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SMSL DO100 DAC & HO100 Headphone amp

melvinjames

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I haven't noticed any type of noise with mine but I will check tonight after work.
 

PyramidElectric

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I just received mine from Aoshida Audio, got it in 6 days (UK), which is pretty impressive.
Can't really say much re SQ, but nothing weird going on - it all seems good to me. The form factor is perfect for a desktop setup with (balanced) active monitors (Genelec 8020D in my case), and all the menus etc are very simple.
Just did a quick test and no coil whine at all from mine, off or on.
 

melvinjames

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@Nonick .. just checked mine and with my ear nearly touching the DAC I do detect a faint whine while OFF. Dead silence when ON.
 

Nonick

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I just received mine from Aoshida Audio, got it in 6 days (UK), which is pretty impressive.
Can't really say much re SQ, but nothing weird going on - it all seems good to me. The form factor is perfect for a desktop setup with (balanced) active monitors (Genelec 8020D in my case), and all the menus etc are very simple.
Just did a quick test and no coil whine at all from mine, off or on.
So, zero coil whine (high pitch noise) from the unit in a quiet room from very close distance?
If thats the case, then samples with noise present must be deviated.
 

RandomEar

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So, zero coil whine (high pitch noise) from the unit in a quiet room from very close distance?
If thats the case, then samples with noise present must be deviated.
Not necessarily. The whine of some SMPS can depend on the HF noise present in your power lines.

I've bought a couple of LED bulbs a while ago. The reviews were good, very few people reported problems with them. I could install two of the three required for my lamp without a hitch. Once the third was installed, all bulbs began to whine. I was stumped and ordered three others, of which many reviews said they would hum/whine - those work perfectly fine in my case o_O
 
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Nonick

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Well, that might be the case, but i have another DAC (Topping D30pro) and it doesnt produce coil whine (connected to same power line).
 

RandomEar

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Well, that might be the case, but i have another DAC (Topping D30pro) and it doesnt produce coil whine (connected to same power line).
Well, I would think that you other DAC has a different SMPS with not-identical components, right? That's exactly the point of my lightbulb example: Same curcuit, different bulbs with different integrated SMPSs, different outcome concerning whine. Or am I overlooking something?
 

crea

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I received mine and i noted that both the D100 and the HO100 gets quite hot.I have them sitting on my desk connected trough RCA.Do yours gets hot too?
Maybe it's the integrated power supply even tho i never had solid states headphones amp/dacs that had temps issues.
Also i ordered 2 XLR so both amp and dac should "work less harder"
 
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Plcamp

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Does the DO100 allow both se and xlr to be active at the same time?
 
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Steamrolly

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Does the DO100 allow both se and xlr to be active at the same time?
There isn't any control to turn off one or the other but I have not tried hooking up a RCA Single Ended to a separate amp or active speakers while the XLR is connected to my AO200.
 
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Steamrolly

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Hi guys
What better this amp or Topping l30?
The HO100 has the advantage of XLR inputs and an internal power supply but I cannot comment beyond that. Probably a better question in the HO100 review thread that Amir posted.
 
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Steamrolly

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Excited to see the DO100 and HO100. A bit confused why there's not an AO100. It would make sense to have a matching power amplifier to round out the set...and with a subwoofer out.
Good news! Now you can complete the stack if you want!
It even has the subwoofer out :)but no balanced input.
 

pumpy

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I received mine and i noted that both the D100 and the HO100 gets quite hot.I have them sitting on my desk connected trough RCA.Do yours gets hot too?
Maybe it's the integrated power supply even tho i never had solid states headphones amp/dacs that had temps issues.
Also i ordered 2 XLR so both amp and dac should "work less harder"
I have mine as a stack with the headphone amp on bottom and the Dac on top—I do not notice any temp issues during use. How long are you using it, does the stack get hot very quickly or after hours of use? Are yours stacked or do you have them side by side?
 

Keerati

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Just got DO100 and found that it has a pop noise issue when playing DSD natively.
I search google and found this explanation. https://ifi-audio.com/pop-goes-dsd-why-does-this-happen/

So, I thought that it is the nature of DSD. However, I tried the same setting with SU-6, and it does not have this pop noise issue. Has anyone tried DO100 to play DSD natively?

P.S. I'm using Foobar2000 to play DSD music file on Windows.
 

pumpy

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Just got DO100 and found that it has a pop noise issue when playing DSD natively.
I search google and found this explanation. https://ifi-audio.com/pop-goes-dsd-why-does-this-happen/

So, I thought that it is the nature of DSD. However, I tried the same setting with SU-6, and it does not have this pop noise issue. Has anyone tried DO100 to play DSD natively?

P.S. I'm using Foobar2000 to play DSD music file on Windows.
I don't own any native dsd music, so I will download some right now and give you feedback if I have this issue: I have some sample music downloaded from NativeDSD's site. The free version of the sample pack is DSD64--I hope that's good enough for this test.

Listening to DSD natively: through Audirvana (the DSD logo is lit up on the DO100, I currently hear a few pops when listening to DSD natively. I do not hear these DSD pops when converting DSD to PCM. In both cases the pops are quiet, but annoying. That's interesting. This is the first thing my DO100 has ever had an issue with. So basically, if I want to listen to DSD I should convert to PCM to avoid that popping noise.

EDIT: Switching from WASAPI on Audirvana to Kernel Streaming to see if that changes anything on streaming DSD natively. This is fascinating if the issue is WASAPI vs Kernel Streaming. Okay, on the same songs where I had popping in Native DSD 64 via WASAPI in Audirvana I now have *no* popping with same settings, save for Kernel Streaming instead of WASAPI *using the DoP 1.1 setting*
 
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Keerati

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I don't own any native dsd music, so I will download some right now and give you feedback if I have this issue: I have some sample music downloaded from NativeDSD's site. The free version of the sample pack is DSD64--I hope that's good enough for this test.

Listening to DSD natively: through Audirvana (the DSD logo is lit up on the DO100, I currently hear a few pops when listening to DSD natively. I do not hear these DSD pops when converting DSD to PCM. In both cases the pops are quiet, but annoying. That's interesting. This is the first thing my DO100 has ever had an issue with. So basically, if I want to listen to DSD I should convert to PCM to avoid that popping noise.

EDIT: Switching from WASAPI on Audirvana to Kernel Streaming to see if that changes anything on streaming DSD natively. This is fascinating if the issue is WASAPI vs Kernel Streaming. Okay, on the same songs where I had popping in Native DSD 64 via WASAPI in Audirvana I now have *no* popping with same settings, save for Kernel Streaming instead of WASAPI *using the DoP 1.1 setting*
Thanks for your feedback. So, it's most likely to be the issue of DO100 (At first, I thought that maybe my unit is defective). Luckily that I don't normally use DSD; I just tried it out for testing. Still, it would be nice if SMSL could release a firmware that resolve this popping noise issue (since SU-6 which is a lesser model can handle DSD well).

Forgot to ask, do you use RCA or XLR output? I use RCA output (I don't have XLR amp to test XLR output).
 
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Keerati

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This popping noise is a common issue.

Addendum - July 9, 2022:

I noticed the comment by bobfa on Audiophile Style about the popping sound when first turning on the SMSL DO100 connected to Raspberry Pi (maybe all Linux-based devices?).

Looks like this may have to do with the DO100 going into DSD512 mode when turned on and when you play something (likely PCM and almost certainly not DSD512!), that initiation/transition creates that noise.


On 7/14/2022 at 1:12 AM, DuckToller said:
Small update:
While in comms with Polly from hifi-express.com for another project, where I referenced the DO100 discussion here, she mentioned to me, that your request was forwarded to the engineering department and that a firmware update should fix the problem.
Waited 2 days to see if you got that answer as well.
Best, Tom
 
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