New product - SMSL AO300

[surroundman]

Well well, look at that! Apparently we have an interesting new product SMSL AO300 (aliexpress) . I am genuinely interested in this one, as unlike the AL200 it has a SUB-OUT! HDMI ARC is intriguing too!

 

[JSmith]

SMSL AO300 Power Amplifier & Headphone AMP & Decoder MA5332MS MQA-CD Audio DAC CS43131 Headphone Amplifier XMOS XU-316 2.1 HIFI

SMSL AO300 Power Amplifier & Headphone AMP & Decoder MA5332MS MQA-CD Audio DAC CS43131 Headphone Amplifier XMOS XU-316 2.1 HIFI

aoshida-audio.com

JSmith

 

[TonyJZX]

this is another m300 a300 type mashup with vastly improved stuff like the display, vol. knob, hdmi arc... but the price gets a 50% bump

 

[Steven Holt]

You mean u get amp plus DAC, clean, strong power and HP out for less that 300US? Man, that is crazy! Hoping one of our members sends it to Amir!

 

[TonyJZX]

the amp is the same heart as the a300 which has been tested, so make up your own mind there

also you will find the m300 hp out is average or so

 

[Roland68]

What is very important for the device is that it has a high-quality DAC chip and not an ultra low DAC chip like the AL200 and A300.

 

[SlamTaz]

wondering if the sub-out has a filter similar to the the a300 @ 50hz? can't find the manual from their website so it'd be nice if anyone can provide that information.

 

[SidiousX]

What is very important for the device is that it has a high-quality DAC chip and not an ultra low DAC chip like the AL200 and A300.

Are you sure? Its seems AO300 shared DAC with AL200? Correct me, if I'm mistaken.
Anyhu AO300 seems like a winner in this price class as AIO and I mean truly AIO, which in this case it is.
Edited: Thanx @Zek

 

[Zek]

Anyhu DO300 seems like a winner in this price class as AIO

You probably meant AO300.

 

[SidiousX]

You probably meant AO300.

Thanx, ofcourse I did, I'm using phrase SMSL "machine gun" quite often and then I "have played from memory", fook me

 

[SidiousX]

@JSmith
Vide nick, High Castle?

 

[SidiousX]

You mean u get amp plus DAC, clean, strong power and HP out for less that 300US? Man, that is crazy! Hoping one of our members sends it to Amir!

Nicely resumed

 

[SidiousX]

Well well, look at that! Apparently we have an interesting new product SMSL AO300 (aliexpress) . I am genuinely interested in this one, as unlike the AL200 it has a SUB-OUT! HDMI ARC is intriguing too!

Vide a/m, do not forget about esthetics. AL200 is unberable, at least 4me.

 

[SidiousX]

@SMSL if you are paying attention, AO300 which is still making its way (slowly) to EU, for sure will be nice entry level AIO, but if you would combine DO400 with the latest class D-amp module from i.e. AO300 and make true AIO, for exercise lets call it "AO400," + price it accordingly, you might have at your hands true AIO killer seller, my 2c.

 

[SidiousX]

Fook me, I have seen 5 latest posts of AO300 were posted by me, for which I'm still waiting for avaialability.
I'm curious how is it going, road to EU seems to be longer than anticipated.
It is 01 october and no dice still.
If any of collegaues have one at your hands, it would be appreciate, if you share your experience.

 

[m3r1in]

I'm very interested in seeing any sort of review on this new amp and the Gen2 audioengine n22 (class d).... nothing really out there so far.

 

[tu be or not tube]

For those who'd like to see Tharbamar's review of it:

 

[frabor]

I have mixed feelings about this class of products. Yes, they are small and cute, but..

1) effective power at low distortion is normally about 50Wpc
2) Do not provide a DAC out
3) sindad is in the low to mid 80s

For about 100 more,400 usd (denon) you can get an 8 ohms receiver with similar sinad that does all this thing does plus it is a 4k/8k receiver with Atmos capability, earc,lots of analog and digital input output, seven or more speakers output, HDMI switch and room correction and maybe even cast support.

So what is the real value of this units other than the small space?

 

[onionears]

I've just received one yesterday.
Using with Elac Carina Bookshelves and comparing to my Loxjie A30 I see that: the bass is stronger and deeper, also the scene seems wider. Instruments seperation also feels much better.
BUT the downsides are:
Horrible remote control - the angle at which it operates is less ten 30degrees. I am having trouble setting anything from my couch. (I had the same issues with AL200 which I tested few months ago)
HDMI ARC - at least with my TV it works rather poor. First of all I have to set volume twice - once at TV and the seperate volume on AMP so I thoght the whole idea of ARC is to set it once... Also when I increase the volume on my TV instead of increasing one by one it jumps 6-7 points at a time, so again using only TV remote it is impossible to set the volume level as you want it. Moreover the next day ARC stopped working when I turned on TV...
Heat - I left amp running over the night and it is warm. Fortunately not hot but warm ~38-40C (100F). Loxjie is cold all the time so I assume that the power consumption is higher when it is not used. I will check Wattage consumption and let you know.

Edit: Tv is Sony Bravia with Android TV

 

[Usatencu]

I've just received one yesterday.
Using with Elac Carina Bookshelves and comparing to my Loxjie A30 I see that: the bass is stronger and deeper, also the scene seems wider. Instruments seperation also feels much better.
BUT the downsides are:
Horrible remote control - the angle at which it operates is less ten 30degrees. I am having trouble setting anything from my couch. (I had the same issues with AL200 which I tested few months ago)
HDMI ARC - at least with my TV it works rather poor. First of all I have to set volume twice - once at TV and the seperate volume on AMP so I thoght the whole idea of ARC is to set it once... Also when I increase the volume on my TV instead of increasing one by one it jumps 6-7 points at a time, so again using only TV remote it is impossible to set the volume level as you want it. Moreover the next day ARC stopped working when I turned on TV...
Heat - I left amp running over the night and it is warm. Fortunately not hot but warm ~38-40C (100F). Loxjie is cold all the time so I assume that the power consumption is higher when it is not used. I will check Wattage consumption and let you know.

Edit: Tv is Sony Bravia with Android TV

So overall, sound is good? Thanks for your review. I m interested to buy one also. I have bluesound powernode n330, i want to compare by sound perspective