my first DAC with AK chip so I ordered this little guy as soon as I saw it on sale, without reading any reviews. But let's start from the beginning - built quality is nice, to me it looks better in real life than it does on pictures. Remote control is made of cheap plastic but it looks nice and I like it anyway. With it you can turn DAC on/off, change inputs and control volume, really like this. Here are some images:
ORIGINAL OPINION WHEN POWERED ONLY FROM PC: In my opinion overall sound quality (level of details, width and depth of sound-stage) is similar to SMSL Idea /Sabaj Da2 but Sanskirt 10th has a bit different sound signature. It has kind of thicker warmer bass and brighter higher frequencies. Mids are fine, prominent enough and detailed but vocals can sound sibilant sometimes in my system which doesn't happen with Topping D10 and D30, SMSL Idea/Sabaj Da2, Da3... For the same amount of money Topping D10 is sonically better balanced device in my opinion.
EDITED OPINION AFTER TRYING IT WITH AUXILIARY POWER SUPPLY: After seeing measurements on AudioScienceReview that showed the unit is performing much better with auxiliary power supply, I revisited this DAC and gave it another spin connected to a phone charger to see if I can notice any difference. Well, the difference is actually very clear, now it has more punch in the bass, improved dynamics and cleaner sound overall. It sounds fuller and cleaner than SMSL Idea, Sabaj Da2 and Da3. Now this is a fair competitor to the Topping D10 in this price range, and deserves high praise.
CONCLUSION: It started like the least favorite DAC I tried but now with added power and new-found liveliness in the sound I actually like it and consider it one of the best sub $100 offerings. It's a very sweet mix of good functionality and decent sound.
I also made a video review if anybody is interested (original one):
and the follow-up after trying it with aux power supply:
ORIGINAL OPINION WHEN POWERED ONLY FROM PC: In my opinion overall sound quality (level of details, width and depth of sound-stage) is similar to SMSL Idea /Sabaj Da2 but Sanskirt 10th has a bit different sound signature. It has kind of thicker warmer bass and brighter higher frequencies. Mids are fine, prominent enough and detailed but vocals can sound sibilant sometimes in my system which doesn't happen with Topping D10 and D30, SMSL Idea/Sabaj Da2, Da3... For the same amount of money Topping D10 is sonically better balanced device in my opinion.
EDITED OPINION AFTER TRYING IT WITH AUXILIARY POWER SUPPLY: After seeing measurements on AudioScienceReview that showed the unit is performing much better with auxiliary power supply, I revisited this DAC and gave it another spin connected to a phone charger to see if I can notice any difference. Well, the difference is actually very clear, now it has more punch in the bass, improved dynamics and cleaner sound overall. It sounds fuller and cleaner than SMSL Idea, Sabaj Da2 and Da3. Now this is a fair competitor to the Topping D10 in this price range, and deserves high praise.
CONCLUSION: It started like the least favorite DAC I tried but now with added power and new-found liveliness in the sound I actually like it and consider it one of the best sub $100 offerings. It's a very sweet mix of good functionality and decent sound.
I also made a video review if anybody is interested (original one):
and the follow-up after trying it with aux power supply:
Unlike other dac the filters affect sounds quite noticeably, I do like only filter 5.