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New SMSL M300

Tks

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There was nothing about the sound quality etc. in the review.. he is getting worse these days.

There’s obviously not much to say about sound quality. The parity that DACs these days are reaching with similar chipsets are basically indistinguishable barring any anomaly of serious error. SMSL and Topping are right there near the top with respect to their product offerings and similarities in performance at the given price points.

If the complaint is only the lack of remote compared to the competition, that’s basically the only negative worth mentioning. The sorts of sound quality difference between DACs that the human ear can detect without instant source switching and playing of single-tones is almost nonexistent I would guess, especially at sane volume levels.
 

Oukkidoukki

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Yeah Mandy, which has better specs? More finess, clarity? If I remember right su 8 has somekind of ess sabre 9038 mobile chip variation, not the pro one, which is in expensive dacs like LKS. Even it is dual set up in su 8 , m300 might beat it with one akm 4497 which is the top of the line chip.
 

Veri

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Yeah Mandy, which has better specs? More finess, clarity? If I remember right su 8 has somekind of ess sabre 9038 mobile chip variation, not the pro one, which is in expensive dacs like LKS. Even it is dual set up in su 8 , m300 might beat it with one akm 4497 which is the top of the line chip.
Chip isn't everything. RME ADI-2 is one of the best and uses 1x akm4490, that's it. Implementation and quality of components is far more important.
 

Ron Texas

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Is anyone here using an M300? Are there any issues, especially with USB? Are there any behavior problems like clicks/pops when changing bitrates or during computer reboots?
 

burst99

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Is anyone here using an M300? Are there any issues, especially with USB? Are there any behavior problems like clicks/pops when changing bitrates or during computer reboots?

I'm using one for a week now. No problems had occurred, no clicks/pops!

It's a really great sounding unit for sure, a substantial improvement from Topping D30 that was here before. I'll test it against Topping D50 soon.

Power do matter, clarity improves and there's more headroom (esp. in low-end) when it's being powered from decent USB hub, rather then straight from my macbook. I'm using Orico-made hub, which is not expensive at all but good. Really cheap hubs make M300 sound worse.

On a side note, since there was no manual with the unit, I had to write an email to SMSL to get to know which screen names of filters refer to which slopes. They got back to me extremely fast (nice job, Kelly!), I'm attaching the answer here, maybe it would be of convenience for someone.

Catch.jpg
 

peterwen

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I have bought it from the amaozn.jp. The item arrived in 3 days. I have use it for a month. I love the Ak4497 so much and the quality is so good.

It doesn't have any problem with clicks/pops when changing bitrates or during computer reboots so far. I used the USB connecting to my desktop computer, it doesn't have any problem.
 

Veri

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I have bought it from the amaozn.jp. The item arrived in 3 days. I have use it for a month. I love the Ak4497 so much and the quality is so good.

It doesn't have any problem with clicks/pops when changing bitrates or during computer reboots so far. I used the USB connecting to my desktop computer, it doesn't have any problem.

That's good news :D Thanks for reporting
 

Veri

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I sure wonder about M300 vs Sabaj D5.

4497 vs 9038Pro. Battery power vs toroid. Similar output stage, same NDK oscillators (although the pricier D5 also has an Altera FPGA).
 

Halla

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Is anyone here using an M300? Are there any issues, especially with USB? Are there any behavior problems like clicks/pops when changing bitrates or during computer reboots?
I've been using the M300 since mid May and so far everything has been working like it should. No clicks or pops and I've only been using the USB connection with the supplied cable and a bit longer spare that I had previously.
Power do matter, clarity improves and there's more headroom (esp. in low-end) when it's being powered from decent USB hub, rather then straight from my macbook. I'm using Orico-made hub, which is not expensive at all but good. Really cheap hubs make M300 sound worse.
Huh, is this really true? So far I've been using the M300 with my desktop PC with a straight connection from the dac to the motherboard and I can't really believe that a USB-hub would make an improvement. One of the reasons I chose the M300 over competition was the lack of power cable. Is there any material on the topic?
 

Veri

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Huh, is this really true? So far I've been using the M300 with my desktop PC with a straight connection from the dac to the motherboard and I can't really believe that a USB-hub would make an improvement. One of the reasons I chose the M300 over competition was the lack of power cable. Is there any material on the topic?

A previous (Sanskrit 10th) product did really poor with power from PC, so I suppose one could be nervous whether or not SMSL did better on the M300. Hard to know for sure without any testing. So far no review here on the M300.

In any case, if you use it straight to PC and experience no problems... there are no problems right :D I wouldn't sweat it.
 

Halla

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A previous (Sanskrit 10th) product did really poor with power from PC, so I suppose one could be nervous whether or not SMSL did better on the M300. Hard to know for sure without any testing. So far no review here on the M300.

In any case, if you use it straight to PC and experience no problems... there are no problems right :D I wouldn't sweat it.
Ah, I see. Think I'll revisit this hub topic when there is a review or some other measurements to compare with.
 

Veri

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Ah, I see. Think I'll revisit this hub topic when there is a review or some other measurements to compare with.
Hopefully either M300 or M500 will be measured in the future and then you'll know for sure.
 

burst99

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Huh, is this really true? So far I've been using the M300 with my desktop PC with a straight connection from the dac to the motherboard and I can't really believe that a USB-hub would make an improvement. One of the reasons I chose the M300 over competition was the lack of power cable. Is there any material on the topic?

USB output on a desktop PC might differ from MacBook's, because the former has a powerful power supply, while macbook might have some voodoo implemented to lower power consumption and prolong it's running time on battery, but dunno, that's just my speculation, I'm not a pro in that area. But, I'm a professional studio and live mixing engineer with a lot of experience working with the state of the art sound systems (L'Acoustics K1/K2 and such) and definitely can tell when my low-end reaches it's headroom limit. And I also can hear when my top-end gets masked as a consequence, reducing separation and imaging.

There's a clear and apparent difference in sound when I run signal from macbook to M300 through "Defender"-branded USB hub (worst), straight from macbook (better) and through "Orico"-branded hub (best). USB cables do matter as well, even though I was sceptical prior to actually doing an A/B comparison.

In next couple of days, my brother will bring over his Audio Research amp and Sonus Faber speakers and we will do more listening sessions with M300. I'll report back the results. I'm also interested in comparing the unit against D50.
 
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