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SMSL DA9 - Wait and see, or solid buy?

sauhamm

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Feb 6, 2021
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update - my amp apparently needed a day or two to sort itself out. when i first connected it, the right channel had a very low volume "whoop whoop whoop" repeating noise. it was noticeable from seating position but it faded quickly to the point where you had to press your ear to the tweeter to hear it. but it was there. (this is no source, just amp and speakers, i do this to see if the amp itself makes any noise, absent of any other variables)

that whole first listening session - the amp was too hot up top. if anyone here is a headphone person. my speakers sounded like giant beyerdynamic 990s or old grados from 15 years ago. they sounded great, but ... hot in the 'Sss' region.

now today? i connected the smsl to power and speakers and powered on - no noise, no pop.

been listening to everything from kim dracula to claude bolling. the channel noise is gone and the amp sounds beautiful. i've ran it balanced and single ended, with and without a sub - played with all the DSP modes (SDB is interesting to say the least, it's like a loudness button on crack) - sorry about jumping the gun early but ... i'm back on team da-9, this thing is awesome.
 

JimmyKing

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Jan 17, 2022
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Anyone notice the EQ defaulting to SDB? Seems pretty random too. Turned it on this morning and it was still where I left it on 'direct' but this eavening it's on SDB... I doubt I'd have noticed before as I could never really make my mind up between the tone/SDB/bass/rock options, depending upon what I was listening to. However, after installing a Rel sub I find that it integrates best in direct mode and provides what I was after all along. So kind of ironic that I still find myself in that menu...
 

Talisman

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After having had a negative experience with DA9 (amplifier freezing on power up with the need to physically disconnect the power supply) I had decided to avoid smsl products, however I continued to look at the AO200 with some interest.
In the end I found an opportunity for a used product like new from Amazon for 135 euros, so I tried again.
IMG_20230519_213536.jpg

Conceptually it is very similar to the DA9, with the same menus and the same settings, plus this AO 200 looks a little more elegant with the knob in the middle, it also has a very handy physical button to switch off the power supply from behind (a blessing when you have children), and also a usb input in addition to the two balanced and unbalanced inputs.
I use this on a secondary system where I was using a Fosi audio bt20a pro. Honestly I couldn't say differences in the quality of reproduction between the two amplifiers, what appears evident is that the fosi audio has a much greater headroom, evidently it delivers a good amount of watts more than the SMSL, what I instead found extremely pleasant in the 'AO200 has been the user experience. the amplifier is beautiful (certainly much nicer to look at than the classic metal boxes of many cheap class D amplifiers) well built, the menu comfortable and useful, the equalization functions are functional and discreetly implemented.
IMG_20230519_214744.jpg

The remote control is clearly an added value to usability.
At the moment I am very satisfied with the purchase. For 135 euros you really can't ask for more.
Unfortunately, as can also be understood from these pages, the quality control seems to be quite poor, so the possibility of winning a specimen with some problems is not remote.
 

josh6113

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Sorry you had a bad da-9 experience...Mine has been rock solid since purchased and I'm running mine with very expensive JTR 210 RT towers.I also run smsl M400 dac with sd-9 streamer...not 1 problem...bad luck I'd say and I've had my share over the years...glad you found another way that's works...but for me the DA-9 has been fantastic.
 

fluxcapacitor

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Sorry you had a bad da-9 experience...Mine has been rock solid since purchased and I'm running mine with very expensive JTR 210 RT towers.I also run smsl M400 dac with sd-9 streamer...not 1 problem...bad luck I'd say and I've had my share over the years...glad you found another way that's works...but for me the DA-9 has been fantastic.
this is pure low quality, not luck. I'm on my 3rd DA9 and still problems. First two units were freezing at power on needed to unplug-plug power cable. Then they said it's fixed and sent me a so called fixed unit, this time at every startup my unit resets all settings to default - bass- treble - brightness - volume etc.. all resets...at every startup...in other words i cant save a setting. since i dont use these settings, i can at least use my unit.
 

Talisman

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First two units were freezing at power on needed to unplug-plug power cable.
This is exactly the same problem I had with my DA9 that led me to return it under warranty and kept me away from other smsl products.
Only the offer on the used product at 135 euros with the possibility of returning within a month convinced me to give the AO200 a chance, and at the moment it seems to be doing well. However, it has very little power compared to the declared data, probably clean and real power at 8ohm we are under 30watt (as, incidentally, the pa3s tested by Amir with the same configuration with double Infineon 12070).
In comparison, the Sabaj a20a 2022 that mounts a single Infineon MA5332M really expresses much more power in stereo configuration
 

mccririck

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this is pure low quality, not luck. I'm on my 3rd DA9 and still problems. First two units were freezing at power on needed to unplug-plug power cable. Then they said it's fixed and sent me a so called fixed unit, this time at every startup my unit resets all settings to default - bass- treble - brightness - volume etc.. all resets...at every startup...in other words i cant save a setting. since i dont use these settings, i can at least use my unit.
My DA9 also has the freezing at power on problem. Seems to be a very common issue it's very annoying that these things get past QC stage. I have just been putting up with mine as I bought it second hand on ebay.
 

josh6113

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I bought mine on amazon...seems most of you have either bought second hand or bought from other places...just glad mine is solid with no problems...it's a shame cause I think this Amp is great for the power it provides.I know there are many others that are very happy with there DA-9's.
 

mccririck

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I bought mine on amazon...seems most of you have either bought second hand or bought from other places...just glad mine is solid with no problems...it's a shame cause I think this Amp is great for the power it provides.I know there are many others that are very happy with there DA-9's.
I've very happy with mine apart from the freezing issue. I leave it switched on most of the time.
 

Ported

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I too am a lucky one ... Not had any problems for 18 months and for me it goes party loud with no sighs of strain.. shame there seems to be some bad builds. Never thought I needed to "upgrade". Mine switches on and off with a power saving setup.. never lost it's settings.
 

mccririck

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I too am a lucky one ... Not had any problems for 18 months and for me it goes party loud with no sighs of strain.. shame there seems to be some bad builds. Never thought I needed to "upgrade". Mine switches on and off with a power saving setup.. never lost it's settings.
Unfortunately too many have had problems. If they could make firmware updates easier I'm sure it would solve this.
 

ShinMolina

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You don't know how many have had problems just as you don't know how many happy customers there are...I'm one of them...:)
Another happy customer here! I'm not saying that the DA-9 is issue free, lot of people have shown the same kind of issues.

However, we do not know the exact number of units that work flawlesly as @josh6113 said. Mine hasn't failed once.
 

brandonhall

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I'm largely happy with the DA-9 I purchased from Amazon. On two occasions, one of the channels just went out which a power cycle fixed. Felt like a software bug more than a hardware problem. Who knows. I leave it running all the time and have been since November 2022.
 
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