SMSL DL100 DAC and Headphone Amp Review

[TonyJZX]

the orientation of the XLR ports doesnt make a big difference

on the M300 you use your thumb to press the retention clip

the DL100 you use your index finger to pinch

its whatever - or you can buy clip less cables???? that's not in spec but its the wlld west out there

 

[Krusty09]

the orientation of the XLR ports doesnt make a big difference

on the M300 you use your thumb to press the retention clip

the DL100 you use your index finger to pinch

its whatever - or you can buy clip less cables???? that's not in spec but its the wlld west out there

You are correct but for me I hate it and the fact left and right are reversed as I always hookup stuff from behind not from the front.

I guess it's a pet pev of mine coming from the broadcast world as Sony broadcast on their then old machines use to do this and they got an earful and even they changed it.

BTW we would never use clippless as we rather spend 20hrs taking a machine apart when a cable get stuck then just pull out the cable..

 

[Esprit]

the DL100 you use your index finger to pinch

There are connectors where you have to apply serious force and in any case to put your finger underneath you have to lift the DAC (there is no space).

 

[pseudoid]

Yes. Standard SMSL, not had a unit with which it works poorly

View attachment 388915

Will there be any problems between two different - but colocated - SMSL products, each with its own RC-8C remote control?

 

[TonyJZX]

there are no problems if you have an single SMSL AMP and single SMSL DAC

their amps ship with the RC-8A

their dacs ship with the RC-8C

I have a few of the 8C models

you cant easily remote control TWO smsl dacs because the remote will control BOTH DACs but why would you want to use two of them?

 

[Bleib]

Will there be any problems between two different - but colocated - SMSL products, each with its own RC-8C remote control?

Well, they should both react which could cause problems. Might be better to have one Topping DAC and one SMSL DAC instead.

 

[pseudoid]

why would you want to use two of them?

Might be better to have one Topping DAC and one SMSL DAC instead.

One model will also be in charge of HDMI/ARC; while the other model will also be doing LAN service. [imo: I2S/EBU useless).
Plans are to centrally locating them; to serve the whole house.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

This is the same technique HDCD used. I don't see an issue with it.

It’s not bad but it’s not perfect either. I would say the closest analog to this is the dynamic iris in projectors which is used to boost the contrast ratio performance. It is certainly better than the dynamic contrast ratio methods that actually dim the display bulb and make the display look like a flickery mess, but dynamic iris still isn’t native contrast. Say we have the brightest and darkest white points, the darkest from from a dark scene and the brightest from a bright scene. The white points won’t be shown at the same brightness when shown together as shown separately in their dark and light scenes. The instantaneous native contrast ratio will be worse than the overall dynamic iris enhanced contrast ratio. In an ideal world, I would prefer a true native performance that doesn’t scale across a runged ladder to increase the effective dynamic range, but I will take whatever gains I can get if and only if it is done seamlessly.

 

[Jim777]

They provide a driver but it looks like it works without it (but only shows up as "headphones" for the device type).

Is there any benefit of installing their driver?

 

[staticV3]

They provide a driver but it looks like it works without it (but only shows up as "headphones" for the device type).

Is there any benefit of installing their driver?

The driver unlocks the ASIO interface for, among another things, native DSD playback.

Installing the driver may also be required for updating the firmware.

If you get annoying clicks and pops, or there's a delay when starting music after a while of nothing playing, then you may fix these by installing the driver, then applying this fix:

XMOS driver settings for no cutoff/delay

I was contemplating on creating a "tutorial" of sorts for all XMOS drivers on devices that have a cutoff -- latency between the start of a sound and the dac "reacting" and actually playing said sound... So here it is: XMOS drivers use a control panel not unlike this: Usually the "Options"...

www.audiosciencereview.com

That's all I can think of

 

[Haskil]

If only this DAC headphone amp SMSL DL 100, which measures so beautifully!, had a parametric EQ per channel, an adjustable crossfeld and one or two (!) sub output per channel... it would really be useful on the market compared to the plethora of excellent DAC-Amps headsets... (because these implementations seem more useful to me than that of HDMI ARC).

 

[Limopard]

If only this DAC headphone amp SMSL DL 100, which measures so beautifully!, had a parametric EQ per channel, an adjustable crossfeld and one or two (!) sub output per channel... it would really be useful on the market compared to the plethora of excellent DAC-Amps headsets... (because these implementations seem more useful to me than that of HDMI ARC).

You wouldn't get it at the given price then.

 

[Haskil]

For a few dollars/euros more: around 50... but at least the sota race would result in a very useful device... Well, I would even add an adjustable loudness in the DSP pipe... Because in my opinion personal to me that I find HDMI ARC useless with a product of this quality.

 

[Jim777]

If only this DAC headphone amp SMSL DL 100, which measures so beautifully!, had a parametric EQ per channel, an adjustable crossfeld and one or two (!) sub output per channel... it would really be useful on the market compared to the plethora of excellent DAC-Amps headsets... (because these implementations seem more useful to me than that of HDMI ARC).

You're describing the RME ADI-2 DAC. But on Windows you can install an app to do all that.

 

[Yersinia Bestmate]

You're describing the RME ADI-2 DAC. But on Windows you can install an app to do all that.

I use EQapo for PEQ but not sure if one can do crossfeed with it?

 

[staticV3]

I use EQapo for PEQ but not sure if one can do crossfeed with it?

You can do crossfeed with EQApo.

 

[Limopard]

I use EQapo for PEQ but not sure if one can do crossfeed with it?

Foobar 2000 can do both.

 

[Haskil]

You're describing the RME ADI-2 DAC. But on Windows you can install an app to do all that.

Yes, I know ! But we would be far from the price of the RME...
As it is, this SMLS is excellent but in a crowded market. In fact, in my opinion, this race for ultimate performance should now be accompanied by useful features.
But as it stands, this device is remarkable of course and its performance puts it in a superior category like many others.

 

[Jim777]

Yes, I know ! But we would be far from the price of the RME...
As it is, this SMLS is excellent but in a crowded market. In fact, in my opinion, this race for ultimate performance should now be accompanied by useful features.
But as it stands, this device is remarkable of course and its performance puts it in a superior category like many others.

Respectfully that's a bit of wishful thinking. The amount of development and expertise that would be required to get feature parity with the RME is staggering. It's another degree of difficulty above something like APO or foobar2000 (filtering/computing on a modern PC). Then, you'd need a better screen and more controls. Assuming all this could be done, any price differential could then be attributed to support (RME is adding features years after the device was sold, and fixing them for a fair price if broken).

 

[TonyJZX]

this is the cheapest smsl dac with iec with a budget CS chipset

if you are trying to get this smsl to make an RME out of a dl100 then the problem isnt with smsl... theyre selling a mousetrap and you're wanting to capture bigfoot