Review and Measurements of SMSL AD18 DAC & Amp

[VintageFlanker]

Do you think I would get much benefit in fidelity from this?

For your speakers use, no.

Whatever how good the DX3 output is, it will be "destroyed" by the poor AD18 performance as a power amp.

However, the DX3 Pro will work as a much better headphone amp, cleaner and more powerful. You could buy this one and then think about a power amp to pair.

 

[daftcombo]

Hi have a AD18 in my small room (2m*3.5m). It is enough. I think distortion is lower at 1W and I don't think I go higher than 1W here.

 

[dorirod]

Hi have a AD18 in my small room (2m*3.5m). It is enough. I think distortion is lower at 1W and I don't think I go higher than 1W here.

I usually use it around volume 10-15/60, rarely if ever go over 20/60 on the AD18 volume (sitting 10-12 ft from speakers), which has I believe -8dB to +8dB range. The Q100 are 8 Ohm, 85dB sensitivity. Not sure what that translates to in terms of power.

Looks like I'll wait until I can replace the whole thing.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[mkawa]

if anyone is interested i have an smsl q5 pro that i can offer up for measurements. the q5 pro has the same chipset as the ad18 but with no bluetooth, as it predates all of that. i have no idea whether it measures any better, but it's still pretty popular in budget circles.

 

[Altirix]

After I let it on for 12 hours (forgot to turn it off), the unit was a bit hot and the knob was and is still acting strangely. I couldn't turn it off with a long press, I had to use the remote.

Now, the knob allows me to turn the unit on (short press) and control the volume, but I can't change options anymore. I have to use the remote everytime, including for turning it off.

mines the opposite, IR sensor in my unit packed up, no response to remote (remote is working checked batteries & IR blaster was flashing under camera). thankfully amazon sorting it out even tho its been 6 months. im suspecting poor soldering quality.

 

[daftcombo]

Here I feed my right speaker (D) with :
a) a left channel sweep in the left channel of the amp
b) a right channel sweep in the right channel of the amp
NO MISMATCH. (Or at least < 0.1 dB everywhere, except on a resonnance peak where I see almost 0.2 - that could be a measurement error. Nothing special after 5 kHz anyway.)
(Phase is almost identical too, just a few degrees difference around 30Hz.)

Would I have different results if both channels were fed at the same time?
is it possible that channel mismatch appear only when the two channels are fed simultaneously?

 

[Deleted member 9685]

I discovered more than 2dB of channel imbalance in SMSL M100 DAC. I heard channel imbalance in the form of significant clipping in the right speaker.
I got a 56.28USD refund for the 70.35USD unit through aliexpress.com. I will recover 14 USD by selling it.
Perhaps, channel imbalance is a common defect in various SMSL models?

 

[NgtFlyer]

Do you know what version AD18 that was tested here? The one I ordered on April 2nd (supposedly located in Los Angeles, shipped from Shenzhen China and STILL has not arrived), is a version 3.1. I wonder if they have made any improvements to performance? If the thing ever shows up, I might just send it right over for a re-review if there is interest.

 

[railthe]

How reliable is this thing? Ive read a couple Amazon reviews and If there werent like 50 people saying its shit, I wouldve probably ordered it already. Someone told me he thinks that its just the PSU causing problems, but Ive read about jack sparks, USB/BT failures etc. Im planning on using it with Kef Q350 and I dont need/want high, wallshaking volumes.

 

[sir_frigorifero]

i've never heared about reliability issues. there shouldn't be any problems with it, just buy it from amazon or another dealer with solid warranty.
you can take a look at other similar models if you want like topping mx3 or smsl sa300. loxjie has a similar unit dropping soon too

 

[railthe]

i've never heared about reliability issues. there shouldn't be any problems with it, just buy it from amazon or another dealer with solid warranty.
you can take a look at other similar models if you want like topping mx3 or smsl sa300. loxjie has a similar unit dropping soon too

Here is the link for reviews, Topping MX3 has bad measurements and has similar reviews. Havent checked SA300 and Loxjie rings a bell, but I havent read about their products that much, definetly not about a new unit. Mind providing details? Thanks.

 

[dorirod]

How reliable is this thing? Ive read a couple Amazon reviews and If there werent like 50 people saying its shit, I wouldve probably ordered it already. Someone told me he thinks that its just the PSU causing problems, but Ive read about jack sparks, USB/BT failures etc. Im planning on using it with Kef Q350 and I dont need/want high, wallshaking volumes.

You probably can't expect great quality control out of something that's pretty cheap considering. However, as a single data point, I've been using my copy since December 2017 with my KEF Q100, and it's worked fine so far. The headphone jack is unusable due to noise not sure if it got worse or if it was that way to begin with as I very rarely have tried to use it.

Edit: By the way, I've yet to find a product with features like this one that's this compact and doesn't cost a lot. I've used Bluetooth (from phone), coaxial in (from Blu-ray player), TOSLINK (from TV), aux/3.5mm in from TV (for regular TV it doesn't work from TOSLINK, sometimes Chromecast won't go through TOSLINK either for some reason, probably dependent on audio stream format I'm guessing), USB in (from laptop), and it also has sub out! I really wish they'd produce a better performing unit or even better something from Topping that had the same feature set.

 

[SmackDaddies]

How reliable is this thing? Ive read a couple Amazon reviews and If there werent like 50 people saying its shit, I wouldve probably ordered it already. Someone told me he thinks that its just the PSU causing problems, but Ive read about jack sparks, USB/BT failures etc. Im planning on using it with Kef Q350 and I dont need/want high, wallshaking volumes.

I own an SMSL q5 pro, has worked great for two years. Of the RL people I know who own one (3), none of them have had issues. I think in general SMSL is a high quality chifi manufacturer. YMMV

 

[sir_frigorifero]

Here is the link for reviews, Topping MX3 has bad measurements and has similar reviews. Havent checked SA300 and Loxjie rings a bell, but I havent read about their products that much, definetly not about a new unit. Mind providing details? Thanks.

i think you need to clarify what you're looking for. do you want a multimedia all-in-one amplifier o an hifi amplifier?
even then in this price tag you have little choices for the latter in a measurements prospective, maybe the Volt+D or a second hand class AB

 

[railthe]

i think you need to clarify what you're looking for. do you want a multimedia all-in-one amplifier o an hifi amplifier?
even then in this price tag you have little choices for the latter in a measurements prospective, maybe the Volt+D or a second hand class AB

Simply - SMSL AD18 alternative of higher quality Id say ...Idk about that Loxjie, couldnt find any info about their new release, but SA300 looks decent. A bit downstep in connection, but probably worth it.

 

[sir_frigorifero]

SA300 has no optical nor coaxial which is a clear step down in a multimedial setup.

if you want higher quality then you can wait and try the loxjie when it'll come out in the market

 

[railthe]

SA300 has no optical nor coaxial which is a clear step down in a multimedial setup.

if you want higher quality then you can wait and try the loxjie when it'll come out in the market

Thanks, Im gonna wait I think...Do you have any source of info about that Loxjie thing? Or is it the A30 model?

 

[mattzildjian]

Thanks, Im gonna wait I think...Do you have any source of info about that Loxjie thing? Or is it the A30 model?

I assume it is the Loxjie A30, which I see is available to buy already. Does anyone have it?

My AD18 has recently started to fail, so I am returning it and looking for a replacement. I really like the look of the A30, also I like how the company are very open about the chips used. They even provide some measurements although it would be foolish to blindly believe them.

 

[railthe]

I assume it is the Loxjie A30, which I see is available to buy already. Does anyone have it?

My AD18 has recently started to fail, so I am returning it and looking for a replacement. I really like the look of the A30, also I like how the company are very open about the chips used. They even provide some measurements although it would be foolish to blindly believe them.

There is a dedicated thread, someone already sent A30 to amir, so lets hope he will test it as soon as possible so we know whats really inside the black box .

 

[Galgofa]

I'm also being an owner of this unit for time and use it as a soundbar and like it for variety of connection options.
Post here just to share with you link for another review to keep it here in the thread.

Spoiler: Link

https://www.qobuz.com/ie-en/info/hi-fi/bancs-d-essai/s-m-s-l-ad18-qobuzism-for-this179411