SMSL SU-10 DAC Review

[evert]

What do you think about the upcoming SU-X? It's got ES9039MSPRO instead of ES9038PRO. $100 more atm.

 

[EV2024]

I am thinking of picking up the SU 10 to use as a DAC for the Cambridge Audio 851N. Will there be any gain in SQ?

 

[babadono]

Late to this party...but how much audible noise (hum) do those 2 toroids make? I have a power amp that hums so much it had to be remotely located.

 

[WasM]

Silent. No noise.

 

[CJG]

The SMSL SU-10 is the anchor for my entire system. Absolutely love it!

 

[erik france]

hello CJG
I see you like the smsl-su-10-dac
and you have the RME ADI 2
which of the two do you prefer?
I already have the RME ADI, I am very happy with it, but I would like to compare it to the smsl-su-10-dac
THANKS

 

[CJG]

hello CJG
I see you like the smsl-su-10-dac
and you have the RME ADI 2
which of the two do you prefer?
I already have the RME ADI, I am very happy with it, but I would like to compare it to the smsl-su-10-dac
THANKS

Hi Erik. I'm currently using the SMSL SU-10, and when comparing the two, it vs the RME ADI-2 PRO FS R BE in terms of a DAC, the RME has a lot of bass energy and it slams much harder than the SU-10. Aside the all of the functions the RME is capable of, I find the SU-10 to have more details, wider staging and it's much faster when the tracks get more technical. The biggest difference in my opinion is that the RME is not quite as detailed as the SU-10 but it delivers much more deeper bass and slam.

 

[ROQUE]

Testing SMSL SU10 as a preamplifier. Connecting the dac in balanced mode to a Parasound Halo A23 and BW 805N amplifier. It showed a clean sound, with good dynamics, soundstage and details... I liked it....

 

[ROQUE]

Good evening, does anyone know how the volume control on the SU 10 works?

 

[staticV3]

Good evening, does anyone know how the volume control on the SU 10 works?

It is digital volume attenuation, applied to the signal by the ES9038Pro chips, before the D->A conversion.

 

[ROQUE]

StaticV3, thank you, do we have signal degradation at this volume?

 

[staticV3]

StaticV3, thank you, do we have signal degradation at this volume?

No meaningful degradation in signal quality.

Modern DACs have such low noise floors, that no matter how heavily you attenuate the signal, your effective playback dynamic range will almost certainly be limited by amplifier noise or environmental noise.

If you can hear the DAC's noise floor, indicating that you're losing SNR compared to an analog attenuator, then you probably have a serious case of gain mismatch.

 

[ROQUE]

When I removed the analog preamp, I noticed an improvement in the sound quality, many people say that we lost bits... the volume control works very well, even more silent. Thank you..The analogue pre is quality. Adavance Acoustic mpp1000.

 

[staticV3]

When I removed the analog preamp, I noticed an improvement in the sound quality, many people say that we lost bits...

Bit loss is a very popular argument among old-school, traditional HiFi enthusiasts.

What they fail to realize is that unless you can hear the DAC's noise floor, all lost bits are below the noise floor of your Amp and playback environment, therefore inconsequential.

They weren't audible in the first place.