SMSL D-6 DAC Review

[Human Bass]

I agree. Maybe only show the relevant colour or say 25 on either side. As for the DAC itself... meh... another DAC that measures excellent under $200. ho hum. Although... the feature set seems to be above average here at this price point.

It is the cheapest balanced dac out there by a good margin.

 

[Jimster480]

They simply don't care because their customers don't care either. People like us who care about low distortion, jitter or high dynamic range are the minority

I feel like this is the unfortunate truth. I test so many audio products through Amazon Vine and most of them are terrible. Products designed for normal people have no real thought in Sonic capability. It is amazing how many Sound Bars which cost anywhere from $60 to $500 have terrible DACs with obvious artifacts and distortion even in uncontrolled settings.
I have heard some utterly astonishingly bad performance.
So many Bluetooth speakers have terrible performance as well, both from their BT chipsets as well as their DACs... Plugging in a decent dac via 3.5mm can make them sound totally different but typically defeats the purpose.
Considering there are such affordable standalone dacs on the market and the dac chip in this product costs under $10 in bulk (with all the ESS Q2M chips typically costing under $20 even in smaller bulk).

Every product could have something close to Sonic perfection if they actually cared. Most products don't get near 90 SINAD... Nevermind anything higher than that.

The sad part is that some of these devices actually have good DAC chips in them but they don't bother to implement them properly so the performance is still atrocious.

 

[DonR]

It is the cheapest balanced dac out there by a good margin.

Yes, balanced out is one of the great features, along with BT (LDAC) and USB-C. But strictly as a DAC it is the same as many others. However, I guess there is little to do anymore with the actual DAC having passed the level of transparency long ago.

 

[Jimster480]

Interesting suggestion. In such a graph, you wouldn't be able to see and identify the rest of the products. You are OK with that?

Maybe we can make a taller tiered chart instead. This way the image won't be so long. Also I vote that we change the top tier to like 115+ since there are just way too many products in the overall excellent category now.

 

[Jimster480]

It is the cheapest balanced dac out there by a good margin.

Yea I think the E50/D50 is the next cheapest. Or maybe DX3 pro+?

 

[GXAlan]

Interesting suggestion. In such a graph, you wouldn't be able to see and identify the rest of the products. You are OK with that?

Is there a reader here who can generate a HTML5 or JavaScript real-time display that pulls from the database? Surely there is someone with that skill set?

 

[rarewolf]

I think we need a new way to dislpay the ranking. Even at full size, the device names are getting hard to read

I vote for a histogram!

I find it easy enough to select/view and zoom in on regions of quality, but I admit it’s difficult to search for a specific model.

 

[mhardy6647]

I find it easy enough to select/view and zoom in on regions of quality, but I admit it’s difficult to search for a specific model.

Well, I mean... it could simply be split into four chunks (i.e., four graphics): E,VG, F, P

 

[Garrincha]

I agree. Maybe only show the relevant colour or say 25 on either side. As for the DAC itself... meh... another DAC that measures excellent under $200. ho hum. Although... the feature set seems to be above average here at this price point.

I understand the judgement, but it is not fair. It still should be considered amazing that an almost SOTA DAC for under $200 is available, measuring better than many devices 10 times or even more expensive.

 

[DonR]

I understand the judgement, but it is not fair. It still should be considered amazing that an almost SOTA DAC for under $200 is available, measuring better than many devices 10 times or even more expensive.

It's just that there are so many, I simply expect it at this price point. The features other than the DAC itself stand out here though.

 

[diddley]

I'am glad that AKM is delivering again to the market, and that this device shows with great implemantation it can be cheap and excellent.
All things ended good.

 

[192kbps]

为什么这个品牌这么喜欢玩机海战术？

 

[Palladium]

Wanted to get the DO100 but price increased from 215€ to 240€ on amazon. I'm probably gonna get the D-6 now

I sold mine off because the bluetooth has an annoying 2-second starting lag once I cut the stream over a few seconds which does not occur with any of the Toppings, FiiO BTR5 or even dirt cheap generic chinese gear with BT. I hope ASR does more testing about usability issues such of this.

 

[Music1969]

Better value than Topping E30 V2

Balanced output, better jitter on TOSlink and digi coax, no powerbrick

 

[Jimster480]

Is there a reader here who can generate a HTML5 or JavaScript real-time display that pulls from the database? Surely there is someone with that skill set?

Technically I could. I am quite busy right now though. However if someone else can't do it then it is something I could work on in the future. However you can't easily embed that into xenforo posts usually, you have to do custom pages.

 

[gvl]

Would be useful to also see IMD on unbalanced outputs for DACs that have balanced outputs.

 

[Jimster480]

I'am glad that AKM is delivering again to the market, and that this device shows with great implemantation it can be cheap and excellent.
All things ended good.

Akm always had the best measuring budget devices. I think it is because their DACs are cheap in bulk (sub $10, even sub $5 sometimes) where ESS 9018K2M is rarely under $10... Maybe only with a huge custom order and 9028/9038Q2M are ~$15 with a bulk order.

9038Pro is $95, possibly as low as $75 in a bulk (if some companies pay less then it's nothing I could find publicly available).

Better value than Topping E30 V2

Balanced output, better jitter on TOSlink and digi coax, no powerbrick

Yea and no because the DX3 Pro+ is about $30 more and there are some original DX3 Pro around the same price.... That has a headphone amp as well... So it depends on what features you want. This offering from SMSL slots in nicely into the existing market.

 

[machinejump]

Technically I could. I am quite busy right now though. However if someone else can't do it then it is something I could work on in the future. However you can't easily embed that into xenforo posts usually, you have to do custom pages.

I can do it. should be pretty straightforward... and im bored right now. good combination

 

[Cars-N-Cans]

Maybe a dumb question, but how do the white LED segments hold up on these? I have the phosphor based LEDs on my PC, and they are all absolutely cooked now. Display and internal case lighting is barely visible at this point. I have been hesitant to buy anything that uses anything other than standard LEDs for the segments since having to deal with a dead display would be rather annoying.

 

[jasonq997]

How do the remotes on these dacs work for longer range volume control. Is the functionality useful purely in a desktop setup?