actually, i think also depend on the rest of the setup. i got a friend who bought the smsl dac i think runing the 9038 chip, then ma, he cannot tell the different between this dac and running off his cd player built in dac....actually, a few of us also cannot hear any diff.

but it was visible running with some onkagu amp and jbl 4344 but not on his budget tube amp and bookshelf. maybe can see your friend have or not then try out see can tell any different before buying.

i think it is good as long you like it

I tried his SU 9 from SMSL on my pc before, output to Edifier 1800 only. so it is su9 vs my pc build in sound chip which i dont know what model. immediately can tell the different in sound

but the same SU9 when compared with his Raysonic CD 128 ( i think at least 10+ years old) which is of burr brown chip, cannot tell any diff until it was hook up to the onkagu and jbl combo which is totally another price range equipment.

but of course, maybe because of our age also, cannot hear so well, so i was suggesting if can, TS borrow and try with his equipment first.

by the way, one more opinion, buy second hand if you can find.

audio equipment depreciate very fast. buy second hand to save some money unless this is not your concern.

This post has been edited by gongmakai: Oct 11 2021, 12:51 PM

the difference in investment aside, you may get minute difference. and this difference may or may not be your liking. I once compared a rm2k plus dac vs an almost rm20k+ dac, and the difference is also minute. But for those money no issue audiophile, it is worth it.

agree...audio system improvement is an exponential curve. when you are moving from good to better and betterer, the increment in cost is a lot faster than the sound