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Wolf's Measurements of SMSL M400 DAC

WolfX-700

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It has been a long time since the last time I published the measurement report.

There are many reasons for the disappearance of this period. At the beginning, it was caused by the epidemic and the Chinese New Year. It is difficult for me to receive new equipment for measurement.Everyone knows that the development and production of new equipment has also been affected a lot.

As the impact of the epidemic in China disappears, my family is preparing for the birth of a new baby ... In order to prepare for this, I am busy renovating one of my garages-using it as my measurement studio-this work is not yet complete carry out.

In fact, I have received some equipment since April, but they are all prototypes. In addition to Topping A90, there are areas where I have feedback and the manufacturer said that it will make improvements before the official sale. ----- Again I emphasize that this feedback is free.

Debugging of prototypes and pre-production equipment is my pleasure. After the product fixes the related bugs, it will go on the market again-let the fans get a more complete product. This process will make me very happy.

SMSL M400 is one of the devices that has been improved and sent to me in the official retail version.

Okay, go for it!

Front.jpg


Rear.jpg


In terms of interface, apart from the texture of the connector, there are not many complaints (I wanted to say that AES is missing, but I know there is really no place )

I'm still not satisfied with industrial design and workmanship. One of the simplest improvements: the interface fixing screw on the back should be black! The surface treatment of aluminum alloy, the acrylic on the upper surface, the texture and feel of the front knob ... There are too many places to discuss and improve.

Measurements:

Dashboard.jpg


Since the output level is relatively high, I lowered the volume to 75 (80Max) to obtain the measurement result (XLR) at 4V level:
Dashboard4V.jpg


But what actually impressed me more is the result of RCA:
DashboardRCA.jpg




Dynamic-Range---No.jpg


Linearity-(-20.jpg


THD+N-Ratio.jpg


SMPTE-Ratio.jpg


Multitone.jpg
 
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Matias

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Nice. Could you show a multitone please?
 
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WolfX-700

WolfX-700

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Whoa :oops: Thank you @WolfX-700! Shame if the build quality is lacking though.
I must clarify this point: I am not complaining about the build quality, but the build quality is "not good enough" relative to the measurement results.

On this price of equipment, it seems difficult to balance ...
 

Eetu

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I must clarify this point: I am not complaining about the build quality, but the build quality is "not good enough" relative to the measurement results.

On this price of equipment, it seems difficult to balance ...
Yes, thanks for clarifying! In any case, awesome performance :)
 

Filodream

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I have this dac since Monday and I am satisfied with it.
Up to a month ago I had a topping d90 (not mqa version).
Could anyone explain to me why it should not pair well with the new amp Topping a90? What problems are there (in practice) with the high output impedance of the M400 and the absence of buffers?

Which amplifier do you recommend with the m400?
d2AjQbLl.jpg
 

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LDKTA

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Excellent performance. I’d like to see the M200 measurements.
 
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JustAnandaDourEyedDude

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I have this dac since Monday and I am satisfied with it.
Up to a month ago I had a topping d90 (not mqa version).
Could anyone explain to me why it should not pair well with the new amp Topping a90? What problems are there (in practice) with the high output impedance of the M400 and the absence of buffers?

Which amplifier do you recommend with the m400?

In the Topping A90 review thread, it was mentioned that the M400 and A90 may not make for a good pairing because of an impedance mismatch. The upcoming SMSL SP400 will probably be a good match for the M400, but also most of the other excellent amps such as Monolith THX AAA 887 and Massdrop THX 789 would, I expect.
 

SMSL_Liu

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Welcome back!!!

Looks nice, but there is a hump with AKM chip?
It's not a hum, it's IMD performance is the best one, it looks like, is because it's low-level IMD is very best! This is a comparison with ES9038, and this ES9038 is our best measurement, its SIAND has reached 121.5dB.
 

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Max

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Welcome back, Wolf ! And nice to see another best-in-class measurement !
 

Veri

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Welcome back, Wolf, and thank you for the review!
 
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