• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

SMSL DL100 DAC and Headphone Amp Review

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 3 1.3%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 5 2.1%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 50 21.4%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 176 75.2%

  • Total voters
    234
Hello everyone !

Sorry for my ignorance, I have two questions regarding this DAC :

- If I connect a pair of active monitors via XLR cables to the SMSL l100, can I control the volume of the monitors using the DAC button (or remote)? Or do I need to use a third party solution like GLM to manage the volume (my monitors are Genelec)?
- And with this configuration, can I connect a TV via optical cable and a smartphone via Bluetooth to the SMSL l100 to directly enjoy the sound on the speakers?

This should seem obvious to you but I couldn't find any information on the subject (I had an Eversolo DMP-A6 some time ago and it didn't manage the volume of the monitors).

Thank you in advance for your help!
 
If I connect a pair of active monitors via XLR cables to the SMSL l100, can I control the volume of the monitors using the DAC button (or remote)? Or do I need to use a third party solution like GLM to manage the volume (my monitors are Genelec)?
Yes, you can use the volume control on the DAC to control the volume on your speakers.
- And with this configuration, can I connect a TV via optical cable and a smartphone via Bluetooth to the SMSL l100 to directly enjoy the sound on the speakers?
Yes, this should be no problem. (but not simultaneously;) ) You could also use the HDMI-ARC to connect your TV to this DAC.
 
Perfect, thank you very much for your answers !
This DAC seems to me to be very good value for money for excellent sound quality and good features. I think I'll buy it :)
 
Objectively the performance is very good. In that regard it has very good value for money.
Maybe look in this thread for some user experiences. I haven't looked into it. It could give you some idea about reliability, small bugs/annoyances (if there are any) and ergonomics.
 
Then you don't need a DAC.
If a USB-AES/EBU interface is out of your budget, buy this:
 
Then you don't need a DAC.
If a USB-AES/EBU interface is out of your budget, buy this:
8350a, with GLM.
I have had good experience with the Quloos QU02 that converts USB to AES. Others have had good luck with Matrix Audio X SPDIF 3. Or even an ali express cheap one might work.

 
Can anyone tell me more about the SMSL output stage?

Screenshot_20250124_135803_Samsung Internet.jpg
 
Are there any advantages or disadvantages,
if i oversample a 44.1kHz signal, for example to 384kHz with the Neutron player first, and run the DL100 in NOS mode?
 
Are there any advantages or disadvantages,
if i oversample a 44.1kHz signal, for example to 384kHz with the Neutron player first, and run the DL100 in NOS mode?
Why would you want to use the NOS filter with oversampling? If you oversample that high, the DAC's filters have little effect on the audible band, but the NOS filter produces a lot of high frequency noise.
 
I would be interested to see what the fft spectrum and the frequency response would look like, if I fed the DAC with e.g. 384Khz and chose the NOS mode.
 
I would be interested to see what the fft spectrum and the frequency response would look like, if I fed the DAC with e.g. 384Khz and chose the NOS mode.
This is from the product page at 44.1 kHz. At 352.8 kHz sampling, i.e. 8x oversampling, the NOS filter is 20*log10(sin(1/16*pi)/(1/16*pi)) = -0.056 dB at 22.05 kHz and 20*log10(sin(1/8*pi)/(1/8*pi)) = -0.22 dB at 44.1 kHz so the software oversampling filter will dominate.
Screenshot 2025-01-24 at 22.09.25.png
 
Yes, filter 1 looks perfect, as Amir has already measured. There is no reason for upsampling before DAC.
Especially not when 4 DACs are running, if I understand correctly.
 
Yes, filter 1 looks perfect, as Amir has already measured. There is no reason for upsampling before DAC.
Especially not when 4 DACs are running, if I understand correctly.
Not perfect but probably good enough for most. Filter 2 is more accurate due to being linear phase.

The number of DACs has nothing to do with it since all individual DACs do it by themselves.
 
I understand, thanks.

But now I have found the following statement from @dmitrykos

"There is obvious benefit to oversample in Neutron Player to max and use USB DAC with oversampling nature (majority of DAC chips, unless specially designed to be R-2R NOS DAC) because DAC chip will oversample further, therefore quantization noise will go even further away making analog audio signal more precise."

So I wonder whether the CS43131 would also benefit from this, if I let the Neutron player oversample the signal first?

In this context I would like to ask @dmitrykos another question:
does it increase the precision of the EQ calculations, if I activate player oversampling in Neutron? I just remember that you advised me to activate Dither in that case.

Edit:
I found your answer:
"1) Oversampling in Neutron Player is done before any DSP is applied. So, if you Oversample 4x in Neutron Player (Audio Hardware -> Oversample option) you get audio engine working with that final frequency, if track has 44100 Hz frequency and output hardware supports 176400 Hz then Neutron Player will run its audio engine at 176400 Hz frequency and apply all DSP with this frequency.

For sure Oversampling increases precision of DSP processing and final audio because even though audio data was interpolated DSP added more meaningful data due to processing. Thus the results of processing with DSP at 44100 Hz and 176400 Hz will be different, especially with 64-bit Processing = On."
 
Last edited:
Gorgeous combo:
Arya Stealth and SMSL DL100.
(Filter 4)

20250125_152258.jpg
 
anyone having issue with Hdmi->eArc loosing conection sometime even during movies(not only on stend by). You have to reselect sourscw to Arc again.
 
Back
Top Bottom