S.M.S.L SU-6 DAC ES9038Q2M XMOS DSD PCM768kHz/32Bit Bluetooth 5.0 LDAC USB Decoder (Black)

Im using this as a preamp for my home stereo for 50/50 movies/music. The DAC powers on and resumes function with AC power on/off if you would like to put it on a smart plug. The audio quality is excellent not just by my ear but also when measured by audiophile reviewers. LDAC bluetooth works great with my galaxy s10 and quality sounds good. AAC bluetooth from iphones also works well and sounds good. I do have the bluetooth antenna behind the TV and reception is poor when compared to other setups I have run, but it is sufficient. One thing to note when connected to bluetooth and starting the first song or hitting play after a long pause the audio will skip and stutter for the first second. Skipping songs works fine. It does appear as if the firmware can be updated, Im hopeful that SMSL will provide a fix for this in the future.Im running optical in from my TV and RCA out to a pair of Crown XLS amps. A 1502 drives a pair of bookshelf speakers and a MiniDSP 2x4 controls a 2502 that is driving a single 18" stereo integrity HTv.3 subwoofer.The remote feels nice and works well. The IR group changed from other SMSL models and the amazon firestick does not have an IR group that will control power and volume of this DAC yet.

I have bought this unit multiple times. It works great for me as a pre-amp and DAC playing music via Bluetooth. My 1st unit lasted about a year before it started crackling. The second unit did the same thing after 6 months or so. I am unable to get support or to get this resolved with SMSL. The DAC will work fine and out of the blue will start breaking up, playing crackle noises and popping. The volume will stop working despite the numbers changing on the unit's display. There is obviously some kind of design or component flaw here, and it seems to happen once the unit plays for a few hours, maybe related to temperature. Anyway, I just purchased my 3rd unit in hopes that it will work longer than a few months, but that's doubtful at best especially based on what others have said in their reviews.

I'm using this product to get digital audio from my computer via USB, or from my tv using optical toslink, and both work great. I was a little surprised that Apple TV didn't support USB output, but has to go to the tv by HTML then to the dac via toslink. the unit was a little smaller than I pictured, and I like that it has an internal power supply and everything is controllable via the remote. I had to back off the phase lock loop from best (1) to (3) to maintain glitchless audio on toslink. I like the choice of various phase lock look and filter settings. 5 for the quality, especially given the price.

This model has known issues of failing pretty quickly. It lasted just over a year for me and then started making loud static noise and was dead after that. There are better models that this. I have 2 Topping dacs that have lasted me years. This was my first SMSL dac and it did not go well. Sound is great while it lasted, though. I'm planning to buy the SU-9 Pro so I'll give them another shot, but I would say stay away from this one. Others have reported the same problem.

Nobody should buy these. They fail after a few months. They begin making a loud crackling/popping sound (even with no inputs attached), which begins intermittently, but then increases, leading to a complete failure. I spent a fair amount of time and money returning the first one that failed, to get a replacement, but then that replacement only lasted about a year before failing the same way. Clearly there's something wrong with the design, or the parts they used.

I use this as part of a soundbar killer system: I hook it up directly to my JBL 306p mkii powered studio monitors, park it under the tv, works perfect, sounds real good. Considering the exhaustive tests done by Audio Science Review on this unit, I suspect the reviewer complaining about the sound with headphones needs to consider that maybe the actual problem is with his ears, headphones and/or headphone amp. Also, headphones are not the ideal/intended use case for something with a remote and lots of inputs (including bluetooth).

Sound, performance and build quality greatly exceeded my expectations for this price point. I have the SU-6 feeding Klipsch Promedia 2.1 THX speakers. I am very pleased with the results.