SMSL DL200 the best ever value DAC/AMP?

[MbphotoX]

did they make the knob smaller than the C200? or is it an optical illusion. Big unit requires big knob!

does it still always show sampling rate rather than volume even if you have headphone plugged in? Another dumb design decision. I only need to see the spl rate briefly when it changes. (My player tells me what spl rate it is sending anyway.) Rest of the time I want to know the volume level.

it's not even the size of a penny... puny knob..
will try with headphones later.. I don't know if it switches to volume. It certainly doesn't while music is playing via speakers.

Don't stick the multimeter probes into the sockets, you may short the outputs.
Instead, use DIY plugs like these:
View attachment 361339 View attachment 361340

Or use male->male extension cables and probe the other end.

For the 1/4" output, make sure you use TRS, not TS, as that would again short the output.

Edit: also, for matching output volumes, you may want to use an adapter like this to probe the output voltage with your headphone plugged into the Amp: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256803497862592.html

Reason being that your tube Amp may have substantial output impedance, which will give you incorrect results when you try to match the output with just the multimeter as load.

For example, you may match the unloaded output voltage at 1.0V for both Amps, but when you plug in your headphones, the DL200 will stay at 1.0V while the Tube Amp may drop to 0.xV due to the high output impedance.

By measuring and matching the output voltage with the headphone already inserted into the Amp, you account for any potential voltage drop.

Cheers!
I actually have a male - male 3,5mm cable that I can use for this.

And yes, those are TRS cables. (I don't want to compare the TRS to RCA, if that's what you mean. I just want to see if the tube amp sounds noticeably different to the built-in amp of the SMSL. If not, I might actually sell it.)

Can I measure the output impedance with the multimeter? Will it matter much with the 300 Ohms of the Beyer DT1990 Pro?

 

[staticV3]

Can I measure the output impedance with the multimeter?

You need a multimeter and a resistor with known resistance that you can load down the Amp with. The closer the resistance is to the expected output impedance, the better.

That adapter I linked to above, is once again very handy as it can be used to load the Amp with resistances between 12Ω and 300Ω.

You can then probe the adapter's probe points with your multimeter to measure the voltage.

Punch the unloaded voltage (Amp probed with multimeter w/o additional resistors or headphones) and the loaded voltage, as well as the load resistance into a calculator like this and you get the output impedance:
https://sengpielaudio.com/calculator-InputOutputImpedance.htm

 

[degen]

I experienced a weird issue, and now there is no sound in my headphones. I am using the 6.35mm jack.

After I booted up my PC and turned on my DL200, the DL200 did not display anything on the screen, although the USB connection showed as active in Windows and I was able to change the volume. Also, no sound in my headphones. I turned it off as I didn't have time to troubleshoot it at that moment.

Next time I turned on the DL200, it went into a boot loop until I pulled the cord. When I turned it back on (with headphones unplugged), I had the same issue as before of nothing displaying on the screen for more than a couple of seconds. Also, no sound in my headphones.

Then I did a reset by unplugging the power cord, and while holding in the button on the front of the DL200, plugged it back in. At this point everything seemed to normalize as the screen stayed on. However, no sound in my headphones after plugging them in.

What I tried:

- Different headphones
- Volume high and low in Windows and on the device, also ensuring no mute in OS
- Different USB-C to USB-A cable
- Switching from low to high gain and back
- Switching between USB 1.1 and 2.0 and back to 1.1
- Reinstalling device drivers in Windows
- Using different devices including a Mac
- Finally, after everything else did not work, trying BT, which showed a successful connection, but no sound in my headphones.

Any troubleshooting ideas before I try and contact SMSL? I purchased in September 2023.

One thing to note is that I removed the Always Streaming "hack" months ago as I was concerned about heat.

 

[staticV3]

I experienced a weird issue, and now there is no sound in my headphones. I am using the 6.35mm jack.

After I booted up my PC and turned on my DL200, the DL200 did not display anything on the screen, although the USB connection showed as active in Windows and I was able to change the volume. Also, no sound in my headphones. I turned it off as I didn't have time to troubleshoot it at that moment.

Next time I turned on the DL200, it went into a boot loop until I pulled the cord. When I turned it back on (with headphones unplugged), I had the same issue as before of nothing displaying on the screen for more than a couple of seconds. Also, no sound in my headphones.

Then I did a reset by unplugging the power cord, and while holding in the button on the front of the DL200, plugged it back in. At this point everything seemed to normalize as the screen stayed on. However, no sound in my headphones after plugging them in.

What I tried:

- Different headphones
- Volume high and low in Windows and on the device, also ensuring no mute in OS
- Different USB-C to USB-A cable
- Switching from low to high gain and back
- Switching between USB 1.1 and 2.0 and back to 1.1
- Reinstalling device drivers in Windows
- Using different devices including a Mac
- Finally, after everything else did not work, trying BT, which showed a successful connection, but no sound in my headphones.

Any troubleshooting ideas before I try and contact SMSL? I purchased in September 2023.

One thing to note is that I removed the Always Streaming "hack" months ago as I was concerned about heat.

First thing I'd do is go into the DL200's menu and making sure that the output is set to HO:

 

[degen]

First thing I'd do is going into the DL200's menu and making sure that the output is set to HO:
View attachment 361643

This was it!

I guess I should have read the manual a bit better.

Thank you very much.

 

[FreakyKiwi]

I'm

This was it!

I guess I should have read the manual a bit better.

Thank you very much.

It looks like you had also enabled auto display off which made it appear that the unit was dead.

Long press the FN button (3 seconds or so) on the remote of the DL200 to toggle auto display off.

The display will then only light up temporarily if something changes.

 

[MbphotoX]

I'm

It looks like you had also enabled auto display off which made it appear that the unit was dead.

Long press the FN button (3 seconds or so) on the remote of the DL200 to toggle auto display off.

The display will then only light up temporarily if something changes.

thanks for that tip!
definitely going to set that on mine!

 

[Dexter_prog]

I've ordered the DL200 and wait its arrival, it really does promise to be the best bang for buck DAC/AMP in this price category.

I already loved the C200 more than I did the Topping DX5 Lite, and the Topping DX7+

So hoping the DL200 maintains that sound signature, just more powerful in case of future headphone changes.

Would love @amirm to review the SMSL DL200 to confirm/disapprove the official measurements and give his opinions on it.

Sorry to quote this old post, but I'm wondering what's your opinion. I'm between this and the DX3 pro (or even stretching to the dx5)

 

[Dexter_prog]

Today, I just found out the "popping sound." For my case, it seems to happen with sample rates going up but not going down. Anyway, it is a very gentle pop with low gain and I don't mind at all (smsl gain 20 -30 with hd6xx). But I now can see what some people are talking about. With super high gain, it can be quite disturbing (like 99 gain).

could you clarify when the pop/click occurs? Is it at the start of the track when changing sample rates?

 

[MbphotoX]

is that via usb only?
(the pop)

bc I remember the FiiO M11s (dap) having sound gaps whenever sampling rate changed.
for some reason, some software cannot handle the change in sampling rate, it appears..

also, my question earlier was: is there a way to let Tidal dictate the sampling rate?
bc right now, it's just always 96kHz bc of what I selected in windows.. I'd rather have it determined by the outputting software.

 

[audioje]

could you clarify when the pop/click occurs? Is it at the start of the track when changing sample rates?

Yes. But very much negligible (or almost inaudible) at normal volume.

 

[Justin44]

Yes. But very much negligible (or almost inaudible) at normal volume.

Some dac/amps mute the first few miliseconds of a track to get rid of that pop sound, at least that's what topping did in a firmware upgrade to get rid of the pop which it did on bitrate changes

 

[audioje]

Some dac/amps mute the first few miliseconds of a track to get rid of that pop sound, at least that's what topping did in a firmware upgrade to get rid of the pop which it did on bitrate changes

That's a wonderful idea. Well, SMSL has been painfully slow in that regard. I have zero hope but it is not an issue for me anyway.

 

[Bleib]

Start writing them emails

 

[FreakyKiwi]

That's a wonderful idea. Well, SMSL has been painfully slow in that regard. I have zero hope but it is not an issue for me anyway.

The DAC does have a muting circuit, SMSL responded earlier in the thread to confirm that it is this circuit which causes the pops and clicks.

 

[Dexter_prog]

Couldn't those pops/clicks when switching bitrates be circumvented with this feature in Roon or any similar software?



As long as these pops/clicks don't happen during the tracks, I don't see the big deal.

 

[FreakyKiwi]

I tried a similar option on my Wiim Pro and it made no difference.

I'm my experience the pops are only really noticible when using high sensitivity headphones at high gain, and only on start/stop and changing between tracks with different bitrate.

 

[TheShield]

I've had my C-200 for 9 days now and at first I was in love with it. But now that the honeymoon is over, I'm contemplating sending the C-200 back. The audio just randomly stopping is getting very annoying. I'd say about 50% of the time I walk up to the C-200 it just stops playing music. And then I have to power off the unit and "sometimes" it will auto connect with my phone. The other times, I have to turn the C-200 on and off about 80-90 times before it will even manually connect. Look at all the wear and tear on the capacitor. I just spent 15 minutes trying to get it to re-connect and finally about the 10852th time of turning the C-200 on and off over and over again, Im starting to think that this C-200 is a total POS. You get what you pay for. I will be looking for a device where I don't have to deal with issues like this.

Maybe go with Fiio, they will have better quality control. I will start researching again what DACs are better for quality. I will pay more to not have to deal with BS issues like this. It takes all the fun out of owning the device.

I mean good chance this unit craps out anyways, so why bother. May as well get my money back. Maybe I get another Topping DX3 Pro+.

 

[codex]

I've had my C-200 for 9 days now and at first I was in love with it. But now that the honeymoon is over, I'm contemplating sending the C-200 back. The audio just randomly stopping is getting very annoying. I'd say about 50% of the time I walk up to the C-200 it just stops playing music. And then I have to power off the unit and "sometimes" it will auto connect with my phone. The other times, I have to turn the C-200 on and off about 80-90 times before it will even manually connect. Look at all the wear and tear on the capacitor. I just spent 15 minutes trying to get it to re-connect and finally about the 10852th time of turning the C-200 on and off over and over again, Im starting to think that this C-200 is a total POS. You get what you pay for. I will be looking for a device where I don't have to deal with issues like this.

Maybe go with Fiio, they will have better quality control. I will start researching again what DACs are better for quality. I will pay more to not have to deal with BS issues like this. It takes all the fun out of owning the device.

I mean good chance this unit craps out anyways, so why bother. May as well get my money back. Maybe I get another Topping DX3 Pro+.

Two issues I had with my DL200 that also led to this kind of instability were:

i. not using a USB 2.0 USB-A to USB-C cable. I was using a USB 3.0 one and it totally messed things up.
ii. not disabling "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" on Windows. This in particular was allowing Windows to randomly send the DL200 to sleep from which it would not wake up. I too was constantly needing to reboot or hard-reset the device.

You find this setting on Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers > right click 'SMSL USB DAC' > select 'USB Input Device' + left click 'Properties' > left click 'Change Settings' > Power Management Tab > untoggle "Allow the computer to..." > OK.

 

[MbphotoX]

I've had my C-200 for 9 days now and at first I was in love with it. But now that the honeymoon is over, I'm contemplating sending the C-200 back. The audio just randomly stopping is getting very annoying. I'd say about 50% of the time I walk up to the C-200 it just stops playing music. And then I have to power off the unit and "sometimes" it will auto connect with my phone. The other times, I have to turn the C-200 on and off about 80-90 times before it will even manually connect. Look at all the wear and tear on the capacitor. I just spent 15 minutes trying to get it to re-connect and finally about the 10852th time of turning the C-200 on and off over and over again, Im starting to think that this C-200 is a total POS. You get what you pay for. I will be looking for a device where I don't have to deal with issues like this.

Maybe go with Fiio, they will have better quality control. I will start researching again what DACs are better for quality. I will pay more to not have to deal with BS issues like this. It takes all the fun out of owning the device.

I mean good chance this unit craps out anyways, so why bother. May as well get my money back. Maybe I get another Topping DX3 Pro+.

Are you only using it to stream via bluetooth from your phone?

if so, I would just get a WiiM ptro streamer.. the built-in dac may not be as flawless as the c200's, but at least you can stream via tidal/spotify connect or chromecast and not use bluetooth (yikes)


I'm using mine via optical and have used it gor a few days and maybe a total of 15 hours now..
I've had one issue, where there was a burst of distortion middle of a song.. no idea why..
no pops, no clicks, nothing..

it just works.

But I am exclusively using optical input! USB Is the devil!


I hate the volume knob and the fact that plugging in headphones doesn't switch to headphones..
and I hate not having buttons to switch gain, input, output, and other things that come up often..

but it works