SMSL DL400

[Magnifico]

I like my stuff really loud sometimes....so it is loud on low gain without EQ but not crying loud
I say it again....DL400 is clearly loud enough...I was only massively disappointed by the SMSL because it was so much less power compared to the Topping.

It is everything there (in place)....The Ananda Nano is not held back by any means.
Even at low gain I don´t feel like any performance of the HP is lost. It´s just not the maximum volume I can cope

 

[Magnifico]

I sometimes have to check myself what is really symmetrical and what only has a pseudo-symmetrical connection. It can be confusing.

You also have to be careful with headphone cables these days, because there are cables with symmetrical connectors (XLR, 4.4 or 2.5) that are actually SE wired. If someone uses these cables for a real balanced headphone amplifier, it can bang or smoke, including a defect in the amplifier.
There is something like that for the DT1990.

The usual procedure here in the forum, if you want to correct something like this, is to cross out the text and write the correction underneath, then it remains clear.
View attachment 428334

That is not possible anymore after answers....forgot about that myself.
A really bad move from my point of view.
On the other hand no one can say "I never said that". Most probably they retracted that option in order to kill such discussions.

Anyway...it´s all there and the reason is found and for now there is nothing wrong with the SMSL power.
But I have a little bit more to say about the SMSL.

 

[Magnifico]

More REAL findings on the SMSL DL400.

Now there is this nice COLOR display and they almost don´t use any color on this device.
Don´t get me wrong the design is very elegant and everything but the "44.1 khz" is big enough to read easily as it is meant do be a desktop DAC/AMP. Only color I get to see is the top bar in each settings category.
I think it should be possible to have integrated color themes. But better this adult black theme than some shiny red or radioactive blue color scheme.

I don´t know if it´s special to the DL400, newer tech or something. Switching/changing input (back and forth)does not breake the playback from computer. It plays seamlessly and picks up like nothing happens....I´m pretty sure Foobar freaked out when trying this with SU-9.

The FN button is assignable but not to my liking. For example....I can not set it to use HP out (exactly)....just the menu to go through the settings.

The display is bright enough and dim enough on lowest settings to be clearly seen and not to disturb and the angles are perfect.
That is in a pitch black room with monitor being the only light source. So i´d say worst case.
MAYBE if you place it right under your monitor it might leak light in your eyes...for me as it is....PERFECT.
So with several higher settings even in brighter environment there should be enough reserves to have the display always well readable.

I can plug and uplug the headphone and the device still stands where it was before touching it

 

[Rastofer]

More REAL findings on the SMSL DL400.

Now there is this nice COLOR display and they almost don´t use any color on this device.
Don´t get me wrong the design is very elegant and everything but the "44.1 khz" is big enough to read easily as it is meant do be a desktop DAC/AMP. Only color I get to see is the top bar in each settings category.
I think it should be possible to have integrated color themes. But better this adult black theme than some shiny red or radioactive blue color scheme.

I don´t know if it´s special to the DL400, newer tech or something. Switching/changing input (back and forth)does not breake the playback from computer. It plays seamlessly and picks up like nothing happens....I´m pretty sure Foobar freaked out when trying this with SU-9.

The FN button is assignable but not to my liking. For example....I can not set it to use HP out (exactly)....just the menu to go through the settings.

The display is bright enough and dim enough on lowest settings to be clearly seen and not to disturb and the angles are perfect.
That is in a pitch black room with monitor being the only light source. So i´d say worst case.
MAYBE if you place it right under your monitor it might leak light in your eyes...for me as it is....PERFECT.
So with several higher settings even in brighter environment there should be enough reserves to have the display always well readable.

I can plug and uplug the headphone and the device still stands where it was before touching it

Wow, sorry, I didn't know you were the only one authorized in this thread to make "REAL" assessments.
On the DL400, you can assign the FN button on the remote control to the output/headphone switch function.

Regards.

 

[Roland68]

Wow, sorry, I didn't know you were the only one authorized in this thread to make "REAL" assessments.
On the DL400, you can assign the FN button on the remote control to the output/headphone switch function.

Regards.

Maybe it's because of the language barrier, but @Magnifico writes "findings" and not "assessments".

I can't read anything about assessments/reviews in the Magnifico article, only findings/experiences in using the device.
And those should be the things we want to read in the forum, right?

 

[Magnifico]

Whoever cares...I´m german.
And the "REAL" was related to me having the wrong impression about the weak HP power.
Obviously there are people taking themselves much more seriously than me.

And whatever finding or assessment you have to share....let us know, let´s discuss it.
I might have missed your valuable input on DL400.


/EDIT: BTW. The balanced cable for the Ananda Nano arrived and surprise...there is a lot more power available
But still....unbelievable how much power the Nano can digest. It feels like volume 30 to 80 (Win setting) not too much happens.
I wonder does something happen to the sound? Or does the Nano just eat the power and does nothing.
Need to critically listen to it, but currently still only want fun with the new gear.
DL400 + Ananda Nano = FUN !!!

 

[Rastofer]

Whoever cares...I´m german.
And the "REAL" was related to me having the wrong impression about the weak HP power.
Obviously there are people taking themselves much more seriously than me.

And whatever finding or assessment you have to share....let us know, let´s discuss it.
I might have missed your valuable input on DL400.


/EDIT: BTW. The balanced cable for the Ananda Nano arrived and surprise...there is a lot more power available
But still....unbelievable how much power the Nano can digest. It feels like volume 30 to 80 (Win setting) not too much happens.
I wonder does something happen to the sound? Or does the Nano just eat the power and does nothing.
Need to critically listen to it, but currently still only want fun with the new gear.
DL400 + Ananda Nano = FUN !!!

Hi!
Sorry, I misinterpreted your words, when you were talking about REAL findings, I thought you were suggesting that the rest of the findings described here were made up.

In any case, my opinion is as valuable as any other, one more opinion that can be taken into account or not

In my case my audiophile system is not very demanding and to move my HD 560S, I have more than enough power.
Let's continue enjoying the DL400!!

Greetings!!

 

[Magnifico]

Now the balanced adapter arrived (4.4 to 2.5) and I was able to pair the Nano to a BTR5 balanced.
SE connection lacked HP performance more or less at any volume. Now the BTR5 loses control at higher volume still but sounds pretty good at reasonable levels. Without more critical listening I don´t think I can tell if there is any lack of HP performance left on the table at those volume levels.
You can tell the BTR5 puts out so much more power now (320 instead of 80). It died on me in one single listening session
This happend exactly zero times before But I never used balanced on it before so it is a new experience to me anyway.

So why do I write this....the effect of balanced connection did help the BTR5 incomparable more than it did for the DL400.
Though I´m on LOW gain now with -2.5 dB (instead HIGH gain and -7.5dB) in the display. I only gained more headroom but that´s not the fault of the DL400. Btw. I realised I burned a lot of HP power using replay gain again. I didn´t use it for a quite a long time new.
Things get mixed up when you change too many variables and still want to compare.

I have a Audeze Maxwell (which intruduced me into the world of planars) but the Nano is my first planar that I have to power myself AND it´s the first time I experience the balanced versus SE connection.
So I´m a bit confused if it´s a planar thing the difference is mediocre or just completely normal.
In any case the DL has enough power for anything I could imagine. There are single reports people say they own headphones they feel the DO400 does not completely power to their liking/feeling.
That leaves me in awe that Audeze does real magic on the Maxwell having it running up to 80 amazing hourse. Kudos!

So I did a fact check on my purchase. Is there anything better than the DO400/DL400? (at least in reasonable price ranges).
I didn´t find anything. I realised Topping was really effing lazy so that SMSL kicked their butts and took the crown.
Loxjie D60 at time of purchase was at least 80€ pricier. Toppings DX7 Pro+ lost every comparison to the SMSL offering.
Sometimes there are "weird" products available in the US that could be interesting but it´s useless information for me if it´s not even available for me anyway.
Did I miss a product?

 

[Roland68]

So I did a fact check on my purchase. Is there anything better than the DO400/DL400? (at least in reasonable price ranges).
I didn´t find anything.

In terms of price/performance, the DL400, DO400, D40 Pro and D60 are unbeatable as a combination device.
In my opinion and in my experience, the better device when it comes to a combination device is the Topping DX9. However, this device is also significantly more expensive, but technically also much more complex than the SMSL devices.
The performance is roughly on the level of the A90 Discrete, i.e. about 1/3 more than the DL400, and at 300 ohms almost twice as high.

I realised Topping was really effing lazy so that SMSL kicked their butts and took the crown.
Loxjie D60 at time of purchase was at least 80€ pricier. Toppings DX7 Pro+ lost every comparison to the SMSL offering.
Sometimes there are "weird" products available in the US that could be interesting but it´s useless information for me if it´s not even available for me anyway.
Did I miss a product?

At what point is this supposed to have happened? Actually, it is exactly the other way round, because so far Topping has been the pioneer in technical and above all new solutions/innovations.
It is also no secret that SMSL has benefited from Topping in some areas, not the other way around. SMSL is more of a manufacturer that often only sticks to circuits from the data sheets/white papers and then optimizes them for tests.

But the combination of Topping D50 III and L70 leaves the combo devices far behind. The almost double performance of the L70 is just one point.
But of course that is just my personal opinion and experience.