Thanks. I guess no one is using it with unbalanced sources then.
-
WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
Review and Measurements of SMSL SP200 THX HP Amp
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
With that amp, when you want to go totally deaf in a hurry is my guess.
... Probably ! I guess it could as well power some small efficient speakers !
factory2nd
Member
Could someone report on the pairing with he400i, especially for the volume setting!
Thaks!!!!
Thaks!!!!
Had one for a few weeks and did a lot of testing. The Hifiman HE4XX from Drop sounds amazing, as does the Shure 1840, both get into the 60 percent volume range in high gain mode but sound so good when fully powered with this. I'm using an original Atom DAC, but also tried the Aune S6 and Khadas tone board using the RCA connectors. The Atom and Aune S6 were both great for music or gaming, and the Tone board was the best for music but not as good for gaming, but wow does it deliver rich bass when paired with the SP200.
No noise floor issues using RCA, might get a pair of RCA to XLR just for kicks to see. The Hifiman HE4xx sounds so good on this amp and also the Heresy. Make sure you do not use Monoprice cables, I have two pairs and they both sounded terrible, switching to the Cablesonline or the Kablesdirekt ones made it sound so much better.
If you have any low quality music files, you'll never stop hearing about it with this, it's very revealing. I have to test audio equipment that comes in all the time so I mainly got it for the XLR plug and equal power on both, not just a crippled 6.5mm plug. I have the Drop THX One amp here as well for testing, it's also really good. The main thing is if you need the low gain setting, then the Drop is a better choice, but if you need the feeling of almost unlimited powah then the SP200 is best. It's not truly balanced but it's really flexible for someone who needs the XLR plugs to test whatever comes in. Also I put a strip of black matte vinyl car wrap over the SP200 volume wheel and it's smooth and looks factory. Like the Heresy the grooves go the wrong way to provide grip, easy fix though.
No noise floor issues using RCA, might get a pair of RCA to XLR just for kicks to see. The Hifiman HE4xx sounds so good on this amp and also the Heresy. Make sure you do not use Monoprice cables, I have two pairs and they both sounded terrible, switching to the Cablesonline or the Kablesdirekt ones made it sound so much better.
If you have any low quality music files, you'll never stop hearing about it with this, it's very revealing. I have to test audio equipment that comes in all the time so I mainly got it for the XLR plug and equal power on both, not just a crippled 6.5mm plug. I have the Drop THX One amp here as well for testing, it's also really good. The main thing is if you need the low gain setting, then the Drop is a better choice, but if you need the feeling of almost unlimited powah then the SP200 is best. It's not truly balanced but it's really flexible for someone who needs the XLR plugs to test whatever comes in. Also I put a strip of black matte vinyl car wrap over the SP200 volume wheel and it's smooth and looks factory. Like the Heresy the grooves go the wrong way to provide grip, easy fix though.
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2018
- Messages
- 304
- Likes
- 688
Nathan Raymond
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2018
- Messages
- 212
- Likes
- 211
JRS
Major Contributor
I saw that and am about to pull the trigger--what is the deal with DROP anyway?
JRS
Major Contributor
Done deal--I was looking for an all-in-one portable, but this seems like a steal and was touted as much at twice the price. Now I need to find a good preamp for around $150 and I'll have a nice setup that likely compares quite favorably to a thousand dollar rig. Thanks for the alert.
Veri
Master Contributor
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2018
- Messages
- 9,598
- Likes
- 12,040
Not really, the balanced and single ended output are internally the same output.
Yeah it doesn't matter which you use. I use mine for testing headphones and it's just for convenience which to use. Same power, noise floor, etc. with the Hifiman and Sennheisers I got in with balanced. I've got XLR to RCA cables and didn't notice a ground loop or any difference there either, just the satisfying click of an XLR connector setting in. One thing though I did run into, if at 90 percent volume in low gain, or 65 percent in high gain you hear a hum faintly, check the power cord first. I replaced it with a spare from a PC and dead silent noise floor all the way up when playing a silent .wav file to test. Monoprice cables were awful, Cablesonline were great, and Kabeldirekt sounded good, but felt like some bass slam was missing at the same volume levels/song.
That's a great price. Add a Topping DS10 which is on sale for $92 and for $232 it's pretty good. On the other hand for $296 you can have an all in one EX5 with Bluetooth and better Sinad, 118 vs 112 on the ds10... or for $169 get the new SMSL SU-6 DAC paired with the SP200 for $306 total...Too many choices! Could the SMSL SP200 actually power efficient passive speakers?
Last edited:
Doubt it would power speakers, the draw would probably trigger the power protections.
If you what a neutral setup get the Sp200 and the Topping D10 Balanced dac. If you want a more musical setup (i.e. more bass and slightly rolled off highs) get the Sp200 and the Khadas Tone Board dac. That combo sounds amazing and it's what Ive been using since I got the Sp200. I get the D10 Balanced when it came out but I found it to boring and dead sounding compared to the the Tone Board so I sent it back.
If you what a neutral setup get the Sp200 and the Topping D10 Balanced dac. If you want a more musical setup (i.e. more bass and slightly rolled off highs) get the Sp200 and the Khadas Tone Board dac. That combo sounds amazing and it's what Ive been using since I got the Sp200. I get the D10 Balanced when it came out but I found it to boring and dead sounding compared to the the Tone Board so I sent it back.
Hi, I just got the SP200 and can notice the noise quite well. It is connected now from my pc through a 3.5mm jack to rca, and using the 6.3mm headphone jack. If I would use a 3.5mm to 2 xlr cable connector as input and still use the 6.3mm headphone output, would this eliminate the noise? And is it possible to use xlr as input and 6.3mm jack as output at all in the first place? Thanks.
Roland68
Major Contributor
Which Khadas Tone Board do you have?
Similar threads
- Poll
- Poll
