AOSHIDA SMSL C200 Review (DAC & Amp)

[staticV3]

The AKG and HE400s need roughly the same volume level when connected to the Airports. When connected to the C200, the HE400s need the volume cranking right up as they are nowhere near the listening level of the AKGs.

Weird, the HE400se needing higher volume is fully expected.

Maybe the Airport has a more linear volume curve, where the C200 is more logarithmic?

A multimeter and something like this could tell us more.

Would there be any noticeable differences in connecting the HE400SEs with a balanced cable to the 4.4mm input on the C200?

No. The C200's 4.4mm port is connected to the same Amp internally, as the 6.35mm port.

 

[tim5]

Guys, what is a good upgrade from this unit if there is any? I mainly play fps games.

Upgrade the music (pre dac to power amp), like topping E30 but now you have and vollume button.I dont know about the games.....

 

[Bleib]

Looks like C200 pro has been released

SMSL C200 Pro ESS ES9039Q2M Desktop DAC&AMP

Buy SMSL C200 Pro ESS ES9039Q2M Desktop DAC&AMP with Free shipping on HiFiGo, you can enjoy a year warranty and the best after-sales service.

hifigo.com

Some updates

 

[staticV3]

Looks like C200 pro has been released

SMSL C200 Pro ESS ES9039Q2M Desktop DAC&AMP

Buy SMSL C200 Pro ESS ES9039Q2M Desktop DAC&AMP with Free shipping on HiFiGo, you can enjoy a year warranty and the best after-sales service.

hifigo.com

Some updates

Nice, so the DL200 in a C200 housing.

SMSL R&D department running at max capacity

 

[Bleib]

Nice, so the DL200 in a C200 housing.

SMSL R&D department running at max capacity

Maybe they get the filter names correctly this time?

 

[obsessive9119]

So other than slightly better SINAD, are there any meaningful differences? I’ve been thinking about picking up a 2nd C200 to replace my aging Octavart O1.

 

[Bleib]

So other than slightly better SINAD, are there any meaningful differences? I’ve been thinking about picking up a 2nd C200 to replace my aging Octavart O1.

I dunno. Looks like the screen is updated as well.
I'd be more curious about the new one.
Maybe one thing the original is not so great with is how easily it picks up if a cellphone is close to it. I expect at least this part to be better.

Another thing that is likely better is any warranty cases with the new one..

 

[JIW]

Maybe they get the filter names correctly this time?

That was never an issue with the C200. Now with the ES9039, it may well run the same firmware as the DL200 since the UI seems the same.

 

[Slash/]

Just in case anyone else out there is having infuriating skipping of music every thirty seconds or so, while using an Apple TV 4K (A2169) and an SMSL C200 DAC, I fixed my issue by upping the dPLL Latency setting to 7 (up to a possible 9). Now it's good to go, including lossless. I had the ATV 4K up for sale on ebay when I finally found this particular piece of advice somewhere in 800 pages of forum thread. The advice was actually to up the setting one by one until the problem was fixed, but I just went for something high out of frustration and it worked, so I'm probably done experimenting (almost done, a setting of 5 also works. 1 - 3 skip.) SO many threads out there offer two pieces of advice - on the Apple side, to disable lossless (no thanks - this isn't ancient hardware). On the DAC side, everyone blindly says to update the USB driver or disable USB sleep mode, but USB doesn't factor into the Apple TV use case. The newer ones are HDMI out only, so in this case I'm having my Samsung TV send the audio bits back via optical.

Side rant: replacing the remote control abilities of Spotify with Apple Music has been....quite the quest, to put it mildly. But the above goes a long way towards solving that.

 

[doodoodude]

I recently got the SMSL C200 PRO and I’m running into a pretty annoying bug.

If I have an app or webpage open that’s using sound, and I turn the DAC off and back on, or switch the input mode and return to the original one, the audio gets all messed up—like a stretched cassette tape or something. Everything sounds slowed down and warped. Think MACINTOSH PLUS - Floral Shoppe vibes.

It doesn't happen every single time, but maybe 3 out of 10 times.

Once this happens, restarting the PC doesn't fix it. The only way to fix it is either turning the DAC off and on again, or changing the sample rate so the PC re-detects the device.

I saw a post from another C200 PRO user with the exact same issue, so I don’t think it’s a hardware defect. It really feels like a firmware bug.

Since I switch between USB and Optical a lot, this is super frustrating.

Did the regular (non-Pro) C200 ever have this kind of problem too?

(Used ChatGPT to help translate this)

 

[Slash/]

Regular C200 daily user - nope, I have not had the problem identified above, although the Schiit Modi 2 Plus (that my C200 replaced in living room) did garble audio when switching sources on the fly. I also switch between USB and optical a lot, and sometimes the app playing the music needs a pause/play, or a complete restart. Pretty device and app specific though, so probably not a DAC thing there.

 

[nongnet]

My setup
set top box's hdmi > TV's hdmi arc > arc audio extract's optical > smsl C200's balanced > fosi ZA3 > speakers
I control volume via set top's remote. Usually at minimum or 2-3 bars is loud enough for me.
C200 volume preset at max 100.
From time to time, when I switch channel on set top, my speakers become too loud. Very loud.
Is this C200 problem or set top ?
Previously I did not have such problem.

 

[testp]

My setup
set top box's hdmi > TV's hdmi arc > arc audio extract's optical > smsl C200's balanced > fosi ZA3 > speakers
I control volume via set top's remote. Usually at minimum or 2-3 bars is loud enough for me.
C200 volume preset at max 100.
From time to time, when I switch channel on set top, my speakers become too loud. Very loud.
Is this C200 problem or set top ?
Previously I did not have such problem.

if you want to control volume from the top, you should set the upstream volumes such that they are at-or-near-max. and your absolute downstream volume control is fixed at ~lower volume levels, That way you get the best Sinad from your devices as Total.
<- im guessing the opposite of this is making different inputs into your downstream device being too loud as well.

if you want more control, now lower your absolute_upstream volume a little while turning-up your absolute_downstream volume a little..

 

[nongnet]

if you want to control volume from the top, you should set the upstream volumes such that they are at-or-near-max. and your absolute downstream volume control is fixed at ~lower volume levels, That way you get the best Sinad from your devices as Total.
<- im guessing the opposite of this is making different inputs into your downstream device being too loud as well.

if you want more control, now lower your absolute_upstream volume a little while turning-up your absolute_downstream volume a little..

if you want to control volume from the top, you should set the upstream volumes such that they are at-or-near-max. and your absolute downstream volume control is fixed at ~lower volume levels, That way you get the best Sinad from your devices as Total.
<- im guessing the opposite of this is making different inputs into your downstream device being too loud as well.

if you want more control, now lower your absolute_upstream volume a little while turning-up your absolute_downstream volume a little..

When I lower c200 from max 99 to 85, I have to raise the set top volume from original 1-3 bars to max but speakers are not still not satisfactorily loud like the original settings (c200 max 99, set top at 1-3 bars)

 

[testp]

When I lower c200 from max 99 to 85, I have to raise the set top volume from original 1-3 bars to max but speakers are not still not satisfactorily loud like the original settings (c200 max 99, set top at 1-3 bars)

interesting.. maybe there is some input gain set too low, or it is just as it is with your setup, as long as it works is the main thing.