Sabaj D5 vs. SMSL M500 vs. Topping DX7 Pro: measurement comparison

[ClosDeBen]

If I don't need the headphone amp but like having the physical volume knob, is there any other disadvantage of these units vs their DAC-Only counterparts, say DX7 Pro vs D70 ?

Do any of these three brands have better quality control ? SMSL in particular seem to have more unhappy Amazon reviews than the other two brands.

 

[RickSanchez]

If I don't need the headphone amp but like having the physical volume knob, is there any other disadvantage of these units vs their DAC-Only counterparts, say DX7 Pro vs D70 ?

Do any of these three brands have better quality control ? SMSL in particular seem to have more unhappy Amazon reviews than the other two brands.

So you're looking for a standalone DAC with a physical volume knob? (I'm guessing you already have a headphone amp.) There are a fair number of them out there, such as the SONCOZ SGD1.

There wouldn't be any disadvantages to these DAC/amp combos. (Other than possibly paying for more than you need.) To protect yourself against ground loop issues you'd be better off going with the Sabaj D5 or the Topping DX7 Pro as both of those have XLR outs on the back to connect to a headphone amp. However, that assumes your headphone amp has XLR inputs.

One of the advantages of using only a DAC/amp combo is the digital volume control will normally result in perfect channel balance. For example, take a look at the D5 and the DX7 Pro:

Compare that to a SOTA headphone amp like the Monoprice THX 887:

 

[ClosDeBen]

Thanks @RickSanchez. I have some Elac Navis active speakers to drive that do have XLR inputs so definitely want the XLR out feature.

I saw the SONCOZ SGD1. Good to know the volume control difference. Sounds like that one's unavailable at the moment so was searching for an alternate. Perhaps I'll figure out an optional configuration till it ships.

Does the RME ADI-2 has a similar digital volume (granted at a higher price point).

Any other good quality options I should consider ? I'd rather spend wisely but trying to avoid possible reliability headaches.

 

[VeerK]

Thanks @RickSanchez. I have some Elac Navis active speakers to drive that do have XLR inputs so definitely want the XLR out feature.

I saw the SONCOZ SGD1. Good to know the volume control difference. Sounds like that one's unavailable at the moment so was searching for an alternate. Perhaps I'll figure out an optional configuration till it ships.

Does the RME ADI-2 has a similar digital volume (granted at a higher price point).

Any other good quality options I should consider ? I'd rather spend wisely but trying to avoid possible reliability headaches.

Topping D90, however it’s a fair bit more expensive than the Soncoz.

 

[RickSanchez]

Thanks @RickSanchez. I have some Elac Navis active speakers to drive that do have XLR inputs so definitely want the XLR out feature.

I saw the SONCOZ SGD1. Good to know the volume control difference. Sounds like that one's unavailable at the moment so was searching for an alternate. Perhaps I'll figure out an optional configuration till it ships.

Does the RME ADI-2 has a similar digital volume (granted at a higher price point).

Any other good quality options I should consider ? I'd rather spend wisely but trying to avoid possible reliability headaches.

Not sure about the RME ADI-2, but you could ask on the measurement thread.

I suppose one of the advantages for you with a DAC/amp combo is you could use the headphone outs down the road if you wanted to. But depends on your setup and your preferences. As I said before I’m sure there are some solid standalone DACs with a manual volume control knob, so you could research those online and then see which ones have been reviewed / measured here. Or you could open a new thread and ask the question on ASR.

Similar to you I’ve seen a number of reviews / posts from Topping and SMSL owners that mention build quality issues across various models. But I don’t own products from either company so I can’t say, or speak to their customer service. Sabaj seems like more of an unknown. I haven’t heard much about their products, but there is an owners thread.

 

[RickSanchez]

Topping D90, however it’s a fair bit more expensive than the Soncoz.

But does the D90 have a volume knob? (Which is what ClosDeBen was asking about.) I thought it only had a rocker switch or something similar.

 

[Piotr]

I wonder why all those contraptions do not include usb-c input. It's 2020.

 

[DonRua]

Yes indeed. It has a dedicated XLR input for 2 channel hifi. When I hooked up my previous dac magic, no sound. When I hook the same XLR to the power amp, really good sound. So I suspect either the sherbourn 2 channel XLR input don't work, or I have to push a button to activate it. Either way it was stupid to split my system into 2. I am gonna get the sabaj, try bi-amping again. I may have to take the sherbourn in to get the XLR input checked out. Stay tuned. I am sure I will have more questions when the sabaj arrives. Many thanx again.

 

[DonRua]

Hi RickSanchez and MediumRare:
Happy New Year. I was bed bound sick for 3 weeks during Xmas. Hence the late report of the Sabaj D5.
I received promptly. Dunno how FedEx can just leave the package outside my front door and nothing got stolen so far.
User's manual was next to non existent. 8 1/2 x 11 reduced to the size of my business card = non readable. I had to improvise again. In fear of stupid mistakes it took me a few days to gather the courage to get to it.
Final hooked it up, remote didnt work. XLR connection to my pre-amp also didnt work, as anticipated. My old-timer pro gear repairman didnt want to touch it. Sherbourne Audio is NO LONGER. Now What?
1. I printed the Sabaj user's manual from online. "for I was blind, now I can see" (John 9:25) Hit the "C" button, remote came alive.
2. MY dentist is also an audiophile. With both hands up my jaw he assured me it had to be a switch somewhere. After 2 days of hooking and unhooking, read thru the sherbourn manual multiple times, I discovered one potential ambiguity - The input channels need to be "CALIBRATED". Sounded too technical. Likely I skipped thru this line each time I read. After another day of navigating pre-amp settings, HA, I found it. When I first received the amp I set the Input 1 (HIFI 2-channel) to HDMI. No wonder the XLR didnt work. AHHHHH, 4 years of frustration, separatged my system into 2, all because of my own stupid interpretation of "Calibration".
Now, everytihng is working good. Finally got the 7 channel surround AND the 2-channel HIFI all working. I am impressed. With respect to the dac, Honestly, my ear forgot what it sounded like with the dacmagic. So I can't really comment on how superior the sabaj is.
With Tidal Master setting I am super happy HIFI listening. Even some of the Youtube sound is not too bad at all. I will stop looking for a better source now. Next improvement will be a good headphone, another Spectrum Musician III and room renovation.
All suggestions are welcome. Thanx a million again for putting up with me.

 

[RickSanchez]

Hi RickSanchez and MediumRare:
Happy New Year. I was bed bound sick for 3 weeks during Xmas. Hence the late report of the Sabaj D5.
I received promptly. Dunno how FedEx can just leave the package outside my front door and nothing got stolen so far.
User's manual was next to non existent. 8 1/2 x 11 reduced to the size of my business card = non readable. I had to improvise again. In fear of stupid mistakes it took me a few days to gather the courage to get to it.
Final hooked it up, remote didnt work. XLR connection to my pre-amp also didnt work, as anticipated. My old-timer pro gear repairman didnt want to touch it. Sherbourne Audio is NO LONGER. Now What?
1. I printed the Sabaj user's manual from online. "for I was blind, now I can see" (John 9:25) Hit the "C" button, remote came alive.
2. MY dentist is also an audiophile. With both hands up my jaw he assured me it had to be a switch somewhere. After 2 days of hooking and unhooking, read thru the sherbourn manual multiple times, I discovered one potential ambiguity - The input channels need to be "CALIBRATED". Sounded too technical. Likely I skipped thru this line each time I read. After another day of navigating pre-amp settings, HA, I found it. When I first received the amp I set the Input 1 (HIFI 2-channel) to HDMI. No wonder the XLR didnt work. AHHHHH, 4 years of frustration, separatged my system into 2, all because of my own stupid interpretation of "Calibration".
Now, everytihng is working good. Finally got the 7 channel surround AND the 2-channel HIFI all working. I am impressed. With respect to the dac, Honestly, my ear forgot what it sounded like with the dacmagic. So I can't really comment on how superior the sabaj is.
With Tidal Master setting I am super happy HIFI listening. Even some of the Youtube sound is not too bad at all. I will stop looking for a better source now. Next improvement will be a good headphone, another Spectrum Musician III and room renovation.
All suggestions are welcome. Thanx a million again for putting up with me.

Glad you were able to get things figured out and set up.

Not sure if you had the DacMagic or the DacMagic Plus, but the DacMagic Plus measures fairly well for a DAC. Good linearity, low jitter, decent IMD, decent SINAD; I'd be surprised if there was a noticeable audible difference between that and the Sabaj D5.

As for headphones, a lot of that will come down to experimenting to discover which ones sound good to you. ASR member @solderdude has a great tutorial on how to interpret headphone measurements:

• https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/tutorials/how-to-interpret-graphs/

You can also take a look at the measurements he's done: https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/

I can't really offer advice on the topic of headphones. I own a pair of HiFiMan HE400i's that I enjoy quite a bit, but I'm very new to the headphone game. There are many others on ASR that can help with advice.

 

[RickSanchez]

Added a link to @WolfX-700 's measurements of the SMSL M500 v2. These performance numbers are not included in the charts in my original post but are definitely important to review for those considering the M500.

 

[Anto102]

Considering these prices:

• Topping Dx7 Pro: 599 €
• Sabaj D5: 459,99 €
• SMSL M500: 399 €

Which one should i take? I would pair it with Beyerdynamic DT880 600Ω

 

[Veri]

Considering these prices:

• Topping Dx7 Pro: 599 €
• Sabaj D5: 459,99 €
• SMSL M500: 399 €

Which one should i take? I would pair it with Beyerdynamic DT880 600Ω

If you can use Sabaj D5 balanced XLR headphone output, Sabaj. If not, M500 is just updated to v2 with overall superb performance. DX7 is also very good of course, but it's the most pricy of the bunch, especially considering M500 update.

 

[ReaderZ]

If you can use Sabaj D5 balanced XLR headphone output, Sabaj. If not, M500 is just updated to v2 with overall superb performance. DX7 is also very good of course, but it's the most pricy of the bunch, especially considering M500 update.

I would got with DX7 pro, first based on my own excellent experience. Second 600 ohm DT880 is very hard to drive and does not have balanced connection out of box. I doubt single ended M500 and D5 can drive them well, they have about 2/3 of DX7 pro's output for 33ohm, but at 300 ohm both drop to around half of DX7 pro's power output, at 600ohm they likely won't have much power.

 

[Veri]

I would got with DX7 pro, first based on my own excellent experience. Second 600 ohm DT880 is very hard to drive and does not have balanced connection out of box. I doubt single ended M500 and D5 can drive them well, they have about 2/3 of DX7 pro's output for 33ohm, but at 300 ohm both drop to around half of DX7 pro's power output, at 600ohm they likely won't have much power.

If he can afford it then yes. If he had re-wired/modded his Beyerdynamic to balanced, the Sabaj D5 could drive it at a fraction of the cost though. In any case he could also go with the cheapest M500 and pair it with a magni heresy or Drop 789 I'm not the biggest fan of >€500 all-in-one units when separates can do the same or more, but cheaper.

 

[ReaderZ]

If he can afford it then yes. If he had re-wired/modded his Beyerdynamic to balanced, the Sabaj D5 could drive it at a fraction of the cost though. In any case he could also go with the cheapest M500 and pair it with a magni heresy or Drop 789 I'm not the biggest fan of >€500 all-in-one units when separates can do the same or more, but cheaper.

If going with 789 then one of these new $199-$300 balanced DACs should be used instead of M500 to further save money since M500's headphone out won't be used once you get 789.

 

[Anto102]

Unfortunately i can't use the XLR output.

Regarding the price, i can afford the DX7 Pro but it wouldn't be bad to save some money.

If i decided to go with separated amp and dac, what would you advice (with usb input) to pair with the Magni Heresy? I'm not going with the Drop 789 because i prefer to buy from European sellers, in order to have some kind of warranty

 

[ReaderZ]

Unfortunately i can't use the XLR output.

Regarding the price, i can afford the DX7 Pro but it wouldn't be bad to save some money.

If i decided to go with separated amp and dac, what would you advice to pair with the Magni Heresy? I prefer to not going with the Drop 789 because i prefer to buy from European sellers, in order to have some kind of warranty

Topping E30, make sure it's the new stock with polarity issue fixed.

 

[MalinYamato]

Due to overwhelming ASR member demand (kidding) I thought it would be interesting to compare three high-performing DAC/amp combos: the Sabaj D5 vs. the SMSL M500 vs. the Topping DX7 Pro. Thanks to @amirm for all of the measurements; all of this info is from him (unless otherwise noted), I'm simply putting the measurements side-by-side.

Author's notes:

• Sabaj --> SMSL --> Topping is simply alphabetical; I'm not implying one is better than the other.
• All of the graphics are labeled, but to make it consistent: Sabaj D5 is always on the left, SMSL M500 in the middle, Topping DX7 Pro is always on the right.
• I have no experience with any of these units, nor do I have any perspective on build quality / customer service.
• If anyone sees errors / omissions please let me know and I will make corrections.
• If anyone has issues with the measurements or conclusions ...... take it up with Amir!

BASIC SPECS
This is not an exhaustive list.

References:

• ASR review + measurements: Sabaj D5 | SMSL M500 | Topping DX7 Pro
  • SMSL M500 v2 measurements (testing done by @WolfX-700)
• Manufacturer product pages: Sabaj D5 | SMSL M500 | Topping DX7 Pro
• Teardowns: SMSL M500 (includes ESS ES9038Pro DAC chip thermal analysis)

Shared Specs:

• DAC chip: ESS ES9038PRO
• XLR line outputs: yes
• Remote control: yes

Varying Specs:

• USB: Sabaj D5 & Topping DX7 Pro = XMOS XU-208 // SMSL M500 = XMOS XU-216
• XLR headphone jack: Sabaj D5 + Topping DX7 Pro only
• Bluetooth: Topping DX7 Pro only (Bluetooth 5.0 with support for LDAC, AAC, aptX, aptX LL, and aptX HD)
• MQA: SMSL M500 only
• Optical input(s): Sabaj D5 (x1) // SMSL M500 (x2) // Topping DX7 Pro (x1)

Dimensions:

• Sabaj D5: 24.5cm (W) x 21.0cm (D) x 5.0cm (H)
• SMSL M500: 8.8cm (W) x 19.7cm (D) x 8.5cm (H)
• Topping DX7 Pro: 22.2cm (W) x 17.8cm (D) x 4.5cm (H)

On to the DAC measurements ........

• Note: For the SMSL M500 output was measured at 4.3 volt, not the ~4.0 volt of the other two DAC/amps.
• You can click on each image to enlarge it.

SINAD
Measured using USB in / XLR out. However, the Sabaj D5 measurements were taken after 30 minutes of warm-up.

View attachment 37354



DYNAMIC RANGE

View attachment 37355




JITTER

View attachment 37356




INTERMODULATION + NOISE
A slight "ESS IMD hump" appears in the Sabaj D5 and Topping DX7 Pro units.

• Note: the SMSL M500 has both the XLR and RCA outs measured.

View attachment 37357




LINEARITY
All three units are capable of 20 bits of resolution.

• Note: The Topping DX7 Pro only has the XLR out measured; it does not include the RCA out.

View attachment 37358



32 TONE INPUT SIGNAL (192 kHz)

View attachment 37359




THD+N RATIO vs FREQUENCY @ 48 kHZ

View attachment 37360



FFT SPECTRUM OF WHITE NOISE @ 44.1 kHZ
For the DX7 Pro, please note this discussion regarding the filters between @Veri and Amir. As Amir states: "... either the manual or the firmware may be wrong."

View attachment 37361

*Note*: there is now a revised user manual for the DX7 Pro. The original manual -- which is what Amir used -- listed the filters in the wrong order. The new, corrected manual is in the same "Drivers and Documents" section of Topping's website: http://www.tpdz.net/support.html








The following are the headphone amp measurements ...

SIGNAL to NOISE RATIO (50mv | 600 Ohm)
I didn't find this for the Sabaj D5, so only the SMSL M500 and Topping DX7 Pro are pictured.

View attachment 37362




POWER VS. DISTORTION (300 Ohm load)

View attachment 37369





POWER VS. DISTORTION (33 Ohm load)

View attachment 37364






POWER VS. DISTORTION (XLR out using 50 Ohm load)
Only the Sabaj D5 and Topping DX7 Pro are pictured. As Amir mentions in this thread: the M500 does not have an XLR headphone out, so it was not tested.

View attachment 37366




CHANNEL IMBALANCE
I didn't find this for the SMSL M500, so only the Sabaj D5 and Topping DX7 Pro are pictured.

View attachment 37365




OUTPUT IMPEDANCE
I believe Amir has previously stated that his test equipment adds about 0.8-0.9 Ohms? If that's the case you can subtract that amount from each of these measurements.

View attachment 37367





CONCLUSIONS

Sabaj D5

From Amir:




SMSL M500

From Amir:




Topping DX7 Pro

From Amir:




View attachment 37368


[edit: 2019-12-12]: added link to the SMSL M500 teardown (includes ESS ES9038Pro DAC chip thermal analysis).
[edit: 2020-05-31]: added references to WolfX-700's review of the SMSL-M500 v2.

thank you for your efforts in aggregating reviews and measures regarding those products, which helps me in my purchasing decisions. I would like more of this kind of threads with even more products and including more reviews across the net. Great! I regard SMSL M500 by far the best DAC that you may get and I see no reason to spend extra to buy a M200, D90 or M400 unless you like the form factor of those. Would u need wireless as input to those high end DACs, I would not go BT, I would go wifi, which you may integrate by connecting the spdif out on a RaspberryPi to spdif in on M500. So far I am sold on the following combo: M500 + Magni 3 Hersey or SP200 or A90 -- M500 in red. The problem of those amps is that there is no red color option.

 

[MalinYamato]

If going with 789 then one of these new $199-$300 balanced DACs should be used instead of M500 to further save money since M500's headphone out won't be used once you get 789.

My approach is the same. Use M500 as a DAC and get a better amp. 789 is nice but will end up costing me $400 and for $100 extra. I may as well get a A90. I dont know if Drop ONE has a 789 chip and considering its spec its a bit too pricey.