SMSL SU-1 MQA MQA-CD Audio Decoder AK4493S XU316 768kHz/32Bit DSD512 Hi-Res DAC

Update: March 13, 2024 (previously 1 star rating, now I give it 5 star rating). After several exchange of messages between Leaudio seller and myself, it was suggested that I install SMSL SU-1 driver from smsl-audio.com official website, which I did. To my surprise that fixed my DAC! Now I am finally able listen to music from my PC sent to SU-1 by USB cable, which is connected to my SMSL A300 by RCA. It seems the driver installation to my Windows 10 fixed whatever issue I was having with SU-1 DAC. As result of this, I'm updating the previous 1-star rating to 5 stars. As for the sound quality from SU-1, as stated below, it's an improvement over my SMSL A300 amplifier by 15 - 20%, but more specifically, it is the sonic clarity and separation that are the most notable. Though a minimal audio improvement over my amplifier's internal DAC, the sound clarity and instrument separation are noteworthy, and for that I give a 5-star rating. Also, through this DAC, vocals seem to be slightly more forward and clearer. March 6, 2023, initial review, I gave it 1 star rating due to the DAC's failure after 10 days of use. Bought this SMSL SU-1 DAC in November 2023, but I couldn't use it since I didn't have a pair of RCA cables to connect it to my class D SMSL A300 amplifier that I purchased from Amazon at the same time. The DAC was on Black Friday sale, so I figured to try it with my new amplifier. Fast forward to Feb 2024, I finally ordered a pair of CESS 163-4i RCA cables, connected the DAC to my amplifier. The SMSL SU-1 DAC improved the quality by about 15% over my SMSL A300 internal DAC. I used the DAC on and off for about 10 days, then today it simply failed on me. It simply fell dead silent while playing a music file from my PC (PC to USB cable to SMSL SU-1 DAC to RCA cables to SMSL A300 amplifier). I tried another RCA port in the back of my SMSL A300 amplifier, but that too didn't work. The DAC simply does not work at all. I also tried powering down my amp completely, unplug RCA cables between the DAC and the amp, then powered both up again, and toggled between various input options in the DAC to no avail (USB, coaxile, and optical just in case the internal circuit's connectivity had glitched and that toggling among input sources might reset it). The source-light LED still functions on the DAC, but I get absolutely no audio signal going into my amplifier. Heck, I even rebooted my PC just to see if that may be causing an issue, but it was futile. After 2 hours of wrestling with the connections and toggling between input sources and settings, I gave up. Now I'm back to connecting my PC directly to my SMSL A300 amplifier by USB cable, which works fine. As far as SMSL SU-1 DAC is concerned, it was a decent DAC for the price (while it worked). However, the unit I got simply failed after about 10 days of usage. I'd instantly return it for a refund, but the Jan 31 deadline return date is closed, so sadly it's not an option for me. A good-sounding, affordable DAC with a high quality DAC chip, but in my case, I must have received a lemon, so quality control seems questionable. Maybe it's just bad luck on my part, but I still wouldn't recommend this DAC to anyone. You'd be better off to spend a bit more money on a high quality DAC with its own power supply built in. Update On March 11, 2024 I emailed with photo attachments of the failed SMSL SU-1 DAC to [email protected]. According to their site, they'll honor their product warranty up to 6 months with either a repair, replacement, or refund if their product proves to be defective. Hopefully they'll reply in a timely manner with a resolution. As others may encounter a product failure after the Amazon's 30-day free return policy, I'll post further updates for reference. Update, March 11, 2024, 8 hours later, shenzhenaudio.com support staff replied my to my email, asked for the Amazon purchase invoice and order number. I forwarded them the necessary information. According to their reply, they'll forward my case to their Amazon Support Team. I hope this will be resolved asap as I'll need to either get a replacement DAC or get a refund and buy another DAC, so for now I'm stuck in a limbo with 70 bucks tied up in a failed DAC unit. For now I'm stuck to using the internal DAC of my SMSL A300 amplifier, which is quite ok, but I did like the somewhat improved audio fidelity of SMSL SU-1 DAC. Update March 12, 2024. Got a reply from Leaudio requesting detailed info on what's wrong with my SMSL SU-1 DAC. I forwarded an account of how it simply stopped working while playing music from my laptop connected to it by a USB. Also forwarded 3 photos of the DAC. Hope this matter will be dealt with either a refund, replacement, or repair soon, because at this point, the DAC is useless.

I am not typically impressed with modern audio gear. It just doesn’t seem to compare with the great sound that we get from the vintage audio gear. That said, audio chip designers are coming up with some interesting products. And audio component designers are taking advantage. I wanted to improve the audio system connected to my multimedia workstation. The systems already has a pair of vintage RCA Minimus 7 speakers and more modern Lepai LP-2020A Class T amp. These are far from audiophile quality but, for their modest price and demur size, they do a credible job. Sadly, the same can’t said for my DAC. It doesn’t sound great and has become intermittent. It was time for a replacement. I read reviews of the S.M.S.L SU-1 MQA MQA-CD Audio Decoder. Reviewers and osers described it as “amazing." Since it sells for a very reasonable $85, it was worth the gamble so I bought it. After connecting it up to my PC and audio system I tested it with a number of high def audio files. It sounded quite good. Then, just for fun, I fed a DSD file into it. I expected noise because few DACs can handle DSD files. What I got instead was a DSD decode from the device. Apparently, the designers included DSD decode into the chip that runs the S.M.S.L SU-1 MQA MQA-CD Audio Decoder. Amazing! What was more amazing was what I heard when a started listening to “Billy Jean” on the Michael Jackson “Thriller” album. It is a DSD file mixed from the original master tape. The drum beats at the beginning of the song were so sharp, so clear that it literally startled me! Hats off to the designers of this inexpensive, amazing DAC!

Nice DAC worth the money...So far I have just used this connected to my CD player for experimentation, and evaluation. I'm not really a digital aficionado, more of an analog person, but I wanted to try something new and this seemed like a safe bet....My CD player has a Wolfson WM 8718 DAC which was a pretty good chip in its day. My CD player still has a very good sound and I remember when new, how much better it made my CDs sound over the DVD player it replaced... Any way the sound of this DAC hooked up to the CD player using optical was very good, a more detailed, forward sound, treble slightly elevated. On my system this was not offensive as treble is slightly recessed to begin with. I did not notice any anomalies like sibilance or distorted bass, or digital jitter, Soundstage was present and had plenty of non-turbulent air between instruments. Bass extension also seems to be better controlled at the lowest frequencies. Overall I think its a good DAC...I haven't tried any really expensive DACs so what improvements they might add couldn't say, This DAC is slightly analytical but I did not find it offensive. I think it does everything a good DAC should do and probably punches above its price range.

purchased this SMSL SU-1 to integrate into a high-end audio chain, but unfortunately, the unit arrived with a significant hardware defect. The optical (Toslink) input port door is broken/loose, making it impossible to establish a secure or stable connection. When a product arrives "not fit for purpose," you expect the seller to stand behind it. I contacted the seller (SHENZHENAUDIO) directly to resolve this, and they were unhelpful and refused to provide a solution for a clear manufacturing defect. Even after escalating the issue through Amazon support, I have yet to receive a return label or a replacement for this defective equipment. While the SU-1 is often praised for its sound quality at this price point, the build quality and the lack of support make it a risky purchase. If you receive a faulty unit, expect a long, frustrating battle to get it made right. Advice for buyers: Test all ports immediately upon arrival. If anything is loose or broken, initiate a return through Amazon's automated system instantly rather than trying to work with the seller's "support" team.

Short version If you are in the market for a high end DAC with clean, rich, spatially balanced sound, and thought you had to spend enough to buy a used car, look seriously at this unit. Long version I wanted a high quality DAC to bring lossless source to an older but very high quality sound system. I did not want to spend over $2K on another DAC, as i had to many years ago. So researching various options in the $200-600 range, i stumbled across this little beauty. All i want is a DAC, no silly controls to "adjust" the sound, no amp, not multiple channels, and most definitely no Bluetooth (who needs more EMF radiation in their home ?) So i read the reviews, and decided to try it, if it was not up to the job, then it would go back. The specs seemed too good to be true for the price, but let's see anyway. Open the box, take it out, plug it in, set the USB interface to the clock speed of choice and let it rip. Wow ! very impressive. Sound is rich, spatial positioning is incredible, at points i can actually hear the piano keys being pressed spatially at different points across the keyboard. You can hear the string of a bass voile linger after the note, you can hear the damper touching the piano strings, this is 95-98% as good as my older and far too expensive DAC i have. Overall sound balance it excellent. I ran jazz, orchestral, chamber, solo instrumental, and solo vocal source material through it, all come out just the way they should and completely as well as my expensive DAC, you could swear you were in the studio during the recordings. For me this is everything i wanted in a DAC, simple to use, easy setup, incredible full rich sound, no widgets and dongles i don't need, no need for external power, no extra systems to go wrong. For others who want to fiddle with the sound, or play with widgets this will not be so fulfilling. This unit is small, has one tiny white LED to show the current source, so it fits right into a low key equipment environment. If you like your sound system to have lots of lights and cascading displays, this will disappoint, if you like clean simple interfaces, where the only important thing is the actual sound, you should find this DAC completely satisfying. Oh and other reviewers are right, let it run for some hours, and it will get richer.

Set-up: PC USB > S.M.S.L. SU-1 DAC > Douk Audio A5 amp > Vera-Fi Audio Vanguard Scout speakers Application: PC speakers, including Amazon Ultra music streaming The speakers run $300 a pair, when you can get them. They sound great, if a bit warm, and come beautifully finished in real cherry wood veneer. The DAC is $85, the Douk Audio A5 amp is $76. Add maybe $30 for decent RCA and banana plug speaker wires and you have a fantastic little system for a total system cost under $500. You could probably spend $150 on a pretty good pair of speakers and still have a nice sounding system for near-field listeningfor a total of around $350. The little Douk amp puts out plenty of power. It can drive the Scouts with their 84.5db efficiency rating to well over 90 dB at 3 - 4 feet The combination of the Douk Audio A5 and the S.M.S.L. SU-1 produces a clean, punchy sound. Some have reported that the A5 leans toward analytical, which is a perfect complement to the fairly warm Scouts. The result is sound that is rich, yet detailed with great sonic imaging with nice instrument separation and a very wide sound stage. You won't mistake this rig for a $5,000 system, but your banker and your spouse will be much happier with this setup. Or maybe you already have a $5,000 system in your den and need a small system for your home office. Either way, this setup deserves consideration. Your results will, of course, depend on the source material. So far I have auditioned The Eagles Hotel California album ,The Doors LA Woman, and Paul Simon's Graceland. All are beautifully produced and engineered albums and all sounded lively and clean, but not overly analytical. Full Disclosure: I have hearing loss that rolls off quickly starting around 5kHz so there may be sibilance and other artifacts I can't detect. As always, YMMV. But frankly this Douk/SMSL/Scout setup is, to my ears at least, the bargain of the century.

Well worth the cost especially if you have older stereo equipment. My Sony changer is over 20 years old and my Yamaha receiver has been around for a while also. The first CD I played was one of the best sounding discs that i have. The sound was noticeably improved by the SMSL. The first thing I noticed was how distinctly separate the piano was from the rest of the instruments. The sonic difference was less noticeable with CD's of lesser sound quality. It's worthwhile checking out websites (loudness-war is a good one) that rate CD sound quality before purchasing. Many "Remastered" CD's actually sound worse than the original editions.

I use this to connect my computer to my amp via USB-C. It replaced a very nice bluetooth dac, and this sounds way better. The sound is very clear and detailed. It’s connected to a very warm-sounding amp, so I think the transparency compliments it. I love that it doesn’t need a power cable, and it’s tiny. The setup eliminated some cable clutter. Excellent sound for the price. This is my third purchase of an SMSL product, and I don’t think anyone else offers better value in audio components.

19 Şubat 2024'te sizden SMSL SU-1 DAC satın almıştım. Cihazın sağ kanalı donanımsal olarak arızalandı ve zırıltı yapıyor, sol kanalı ise sağlam. Garanti süresinin az bir farkla geçtiğinin farkındayım ancak ürünün ücretli tamiri için yönlendirebileceğiniz bir yetkili servis var mı veya bu konuda nasıl yardımcı olabilirsiniz?"

初めてDACというものをアンプに付けて使った。CDプレーヤーと中華アンプの間に挟むだけ。 DACと中華アンプを合わせても、DVDのケースくらいの大きさだ。 かつての重厚長大なアンプとは大違い。 しかも値段が数千円から数万円だ。お財布にとてもやさしい。 早速、名機ダイヤトーンで視聴。 あら不思議！通常CDがSACD以上の音質で出て来るじゃない。しかも音が澄んでいる。迫力があり、音が美しい。 もうSACDは要らないな。早く買うんだった。 DACを付けるのが面倒なら、DAC内臓のアンプもあるよ。 我々庶民にもハイエンドオーディオ並みの音質で音楽が楽しめるようになった。 名機オールドダイヤトーンをよみがえさせたDACに大拍手！！！ ブランドにこだわらないなら、音楽を楽しむのにはこれで十二分です。

Después de un tiempo buscando información sobre Dac's encontré este y que gran suerte! Con una pequeña inversión optienes un Dac que ofrece una calidad de sonido que soprende por lo pequeño que es el aparatito, eso sí muy bien construido y decodifica la senyal digital y la transforma a analógica por salidas rca a tu amplificador, previo, receptor AV etc. Actualizando y dando una calidad de sonido increíble, con una nitidez y claridad matices sorprendente superando a otros 2 o 3 veces más caros, con un coste inferior pero no en calidad de sonido i acabados. Sí buscas un Dac sin tener que invertir mucho dinero pero con una calidad que sorprende este es tu Dac, no lo dudes. Tu música en streaming mejorará gratamente y solo desde tu smartphone, tablet, pc, eso sí que dispongan de transmisión de archivos de audio a través del Puerto usb-c, yo utilizo un Xioami Mi 9TPro y funciona perfectamente ya que envía audio y alimentación al Dac sin ningún problema, también tengo un Poco X3y perfecto pero tengo un Xiaomi Redmi note 11s y no lo puedo usar hasta el momento, no tengo ni idea porque no alimenta este Dac yo uso la entrada usb-c del Dac, que también es Puerto de alimentación de este para darle alimentación eléctrica tienes que usar un cargador de móvil, yo en mi caso cuando no lo uso a través de mi smartphone como no tengo toma de corriente eléctrica cercana uso una Powerbank y no me da ningún problema funciona perfectamente. También lo puedes usar a través de sus entradas digitales coaxial o óptica como Dac externo de un CD, DVD, streamer mejorando su calidad de sonido, yo lo he conectado con la entrada coaxial con mí CD Pioneer PDR-W839 Multi-CD Changer / CD Recorder y la mejora es notable, igualando a mi CD de referéncia dedicado el Marantz cd-48. En conclusión, por el coste que tiene y la calidad que ofrece no tengo dudas que es una gran compra este Dac, es pequeño pero matón.

product ok

Bought this is on review recommendations. Just had an 1990s DAT player refurbished, brought back from the dead after it had spent thirty years in the garage, now it plays perfectly but it had a somewhat compressed sound. This DAC has one of the very latest/best chip sets usually found in units at ten times the price, the DAC in the DAT is thirty years old so could benefit from the latest tech to give it a boost. Some people think all DACs are the same but they are clearly not, a listening test shows this very clearly, just as all headphones don’t sound alike. I have six DACs, some are good, some are not so good and it does not always relate to cost. A have a Fosi which is ok as a headphone DAC and pre amp which is ok, warm sounding but lacking clarity, a Beyerdynamic slightly better but not enough for the additional cost, a Chord Mojo which is very good used between an ipad and twin rca cables to an amp, a Prozor for 5.1 sound from a modern tv to ancient analogue cinema amp which was very cheap but sounds great and now this which sounds brilliant, better than the Chord but at about a fifth of the price. A good DAC puts air and soundstage into the music, separates the instruments and gives clarity to bass and treble. This one has opened up the sound of this DAT player, giving a clearer sound, very pleased with the result for such a low cost item. Also as the DAT is optical cable and the CD player, also from the 90s, is coaxial digital, this unit can take both items and you can switch between them using the button on the front.