SMSL D400EX DAC Review

[Roland68]

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

But in the E70V there is only one AKM4499EX chip.
Of course, two are twice as expensive...

 

[juliangst]

Oh cool, another two channel SMSL Dac that measures as perfectly as least year‘s DACs.
We need more Multichannel DACs and not another SOTA stereo dac

 

[ex audiophile]

Wow, another gift of a review from Santa Amir. Thank you!

 

[Palladium]

Oh cool, another two channel SMSL Dac that measures as perfectly as least year‘s DACs.
We need more Multichannel DACs and not another SOTA stereo dac

Or just give us better Loxjie A30s.

 

[Roland68]

Oh cool, another two channel SMSL Dac that measures as perfectly as least year‘s DACs.
We need more Multichannel DACs and not another SOTA stereo dac

With the Topping DM7 and the Okto DAC8 8Ch there are 2 excellently measuring DACs. The DM7 is absolutely affordable for an 8Ch DAC.

 

[Lupin]

Good performance but for me personally I don't see anything that would justify the $960 price tag.
Aesthetically (again personal) it is just meh and I see the grills on the side as a con. Doesn't make it look "high end" to me, has no function (at least may certainly hope so) and just make it harder to clean/dust off the unit.

 

[Badunn]

Great Review Amir!
Topping and SMSL just knocking other DAC manufacturers out of the park. This one a bit pricier so the performance/value ratio a bit lower but my godness, I'm glad I discovered ASR as I feel I've been duped with my previous chord (and less so IFI) dacs.
I'm so desperate to try a Topping / SMSL amp that I'm even thinking using my Arcam SR250 pre out to drive maybe a Topping PA5. Crazy!!

 

[Sokel]

Good performance but for me personally I don't see anything that would justify the $960 price tag.
Aesthetically (again personal) it is just meh and I see the grills on the side as a con. Doesn't make it look "high end" to me, has no function (at least may certainly hope so) and just make it harder to clean/dust off the unit.

I wouldn't mind this price tag or higher,I know that good components don't come cheap (I have payed 5 USD per piece for nice (NON speaker) resistors for example.

But I do mind to pay a premium,even as little as these DACs for an untested/buggy firmwered/glicthy/not delivering under ANY sensible circumstance one.

That's the reason I still use a nice 5yo one along with a Khadas tone1 which is surprisingly durable under HEAVY abuse (I have it measured with ways no DAC deserves,fed it with voltages way higher than spec'd,etc). and still sounds decent.
I would honestly prefer an 105 SINAD DAC that would deliver,had a clean FR all the way to 20Khz,would be nice looking (black if possible) and compatibilitty with all devices that can connect to,trouble free.

 

[Music1969]

Nice collaboration - AKM chip featuring ESS hump

 

[UltraNearFieldJock]

Review as usual outstanding, Product: nice performance, but nothing more... boring, no one interesting distinguishing function, overpriced... The panther in me is waiting for real progress:

 

[Marc v E]

I realise I'm going to sound like a broken record, recommending the minidsp flex over all dacs that don't have eq for room compensation.
But why on earth would anybody buy a dac without this feature, unless they already have room eq in roon or in their speakers (genelec, neumann)?
Buying the flex means half the price and better sound due to eq for your room.

 

[amper42]

There are so many other choices at $960 or lower. I would rather have an RME ADI-2 DAC FS if I was looking in this price range. It has been on sale for $1050 several times. If I didn't want to spend that much there are lots of DAC options offering more value. D400EX seems like a pass to me.

 

[Multicore]

Somebody is displeased, what to do?

View attachment 250415

Perhaps those people prefer the version with the ESS chip?

Or they think the heat-sink-style side panels are a bit much?

Personally I think the mix of fonts across the front panel including the display is really gross and I penalized it for such scandalously bad taste. Actually I'm joking because I never respond to polls on principle because my opinion doesn't matter. But if I did, I'd give it no better than 3. Fine for offering abject industrial design for nearly a grand. Disgraceful!

 

[Multicore]

I'm realise I'm going to sound like a broken record, recommending the minidsp flex over all dacs that don't have eq fro room compensation.

And you can play the broken record through the Flex, as I do using the ARTcessories DJ Pre II. Well, actually I only play unbroken records through it. But I bet it would also work for broken ones.

 

[Multicore]

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

Someone should deliver this message from Vonnegut to SMSL:

“Don’t use semicolons. They stand for absolutely nothing. They are transvestite hermaphrodites. They are just a way of showing off. To show that you have been to college.”

 

[lashto]

Hmmm.
Could be that ASR & Wolf are mixing some of the measurements of the two similar SMSL DACs: D400ES (ESS9039Pro) and D400EX (AKM4499EX). According to ASR, this D400EX AKM DAC measures very much like an ESS: many HD spikes and a funky big one around 20kHz, plus a clear IMD hump

Wolf's HD graph for D400EX does not match ASR's, no 'ugly' 20kHz spikes in there. There is however a pretty good (visual) match between Wolf's D400ES and ASRs D400EX. Measurements mixup?! (on ASR)

ASRs IMD graph for D400EX shows an ESS-like hump. And Wolfs D400EX graph seems ~same. But many other AKM chips were measured and none had such issues. Another measurements mixup?! (on both sides)

So ... are there some serious measutremets mixups here ?! ...or it's just me?!

 

[respice finem]

I'm realise I'm going to sound like a broken record, recommending the minidsp flex over all dacs that don't have eq for room compensation.
But why on earth would anybody buy a dac without this feature, unless they already have room eq in roon or in their speakers (genelec, neumann)?
Buying the flex means half the price and better sound due to eq for your room.

Some people (including myself) hope not to need EQ in a nearfield scenario, and/or have doubts if they can do manual EQ right.
Maybe irrational, maybe not. I've had a look on Dirac and it seems quite complex to me. But maybe I'll convince myself to use it finally, should my planned nearfield setup be "underwhelming". I'll know in a few weeks, the house renovation isn't ready yet.

 

[Sokel]

Hmmm.
Could be that ASR & Wolf are mixing some of the measurements of the two similar SMSL DACs: D400ES (ESS9039Pro) and D400EX (AKM4499EX). According to ASR, this D400EX AKM DAC measures very much like an ESS: funny HD spikes around 20kHz and a clear IMD hump

Wolf's HD graph for D400EX does not match ASR's, no 'ugly' 20kHz spikes in there. There is however a pretty good (visual) match between Wolf's D400ES and ASRs D400EX. Measurements mixup?! (on ASR)

ASRs IMD graph for D400EX shows an ESS-like hump. And Wolfs D400EX graph seems ~same. Many other AKM chips were measured but none had such issues. Another measurements mixup?! (on both sides)

So ... are there some serious measutremets mixups here ?! ...or it's just me?!

I get this funny 19-20Khz spike sometimes,when I put A/C on high level and interacts through mains with the measurement (any measurement)

 

[Jimbob54]

Hmmm.
Could be that ASR & Wolf are mixing some of the measurements of the two similar SMSL DACs: D400ES (ESS9039Pro) and D400EX (AKM4499EX). According to ASR, this D400EX AKM DAC measures very much like an ESS: funny HD spikes around 20kHz and a clear IMD hump

Wolf's HD graph for D400EX does not match ASR's, no 'ugly' 20kHz spikes in there. There is however a pretty good (visual) match between Wolf's D400ES and ASRs D400EX. Measurements mixup?! (on ASR)

ASRs IMD graph for D400EX shows an ESS-like hump. And Wolfs D400EX graph seems ~same. Many other AKM chips were measured but none had such issues. Another measurements mixup?! (on both sides)

So ... are there some serious measutremets mixups here ?! ...or it's just me?!

Well- @amirm acknowledges some confusion in the labelling of some graphs in his OP

"Note: please excuse the mistaken label on the graphs: D400 ES instead of EX. Didn't realize which unit I was testing until I took the review picture. "

However, unless he has the ESS version to test at the same time, he definitely measured the AKM EX version as that's what is in the picture.

But imagine if some EX cases had been used to house ES internals in a factory mix up......

Time to lift some lids I reckon!

 

[lashto]

Well- @amirm acknowledges some confusion in the labelling of some graphs in his OP

"Note: please excuse the mistaken label on the graphs: D400 ES instead of EX. Didn't realize which unit I was testing until I took the review picture. "

However, unless he has the ESS version to test at the same time, he definitely measured the AKM EX version as that's what is in the picture.

But imagine if some EX cases had been used to house ES internals in a factory mix up......

Time to lift some lids I reckon!

yes, it all looks a bit fishy.

I get this funny 19-20Khz spike sometimes,when I put A/C on high level and interacts through mains with the measurement (any measurement)

may be.
But generally the ESS HD-spectrum looks quite irregular and 'rich' and the AKM one looks very nice and clean. This set of measurements show ~the opposite