SMSL M500 DAC and HP Amp Review

[osasglo]

After updating to Ver 2.01, was the filter setting divided into two, PCM and MQA, as shown in the attached photo?

No, its same as it always was

 

[Norv]

Hi all, first post so thanks To Amir for all the wonderful articles and reviews, I’ve found his work to be a constant source of useful and entertaining knowledge and thanks to everyone who makes this such an active community, some very intelligent people around in this hobby!

with that in mind would someone take a moment to explain a couple of things?

firstly what’s the relevance of 4.3v in the testing? Isn’t line level ~2v , I’m using this dac connected to an integrated amp via the xlr, my previous dac, a chord mojo would supposedly output line level voltage when set correctly (this was reported at being 3v by chord, again a different figure to what I’m reading elsewhere) and I would like a rough idea of where to set the volume on the m500

secondly can anyone explain this graph to me in layman’s terms?

tia

 

[renaudrenaud]

Gonna try.

First, standard output is 2V on RCA an 4V on XLR.

Secon, we need a "brickwall at 20kHz", this is a mathematics rule edicted by equations. You can reed a part of the whole story here. The graph shows the how the signal is cut near 20kHz using different filters embedded in the DAC (I mean the silicon, the 9038Pro DAC).

 

[Jimbob54]

Gonna try.

First, standard output is 2V on RCA an 4V on XLR.

Secon, we need a "brickwall at 20kHz", this is a mathematics rule edicted by equations. You can reed a part of the whole story here. The graph shows the how the signal is cut near 20kHz using different filters embedded in the DAC (I mean the silicon, the 9038Pro DAC).

The 4.3v was as close as Amir could get to 4v by adjusting the volume down (to 34 I believe) . This means at full 40 volume, the DAC is outputting something like 6.5V over XLR. He tries to normalise down to 4V for comparability.

 

[renaudrenaud]

And so, what is your favorite filter?

 

[jani80k]

In case anyone is still looking for 1.08 which has been taken off the website.

https://download.shenzhenaudio.com/Smsl/M500 1.08 USB firmware/

 

[YoYo]

The update worked for me first time I tried, and its been working great. I just ran the xmos installer on the new update (probably didn't need to cause the software didn't really change), it uninstalled the existing xmos and I rebooted and ran the installation again then it got reinstalled, after that I just went ahead with the firmware update.View attachment 58608

Hello, what was the usb firmware version of your M500 before you update to 2.01 ?

1.05 ?
1.07 or 1.08?

Thanks for your answer.

 

[osasglo]

@osasglo : Hello, what was the usb firmware version of your M500 before you update to 2.01 ?

1.05 ?
1.07 or 1.08?

Thanks for your answer.

USB Firmware was at 1.08 before the update.

 

[YoYo]

USB Firmware was at 1.08 before the update.

Thank you

Have you already updated from 1.05 to 1.08 before ? Or your M500 was already in 1.08 from the factory ?

 

[osasglo]

Thank you

Have you already updated from 1.05 to 1.08 before ? Or your M500 was already in 1.08 from the factory ?

I did the update from 1.05 to 1.08 before, mine was on 1.05 when I bought it

 

[Toku]

I will ask.
Do you know anything about the firmware V2.01 update contents?

V2.01 firmware was erased immediately after being uploaded to HP. I think it was deleted because there was something wrong.

I've contacted SMSL directly, including this, but as usual I don't get any reply.
Please let me know if you know anything.

 

[osasglo]

I will ask.
Do you know anything about the firmware V2.01 update contents?

V2.01 firmware was erased immediately after being uploaded to HP. I think it was deleted because there was something wrong.

I've contacted SMSL directly, including this, but as usual I don't get any reply.
Please let me know if you know anything.

I don't really know to be honest, they just include a change log or anything but my unit is performing the best/most stable it ever had since after the update, there might be more variations in the units than we know of. I just wonder if all M500 come with the XMOS XU-216 or if some older ones actually have the XU-208 chip inside

 

[YoYo]

I had two different units of M500 and I was able to execute only one update each time...

1st unit: 1.05 to 1.07 OK
1.07 to 1.08 bad update ==> back in 1.05

2nd unit: 1.05 to 1.08 OK
1.08 to 2.10 bad update ==> back in 1.05

@SMSL-Mandy and @SMSL_Liu : What are these bad updates which do not work and which breaks the previous versions ?

 

[w1000i]

I don't really know to be honest, they just include a change log or anything but my unit is performing the best/most stable it ever had since after the update, there might be more variations in the units than we know of. I just wonder if all M500 come with the XMOS XU-216 or if some older ones actually have the XU-208 chip inside

MQA need XMOS XU-216, so all XU-216.

 

[Galaxian]

I've given up with the updates. The XMOS driver is also a bag of nails on my system (Win 10 pro 64-bit) and I'm instead using the Windows proprietary driver which is working flawlessly so far.

 

[pua]

Hello, I just bought an SMSL and I'm shocked. The balanced output plays almost as well as the unbalanced one. Great product even without sap 9
Version soft 2.01.

 

[Dexter_prog]

Hey guys. I've been considering this DAC vs Pro ject pre box digital s2, leaning towards the SMSL for inpunts and the power source. I considered the TOpping D90 MQA version but it is too expensive and hard to import here (Argentina). I've been reading the forums and noticed some threads raising concern about some thermal problems I couldn't quite understand. I wanted to know if this is a real issue and if I should avoid the smsl m500 or go ahead and buy it. If not, plan B is the pro ject one or save for the D90

 

[TheKasarR]

I've just bought it and..... I successfully upgraded it to v2.01 (from 1.07 to 108 and 1.08 -> 2.01) but i can't enable "purple" M500 encoding in Tidal. I tried various settings.

Do you have any idea how to make it "work"?


EDIT: Very strange things happens with Roon tho....


When normally connected ->

Through SMSL Asio settings but still blue instead of purple ->

EDIT 2: I've managed to get magenta but only while using SMSL (Renderer Only)
Still Blue in Roon tho...?? ->

 

[Jimbob54]

Hello, I just bought an SMSL and I'm shocked. The balanced output plays almost as well as the unbalanced one. Great product even without sap 9
Version soft 2.01.
View attachment 61001View attachment 61002

What is the "issue" with balanced out? Never had any issue on mine

 

[pua]

Hello . Maybe I said it wrong. The output of SE is great.