This is a detailed review and measurements of SMSL M8 DAC. It is on loan from a member and seems to be have been discontinued. It retailed for $249 when it was shipping. As such, I tested it against the Topping D50 DAC which also retails for the same money.
The SMSL comes in a miniature model of high-end equipment. Shrink a high-end DAC to 1/8 scale and you get SMSL 8! That alone looks fine. The problem is they also shrunk the display by the same amount. It has extremely small fonts for that reason.
The inputs are standard for this price range and comprise of USB, optical and coax S/PDIF. Power is provided through an external switching brick (the Topping D50 is USB powered). The device was plug-and-play in Windows 10 Creators edition and I had no trouble talking to it using Roon in exclusive WASAPI interface.
Measurements
Member BE718 already performed a set of measurements on the same unit he owns. See: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/measurements-of-smsl-m8-dac.2438/. For that reason, this is somewhat abbreviated set of measurements as there seems to be good agreement between his data and mine.
As usual, if you are not familiar with what these graphs are, refer to my tutorial on understanding audio measurements: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/understanding-audio-measurements.2351/
Let's start with J-Test and see what the noise floor and jitter looks like over USB interface:
While not an audible concern, it is nevertheless disappointing to see those spikes in red around 18 kHz.
Next let's look at linearity measurements over S/PDIF and compare it to Topping D50:
I would give a small nod to Topping D50 but really, this is excellent performance on behalf of SMSL M8.
Looking at the same test but done over USB (with different methodology) we get:
So again, excellent results.
Let's look at THD+N distortion results of a full amplitude 1 kHz tone that has been filtered out. Everything seen now is unwanted noise and distortion:
Some spikes are higher in one, versus the other. In the end, all of them are below threshold of audibility and is a draw. Note that in BE718's tests, the noise floor is higher, masking these spikes.
Looking at the same THD+N results but now relative to each frequency we get:
Expectedly, it is another draw.
Intermodulation using SMPTE 4:1 test pattern shows this:
Here, the performance is the same other than that "hump" in mid-levels for Topping D50 which is a regression from previous generation of Topping/ESS Dacs. Would be interesting to see if the newer version of SMSL 8 (8a?) suffers the same. For now though, the SMSL M8 wins on this test.
Conclusions
The SMSL 8 DAC is competently designed and produces excellent performance. On that basis, I would not hesitate to recommend it. From usability point of view, I much prefer the Topping D50's much larger and easier to read display. And the fact that it is a current generation product (just released as a matter of fact), it would get the nod from me if you are new in the market.
The SMSL certainly puts me on notice that they can produce well performing products.
As always, questions, comments, corrections, jokes, etc. are all welcome!
----
If you like this review, please consider donating funds for these types of hardware purchase using Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview), or upgrading your membership here though Paypal (https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054).
The SMSL comes in a miniature model of high-end equipment. Shrink a high-end DAC to 1/8 scale and you get SMSL 8! That alone looks fine. The problem is they also shrunk the display by the same amount. It has extremely small fonts for that reason.
The inputs are standard for this price range and comprise of USB, optical and coax S/PDIF. Power is provided through an external switching brick (the Topping D50 is USB powered). The device was plug-and-play in Windows 10 Creators edition and I had no trouble talking to it using Roon in exclusive WASAPI interface.
Measurements
Member BE718 already performed a set of measurements on the same unit he owns. See: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/measurements-of-smsl-m8-dac.2438/. For that reason, this is somewhat abbreviated set of measurements as there seems to be good agreement between his data and mine.
As usual, if you are not familiar with what these graphs are, refer to my tutorial on understanding audio measurements: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/understanding-audio-measurements.2351/
Let's start with J-Test and see what the noise floor and jitter looks like over USB interface:
While not an audible concern, it is nevertheless disappointing to see those spikes in red around 18 kHz.
Next let's look at linearity measurements over S/PDIF and compare it to Topping D50:
I would give a small nod to Topping D50 but really, this is excellent performance on behalf of SMSL M8.
Looking at the same test but done over USB (with different methodology) we get:
So again, excellent results.
Let's look at THD+N distortion results of a full amplitude 1 kHz tone that has been filtered out. Everything seen now is unwanted noise and distortion:
Some spikes are higher in one, versus the other. In the end, all of them are below threshold of audibility and is a draw. Note that in BE718's tests, the noise floor is higher, masking these spikes.
Looking at the same THD+N results but now relative to each frequency we get:
Expectedly, it is another draw.
Intermodulation using SMPTE 4:1 test pattern shows this:
Here, the performance is the same other than that "hump" in mid-levels for Topping D50 which is a regression from previous generation of Topping/ESS Dacs. Would be interesting to see if the newer version of SMSL 8 (8a?) suffers the same. For now though, the SMSL M8 wins on this test.
Conclusions
The SMSL 8 DAC is competently designed and produces excellent performance. On that basis, I would not hesitate to recommend it. From usability point of view, I much prefer the Topping D50's much larger and easier to read display. And the fact that it is a current generation product (just released as a matter of fact), it would get the nod from me if you are new in the market.
The SMSL certainly puts me on notice that they can produce well performing products.
As always, questions, comments, corrections, jokes, etc. are all welcome!
----
If you like this review, please consider donating funds for these types of hardware purchase using Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview), or upgrading your membership here though Paypal (https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054).
