SMSL VMV A2 Review (Stereo Amplifier & DAC)

[PeteL]

I dont see the built in dac as a positive. Alternatives would be any ncore + external dac (for 600 you can get a setup thats superior to this, especially considering price difference). For a little more than 1000 there is eigentakt prebuilt stereo on audiophonics at 1400 which would be absolute endgame with much more power than this for little more money, relatively speaking. Another option would be going for vintages, but thats a headache to do the research imo.

If this thing was priced in the 500 range then i would be quiet but for 1000 they are just being greedy and we should not let them price things as they please, its part of the problem why so many things are overpriced in the "audiophile world"

May you suggest a NCore stereo Amp + an external Dac that would set you back only 600$?

 

[martijn86]

Looks like a game changer indeed.
https://audioxpress.com/files/attachment/2659

Axign is a new company from The Netherlands, founded by former Philips and NXP employees who worked on the pioneering Class-D efforts.

Holy sh€t. These guys are in Enschede. No more than 20 minutes away from here! I might consider visiting some time. All this Dutch hifi the last decade is making me feel incredibly proud!

 

[Duckeenie]

Are those binding posts the same tiny things they put on their little $50 amps? They look like them in the picture.

 

[Matias]

Holy sh€t. These guys are in Enschede. No more than 20 minutes away from here! I might consider visiting some time. All this Dutch hifi the last decade is making me feel incredibly proud!

Schedule a factory visit, a brief interview and post it in a new thread for us!!

 

[noel_fs]

May you suggest a NCore stereo Amp + an external Dac that would set you back only 600$?

ncore: https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/powe...reo-amplifier-ncore-2x250w-4-ohm-p-14185.html

dac: toppings d10, something like that theres a couple of options here

 

[HorizonsEdge]

Conclusions
SMSL pushes the boundaries of desktop amplifiers producing a powerful and very clean design if you use digital input. Analog input has some low frequency problem which has a tiny chance of being instrumentation issue. Hopefully they can comment. BTW, if you use a-weighting, the problem disappears since it filters that spectrum. And this is not an audible problem due to very low frequencies involved.
/

Is it safe to assume functional equivalence between coax and TOSLINK?

Out of curiosity, is coax more prevalent as a connection method than TOSLINK?

 

[Ron Texas]

Interesting. Shame about the analog inputs. Thank you @amirm

 

[Mike-48]

Fans in audio equipment are deal killers for me. Buzz lately is always "lowering the noise floor," but what a fan does is RAISE it. Especially in a desktop unit, this is going to be obtrusive in a quiet room or with quiet music -- if not at first, then a few years later, as the bearings age. Fans in audio equipment are a terrible design choice.

 

[gvl]

Do I understand it correctly and the built in DAC's analog outputs are digitized again before amplification?

 

[PeteL]

Do I understand it correctly and the built in DAC's analog outputs are digitized again before amplification?

That would be odd, I don't think there is a dac at the input.

 

[noel_fs]

Who are you to tell me what to do? Thera are lot of reasons why one could prefer an outboard DAC. And besides, ever heard about CD-transports without an inbuilt DAC? Now, this is of topic, but a question was raised in the tread.

who are you to tell me what to say, i only implied its not the best of idea to start with for a lot of reasons

 

[gvl]

That would be odd, I don't think there is a dac at the input.

One would hope so, but looking at the sharp 20kHz cutoff on digital inputs that matches that of the SA400's analog input it seems they could have kludged an SA400 with a DAC board feeding into an ADC instead of going all digital if that's possible at all.

 

[kipman725]

Fans in audio equipment are deal killers for me. Buzz lately is always "lowering the noise floor," but what a fan does is RAISE it. Especially in a desktop unit, this is going to be obtrusive in a quiet room or with quiet music -- if not at first, then a few years later, as the bearings age. Fans in audio equipment are a terrible design choice.

the solution is temperature sensors everywhere (or at least on whatever gets hottest) and only turning the fan on if required so that quiet listening results in no fan. My old Yamaha P7000s and P5000s manage this but very few other bits of electronics with fans in them.

 

[levimax]

Do I understand it correctly and the built in DAC's analog outputs are digitized again before amplification?

See post #40 this is actually a "digital amp"... it takes a digital signal and outputs power to speakers, there really is not a "built in DAC" in the traditional sense. The analog section uses an ADC to feed the digital amp and there are are some issues with this.

 

[gvl]

See post #40 this is actually a "digital amp"... it takes a digital signal and outputs power to speakers, there really is not a "built in DAC" in the traditional sense...

Maybe. SMSL has this on their website, perhaps it is just bad translation but the way it is worded certainly sounds like there maybe a DAC to ADC business going on.

 

[amirm]

Are those binding posts the same tiny things they put on their little $50 amps? They look like them in the picture.

No they are much better.

 

[amirm]

Is it safe to assume functional equivalence between coax and TOSLINK?

Out of curiosity, is coax more prevalent as a connection method than TOSLINK?

It is safe. Coax was a lot more popular in the past but toslink got new life due to TVs using it for audio out.

 

[amirm]

Do I understand it correctly and the built in DAC's analog outputs are digitized again before amplification?

Yes as a form of sample rate conversion. This is my guess anyway.

 

[gvl]

Yes as a form of sample rate conversion. This is my guess anyway.

SRC would be better than DAC->ADC.

 

[SylphAudio]

I'm trying to make sense out of the highlighted statement, maybe it meant that the digital input bypasses some form of ADC, means there's no analog to digital conversion that is happening inside the process of generating the PWM.

The process of generating the PWM is purely digital in Axign's IC (Digital input, digital feedback, and digital processing), since the analog output of the amplifier is being fed back to ADC of AX5689, so feedback is being digitized.

Maybe. SMSL has this on their website, perhaps it is just bad translation but the way it is worded certainly sounds like there is a DAC to ADC business going on.

View attachment 138478