SMSL D400EX DAC Review

[respice finem]

Somebody is displeased, what to do?

View attachment 250415

Considering the many "high end" DACs massacred tested here, there are quite a few "suspects"...

 

[Palladium]

I rather they release a more interesting product then yet another pure DAC with overkill SINAD.

 

[Sokel]

Somebody is displeased, what to do?

View attachment 250415

Considering the many "high end" DACs massacred tested here, there are quite a few "suspects"...

I already said it's mine,read people

 

[poxymoron]

I already said it's mine,read people

Somebody is displeased again.

 

[respice finem]

I already said it's mine,read people

Are you sure it's OLED?

 

[Sokel]

Are you sure it's OLED?

Until proved NOT to be every little screen is OLED.
(did the same for L70 and changed my vote when the friends here told me it's not).
I'm not trained to use crystal balls to set the level or menus .

(multicolor falls under the same rating,my aesthetics alone,not blaming anyone for this,but even Okto got the stick when heard about burned screens).

 

[staticV3]

@Sokel it's IPS

What were your words? Read, people
https://www.smsl-audio.com/portal/product/detail/id/806.html

 

[Sokel]

@Sokel it's IPS
View attachment 250417
What were your words? Read, people
https://www.smsl-audio.com/portal/product/detail/id/806.html

Happy to be wrong then!
(Changed to "fine" then,"great" will be when proved repiable and trouble free (software included,spared the multicolor for once).

Edit: Hope IPS's don't burn over time,I know nothing about screens.

 

[Palladium]

Happy to be wrong then!
(Changed to "fine" then,"great" will be when proved repiable and trouble free (software included,spared the multicolor for once).

Edit: Hope IPS's don't burn over time,I know nothing about screens.

LCDs don't burn in.

 

[Veri]

@amirm just to let you know the title says "SMS".

 

[AndreaT]

I guess you pay more for the digital balanced input. Gustard offers it on the X16 for almost half the price. Impeccable measurements. I wonder who is going to use the flat filters that probably spoil the distortion measurements and create tons of alias frequencies.
Thank you Amir for a wonderful review!

 

[Doodski]

A review every day? Looks like the season is upon us.

That would be awesome. With the arctic weather coming in and -30c temps for me I could reallly use the test reviews.

 

[supercargo]

Playing the silly game of ranking SINAD using decimal point

Based on off-hand comments on other reviews, I’m assuming we’re outside the realm of repeatability with these three digits of precision on SINAD?

Maybe it’s time to start bucketizing the SINAD rankings instead of tie-breaking based on measurement error.

 

[Ziroz]

My point is, why shouldn't I just get the SMSL SU-9 for half the price?

The AKM4499EX dac chip? But then there is the E70v with the same chip but much cheaper.

 

[ZolaIII]

Happy to be wrong then!
(Changed to "fine" then,"great" will be when proved repiable and trouble free (software included,spared the multicolor for once).

Edit: Hope IPS's don't burn over time,I know nothing about screens.

Older or lo density OLED don't exhibit burnings over time and can last as LED based one's (it's an old technology really).
Some back lit IPS and other TFT's (including VA, MVA... panels) exhibit smudge in cristal layer or background thanks to dust or temperature over time but it's more of a bad engineering example than particular technology problem.
I am for E-Ink - E-paper when possible (for relatively static content) personally, best regards.

 

[Sokel]

I am for E-Ink - E-paper when possible (for relatively static content) personally, best regards.

Didn't know about them,they look nice too.
Thanks for the info!

 

[enricoclaudio]

Basically all Amazon Kindle tablets use E-Ink displays.

 

[Matias]

Another day, another 120+ dB SINAD DAC being tested. There were like what, more than 10 this year alone? If I may suggest, decline to test these and do more speakers, headphones and IEMs reviews, which I think show more interesting results then yet another stellar DAC.

But of course thanks anyway!

 

[Streamc]

This is not just was DAC but akm.

Another day, another 120+ dB SINAD DAC being tested. There were like what, more than 10 this year alone? If I may suggest, decline to test these and do more speakers, headphones and IEMs reviews, which I think show more interesting results then yet another stellar DAC.

But of course thanks anyway!

 

[anphex]

Another day, another 120+ dB SINAD DAC being tested. There were like what, more than 10 this year alone? If I may suggest, decline to test these and do more speakers, headphones and IEMs reviews, which I think show more interesting results then yet another stellar DAC.

But of course thanks anyway!

I think Shenzhenaudio sees this forum mostly as free marketing. They publish their measurements themselfes in the manual on product page of the corresponding product, but they know that here is the place where by far most scientific hifi people gather.
This is also why Amir almost always gets new DACs right away, probably without asking.
I don't complain, I've benefitted from this too already, but it's time for something new instead of more and more SINAD.

Once there is a do-it-all high SINAD balanced multi-channel DAC with Dolby/DTS-Decoding and eARC I've reached the hifi Elysium.

Edit: What's interesting is that usually this DAC would get golfing Panthers en massé. Turns out there a lot of people who go for "just fine" probably considering the price and no real new value.