New DAC replaces matchbox sized FiiO

[ColinLovesMusic]

For the sake of having a new toy without even missing the cash I have replaced my highly satisfactory matchbox sized FiiO DAC with a laughably cheap price tag of £23 with a higher spec SMSL Sanskrit 6th Anniversary with its 32bit/192kHz conversion at a laughably cheap £65. Not matchbox size but a neat little box for desktop hifi set up (the way to go for me). And an edge of seat, intensive with no holding back presentation it has too. Very impressive on the more thrashy music but on the more ambient and laid back music the full on and highly etched crash bang style takes away the warmth and airyness in the music. I wonder at times if this jump to attention, sit up and listen style of presentation in hifi is preferable. More info yes and greater range of frequency response and dynamics but it's not a relaxing listen. No piece of kit can ever be perfect for everything and my vast taste in music means always pros and cons. Bass has so much punch my little speakers are hitting their end stops with too much volume and treble can get a bit scratchy and upper mid a bit shiny, but so much more info is now getting through. Performance with my 3 favourite headphones has a big improvement with a sharp driving sound replacing a slight woolyness to all of them. No system to brag about for me. I am strictly budget hifi and computer based but have learned over the years how to select carefully for a great sound without spending too much. Can't justify thousands and thousands on hifi and can't afford anyway - min wage peasant unfortunately.

 

[Gray]

It's always nice to find a bargain. Who's to say you don't enjoy your music as much, or more, than those that have spent thousands? By the way 'Peasant', no consolation but you earn more than me.

 

[ColinLovesMusic]

It's always nice to find a bargain. Who's to say you don't enjoy your music as much, or more, than those that have spent thousands? By the way 'Peasant', no consolation but you earn more than me.

Thanks Gray. You are right in what you say. In fact nothing would put me off my music more than to be listening to it through something I had spent too much on. I have worked in an electronics factory and I know the so called British hifi that we are expected to pay a premium for is stuffed full of components from the far east and the price premium is entirely down to high production costs. If someone can pay over a grand for a DAC then they either have a loose screw in their head or they have too much money or possible put it through as expenses to offset against tax. And then there is the status symbol thing which wouldn't impress me. Of course good build and that last degree of performance is there but music is for enjoying not scrutinising and the little sanskrit DAC is certainly enjoyable and a great performer on most music but presentation is such that I can't regard it as a universal DAC with a good allrounder quality. But for £65 how can I nit pick. For some strange reason to have one with a silver front costs £30 more. How crazy is that?

 

[Gray]

You may be happy to play from PC through DAC, which is what I do at the moment.

But if you wanted remote control via phone or tablet, someone on here said he uses the Raspberry Pi with Runeaudio as a streamer, which looks quite good on Youtube, picking music off a directly connected hard drive (or networked drive via the built-in wi-fi on the Pi 3) I'm still researching the option at the moment. DAC plugs into one of the four USB ports on the Pi and needs to be compatible (not sure which DACs are not) May be worth some investigation / experimentation at the price.

And yes, when I ordered a Denon D-M40 from Amazon, they wanted £20 more, but for black rather than the silver finish. It was for my brother, who fortunately, didn't care what colour it was.

£30 more for silver finish on a £65 product does seem ludicrous. (Unless hallmarked as real silver)

 

[ColinLovesMusic]

You may be happy to play from PC through DAC, which is what I do at the moment.

But if you wanted remote control via phone or tablet, someone on here said he uses the Raspberry Pi with Runeaudio as a streamer, which looks quite good on Youtube, picking music off a directly connected hard drive (or networked drive via the built-in wi-fi on the Pi 3) I'm still researching the option at the moment. DAC plugs into one of the four USB ports on the Pi and needs to be compatible (not sure which DACs are not) May be worth some investigation / experimentation at the price.

And yes, when I ordered a Denon D-M40 from Amazon, they wanted £20 more, but for black rather than the silver finish. It was for my brother, who fortunately, didn't care what colour it was.

£30 more for silver finish on a £65 product does seem ludicrous. (Unless hallmarked as real silver)

Yeah streaming is something I haven't got fully into yet, mainly because I have an internet account with a 40gb monthly limit and therefore I download the file and use it off hard disc from then on. Purchased music is heald on whatever account and can be streamed. Also Soundcloud is a damn good way of hearing before buying and sound quality is great. True PC lacks remote control which is a nuisense if I am having a lay down while listening but my solution just now is to back everything up on an external hard drive and then plug that into the USB socket on the front of my £64 LG blu ray player and then connect to TV via HDMI and then sound comes out of TVs Toslink digital output through my excellent £3.50 Akord Premium toslink cable to the DAC and then the music is selected by the BluRay players romote control. Also added benefit is the tracks are all displayed on a nice big TV screen which I can read from across the room. Those out there who aren't computer savvy are missing out big time. No need for a house full of 43cm wide hifi units styled mainly by vandals who think ugly is good. Computer with carefully chosen and set up software is hifi at its best all round. BluRay player outputs at only maximum 48khz sampling rate and has choice of PCM or bitstream convertion (tried both and sound the same to me so I use default PCM). Sound quality doesn't suffer, I mean it hasn't in the past through my old DAC which was max 48khz anyway. Remains to be heard whether there is a difference with this new Sanskrit DAC. I am currently listening to DJ Ahmet Kilic Deep House Set 12 through the new DAC as I type and the Sanskrit DAC excels with that kind of music and a big improvement with dynamics and sheer power and vividness and seperation of the thrashy music. My very laid back vocal jazz music has lost some warmth and 3 dimensiality though with the new DAC and also the ssssss on the leading edge of the female vocals is now being exposed, whereas the old FiiO Dac was smoother on vocals and didn't reproduce the sss. Think this DAC is extending far higher into the upper frequencies because it is 192kHz DAC or maybe it could be the DAC is just so much more reveiling and therefore reveils the bad as well as the good.. Time to play with settings and tinker. Already the EQ on the media player has had its treble reduced down a bit. This proves one golden rule of hifi and that is to always improve the front end of a system first and loudspeakers last. I wonder how many people trash perfectly good loudspeakers to attempt to get a better sound with more expensive ones when all was required was a new DAC or other digital player etc. My speakers are 15 year old cheapy KEF cresta 1 and they get better and better as the system is improved.