SMSL SU-8s ES9068AS DAC Reviews Round Up

Equipped with the latest ES9068AS DAC chip from ESS Sabre, S.M.S.L SU-8s is a certified Hi-Res Audio decoder with full MQA, native DSD512, 32-Bit/768kHz PCM decoding support. The SU8s also feature wireless Bluetooth 5.0 APTX-HD UAT connectivity. It comes bundled with a full-function remote control that can be used to fully access all the functions of the device. SU8s has a colorful 1.9 inch TFT LCD on the front which displays audio format, sampling rate, volume level, and other useful information. It brings all the necessary, with all features and high performances and comes with affordable price at USD$ 359.99. For your reference, we’ve compiled some reviews from across the web, what you’ll find here are some quotes of the full reviews, and you can access the full reviews with the provided links.

1) Highly Capable SMSL SU-8s DAC, Pre Release Review from Tharbamar on Jun 9, 2021:

They are offering for 360 dollars because it can do MQA, PCM 768 kHz and DSD up to 512  with optical and coaxial and those are the really good features and every format that you can throw at them it would bring the sound back to you with good neutral transparent sound

They offer really neat pcm filters: fast linear, slow minimum and minimum phase, only three pcm filter on this one. This is the spdif mode this is normal and processor sound color that is another type of filter that they offer as you can see here sound color i'm using standard in my all my music. Listening and sound demonstration as well that what you will hear it but if you like you can find you need to reach 3 kinds of rich, tube, crystal options, those are all ten different filters that you can use.

2)SMSL SU8s and SH8s DAC and Headphone Amp Review from cheapaudioman on Jun 10, 2021 :

We'll start with the Bluetooth, codecs for this thing: aptX, aptX-HD, all right aac for all the apple aficionados out there and sbc which is like the catch-all codec bottom line is this. With the exception of ldac is all the Bluetooth codecs you could want and if your device does aptx hd it is close to LDAC. More important more importantly than the Bluetooth codec is how the dac sounds going into and then out of and the good news here is that this DAC sounds fantastic.

Five high quality 1612 OP amp chips that make a difference because it has a DPL mode which is a mode which you can actually adjust up and down depending upon if like for a TV for instance you can increase that tomake sure that you're getting decent sound, so it's very cool to be able to adjust the amount of d jitter also has a spdif mode.

3) SMSL SU-8s & SH-8s DAC & Amp - Affordable, balanced and full-featured review from Passion for Sound on June 20, 2021:

To me, the SU-8s absolutely nails that Ido also always like to compare the usb coaxial and toslink connections to see if there's any noticeable differences there and putting aside the fact that each of those interconnects is slightly different. I think the performance of the SU-8s is comparable on all of them the coaxial was a little bit richer and smoother than the other two but not that far removed that I'd say any of them are not doing a good job. One thing worth noting was that I was using the very high quality wave high fidelity storm bnc cable when I was testing the coaxial input for the SU-8s and so that may have played a part in terms of the overall qualities that I heard.

4) SMSL SU-8S & SH-8S REVIEW from Headfonia.com  on June 21, 2021:

The low end is fast and tight. It can get quite impactful with the right gear combination. However, if you pair it with a flat and reference sounding gear, you will get a very linear frequency response from the DAC because the tonality is linear and even, across the spectrum. It does not manipulate or color the gear’s signature and lets you listen to the raw signature of the device you plug into it. The tonal balance is easily felt throughout the spectrum, everything feels right and in place. Therefore, coherency is really good. If you like warm sources or smoother sound, look elsewhere or pair it with a tube amp because this DAC is highly resolving and clean from top to bottom.

SMSL has been designing incredible devices since the last year and they have achieved a marvelous success rate. I hope they will continue their success streak and continue to bring us products with great price to performance ratios. The SMSL SU-8s & SH-8s stack performs above my expectations and it is definitely not a stripped version of the SU-9 & SH-9. SMSL designed them from the ground up and they did a great job too.