SMSL D-6 DAC Review

[mrjayviper]

does this DAC have the PLL setting for "low quality" SPDIF? Thank you.

 

[Music1969]

does this DAC have the PLL setting for "low quality" SPDIF? Thank you.

Page 1 Jitter test if for TOSlink and digital coax - both practically same as USB

Jitter not a problem with this DAC

 

[staticV3]

Page 1 Jitter test if for TOSlink and digital coax - both practically same as USB

Jitter not a problem with this DAC

Page 1 jitter test shows how good the internal clock is, but that's irrelevant here.
You can have a DAC with perfect J-test result in Amir's test, that still stutters and skips all over the place when plugged into a TV as it can't stay locked onto the poor signal. That's something that Amir isn't testing yet.

 

[Palladium]

Page 1 jitter test shows how good the internal clock is, but that's irrelevant here.
You can have a DAC with perfect J-test result in Amir's test, that still stutters and skips all over the place when plugged into a TV as it can't stay locked onto the poor signal. That's something that Amir isn't testing yet.

LG TVs are notorious for bad SPDIF outputs.

 

[Music1969]

Page 1 jitter test shows how good the internal clock is, but that's irrelevant here.
You can have a DAC with perfect J-test result in Amir's test, that still stutters and skips all over the place when plugged into a TV as it can't stay locked onto the poor signal. That's something that Amir isn't testing yet.

I thought Amir's jitter test is pretty bad?

I believe with APx555 you can "inject" 2us of jitter

I use a D-6 DAC with TV and it's fine !

If jitter is a problem you will hear dropouts

No dropouts, no problems ?

 

[Veri]

No dropouts, no problems ?

Correct!

 

[kostago]

I just bought SMSL D6, and was running it through usb from my laptop and I have the same clicking popping noises while playing Tidal or Foobar on Windows 10. I dissabled the Power managment of the USB ports in Control Panel and no success. These clicking noises occur randomly during the playback of the tracks (not between the tracks or changing the sample rate). I tried what @pjoh suggested in this thread, to activate Streaming Always On in the Control Panel of the XMOS driver, but that didn't change anything. Does anyone have the same problem and have some instructions about this problem?

 

[xeizo]

I just bought SMSL D6, and was running it through usb from my laptop and I have the same clicking popping noises while playing Tidal or Foobar on Windows 10. I dissabled the Power managment of the USB ports in Control Panel and no success. These clicking noises occur randomly during the playback of the tracks (not between the tracks or changing the sample rate). I tried what @pjoh suggested in this thread, to activate Streaming Always On in the Control Panel of the XMOS driver, but that didn't change anything. Does anyone have the same problem and have some instructions about this problem?

I have had my D6 a couple of weeks now, exactly zero problems, I can stream for hours and not a single click/pop/noise. Sound is very stable. I use Tidal HiFi, Youtube and Foobar 2000(non exclusive mode for EAPO to work).

You could have a Windows resampling problem, it sometimes leaves artifacts, see to it you have 24/44.1 for the DAC in the Windows control panel(Tidal is always 44.1 unless you have the Master subscription and some tracks go higher).

Disabling "USB port power management in control panel" is maybe not enough, you have to go into "Device Manager" and find all "USB hubs", those are the ones needed to have Power Management turned off for each and every one for having stable USB audio. In particular on a laptop, as it should have strong power management, which is in effect "anti-audio".

I use EAPO + PEACE on Windows 11 and it works great, I have tuned my HE400SE to Sennheiser HE-1 LoL

 

[mrjayviper]

can someone please tell me the opamp used on this dac? thanks

 

[WILL]

can someone please tell me the opamp used on this dac? thanks

Thoughts on SMSL D-6 DAC?

It's been out since June it seems, so hopefully early batch issues (if any - I don't know) are sorted by now. I might wait 1 more month to order

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[mrjayviper]

Thoughts on SMSL D-6 DAC?

It's been out since June it seems, so hopefully early batch issues (if any - I don't know) are sorted by now. I might wait 1 more month to order

www.audiosciencereview.com

I searched for the word opamp in that thread and no results found

 

[rentaclaus]

I searched for the word opamp in that thread and no results found

No words, there should be this video (in vietnamese I guess)

If you have a closer look you can see, that you can't see what opamps are used ... the label seems rubbed away

 

[xeizo]

Whatever OP amps they are, Chinese copy or whatever, they seem to be pretty good as measurements are pretty good. You don't really need to know more than that.

 

[doug s.]

can someone please tell me the opamp used on this dac? thanks

based on pics i found on line, smsl uses opa1611 and 1612 in the da-s8 and m400, so there's a possibility that's what's used here. but are you really wanting to replace smd opamps?

doug s.

 

[xeizo]

From what info I've gathered, OP amp rolling is mostly placebo as different OP:s have different loudness it's easy to believe one sounds better(the loudest). If a OP does what it is intended to do within a certain circuit it is good enough.

I did some OP rolling on my old Xonar ST back in the day, couldn't hear any particular difference in actual quality.

For music creation it gets more interesting as different OP have different types of distortion when overdriven. In a Fuzz box, choice of OP matters a lot.

 

[rentaclaus]

OP amp rolling with IC's is for absolute beginners.
Real men have discrete OP amps, even mounting will be a challenge

Supreme Sound Opamp V6 - Burson Audio

Burson V6 Vivid and V6 Classic fully discrete audio opamps Both designs evolved from the Burson V5. But just as evolution is never linear, two V6 circuitries emerged to compete for the hearts and minds of music enthusiasts. Designed to optimise

www.bursonaudio.com

 

[xeizo]

OP amp rolling with IC's is for absolute beginners.
Real men have discrete OP amps, even mounting will be a challenge

Supreme Sound Opamp V6 - Burson Audio

Burson V6 Vivid and V6 Classic fully discrete audio opamps Both designs evolved from the Burson V5. But just as evolution is never linear, two V6 circuitries emerged to compete for the hearts and minds of music enthusiasts. Designed to optimise

www.bursonaudio.com

Bordering on the extreme, but does it sound better? LoL

 

[Veri]

OP amp rolling with IC's is for absolute beginners.
Real men have discrete OP amps, even mounting will be a challenge

Not really they're just a bit tall. Also for the record Burson (used to) send these around on head-fi if you're active for an "honest" review as in they publish whatever sweet syrup you conjure getting a free tall discrete OP amp gift reminds me of those scam 5-star amazon products.

 

[rentaclaus]

Not really they're just a bit tall.

So you are aimung for such

Op Amps Before Transistors: A 600V Vacuum Tube Monster

Op amps. Often the first thing that many learn about when beginning the journey into analog electronics, they’re used in countless ways in an overwhelmingly large array of circuits. When we t…

hackaday.com

 

[doug s.]

there's so many different opamps - discrete or otherwise. not sure it would be worth it for this; you could end up spending as much or more for the set-up as for the dac.

first, you need these:

then, for discrete opamps:

good luck,

doug s.