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AOSHIDA SMSL C200 Review (DAC & Amp)

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 9 2.8%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 3 0.9%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 57 17.4%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 258 78.9%

  • Total voters
    327

Aperiodic

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Thanks. Not going to beef over $20 certainly... I do use IEMs a lot though but the 7 is waaay over budget. If the C200 gets me at least in the range I'm in now & cuts down on the clutter, its hard to complain about $219.
 

Jason

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I just received my C200. Quick question - is Low gain supposed to work with headphones? I get no sound, nothing remotely audible at any volume in Low gain but working well in High gain. Switching to Low gain I can here the relays tripping but dead silence from the headphones. I have not yet tried the line outputs.
 

staticV3

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I just received my C200. Quick question - is Low gain supposed to work with headphones? I get no sound, nothing remotely audible at any volume in Low gain but working well in High gain. Switching to Low gain I can here the relays tripping but dead silence from the headphones. I have not yet tried the line outputs.
Low gain is unity, so with the knob all the way up, what voltage goes in, comes out. The knob will attenuate the signal as you turn it down.

Could be that your line in signal is too low to be audible with your headphones.

As always, best to check voltages and gains yourself to make sure that everything is in order. You only need a $10-15 multimeter and some empty audio connectors
 

Jason

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Low gain is unity, so with the knob all the way up, what voltage goes in, comes out. The knob will attenuate the signal as you turn it down.

Could be that your line in signal is too low to be audible with your headphones.

As always, best to check voltages and gains yourself to make sure that everything is in order. You only need a $10-15 multimeter and some empty audio connectors

The line in is the internal DAC with the signal from USB. The volume is at max on the USB source and the C200. I think it might have a fault.
 

staticV3

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The line in is the internal DAC with the signal from USB.
Ah yes of course, my bad
The volume is at max on the USB source and the C200. I think it might have a fault.
Try using foobar with either ASIO or Wasapi Exclusive output to play music. That will bypass any Windows settings which might mess up the volume.
Also, play a 60Hz, 0dBFS test tone in foobar and measure the headphone output voltage in low gain with a multimeter. If you don't see 2.1Vrms then something is faulty. You can create the test tone very easily in REW.
 
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Jason

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Ah yes of course, my bad

Try using foobar with either ASIO or Wasapi Exclusive output to play music. That will bypass any Windows settings which might mess up the volume.
Also, play a 60Hz, 0dBFS test tone in foobar and measure the headphone output voltage with a multimeter. If you don't see 2.1Vrms then something is faulty. You can create the test tone very easily in REW.
Thanks for the suggestions. I am using JRiver and am pretty sure about the output from the software. I will use a multimeter to check but I am pretty sure Low gain outputs nothing to the headphones. I was hoping someone would confirm that low gain should output to the headphone jack and that it is not a design "feature"...
 

xaviescacs

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@Jason, I think I know what your problem is. Perhaps you are confusing, like I did, the gain with the output selection. L means line and H means headphones. :) To adjust gain, you have to navigate trough the function with the central big round button and the arrows. Will find an option that has a "g" in addition to the capital letters L and H. Hope this is the issue.
 

staticV3

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See here:
Screenshot_20220914-122725_Drive.png
 

Jason

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@Jason, I think I know what your problem is. Perhaps you are confusing, like I did, the gain with the output selection. L means line and H means headphones. :) To adjust gain, you have to navigate trough the function with the central big round button and the arrows. Will find an option that has a "g" in addition to the capital letters L and H. Hope this is the issue.
You my friend are absolutely correct. Suddenly it all makes sense. THANKS!!!

double-facepalm-memes.jpg
 

xaviescacs

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One must say that interface and usability is not the best feature of these devices. A remote with named buttons for main functions... I find the lack of a direct way to change gain a bit annoying, as it's an extension of the volume setting. Nevertheless, for 200 bucks we can be happy I guess.
 

joanesinu

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Sep 21, 2022
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Hello, this is my first post. I was looking for a dac+amp and I was thinking between this and the Topping dx3 pro+. I have Shure 1840 headphones which are 65 ohm. I've read that the output power of the SMSL can be poor. For 600 ohm Beyer cans should be enough? Thanks.
 

panther

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I guess this would pair nicely with the AO200 amp for a nearfield setup for passive speakers and headphones.
Also for the odd time I use HP, would I just not turn on the AO200 I guess so I don't have audio going through speakers and HP?
 
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joanesinu

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Both of these indicate available juice to drive 90% of the headphones out there to very satisfactory levels with superbly low noise and distortion. If your headphone has a different impedance, you can compute it using the following measurement (power = V*V/R):
Can someone explain me how can I aply this function?

My headphones are 65 Ohms but I don't know the V value. In the review I can see 2 and 4 volts for each channel but those are for RCA and Balanced output respectively.

Is any thread explaining how to interpret the data of this kind of reviews?

Thank you.
 
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