S.M.S.L SU-9 DAC has dropped at SHENZHENAUDIO store timely, with ES9038PRO chip and MQA supported

[Condocondor]

Should work with the SMSL drivers.

I'm not sure but I don't think they do anything special, just give you quick access to the windows settings and change the buffer size.

Are you sure you have the correct sound playback device selected?

Yeah, buffer size is the only thing I figure I'm missing. Yes, I've got INPUT as USB. While we're discussing, I almost sent this DAC back for being to bright and edgy. Today after the 5th day, this DAC broke through, broke in, and smoothed out beautifully. Whew! I was getting edgy because everyone send said how smooth this DAC was. I can say with absolute confidence that it's smooth as hell. .....oh and WOW! I love this thing. I can't take my headphones off.

P.S. Oh, and I've got it paired with a brand new Asgard3. Rig is an upgrade from my iDSD BL + iGalvanic. BTW, I'm using the iGalvanic with this SU-9 and OMG it's something else.

 

[dougms3]

Yeah, buffer size is the only thing I figure I'm missing. Yes, I've got INPUT as USB. While we're discussing, I almost sent this DAC back for being to bright and edgy. Today after the 5th day, this DAC broke through, broke in, and smoothed out beautifully. Whew! I was getting edgy because everyone send said how smooth this DAC was. I can say with absolute confidence that it's smooth as hell. .....oh and WOW! I love this thing. I can't take my headphones off.

P.S. Oh, and I've got it paired with a brand new Asgard3. Rig is an upgrade from my iDSD BL + iGalvanic. BTW, I'm using the iGalvanic with this SU-9 and OMG it's something else.

Its definitely a nice product.

I find the clarity to be its best attribute and it scales well with all my amps.

You should test out the DSD upscaling capabilities of the amp. If you haven't heard it, you're missing out on what it can really do

 

[Condocondor]

Its definitely a nice product.

I find the clarity to be its best attribute and it scales well with all my amps.

You should test out the DSD upscaling capabilities of the amp. If you haven't heard it, you're missing out on what it can really do

"...capabilities of the amp..." ? You mean "Amp" or "Dac" or how the amp sounds playing DSD through the Dac?

 

[dougms3]

"...capabilities of the amp..." ? You mean "Amp" or "Dac" or how the amp sounds playing DSD through the Dac?

Oops sorry, dac.

Use the free trial of Audirvana or Jriver and set it up for DSD playback, then play your favorite music file and compare to youtube quality

I use jriver, the output encoding needs to be set to 8xDSD for DSD512. The DAC will tell you what format its currently using.

 

[Condocondor]

Oops sorry, dac.

Use the free trial of Audirvana or Jriver and set it up for DSD playback, then play your favorite music file and compare to youtube quality

I use jriver, the output encoding needs to be set to 8xDSD for DSD512. The DAC will tell you what format its currently using.

I have JRiver 24 but I seldom use it because I can't sign into Youtube inside of JRiver anymore. I have taken a CD and upsampled into DSD and it actually sounded smoother than the Redbook CD. It can't convert in real time on the fly can it?

 

[dougms3]

I have JRiver 24 but I seldom use it because I can't sign into Youtube inside of JRiver anymore. I have taken a CD and upsampled into DSD and it actually sounded smoother than the Redbook CD. It can't convert in real time on the fly can it?

Yes it seems like I can stream youtube from jriver but it doesnt look like it can upsample the stream at all, it will only play at 44khz.

I'm not sure but I think it sounds better than listening from the browser. It seems to be doing something but I don't know what.

 

[cirodts]

I have a topping a90 and sundara headphones, do you recommend me as a dac the smsl su-9 or the gustrard x16?

 

[Condocondor]

".......smsl su-9 or the gustrard x16?

Lot of brightness there with the amp/headphone pairing. I sent my SU-9 back to Apos Audio because the ESS DAC chips are just too bright for me. I really like my [iDSD BL w/Burr Brown chips----> Asgard3]....... better than the SU-9 into Asgard3. Actually, the SU-8s is now $100 cheaper than the SU-9 but it's actually a better DAC. So, the decision in my mind is between SU-8s and X16. Tough Call. I might be tempted to go with the iFi Audio Zen Dac V2 on the cheap and get their X-Power supply instead......which will add some warmth and you'll save some money. Gustard's X16 is likely a better build than SMSL. Try it and find out.

 

[corgifall]

".......smsl su-9 or the gustrard x16?

Lot of brightness there with the amp/headphone pairing. I sent my SU-9 back to Apos Audio because the ESS DAC chips are just too bright for me. I really like my [iDSD BL w/Burr Brown chips----> Asgard3]....... better than the SU-9 into Asgard3. Actually, the SU-8s is now $100 cheaper than the SU-9 but it's actually a better DAC. So, the decision in my mind is between SU-8s and X16. Tough Call. I might be tempted to go with the iFi Audio Zen Dac V2 on the cheap and get their X-Power supply instead......which will add some warmth and you'll save some money. Gustard's X16 is likely a better build than SMSL. Try it and find out.

SU-8S was noticeably brighter vs the SU-9 during my testing.

 

[ezduzit2500]

I have two questions:

1. About the Topping D90 pre-amp functionality, I'm a confused about this since I'm a newbie in this area. A90 is also having pre-amp functionality, right? If connecting monitors (XLR) I will do this from the amp, not from the DAC or I could do either? Please enlighten me.

2. This reviewer (for SMSL SU-9) is reporting coil while (second page in the review "Issues" section)? Is this something you noticed?
https://theheadphonelist.com/smsl-su-9-review-epiphany/

The su-9 also has a preamp function/variable volume.

".......smsl su-9 or the gustrard x16?

Lot of brightness there with the amp/headphone pairing. I sent my SU-9 back to Apos Audio because the ESS DAC chips are just too bright for me. I really like my [iDSD BL w/Burr Brown chips----> Asgard3]....... better than the SU-9 into Asgard3. Actually, the SU-8s is now $100 cheaper than the SU-9 but it's actually a better DAC. So, the decision in my mind is between SU-8s and X16. Tough Call. I might be tempted to go with the iFi Audio Zen Dac V2 on the cheap and get their X-Power supply instead......which will add some warmth and you'll save some money. Gustard's X16 is likely a better build than SMSL. Try it and find out.

Too bad. If in the case of brand new components, many of them need time to burn in or settle in to reduce initial harshness (Su-9, Asgard 3). That was the case with my su-9 and the discrete op amps in my amp. Amp pairing also matters with Anandas. I've got the su-9 going into a Gustard H20 (with Sparkos discrete opamps) driving Hifiman Aryas. The initial harshness has smoothed out of all of them, the su-9, Sparkos, and Aryas. I'm left with harshness only on poorly recorded Tidal tracks - only sometimes. Hope all works out for you. Happy listening Sirs and Ma'ams...

 

[cirodts]

could you kindly explain to me if the su-9 smsl still has the problem of the third harmonic distortion in the left channel?

 

[corgifall]

could you kindly explain to me if the su-9 smsl still has the problem of the third harmonic distortion in the left channel?

Did it have an issue? My unit has no issues but I got it a few months after release.

 

[cirodts]

i read that the m500 and on 9 suffer from this problem, i wanted to know if it is fixed.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ange-smsl-m500-high-3rd-harmonic.22710/page-4

 

[corgifall]

i read that the m500 and on 9 suffer from this problem, i wanted to know if it is fixed.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ange-smsl-m500-high-3rd-harmonic.22710/page-4

Interesting. Well I don't have tools to test it and both the SU-8S and SU-9 don't have any weird sound issues I can hear.

 

[ezduzit2500]

could you kindly explain to me if the su-9 smsl still has the problem of the third harmonic distortion in the left channel?

That site is about no distortion whatsoever and they assume that all gears sound the same. They don't consider how a component sounds to be a priority. In my opinion the 3rd harmonic debate on that site is virtually irrelevant, with the harmonics - if any - being so far down in level that it's masked by the music in normal operation. And it's very specific in that it's only with RCA output while using the DAC in variable volume - with only one channel driven - who does that? Seems kinda paranoid to me, I have no problems with mine.