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SMSL A300 My Subjective-ish review

dudewithcans

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The default noise from the amp is quite high indeed.
IF my unit wasnt faulty (and i srsly hope for smsl it was) its not quite high (like in: "yeah, its a bit high..."), it is way to high (like: "far from anything acceptable").
but im not going to judge on that one, b/c i didnt test a different unit.

Hope you tried to dim the screen to the lowest setting, that makes it much cleaner.
i did, just for the sake of checking the feature out, didnt know it would make any difference in noise... it didnt. :cool:
I do agree the noise floor above say '60' on the dial in unacceptable.
60... ok. for me it made no difference, i had the noise regardless the output.

whatever, im a bit disappointed by the performance of this smsl device, i had a sh-8 once, and i have to say it was very good (disregarding the power output from the HPA, which was to low for my headphones).

like i said, i COULD probably try a hypex NC122MP based poweramp, but i personally find it a bit too expensive and i essentially need a (at least passive) preamp for volume control aswell so that adds up...

maybe i get my ass off the chair this year and try the audiophonics mpa-s125nc and the "pre-03" active preamp or a passive one...
 

grogi.giant

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One curious thing I'm wondering when using the RCA input by this amp. The A300 uses a digital pot for volume control, right?
So input signals have to be converted to digital and then back again to analog. For me the amp only makes sense for some one who primarily uses the USB or BT as input.

You can have a digitally controlled circuit that processes analogue signal.
 

dthomasturner

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I use this amp with JBL A170 towers in my bedroom system. It definitely works well with them. It does have a bit of noise at idle, but it is not perceptable at low listening levels 50-65 decibels. It is a very good sounding amplifier for the 165$ I paid for it. Not sure I could fault them for that given the rich feature set that is included. At least on my unit, the noise stays at the same level, regardles of volume setting and I have to put my ear less than 12" from the tweeter to hear it.
 

dudewithcans

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At least on my unit, the noise stays at the same level, regardles of volume setting and I have to put my ear less than 12" from the tweeter to hear it.
so YOU have no noise from your mid/bass drivers and only hissing from the tweeter?
 

dthomasturner

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so YOU have no noise from your mid/bass drivers and only hissing from the tweeter?
Yes, that is correct. I can't percieve any hiss coming from the mid/bass drivers. If there is noise coming from there, it is inaudible, to me at least. There is also a slightly different quality to the hiss going from left to right channel. it is more prominent on the right channel. And like I said, it does not increase with any change in the volume in standby.
 

jhnpennington

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I'm getting one of these delivered today. The 2 RCA inputs will be taken up by my streamer and turntable. I would like to connect a CD transport via the USB input? I'm not sure if it's possible or how I'd go about it.
 

jhnpennington

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Does your turntable have a line preamp in it?

What is that CD transport with USB output?
The turntable is going through an external phono stage. I can't find a transport that has USB out. Is there a converter available that doesn't damage sound quality?
 

Zek

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USB input on the A-300 uses a bluetooth chip for conversion and as far as I remember it was said here that it is of worse quality than the line input.
 

Bleib

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USB input on the A-300 uses a bluetooth chip for conversion and as far as I remember it was said here that it is of worse quality than the line input.
yeah, it's mediocre
 

dudewithcans

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i tested a different a300 unit today.
the noise from the mid/bass i had with the last unit is not present, it only has slight humming from the mid/bass drivers until volume setting 40 or so...
from 40 to 50 the humming increases, from 50 to 60 (max) the humming gets alot louder - but that seems normal... turn your poti on your classAB amp to max and you will also get higher static noise compared to lets say 12oclock.

i guess the other a300 unit i had before was faulty indeed.

but the static noise hissing from the tweeter (!) ist still there, and ALOT louder then my c325.
FOR ME on MY SPEAKERS its to loud/present, so unfortunately this unit is going return aswell.
the display brightness setting made zero difference btw.

anyway, sound quality whise i think its a good classD amp, and if you f.e. have speakers with lower efficiency (letz say around 86dB) or have no problem with the hissing from the tweeter, and dont want to deafen yourself with extreme SPL, i recommend to give this amp a try.
 
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Cool Runnings

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SMSL A300 (£150/$175)


These are my impressions of the new SMSL A300 integrated amp.

I tested it with my SMSL SU9N DAC playing Spotify from my TV through TOSLink. I used a pair of Quad S2 (87dB at 8ohm impedance nominal) speakers as they are very revealing and fairly neutral from 200Hz upwards.

I ordered the unit straight from SHENZENAUDIO, it was discounted 10% because of the “late summer sale”, and it arrived (UK) without any glitches in 7 days.

I have been paying attention to this segment of the amplifier market as I was looking to switch from my Rega Brio-R class AB amp(£450 amp), to a Class D amp with more power ( 50W compared to A300 claimed 85W into 8 Ohm). I just wasn’t that impressed with the PA5 and DA9 but when A300 appeared at $175 equivalent, I was compelled to buy.

Overall, I am quite happy with this move (sold the Brio) and I will explain in more detail why. I would give the A300 a solid 8.5/10 score).

BUILD QUALITY

The amp feels solid , weighs about 1Kg, looks well designed, I like the in line speaker binding posts as it allows more easy connection, as opposed to the array (2x2) posts, which can be tricky to deal with because of lack of space- especially in this small form factor. I was a bit confused when I connected the RCA cables on the back as Line input 2 is the first one on the left of the back of the amp and then Line1 comes. So when I switched it on I heard nothing and for a moment thought I got a faulty amp (haha). Anyway I figured that I had connected to Line2 and it started playing. The menu is easy to navigate and I really like the fact that one can dim the display for late night dark listening.


HOW IT SOUNDS?

I tested the amp with Direct mode (E0) and Tone (E1) and SDB (E2). I didn't test the BT functionality or the SW out.

In Direct, it sounds really flat over 20HZ to 20Khz, i didn’t detect any kind of coloration to the sound, and with my flat sounding speakers, I would say too much of a neutral sound. I wouldn’t call it boring sounding but nothing stands out and that may seem boring to some. I didn’t detect any harshness in the upper registers, just neutrality ( and believe me if that was the case the Quads would have pointed that out to me). Compared to the Brio, I would say it is more neutral sounding and it extends a bit further in the upper and lower frequencies.

BASS (Direct) – one of my reasons for going Class D and going for more power was related to bass control provided that the amp is well built. Oh boy, there is plenty of bass control. Bass is tight, articulate, well controlled, especially when I crank up the volume to >80db. The amp doesn’t lose composure ( I cant say the same about the Brio), A300 grabs those woofers and makes them sing.

MIDS (Direct)- very neutral sounding , nothing stands out, voices are played well, natural sounding. Timbre sounds correct for most instruments, and there is no harshness detected at 2K-4K. IT is not mid centric as the Brio was, but I guess that’s what British sounds is all about right?

TREBLE (Direct)- this is quite funny and surprising, as many Class A/Class AB buffs have described in the past Class D as harsh, shimmery etc… This amp is the opposite of that , it is smooth ( too smooth for my ear) in Direct mode. There is detail, Cymbals and other instruments sound correct but with a bit of a veil on top, which can bother some, but hey we have DSP and tone controls.

SO to sum up, this amp is neutral, natural sounding, quite smooth and may fit many speakers. 9/10.

Now, the fun part, the DSP. SMSL promote their SDB patented DSP as the next best thing. To be honest, I like it quite a lot at low listening levels (<65dB). Think of it as a good ol’ LOUDNESS button on the old receivers. It does exactly the same thing.

What I preferred actually is E1 – TONE setting- for normal listening 65-75dB. I bumped up the BASS to +2 and Treble to +2 and the whole combo sounds amazing. To be honest I cannot believe that £150 Class D can bring this much to the table.

SOUNDSTAGE/IMAGING- quite wide left to right soundstage, instrument separation is excellent ( better than my old Brio-R), there is width and depth to the sound (the amp doesn’t play a role in this anyway). Very happy.

I have to mention the POWER, the amp is powerful, definitely more powerful than my old Brio, I t can play really LOUD without losing composure, without any harshness, and that is what I mainly wanted in this purchase. It gets a bit warm but nothing to worry about. Very happy.

DOWNSIDES

I have a few comments related to the build and functioning of the amp too.

  • The remote- while very nice to have – I use the amp in far field ( I sit about 2.5 m away from it) and sometimes IF I don’t AIM within a cone of 30-40 deg from the receiver diode – it is hit and miss. I wish they improved that.
  • The menus- sometimes they glitch ( some other characters appear on display)- not too bothersome but had to mention- 99% time it works perfectly fine- I guess they focused mostly on sound performance and didn’t put too much into the user experience budget.
  • The background noise- So I noticed as I connected my speakers that a high frequency HISS sound does come out of them when no music is playing- I can hear it at <20cm from the speaker. It doesn’t increase with Volume so at normal listening levels it is un perceptible. One thing I noticed is that if I mute the amp the noise disappears. Maybe this is just my unit ( although I doubt that) but yes, there is a background noise that may bother some of you.
This was it, my subjective review, and I hope someone gets to measure this amp soon and we can all see how well it stacks vs other high value Class D amps. Absolute steal of an amp for the money! If you asked me whether it beats the Brio-R- i would say yes by a small margin, and remember the Brios have been the best thing Class AB has to provide in terms of pure sound for under £600-$700 according to various HIFI magazines and websites.
Thanks great review. My A300 replaced the DA9 using Ifi Zen Stream into Geshelli J2s and out to Sound Artist LS3/5as in a small office near field listening (3ft from ears) with REL TZeros for the bottom end.

Really happy with this set-up. To my non-golden ears, trebles, mids and bass are all covered. I like it a bit sparkly on top. I get that. I like the mids to be the main show for my system and they are. I like the bass to be there when the sound track calls for it, the TZeros don't disappoint and the subwoofer management in the A300 works.

I get zero hiss in my speakers when system is fully turned on without any music playing and I'd know if there was as my head is no more than 3ft from the components and speakers. Once I've got all my settings locked in, I just control everything else through my mobile phone.

My only issue with my system has to do with the J2s pop and cracks which happens only if I turn it off and on. So I just leave it always on.

I've been considering upgrading my system via upgrading the speakers. Thinking hard about whether the Dali Menuet SEs will make a big difference for very near field listening.
 
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