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SMSL DA-6 Stereo Amplifier Review

Rate this amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 13 5.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 65 26.9%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 147 60.7%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 17 7.0%

  • Total voters
    242

linuxfan

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A new Infineon class D amplifier IC is used here (didn't see the model number).
According to the SMSL webpage, it's based around Infineon's Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs -
https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/power/mosfet/silicon-carbide/

I understand that to use MOSFETs within a class D amplifier circuit, you require some form of gate driver chip, which I presume will be from Infineon's EiceDRIVER range -
https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/pro...cs/eicedriver-for-sic-mosfets/?redirId=104515
 

YSC

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On your desk driving $200 speakers.
With this budget I always can’t figure out why one would want passive and not active setup…

I would expect Dedicated amp customers to be those who think mix and match would do better, willing to spend more and play around with cables etc. at this price point and compactness it seems actives are much better
 
OP
amirm

amirm

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With this budget I always can’t figure out why one would want passive and not active setup…
You could go that way although for any one active speaker, there are 100 passive ones so much more choices.
 

carlcamper

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Performance seems kinda meh. What's the intended use case?
I'm personally using this to power old SVS SBS-01 bookshelves. Nice, tight bass from 70hz onwards due to having no port, so this should be great to have perfect channel matching and no noisy volume pot (my old amp was an old TPA3116D2-based amp with a noisy potentiometer)
 
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daftcombo

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Thanks Amir.
It seems that little unit would produce hiss in the speakers though, so not sure about desktop use... (see the red lines climbing on the left on the Power vs Distortion graphs).
 
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Tangband

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Seems like a pair of them would be good to use with a DSP and digital crossover, using a channel for woofer and a channel for tweeter. $200 for four channels of clean ~30wpc isn't bad at all.
Yes, this is a perfect solution with a minidsp If one wants to begin doing DIY with active speakers. The volume with display is a handy solution while fine tuning gain doing dsp DIY.

There is some competition from Aiyima tpa3255 A08 and A07 with more than twice the power.
 
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DanielT

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I just wonders if using this, paired with say a Revel M16 will it be able to deliver enough power in near field up to 2m listening distance
Personally I would get a much more powerful amp. But yes it might be enough.
Thanks for the test Amir!:)

Revel M16

86dB (2.83V @ 1M) in 6 Ohms according to the manufacturer.


No way I had run them with SMSL DA-6. Too little power. You want a power headroom, even if it is probably sufficient for listening at a lower volume. But when you want to turn up the volume. Nop. ..And I know, listening distance, way you listen and so on but come on.In any case, I would not have that combination.:)

YSC, Tip:

 
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Waxx

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Wel, i use it's precestor (at least an older model with similar specs with the TPA3118 chip), the "SA-36A Pro" as mobile utility amp (testing and measuring speakers everywhere, sometimes also outside with high sensitive speakers in the garden) and it does a great job. It's very clean sounding untill the volume dial is +90 open. This looks much like an upgraded version of that old SA-36A Pro. Not fully high quality, but relative cheap and very cheap for what it delivers. The SA-36A Pro was half the price of this one altough...
 

Bruce Morgen

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1 or 2dB channel imbalance (if that's the case, possible or not) will be more audible than the marginal SINAD differences

It's widely accepted that 2dB is the minimum discernible volume difference, not sure if that rule of thumb applies to channel imbalance in a stereo application.
 
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