S.M.S.L SU-1 MQA MQA-CD Audio Decoder AK4493S XU316 768kHz/32Bit DSD512 Hi-Res DAC

I am officially amazed. I am playing it side by side with do300ex and in a desktop setup (Mac Studio M 2 + kef q150 ) it’s audibly better on my ears. Stage separation and all. Of course on the big floor stands things turn around but who cares. I got it specifically for the desktop setup.Also it puts to shame the much praised es9118k2m inside my peach tree nova 150 integrated amp. Just night and day. Makes me regret I ever bought integrated amps. I did not yet hear clicking noise some reviewers complain about.I enabled Apple Music lossless and could not stop listening. Classical (best of Mozart playlist) came out especially exceptional. Amplifier choice on a lower volume (desktop setup duh) didn’t seem to matter in my case. Tried nad 214, nova 150, Marantz nr1603, aiyma a80 and they all sounded more or less the same.Another observation of mine is, it helped me to re-discover the q150. Up till now I had the opinion they are grossly overhyped. Now I feel the nova 150 dac was the bottleneck. The kefs literally opened up with the su-1.So, my conclusion/advise is: get this little gem, pair it with any leftover amp you have laying around add a pair of high quality speakers and enjoy.The only cons to me is it’s only USB powered. When connected to my workstation it’s no biggie but I am frustrated I can’t, let’s say, connect my phone for a bit. I am buying a usb c separator and hope it works.UPDATE 05/20/25Yes you can use a phone. If your phone can charge (as my iPhone does) you can connect it directly to the dac and it will power it and play beautifully. Drawback is you discharge your phone in the process.I found this product: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CB3M46Y5?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1which worked. Below is the (only) setup that worked.- connect the combined end to the phone- connect the data end to the SU-1 dac- connect the power end to a USB power supplyThis way you power the dac, charge your phone and play music.

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 support@shenzhenaudio.com. 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 bought this DAC to improve the sound of my WIIM Ultra streamer and what a difference it's made, Wow the music just opened up, a wider field of sound, the highs are sharper mids and vocals are more pronounced and the base is distinguished without over kill or booming, not being too harsh. I connected it and tried all three different ways using the USB, COAX, OPTICAL and found that the sound in my case was more defined using OPTIC FIBER CABLE, the USB is also very good but still I like optical. My setup is the WIIM ULTRA connected to the SMSL su1 being powered by the Ultra's via USB and using the ULTRA optical out to the SMSL SU1 optical input. and then from the SU1's RCA out to my WIIM VIBE amp, this set up for me produces the best possible sound in my system, also a note, All of my cables from optical to RCA and Speakers are top quality bought via AMZON and they do make a tremendous difference in sound versus the cheaper kind. Ps I'm using all of this with a pair of WHARFADALE 4.01 on metal stands muffled with sand, the perfect combo in my case. I highly recommend the SMSL SU1 for any system out there, even the most expensive one's, this little wonder can compete with units costing tripple it's price, I'm very satisfied and I you love music you will too.