[OG10]

I haven't upgraded my desktop PC DAC in some time, after a few days of searching around I came across a few reviews that led me to shortlist the D1SE vs the RME FS Dac. I already have a Valhalla 2 and a 789 so didn't really need a DAC / AMP combo. Additionally I have a Qutest and Brooklyn Bridge in my main rig so didn't want to go too crazy on the desktop DAC. I did try and find this on UK Amazon, but didn't find it. I ordered directly from Hifi-express and they seem to have shipped it from within the UK, so didn't pay any additional customs / VAT. I did have some trouble getting some responses from the team so Mandy from SMSL actually helped get a tracking reference for me.

In terms of the set up here is what I am using:-

1. Sennheiser HD800
2. PC -> SMSL D1SE
3. Ipad mini 2021 -> SMSL D1SE
4. Amplification -> THX 789 & Valhalla 2

Functionality

The MQA support from the PC is good, and just plug and play - however my USB cable is experiencing some cut outs, no issues when connected to USB-C -> SMSL D1SE so I am putting this down to Electronic Interference so I will use the optical out from the PC for the time being till I find a good isolated USB B cable.

This is replacing a Firestone Audio DAC from a long time ago, so the sound is immediately much much better. Additionally the MQA pass through from the IPAD is very good. The DAC just auto switches, additionally Apple Music also switches to hi-res when in scope files come on.

Features

The features of this DAC are pretty darn impressive, and a lot more than I was expecting. The signal shaping elements are top notch. I have managed to curb the extreme sibilance of the HD800 by using the "Rich 2" mode. None of the reviews I have seen go into much detail on these filters. So if people want a walk through more than happy to post some details. I am usually a bit of a purist when it comes to anything that messes with the natural output, but the Rich 2 mode makes the difference of being able to listen to my HD800 for 4-5hrs instead of an hour.

The filters are not a good combination with the Valhalla 2, as the Valhalla is already fairly coloured adding any of these filters make it sound do sloppy and uncontrolled.

The DAC has Balanced output stages, I heard that the 789 might sound better with the XLR inputs, so I have ordered some cables, shall advise if that makes any difference. For now using SE the sound is impeccable with the settings I noted above. Just note when it arrives the default line out mode comes as variable - so change that to fixed.

Sound

Having listened to music for the past several days I can give some initial impressions, and they are largely very good. The sound is very crisp and clear. The nuance isn't as obvious as the Qutest, but we are looking at something that is significantly cheaper. The biggest difference between the Qutest and the D1SE is primarily the filters. I am not sure what you folks think but playing with the filters on the Qutest yielded no changes for me.

Though the Qutest sits happily in my main rig, I am glad that I have the ability to filter a lot more in a tangible way on the D1SE.

Some tracks of note:
Joanna Barwick - Healing is a Miracle
Petit Biscuits - Follow Me
Chris Isaak - Baby did a bad bad thing
Kygo - Cut your teeth - Kyla La Grange (Remix)

These tracks really pulled themselves away from the Firestone Audio, and also very close to the Mytek BB in some instances, but the Qutest still retains the lead overall. I did find that the Sibilance issue is only truly mitigated by the the D1SE. Also note that I had to use 16bit tracks to keep this fair on the firestone audio.

Conclusion - If you have a pair of HD800 headphones, or some other picky headphones that require some subtle filtering of the digital signal I would investigate the D1SE. The sound is superb and well refined. It does not cull the spatial features of the HD800 and has excellent channel separation. The ordering process was a bit odd, but with an SMSL rep on the forums it shouldn't be an issue to get a fire lit up someone's back side if needed.

I don't have a balanced to TRX or I could have checked my Solaris to see how this set up sounds vs the WM1Z. One for another day, but as it stands now I am happy with the sound signature and dynamics of this DAC.

 

[HiFiRobot]

Thanks for the impressions. Another review out yesterday.

 

[mnp75]

Have had one for about 1,5 months now – it does indeed sound fantastic! I replaced my well-served Cambridge Audio DacMagic (original model) with this, and the difference is very, very clear.

Sound with D1se is much wider, individual instruments are really well separated even in tracks that are mixed "full". Get a proper "chills down the spine" feeling with certain type of music, esp. female vocals sound amazing (e.g. Heather Nova: Rewild Me, Highwomen covering the Highwayman classic), as does distorted guitars in Dinosaur Jr's I Walk For Miles. Even with plenty of details throughout, nothing sounds fatiguing of pearcing. E.g. jazz that has plenty of dynamics (Kamasi Washington, Jan Garbarek, Coltrane) rolls smoothly when it could earlier feel a bit overly harsh esp. with strong saxophone segments etc.

Personally I don't hear massive changes between the sound color modes which some reviewers have sworn to be night&day differences. Rich 2 or Tube 2 does sound maybe a bit fuller/wider on a solid state headphone amp than the default so usually have either of those selected, levels 3 start to sound a bit unnatural to my ears. With tube amp & speakers the differences are even less there, probably due to the real tubes in the amp overpowering any added harmonics in the DAC.

The display is really stupid when you're running this in fixed output mode: it keeps on screaming "99" as volume with the massive font size, and all the other details you need to squint to see (e.g. bit rate etc). But that's about the only negative thing I can think of this DAC

 

[OG10]

Gosh yeah that is indeed annoying lol re- volume! - Please fix that during firmware update SMSL lol

 

[Jarlaxle]

I considered buying it earlier around 11.11 sale but, since it was new and there wasn't too many reviews I went with the M500. I just couldn't justify the extra 300$ I would pay. Now I am seriously thinking of upgrading to it, if I can sell my M500 that is.

 

[whohasaquestion]

... Double post.

 

[whohasaquestion]

I considered buying it earlier around 11.11 sale but, since it was new and there wasn't too many reviews I went with the M500. I just couldn't justify the extra 300$ I would pay. Now I am seriously thinking of upgrading to it, if I can sell my M500 that is.

How much was it during the 11.11 sale? It's retailed for $720 now.

 

[Jarlaxle]

How much was it during the 11.11 sale? It's retailed for $720 now.

I remember it being around 600ish don't remember the exact number. The sales were mostly %15 so I would assume it was 612$ without taxes etc.

 

[ajohns31313131]

I own this DAC and the SMSL SU9. Its definitely clearer sounding than the SU9. Its sound stage is fairly wide. Its depth is fairly shallow. It has great detail.

My unit needed to be sent back for replacement because it would stop making sound suddenly or weird garbled static sounds started coming out at listening volume.

Im still waiting for my replacement unit. Its taken about 1.5 months through Apos with little help from customer service.

This is a nice detailed unit with a wide soundstage. When it works its a good value. When it breaks down it is a headache.

 

[Cisco150]

I have treble issues that mess with my head nerves. Would you say this is less harsh or warmer? sound. I think I would like a warmer sound. I’m looking at this DAC the SMSL SU-9 and the SMSL SU-8S, SMSL DO200, LOXJIE D50, LOXJIE D40, SMSL M500 MK2, and the SMSL VMV D1SE or the SMSL SU-9N. I stream music with Tidal and never heard MQA but would like to have. I have an SMSL SP200 Amp with Hifiman Ananda and soon will get Focal Clear or Elex.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I have treble issues that mess with my head nerves. Would you say this is less harsh or warmer? sound. I think I would like a warmer sound. I’m looking at this DAC the SMSL SU-9 and the SMSL SU-8S, SMSL DO200, LOXJIE D50, LOXJIE D40, SMSL M500 MK2, and the SMSL VMV D1SE or the SMSL SU-9N. I stream music with Tidal and never heard MQA but would like to have. I have an SMSL SP200 Amp with Hifiman Ananda and soon will get Focal Clear or Elex.

Things in your list are mostly considered as harsh, if you are considering buying a clear, at least try MGs. That would solve most of your problems. Putting that aside, most reviewers are impressed by d1se's sound and define it as more controlled in the treble than most of the dacs with ESS sabre chips. Also you might wanna consider fiio k9 pro with AKM4499 chip. Maybe just another hype train but everyone seems to like them.

 

[Cisco150]

Things in your list are mostly considered as harsh, if you are considering buying a clear, at least try MGs. That would solve most of your problems. Putting that aside, most reviewers are impressed by d1se's sound and define it as more controlled in the treble than most of the dacs with ESS sabre chips. Also you might wanna consider fiio k9 pro with AKM4499 chip. Maybe just another hype train but everyone seems to like them.

would you think the AKM4499 would sound less harsh? The LOXJIE D50 haves that AKM chip as well.

 

[Jarlaxle]

would you think the AKM4499 would sound less harsh? The LOXJIE D50 haves that AKM chip as well.

yes, d50 is also considered less, harsh/fatiguing. I haven't heard it unfortunately. I have M500, although I'm mostly fine with it, I can relate why most people may find it harsh. Since dacs effect the sound less than headphones and amps in the chain, that slight improvement might not be enough for your issues.

 

[mnp75]

I have treble issues that mess with my head nerves. Would you say this is less harsh or warmer? sound. I think I would like a warmer sound. I’m looking at this DAC the SMSL SU-9 and the SMSL SU-8S, SMSL DO200, LOXJIE D50, LOXJIE D40, SMSL M500 MK2, and the SMSL VMV D1SE or the SMSL SU-9N. I stream music with Tidal and never heard MQA but would like to have. I have an SMSL SP200 Amp with Hifiman Ananda and soon will get Focal Clear or Elex.

Think most reviewers have agreed that D1SE doesn't sound neither warm nor cold, but quite neutral in terms of tonal balance – however, the WAY it renders treble is very smooth and IMHO stays well outside the region of sounding shrilling or fatiguing. Plenty of detail and clarity in treble, but not done in an overly sharpened way as many "simpler" DACs do in my experience. And I'm fairly sensitive to that kind of treble harshness myself, it's always a big turn-off for me if a component exhibits that.

 

[anjaudiofile]

I haven't upgraded my desktop PC DAC in some time, after a few days of searching around I came across a few reviews that led me to shortlist the D1SE vs the RME FS Dac. I already have a Valhalla 2 and a 789 so didn't really need a DAC / AMP combo. Additionally I have a Qutest and Brooklyn Bridge in my main rig so didn't want to go too crazy on the desktop DAC. I did try and find this on UK Amazon, but didn't find it. I ordered directly from Hifi-express and they seem to have shipped it from within the UK, so didn't pay any additional customs / VAT. I did have some trouble getting some responses from the team so Mandy from SMSL actually helped get a tracking reference for me.

In terms of the set up here is what I am using:-

1. Sennheiser HD800
2. PC -> SMSL D1SE
3. Ipad mini 2021 -> SMSL D1SE
4. Amplification -> THX 789 & Valhalla 2

Functionality

The MQA support from the PC is good, and just plug and play - however my USB cable is experiencing some cut outs, no issues when connected to USB-C -> SMSL D1SE so I am putting this down to Electronic Interference so I will use the optical out from the PC for the time being till I find a good isolated USB B cable.

This is replacing a Firestone Audio DAC from a long time ago, so the sound is immediately much much better. Additionally the MQA pass through from the IPAD is very good. The DAC just auto switches, additionally Apple Music also switches to hi-res when in scope files come on.

Features

The features of this DAC are pretty darn impressive, and a lot more than I was expecting. The signal shaping elements are top notch. I have managed to curb the extreme sibilance of the HD800 by using the "Rich 2" mode. None of the reviews I have seen go into much detail on these filters. So if people want a walk through more than happy to post some details. I am usually a bit of a purist when it comes to anything that messes with the natural output, but the Rich 2 mode makes the difference of being able to listen to my HD800 for 4-5hrs instead of an hour.

The filters are not a good combination with the Valhalla 2, as the Valhalla is already fairly coloured adding any of these filters make it sound do sloppy and uncontrolled.

The DAC has Balanced output stages, I heard that the 789 might sound better with the XLR inputs, so I have ordered some cables, shall advise if that makes any difference. For now using SE the sound is impeccable with the settings I noted above. Just note when it arrives the default line out mode comes as variable - so change that to fixed.

Sound

Having listened to music for the past several days I can give some initial impressions, and they are largely very good. The sound is very crisp and clear. The nuance isn't as obvious as the Qutest, but we are looking at something that is significantly cheaper. The biggest difference between the Qutest and the D1SE is primarily the filters. I am not sure what you folks think but playing with the filters on the Qutest yielded no changes for me.

Though the Qutest sits happily in my main rig, I am glad that I have the ability to filter a lot more in a tangible way on the D1SE.

Some tracks of note:
Joanna Barwick - Healing is a Miracle
Petit Biscuits - Follow Me
Chris Isaak - Baby did a bad bad thing
Kygo - Cut your teeth - Kyla La Grange (Remix)

These tracks really pulled themselves away from the Firestone Audio, and also very close to the Mytek BB in some instances, but the Qutest still retains the lead overall. I did find that the Sibilance issue is only truly mitigated by the the D1SE. Also note that I had to use 16bit tracks to keep this fair on the firestone audio.

Conclusion - If you have a pair of HD800 headphones, or some other picky headphones that require some subtle filtering of the digital signal I would investigate the D1SE. The sound is superb and well refined. It does not cull the spatial features of the HD800 and has excellent channel separation. The ordering process was a bit odd, but with an SMSL rep on the forums it shouldn't be an issue to get a fire lit up someone's back side if needed.

I don't have a balanced to TRX or I could have checked my Solaris to see how this set up sounds vs the WM1Z. One for another day, but as it stands now I am happy with the sound signature and dynamics of this DAC.

Between this and the Mojo 2 for my next dac. We'll see what I end up with!!