[gugman]

Either I have no idea how to search here or there is almost no info about this product indeed 
 
http://smsl-audio.com/index.php?c=msg&id=1395&
 
http://www.shenzhenaudio.com/smsl-panda-series-sanskrit-pha-sanskrit-lps-sanskrit-pro-b.html
 
especially interested in dac (Sanskrit Pro-B) and Linear Power (Sanskrit LPS)
 
anyone?
 
cheers !
 

 

[bwcgrx]

  Either I have no idea how to search here or there is almost no info about this product indeed 
 
http://smsl-audio.com/index.php?c=msg&id=1395&
 
http://www.shenzhenaudio.com/smsl-panda-series-sanskrit-pha-sanskrit-lps-sanskrit-pro-b.html
 
especially interested in dac (Sanskrit Pro-B) and Linear Power (Sanskrit LPS)
 
anyone?
 
cheers !
 

 
Yeah, SMSL does not get lots of love here on head-fi.  Maybe its because much of their product line competes with other more readily available products, at least in the States, from Schiit and other vendors.
 
I own the SMSL M8 DAC, VA2 amp, and P1 power supply, LINK, which seems to be a parallel line to the Sanskrit Pro-B stack.  In my opinion the M8 stack represents a fantastic value in terms of features and performance for price.  I also own an Aune S16 which is in a significantly higher price bracket and the SMSL combo does not sound bad in comparison, it just presents music differently.
 
I've been curious as to how the Sanskrit Pro-B DAC compares to the SMSL M8.  The Sanskrit Pro-B utilizes a CMedia USB Chipset, and AKM4490 DAC whereas the M8 utilizes XMOS for USB and a Sabre 9018K2M DAC.  Ultimately I don't think the chips are as important as good implementation.  Having said that I do think Sabre DACs tend to sound more etched and analytical and the AKM in the S16 sounds more warm and generally more musical.
 
Ultimately if the Sanskrit Pro-B is anything like its M8 sibling, it probably sounds great.  I have noticed that the Sanskrit Pro-B has averaged a bit more expensive than the M8 especially when you factor in the recent Massdrop offers on the M8 at as low as $150 usd.  The M8 at that price is arguably the best DAC you can buy for the money.
 
If that Sanskrit Pro-B will ever drop to the sub $200 level I might give one a try.  I can't justify it given the $240+ price and all the other gear I currently own.  I've also found rather noticeable improvement when coupling the M8 with the P1 Linear Power supply which adds another $100+ dollars to a Pro-B purchase.

 

[gugman]

I see
thank you for sharing your detailed information and opinion !
I just pulled the trigger and ordered  SMSL Sanskrit Pro-B and also pre ordered SMSL Sanskrit LPS Linear Power Supply
will let you know 

 

[gugman]

will have the dac in a few days, but power supply still in pre order status

 

[Shure or bust]

I've got the smsl m8. I've thought about getting the matching amp and psu. I'm interested in the panda series bundle for $600

 

[gugman]

and how do you like you m8?

 

[Shure or bust]

I enjoy it. Its my second dac i've owned. Seem's to be the best value at its price. My previous dac was a Peachtree dac itx.

 

[gugman]

  I enjoy it. Its my second dac i've owned. Seem's to be the best value at its price. My previous dac was a Peachtree dac itx.

 
very good !

 

[svmusa]

I do have the Sanskrit Pro-B DAC and got it few weeks back, I have M8 as well and being thoroughly impressed with it got the pro-B with  blind faith in SMSL.
 
My impressions are very positive and seems in same league as M8, I hear little more bass impact and tad more musical than M8 but not a night and day difference. One can own either and not miss anything. The DAC is compact and is of good quality housing like M8, the supplied accessories and box are very similar to M8.
 
The Bluetooth on Pro-B is excellent implementation, I was able to pair my android phone with no hassles and sound quality was surprisingly good, there is difference between RCA and Bluetooth but unless I am doing critical listening I can live with Bluetooth.
 
I have not figured if there is any filter implementation in Pro-B like M8, at least the few page manual included in the box mentions of no such thing. 
 
I am very happy and wont hesitate to recommend Pro-B, another great DAC from SMSL. SMSL is becoming my favorite vendor, I am hoping one of these days SMSL will implement a balanced DAC version and hopefully a DAP as well at reasonable price. 

 

[justex07]

Noticed this morning that Massdrop has the SMSL Panda Stack on for $499 (MRSP $800)
 
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/smsl-panda-dac-and-headphone-amplifier-set
 
Any thoughts on this vs the $499 Massdrop Grace Design m9xx also dropping right now? Obviously one is more portable than the other but as a desktop system the SMSL stack looks compelling!
 

 

[justex07]

Is it me or do the specs that matter to most people (not worrying about crazy decoding capabilities like DSD 128 but focusing on noise, output impedance, power etc) fall short of the competition like the Grace m9xx, O2 ODAC and JDS Labs Element (etc)? All of those are cheaper or the same price and much more compact and with (theoretically) fewer points of failure.

Just a thought
 
http://www.shenzhenaudio.com/smsl-sanskrit-pro-b-ak4490eq-32bit-384khz-dsd-dac-asynchronous-bluetooth-4-0.html
http://www.shenzhenaudio.com/smsl-sanskrit-pha-pro-hifi-headphone-amplifier.html

 

[makstaks]

Sorry for bumping such an old thread. I recently purchased the panda stack from SMSL on amazon (us region) and havent seen this set discussed anywhere else. The price shipped came out to $375.

Not sure if this was a good deal but i'm very much enjoying it. I'm using all the input/output connection options and actually chose it over the Schiit Uber set due to some of the convenient features it had in comparision.

I've read some speculative concerns over power in a few places. I'm not running anything hungry on it at the moment so its not affected me yet (Beoplay H6 and Monolith 1060). Is the concern that 300ohm headphones like the Sennheiser 6XX wont get enough power? I may go for that or Fostex THX00 next. That concern and missing out on the schiit warranty are the things that made this such a hard decision for me. Im very happy so far and if power really isnt a factor then i suppose there isnt much to worry about.

 

[jkorten]

I just bought the Sanskrit Pro-B to compare to the SMSL M8 and I'm sorry to report that the sanskrit is making small popping noises all the time, like a vinyl record background noise. If anybody else has experienced this and found a cure, let me know. Right now I will send this one back to vendor and see if the replacement is any better. This occurs for both 44.1K sampled material as well as DSD. I'm using a Raspberry Pi configured as a Moode MPD server BTW (which sounds fantastic on my M8).

 

[jkorten]

Bumping to see if anybody else has had this problem, or knows of any driver for the CM6632A for Linux. This DAC makes scratchy noises with the Raspberry Pi Moode audio player, but sounds even worse on plain Linux (highly distorted). There must be a way to get the CM6632A on this DAC to behave in Linux isn't there?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jerry

 

[crabst]

I just bought the Sanskrit Pro-B to compare to the SMSL M8 and I'm sorry to report that the sanskrit is making small popping noises all the time, like a vinyl record background noise. If anybody else has experienced this and found a cure, let me know. Right now I will send this one back to vendor and see if the replacement is any better. This occurs for both 44.1K sampled material as well as DSD. I'm using a Raspberry Pi configured as a Moode MPD server BTW (which sounds fantastic on my M8).

Any luck with replacement? I plan to buy Sanskrit Pro-B to use in main Linux system