[shenzhenaudio]

A midrange-priced DAC from SMSL, which is chock-a-block full of all premium features!

Honestly, if you haven't tried the devices from SMSL, you have to get acquainted because you’re missing a lot. Priced well under $500, SMSL brought another decent DAC, the SU-9 PRO, it's also one of the most affordable DACs capable of fully unfolding and natively decoding MQA files, it has the highest performance commercial DAC chip and everything is wrapped with a $499.99 price tag. Now, let's get into this incredible desktop!

The SU-9 Pro is a technological marvel. It boasts the latest flagship, 8-channel, ES9039PRO decoding chip from ESS Technology to maximize its performance. It also utilizes a self-developed brand-new CK-03 jitter processing circuit, greatly lowering the clock jitter. As for the amplification stage, 11pcs OPA1612 were used. SU-9 Pro is built-in shielding and low-noise power processing, improving the power efficiency, bringing a lower power consumption, and specially designed discrete component linear regulated power supply and several low-noise regulated power supplies provide low-noise power supply for analog circuits!


SMSL went with the fastest XMOS chipset that will handle incoming USB signals, it is the famous newest3rd generation XU-316, a true 32-bit USB solution, supports DoP and Native DSD, PCM supports up to 768kHz, DSD supports up to DSD512! Furthermore, it fully supports MQA and MQA-CD, and will let you stream songs in Master/HiFi quality.


The SU-9 Pro supports all the standard Bluetooth codecs, including AAC, SBC, aptX, aptX-HD, and LDAC, the Bluetooth range is impressive and more than capable of uninterrupted playback

Like everything from SMSL, the SU-9 Pro design features their family's cues, such as the CNC milled aluminum chassis, and a chamfered, anodized matte black finishing. delivering first-class texture. It has a clean-looking front panel, with a good-looking volume knob, plus a big fully fitted LCD screen in the middle makes it quite a looker, which also makes you clearly see the volume level and the selected input!


On the back, come rich high-end gold-plated input/output interfaces, as the RCA and XLR out, and of course USB, Coaxial and Optical, a Bluetooth antenna socket, and an AC inlet!

This impact SU-9 Pro is live now, more details and measurements are welcome to head over to the main page, or live chat with us/ email support@shenzhenaudio.com!

 

[BournePerfect]

Weeeeeeelllllllll under $500!

 

[corgifall]

As someone who uses the su-9 daily since launch, I’m excited to see a pro version out. Even if I consider the regular su-9 pro grade already

 

[dstarr3]

Will there be a discounted version without the MQA snake oil like before?

 

[XERO1]

If this DAC had a I2S-HDMI input, it would have been a slam dunk for $500.

So close.

 

[Frombauge]

Will there be a matching headphone amp soon? SH-9 Pro with similar look and feel?

 

[tyk103]

No real reason to upgrade from my SU-9N.

 

[dstarr3]

I'm about to pull the trigger on an SMSL DAC, and it was going to be the 9N, but if there's the possibility of a Pro 9N, I'd get that instead in a heartbeat

 

[550591]

Hope they have something with the AKM 4499EX next.

 

[nar53]

What does the Pro version give you what the non Pro doesn't?

 

[PieroIM]

Hope they have something with the AKM 4499EX next.

https://hifigo.com/collections/amp-dacs/products/smsl-d400ex

You asked?

Boy, SMSL launched 3 super DACs in less than 2 weeks (SU-10, SU-9 PRO and D400 EX)...they are on fire, to say the least.

D400 EX seems to be an "endgame" for most users, but the asking price is quite high...a "lightened" version without useless ports (at least IMO) like I²S and AES/EBU as they did for the SU-9 PRO and maybe without MQA for 2-300$ less would have been a must-buy.

 

[tyk103]

https://hifigo.com/collections/amp-dacs/products/smsl-d400ex

You asked?

Boy, SMSL launched 3 super DACs in less than 2 weeks (SU-10, SU-9 PRO and D400 EX)...they are on fire, to say the least.

D400 EX seems to be an "endgame" for most users, but the asking price is quite high...a "lightened" version without useless ports (at least IMO) like I²S and AES/EBU as they did for the SU-9 PRO and maybe without MQA for 2-300$ less would have been a must-buy.

Even the SU-9 would be considered an endgame DAC. For the money, it can't be beat.

 

[PieroIM]

Even the SU-9 would be considered an endgame DAC. For the money, it can't be beat.

I agree: the PRO version is on my radar since it was released.

I just found out that SMSL launched yet another DAC (!!!), the D400 ES that, in my opinion, doesn't make much sense because it costs 50% more than the SU-9 PRO (~$750 vs $500) and offers IDENTICAL features. Actually, the SU-9 PRO is a dual ES9039M PRO while the D400 ES is single chip! The latter only has the two (useless) ports I mentioned above and a slightly revised and refined design, if you like.
BTW, the new design sported by D400 EX/ES is very nice

 

[550591]

https://hifigo.com/collections/amp-dacs/products/smsl-d400ex

You asked?

Boy, SMSL launched 3 super DACs in less than 2 weeks (SU-10, SU-9 PRO and D400 EX)...they are on fire, to say the least.

D400 EX seems to be an "endgame" for most users, but the asking price is quite high...a "lightened" version without useless ports (at least IMO) like I²S and AES/EBU as they did for the SU-9 PRO and maybe without MQA for 2-300$ less would have been a must-buy.

Asking price is high but I quess you buy that thing one time and should be done for at least a couple of years..

But only DSD512? AKM4499EX is supposed to support DSD1024.

 

[PieroIM]

Asking price is high but I quess you buy that thing one time and should be done for at least a couple of years..

But only DSD512? AKM4499EX is supposed to support DSD1024.

Citing a Major Contributor from ASR (about the lack of support for DSD1024 and PCM 1536): "because the folks at SMSL haven't bothered to implement those sample rates into their USB driver and bridge."