SMSL DL200 the best ever value DAC/AMP?

[charliecola]

Of course it is up to you to buy once and be done, or to spend $200 every , or every other year. I was just pointing out that it is pretty unrealistic to expect DL200 or any other DAC from SMSL to last a decade. Some may, but I would expect most of them will fail after 2 years, or 3

I don't see how it is unrealistic to expect an SMSL product to last long. They are built with decent quality components and built well - the fit and finish of SMSL products is often better than much more expensive items. I have a small SMSL Class D amp from over 8 years ago, it has been in use every day for that time and has never missed a beat. That is what gave me confidence to buy two SU-9n DACs - they have been powered on every day since I got them and again have been flawless... With the high number of SMSL products sold it is only to be expected that a number will be faulty and that the owners of these faulty examples will often come forward and post their experience but from personal experience SMSL stuff has always been solid.

 

[TonyJZX]

once you have run the device in for a few weeks to a month it should really be ok

eg. i have a Fosi dac from years ago... I think was less than $50 on closeout.... its ESS 24/192 so not the latest even when new

but it keeps going, i think i even lost the transformer and I just feed it from random 12v 1-2a psus

my favorite SMSL dac right now is the M300... I expect this to last a long time... however if it does die in say 2-3yrs time well then I'm ok with this... I have enjoyed it for 2 yrs at a cost of $120... that's $60 a year? is that not worth it? and that's worse case!

but I will tell you the truth... there will be new dacs that come out and I will buy those and by the 2-3yr mark I will have something else by then

these devices I do not expect to use for 5-10yrs or more in the same way I may not expect to use the same mobile phone

these are not heirloom pieces but so far the Chinese are beating the hell out of everyone else as far as longevity goes

i mean i will most likely go out this weekend with my wife and of course we will eat out and spend on whatever she likes... its going to be more than $200!

 

[jamesmafyew]

I don't see how it is unrealistic to expect an SMSL product to last long. They are built with decent quality components and built well - the fit and finish of SMSL products is often better than much more expensive items. I have a small SMSL Class D amp from over 8 years ago, it has been in use every day for that time and has never missed a beat. That is what gave me confidence to buy two SU-9n DACs - they have been powered on every day since I got them and again have been flawless... With the high number of SMSL products sold it is only to be expected that a number will be faulty and that the owners of these faulty examples will often come forward and post their experience but from personal experience SMSL stuff has always been solid.

This has been my more recent experience as well. I worked as a tech for 12 years -- my main business was guitar and bass amps and vintage hi-fi. But out of morbid curiosity I did occasionally repair some of the early Chinese consumer audio gear -- a couple of Tianyun Zero DACs, some very early Aune stuff, some pieces from HifiDIY (?) IIRC. Without exception what I found in the unreliable early pieces was poor through-hole soldering, and/or electrolytic capacitors that had gone bad -- due either to marginal specs for the application or simply being overheated inside the enclosure. In two cases I also remember there were fake Burr-Brown opamps installed from factory.

I don't see any of these problems in the newer stuff from SMSL or Topping. There's far less through-hole componentry and more automated assembly, and they use higher-quality components. A small number of defective units is to be expected, because QC is expensive and these units are cheap. But their fundamental design and construction is hard to fault -- so I agree that if you have one that makes it out of the warranty period, there is no reason it shouldn't last as long as anything else on the market.

For what it's worth, I also found lots of poor soldering and marginally-rated capacitors in Western brands back in my tech days -- NAD, Rotel, Cambridge, Marantz, etc.

 

[Shayzer]

Hey Shayzer,
The K7 was on my radar also, as I also heard that it had a warmer sound signature compared to the DX3 Pro+. I chose the DX3 Pro+ over the K7 because it had a led display. I had to return the DX3 Pro+ due to a faulty display (go figure...lol), but that put the DL200 on my radar, and I purchased one. I have no regrets at all. You can read my review in this thread. I never read any comparisons of the K7 and the DL200, but I find the DL200 much more musical and enjoyable to listen too over the DX3 Pro+. I would recommend ordering one through Amazon so its easier to return if you don't like it. That way at least you have a baseline to work off of to what you like or don't like. Keep us posted my friend.

Thanks for the help. The K7 seems to have more power @300ohm (560mW) so for my HD660s2 it might be better for EQ ?

 

[jaatre]

Thanks for the help. The K7 seems to have more power @300ohm (560mW) so for my HD660s2 it might be better for EQ ?

You wouldn't need more than 200mW to listen to about 110dB of loudness! The DL200 should have power to spare for the 660s2 even after eq.

 

[Shayzer]

Thanks a lot for the help. I will buy the DL 200 I think. Thanks

 

[Ctom]

Hi guys I’ve been trying to decide on buying the DL200 and have a few questions

1. Can Bluetooth antenna be rotated to lay flat?
2. Does it come with a power cable for my country? I will be ordering it to Australia and I’m not sure it'll come with Australian plug or if I need to buy one separately.
3. Does the fake balanced 4.4 output mean anything when amplifier has lots of power? I currently just use a zx300 Walkman as a source… the balanced output of the Walkman has more power so it makes a real difference with my headphones, but I’m not sure on balanced making much of a difference in sound apart from volume, what are your thoughts does it matter?
4. Lastly, where should I buy the DL200 from? My only options are Amazon or aliexpress… aliexpress is $40 cheaper but I’m worried if it’s faulty may be difficult to return.

 

[jaatre]

Hi guys I’ve been trying to decide on buying the DL200 and have a few questions

1. Can Bluetooth antenna be rotated to lay flat?
2. Does it come with a power cable for my country? I will be ordering it to Australia and I’m not sure it'll come with Australian plug or if I need to buy one separately.
3. Does the fake balanced 4.4 output mean anything when amplifier has lots of power? I currently just use a zx300 Walkman as a source… the balanced output of the Walkman has more power so it makes a real difference with my headphones, but I’m not sure on balanced making much of a difference in sound apart from volume, what are your thoughts does it matter?
4. Lastly, where should I buy the DL200 from? My only options are Amazon or aliexpress… aliexpress is $40 cheaper but I’m worried if it’s faulty may be difficult to return.

1. You should be able to loosen the nut a teeny bit and rotate it
2. It accepts 110V or 220V directly, the whole world is covered here.
3. Both seem to have the same power, I haven't seen any noise difference between the two either, so I can safely say that both perform the same.
4. Amazon for it's return policy, alie for price - choice is yours

 

[jaatre]

Folks, let us stop debating why some other dac sounds like something else.
Instead, let us help fellow audio lovers with their doubts on the DL200..

Please take those debates/arguments on a separate and help keep this one clean for specific product related queries and discussions only.

 

[hoverdonkey]

The supplied remote only allows input selection by cycling through them. Is anybody aware of another remote that can select inputs directly, i.e. a button for each input?

I ask as it would allow me to properly integrate it into my Logitech Harmony setup.

 

[hoverdonkey]

Me again with another question!

When this DAC is power cycled, my poCorePlayer loses it, and I have to restart the player in software to be able to play music. Does anyone know of a way around this?

PCP runs on a Pi 4, connected to DAC by USB.

 

[Mark1307]

Me again with another question!

When this DAC is power cycled, my poCorePlayer loses it, and I have to restart the player in software to be able to play music. Does anyone know of a way around this?

PCP runs on a Pi 4, connected to DAC by USB.

Yes or go from coax back to usb it looses it,it's not the dac as it did it on my topping e50 aswell just restart squeezelite it doesn't need a full reboot

 

[hoverdonkey]

Yes or go from coax back to usb it looses it,it's not the dac as it did it on my topping e50 aswell just restart squeezelite it doesn't need a full reboot

I just left my previous DAC (Topping d10s) on all the time (because it didn't have on/off), so I never noticed it before. I could always just do the same if I can't find a way to automate restarts ( my wife won't want to do it).

 

[Ctom]

1. You should be able to loosen the nut a teeny bit and rotate it
2. It accepts 110V or 220V directly, the whole world is covered here.
3. Both seem to have the same power, I haven't seen any noise difference between the two either, so I can safely say that both perform the same.
4. Amazon for it's return policy, alie for price - choice is yours

Hi thanks for the reply. In regards to the power supply I mean the actual plug type that goes into my power outlet. I’m not sure if it comes with an Australian cable or adapter or if I have to buy one locally.

 

[ulises31]

Hello, DAC.

I am new because while looking for information on cd dac, I came across this forum.

I own a Zidoo neo S with an Onkyo A9130 audio amplifier and an Onkyo RZ50 amplifier.

I would like to try this DAC.

I don't really know by what cables and cable models I could connect the zidoo neo S to this new dac and then output the sound from the new dac to my Hifi amplifier in order to obtain the best possible quality.

Lz Zidoo has analog, coaxial, xlr outputs and the Onkyo A9130 has analog, coaxial and optical inputs. If I ask the question, it's because the coaxial sound doesn't seem good to me, coaxial better and analog even better.

Besides, the only possibility of the new DAC input is via optical and coaxial. So perhaps xlr or coaxial from zidoo auc in coaxial, after that it is no longer a problem. So xrl to oaxial or coaxial to coaxial cable. I am afraid that there will be a loss between the input of the signal sent by the zidoo in xlr to the coaxial of the dac and that there will be a loss once it leaves the dac in rca or coaxial towards the Onkyo.

Another question I have is about the warranty. If I buy it through their site and the device is sent back from France, in the event of a breakdown, should I send it back to France or China?

I admit that initially I wanted to try the S.M.S.L SU-1 and the SMSL M300SE, the new version with two chips.

Thank you for your help

 

[hoverdonkey]

1. Lastly, where should I buy the DL200 from? My only options are Amazon or aliexpress… aliexpress is $40 cheaper but I’m worried if it’s faulty may be difficult to return.

Got mine (to UK) from https://hifi-express.com/search?q=dl200&options[prefix]=last

No issues.

 

[FreakyKiwi]

Hello, DAC.

I am new because while looking for information on cd dac, I came across this forum.

I own a Zidoo neo S with an Onkyo A9130 audio amplifier and an Onkyo RZ50 amplifier.

I would like to try this DAC.

I don't really know by what cables and cable models I could connect the zidoo neo S to this new dac and then output the sound from the new dac to my Hifi amplifier in order to obtain the best possible quality.

Lz Zidoo has analog, coaxial, xlr outputs and the Onkyo A9130 has analog, coaxial and optical inputs. If I ask the question, it's because the coaxial sound doesn't seem good to me, coaxial better and analog even better.

Besides, the only possibility of the new DAC input is via optical and coaxial. So perhaps xlr or coaxial from zidoo auc in coaxial, after that it is no longer a problem. So xrl to oaxial or coaxial to coaxial cable. I am afraid that there will be a loss between the input of the signal sent by the zidoo in xlr to the coaxial of the dac and that there will be a loss once it leaves the dac in rca or coaxial towards the Onkyo.

Another question I have is about the warranty. If I buy it through their site and the device is sent back from France, in the event of a breakdown, should I send it back to France or China?

I admit that initially I wanted to try the S.M.S.L SU-1 and the SMSL M300SE, the new version with two chips.

Thank you for your help

A DAC is a "Digital to Analog Converter", I.e. feed a digital signal in and get an analog signal out. If you want to use an external DAC instead of the one built into the Zidoo (when using the XLR or audio analog outputs) or Onkyo (using the coaxial or optical digital input), you would connect the coax/optical from the Zidoo to the DAC, and RCA/TRS from the DAC to the amplifier.

 

[Ctom]

Got mine (to UK) from https://hifi-express.com/search?q=dl200&options[prefix]=last

No issues.

Oh I didn’t realise they ship to Australia. I went to purchase and it’s actually cheaper because of the free shipping but also no GST is being charged…. Will I still have to pay GST tax when it gets to Australia? Also wondering if these guys are good for returns if something goes wrong with my unit?

 

[TonyJZX]

i have bought stuff thru hifi express... came ontime and no gst

but you will invariably get little post sales support

 

[jaatre]

Hello, DAC.

I am new because while looking for information on cd dac, I came across this forum.

I own a Zidoo neo S with an Onkyo A9130 audio amplifier and an Onkyo RZ50 amplifier.

I would like to try this DAC.

I don't really know by what cables and cable models I could connect the zidoo neo S to this new dac and then output the sound from the new dac to my Hifi amplifier in order to obtain the best possible quality.

Lz Zidoo has analog, coaxial, xlr outputs and the Onkyo A9130 has analog, coaxial and optical inputs. If I ask the question, it's because the coaxial sound doesn't seem good to me, coaxial better and analog even better.

Besides, the only possibility of the new DAC input is via optical and coaxial. So perhaps xlr or coaxial from zidoo auc in coaxial, after that it is no longer a problem. So xrl to oaxial or coaxial to coaxial cable. I am afraid that there will be a loss between the input of the signal sent by the zidoo in xlr to the coaxial of the dac and that there will be a loss once it leaves the dac in rca or coaxial towards the Onkyo.

Another question I have is about the warranty. If I buy it through their site and the device is sent back from France, in the event of a breakdown, should I send it back to France or China?

I admit that initially I wanted to try the S.M.S.L SU-1 and the SMSL M300SE, the new version with two chips.

Thank you for your help

Your Zidoo neo 's seems to have ESS9068 chip based dac which is good (if implemented correctly). Why do you need another DAC?