SMSL DL100 DAC and Headphone Amp Review

[pseudoid]

It’s a good point — but we have to rely on other reviewers to test the ergonomics of a product since the priority is the measurements here, and the APx555 doesn’t do ARC/eARC.

I don't buy this cart-before-the-horse argument.
Especially, if the mission statement is in the name of this great place we call AudioScienceReview.
ASR needs to serve the community that lives part of their life w/audio that is extracted from video.
[IMO]Hence, the need to update measurement systems which can analyze the audio part of the most current video/HDMI (v2.1/eARC) content.
I'd chip-in to that ASR tip-jar, if one existed!

 

[Cbdb2]

more components add more noise

Thats just wrong.

 

[restorer-john]

Hence, the need to update measurement systems which can analyze the audio part of the most current video/HDMI (v2.1/eARC) content.
I'd chip-in to that ASR tip-jar, if one existed!

It would require an entirely new analyzer at vast cost. Amir has the APX555. It is apparently not compatible with the HDMI module and he would need an APX-555B.

HDMI Module for APx B Series Audio Analyzers

www.ap.com

Pretty hard to justify just for HDMI ARC testing if you ask me.

 

[pseudoid]

It would require an entirely new analyzer at vast cost. Amir has the APX555. It is apparently not compatible with the HDMI module and he would need an APX-555B.
Pretty hard to justify just for HDMI ARC testing if you ask me.

Makes it a sad state-of-affairs for those consumers using AV gear - processing HDMI audio content - to obtain objective and reliable audio performance metrics.
It is a disservice to those who have invested heavily on multi-channel AV gear, yet lack any means to verify the quality of the ARC audio output.

Quite sad that the whole industry - including the manufacturers - seems mumz about ARC audio quality, like the dark-ages.

 

[Roland301]

Makes it a sad state-of-affairs for those consumers using AV gear - processing HDMI audio content - to obtain objective and reliable audio performance metrics.
It is a disservice to those who have invested heavily on multi-channel AV gear, yet lack any means to verify the quality of the ARC audio output.
View attachment 388390
Quite sad that the whole industry - including the manufacturers - seems mumz about ARC audio quality, like the dark-ages.

I think the larger concern with ARC (to me, at least) is any processing that the TV does. I don't doubt that a DAC from a company like SMSL will faithfully play back the digital bits that you feed it over ARC. New analyzer won't help here, unless Amir starts reviewing TVs.

 

[Roland301]

Interesting, I've always seen these chips used in phone dongles, haven't come across them in a high-performance desktop product before.

Very nice headphone output power too.

The I/O (including ARC and LDAC Bluetooth!) and performance at this price is really impressive.

 

[GXAlan]

I think the larger concern with ARC (to me, at least) is any processing that the TV does. I don't doubt that a DAC from a company like SMSL will faithfully play back the digital bits that you feed it over ARC. New analyzer won't help here, unless Amir starts reviewing TVs.

Sort of. All of these budget DACs work great with UAC2 USB and it seems to work well. No one argues that bits are bits, but getting the TV to feed bits over ARC involves a handshake and HDMI ARC is one of those things that even more mainstream companies have problems with from time to time. Just Google “HDMI ARC stopped working” and you get countless user posts about setups working and then suddenly no longer working, etc. Samsung, LG, Sony are all implicated from time to time.

HDMI ARC is super important but this is where I would buy from a place with a return policy and this is where we have the benefit of living in a world where ASR isn’t the exclusive source of audio information.

 

[pseudoid]

...SMSL will faithfully play back the digital bits that you feed it over ARC.

I was not aware that faithful playback was an audio measurement.
How would SMSL know that it was faithful, if they don't have the capability to test the HDMI audio chain?
And if they did; perhaps it would be proper to provide such specs, for those who may want to know.

I think the larger concern with ARC (to me, at least) is any processing that the TV does.

TV already does processing to turn the HDMI signal, down to SPIDF/Optical/Coax; before providing it to an AV DAC; to process it again; to turn it into analog.

 

[Roland301]

I was not aware that faithful playback was an audio measurement.
How would SMSL know that it was faithful, if they don't have the capability to test the HDMI audio chain?
And if they did; perhaps it would be proper to provide such specs, for those who may want to know.

TV already does processing to turn the HDMI signal, down to SPIDF/Optical/Coax; before providing it to an AV DAC; to process it again; to turn it into analog.

By "faithful playback", I mean that if you were to send the same PCM signal over any one of the digital inputs, you would get the same thing coming out the other end. Not that hard to understand.

If this were a $5 no-name HDMI audio extractor, I might question it.
However, SMSL clearly paid attention to performance in every other area (especially considering the identical jitter performance over SPDIF vs USB), so I feel it's safe to assume the ARC input is fine as well.

 

[Roland301]

Sort of. All of these budget DACs work great with UAC2 USB and it seems to work well. No one argues that bits are bits, but getting the TV to feed bits over ARC involves a handshake and HDMI ARC is one of those things that even more mainstream companies have problems with from time to time. Just Google “HDMI ARC stopped working” and you get countless user posts about setups working and then suddenly no longer working, etc. Samsung, LG, Sony are all implicated from time to time.

HDMI ARC is super important but this is where I would buy from a place with a return policy and this is where we have the benefit of living in a world where ASR isn’t the exclusive source of audio information.

I think functionality/handshaking is a separate concern from the audio fidelity - the device might work flawlessly with AP's HDMI module, but have connection issues with [insert common TV here] depending on the parameters used for test.

 

[Limopard]

Two questions @amirm

Is the HP output power measured using the balanced output? If so, how much of it remains when connected single ended?
Is the front panel made of metal or plastic?

 

[klirren_65]

Dear @amirm: The most electronic you have checked lately had - for professional purposes - XLR features. Coincidence or not? In my humble opinion not all people are hot to change all the stuff to XLR.

 

[renaudrenaud]

Dear @amirm: The most electronic you have checked lately had - for professional purposes - XLR features. Coincidence or not? In my humble opinion not all people are hot to change all the stuff to XLR.

Agreed, but some people like XLR and it seems more and more present in this kind of gear.

 

[TonyJZX]

this place a incredible fascination with XLR so... people are preaching to the wrong choir

 

[WalterW]

Another home run from SMSL. Kudos.

 

[mc.god]

Interesting, I've always seen these chips used in phone dongles, haven't come across them in a high-performance desktop product before.

Very nice headphone output power too.

They already used CS43131 in M300SE, but completely different implementation of the amp stage since DL100 uses OPA1612 and AC power while M300SE just the amp stage of the Cirrus chip and usb power, giving much less power.

 

[Tell]

Yeah don't get the hype for all the balanced things, do people really have that much interference at home? Personally I don't think I've ever been limited by my RCA cables.
Tbh I find these XLR equipped things limiting since they might be good and interesting overall but might not be compatible with "normal" hifi, for example I'm interested in getting the 3E TPA3255 amp board but then I need to swap out my MiniDSP 2x4HD as well since it doesn't have balanced outputs.

 

[TonyJZX]

SMSL DL100 CS43131*4 BT5.1 MQA-CD Audio DAC​

Sale price $161.99 USD

at $162 i dont think there's any competition

if you can put up with Cirrus Logic

SMSL DL100 CS43131*4 BT5.1 MQA-CD Audio DAC

DL100 Audio DAC & Headphone Amplifier Features Four-chip decoding for superior sound: Capable of directly sampling 32bit/768kHz PCM digital audio and supporting DSD256 native DSD playback without conversion. Independent headphone amplification circuitry: Self-developed circuit for excellent...

hifi-express.com

 

[JIW]

SMSL DL100 CS43131*4 BT5.1 MQA-CD Audio DAC​

Sale price $161.99 USD

at $162 i dont think there's any competition

if you can put up with Cirrus Logic

SMSL DL100 CS43131*4 BT5.1 MQA-CD Audio DAC

DL100 Audio DAC & Headphone Amplifier Features Four-chip decoding for superior sound: Capable of directly sampling 32bit/768kHz PCM digital audio and supporting DSD256 native DSD playback without conversion. Independent headphone amplification circuitry: Self-developed circuit for excellent...

hifi-express.com

DL200 is $167.19 on the same site.

SMSL DL200 AUDIO DAC & Headphone Amplifier MQA-CD ES9039Q2M

SMSL DL200 AUDIO DAC features MQA-CD ES9039Q2M, Bluetooth APTX HD, OPA1612 XU-316, and DSD512 compatibility, plus 6.35mm & 4.4mm headphone outputs and a handy remote control. Support MQA decoding, support MQA-CD; ESS new generation high-end digital-to-analog chip ES9039Q2M; Qualcomm latest...

hifi-express.com

 

[mc.god]

SMSL DL100 CS43131*4 BT5.1 MQA-CD Audio DAC​

Sale price $161.99 USD

at $162 i dont think there's any competition

if you can put up with Cirrus Logic

SMSL DL100 CS43131*4 BT5.1 MQA-CD Audio DAC

DL100 Audio DAC & Headphone Amplifier Features Four-chip decoding for superior sound: Capable of directly sampling 32bit/768kHz PCM digital audio and supporting DSD256 native DSD playback without conversion. Independent headphone amplification circuitry: Self-developed circuit for excellent...

hifi-express.com

As stated before, if DL100 doesn't have a low gain mode then it doesn't seem very competitive for iem users.