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SMSL DO100 Review (Stereo DAC)

Rate this DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 4 1.1%

  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 7 1.9%

  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 34 9.1%

  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 330 88.0%
  • Total voters
    375
 
I have this setup: Wiim Mini<SMSL DO100< Hypex Ncore. I didn’t set Fixed Vol Output on the Wiim but max volume on SMSL and change the volume using the remote of the Wiim. Is this the way?
 
 
192kbps said:
Will isolators have an impact on sound?
Click to expand...
A positive one if you're struggling with ground loops or other EMI-related noises, or none at all if you don't.

192kbps said:
And delays.
Click to expand...
0.00029ms of latency added by the isolator:
63b7b9c98f90f967b12737a1_3.png
 
morethinkingcapacityneede said:
Hi. Does anyone know if this DAC has its USB input isolated? I am integrating a DIY built amp, based around an NC500MP module and a custom signal sense PCB. If have my Mac driving the DO100, which is driving the amp via XLR, with the laptop on USB power, everything works as expected. If I plug my laptop into my monitor, I notice noise via the signal sense circuit, the problem goes away if I use an Apple Charger, rather than USB-C power from the monitor. It seems like the DO100 does not isolate its USB input. By the way, I can mitigate the issue by raising the threshold a bit, losing a bit of sensitivity in the process.
Click to expand...
Then use the Appple charger. Why add something else when you have a solution?
 
amirm said:
This is a review and detailed measurements of the SMSL DO100 stereo balanced DAC with Bluetooth. It was sent to me by Aoshida Audio and costs US 239.
View attachment 208131

Sorry about the fuzzy front panel picture. It looks better in person. The rotary control makes it nice to adjust volume. Back panel is the usual affair but with USB-C connector instead of the usual Type B:

View attachment 208132

Nice that AC adapter is built into the unit so you don't have to worry about a dongle. The usual SMSL remote control is provided.

SMSL DO100 Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard using XLR balanced out:
View attachment 208133
This is superb performance especially at this price, landing the DO100 nicely in our top 20 list of best DACs ever measured:

View attachment 208134

RCA output is just slightly worse:
View attachment 208135

Same shows up in dynamic range:

View attachment 208136

Multitone test shows the extremely low distortion:
View attachment 208137

We are talking 15 dB lower than threshold of hearing folks!

IMD distortion is excellent with ever so slight hint of "ESS IMD Hump:"
View attachment 208138

Jitter performance is superb across all three inputs -- something we don't always see:
View attachment 208139

Linearity is textbook perfect of course:
View attachment 208140

Seven different filters are provided:

View attachment 208141


Using the default filter 1, we get incredibly good performance in our wideband distortion measurement:
View attachment 208142

Conclusions
This is a flawless performance from SMSL. Every test is aced, leaving no room for any complaint whatsoever. When you consider that this state of the art performance is offered at relatively low cost, it is quite an achievement. There is no excuse left to not opt for full transparency folks.

It is my pleasure to recommend the SMSL DO100.

---------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Click to expand...
Volume control at 0 db, can t it be disconneted ???? Does it affect sound quality BTW????
 
staticV3 said:
Setting the volume to 100 will disable the attenuation feature.


The DO100's volume control does not affect sound quality.
Click to expand...
Indeed. It directly uses the DAC chip's 32bit volume control. Before you run out of resolution, the output volume is vanishingly low. It works just fine driving fixed gain poweramps for example.
 
Thanks. I go directly to the electronic x over, bypassing any pre amp, less floor noise, excellent resolution, at 15 is loud enough for example.
 
Pulkass said:
Thanks. I go directly to the electronic x over, bypassing any pre amp, less floor noise, excellent resolution, at 15 is loud enough for example.
Click to expand...

That seems awfully low.

I run my DO100 at full (99) into an SMSL SH-8s headamp via XLR, then typically run the volume knob on the headamp around 12 to 2 o'clock on the headamp with my Drop + DCA Aeon Closed X with the headamp in low gain.

If I turn the DO100 down to 15, run the headamp in high gain and max out its volume knob, I get nowhere near normal listening levels in those headphones.

Does your crossover or power amp(s) provide substantial gain?
 
Thanks for the interest, YEAH, lots of power, 3 stereo AMPS 200 + 200 + 200 per channel +Crown xls mono 400 w (?) feeding the 18 incher sub woofer, SMSL DO 100 @42 volume, right now, blasting JIMI Hendrix 1st LP---harsh like hell, heheheeheh 1967 recording, this system of mine is sort of hi def. But taking the out from the dac, I can t feed the subwoofer, can I use doubled XLR plugs????
 
Last edited:
Power isn't the necessarily the issue I was concerned about, it's the voltage gain in dB between the DAC and the speaker outputs. I see now that the Crown XLS series has 31 dB gain and the input sensitivity on the balanced inputs ranges from only 0.725 Vrms on the XLS202 to 1.26 Vrms on the XLS602. Thus, it's no wonder you would need to run the DAC well below full output.

What crossover are you using? I am curious about the overall setup as you seem to run low/mid/high signals to the stereo amps plus a summed sub signal to the mono amp.
 
Skimming through the thread I think I saw others seeing a "delay" with the audio playback. Have any of you guys noticed it with USB 2.0 mode after 1-2 minutes of no audio? Resuming playback will cause the screen to show === before showing 48.0 khz, about a fraction of a second of a delay but noticeable enough to be annoying. USB 1 mode doesn't seem to have the issue.
 
artemis said:
Skimming through the thread I think I saw others seeing a "delay" with the audio playback. Have any of you guys noticed it with USB 2.0 mode after 1-2 minutes of no audio? Resuming playback will cause the screen to show === before showing 48.0 khz, about a fraction of a second of a delay but noticeable enough to be annoying. USB 1 mode doesn't seem to have the issue.
Click to expand...
Infact that's the ONE gripe I have with this DAC. It goes to sleep too quickly for my taste, and then takes a "hiccup" second or three to wake up again. I really wish this behaviour could be disabled in favour of an "always on" mode, because otherwise it behaves pretty much perfectly. It's a mains powered device after all, and as far as I'm concerned, shouldn't need a sleep mode at all.

I haven't tested it for music production yet, where latency is really critical because you'll want "true realtime performance" as far as human perception goes. Make no mistake, the timing sense of our ears is perhaps our most highly developed where we can hear anything "too late" by 10ms and less.

At least it seems to perform well enough in that regard for gaming. Super fast action games where one millisecond too late means permadeath are no problem. It's fast enough.

The sleep and wakeup problem remains, and is perhaps the most noticeable difference for me personally to a PC audio interface, which have no sleep mode.

The DO100, and all its brethren who behave like it, are *almost there* in replacing the output side of a proper audio interface, particularly in terms of timing and system behaviour. But not quite.

For mere listening to music though, it's perfectly fine.
 
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Ropeburn said:
Infact that's the ONE gripe I have with this DAC. It goes to sleep too quickly for my taste, and then takes a "hiccup" second or three to wake up again. I really wish this behaviour could be disabled in favour of an "always on" mode, because otherwise it behaves pretty much perfectly. It's a mains powered device after all, and as far as I'm concerned, shouldn't need a sleep mode at all.

I haven't tested it for music production yet, where latency is really critical because you'll want "true realtime performance" as far as human perception goes. Make no mistake, the timing sense of our ears is perhaps our most highly developed where we can hear anything "too late" by 10ms and less.

At least it seems to perform well enough in that regard for gaming. Super fast action games where one millisecond too late means permadeath are no problem. It's fast enough.

The sleep and wakeup problem remains, and is perhaps the most noticeable difference for me personally to a PC audio interface, which have no sleep mode.

The DO100, and all its brethren who behave like it, are *almost there* in replacing the output side of a proper audio interface, particularly in terms of timing and system behaviour. But not quite.

For mere listening to music though, it's perfectly fine.
Click to expand...
Other than that one little literal hiccup I'm a fan of it. I think it actually cleared up issues I have been having with people speaking causing a horrible high pitched peaking like effect I have experienced across multiple headphones now but I'm still testing to confirm if that's the case. Glad I am not the only one experiencing this 'issue', though for me personally using USB 1 as a workaround has been fine. If it turns out that keeping it in USB 1 doesn't allow the unit to go to sleep then we have a problem.

sejarzo said:
@artemis and @Ropeburn ...

Follow these directions to modify the XMOS driver settings and you will no longer experience sleep mode issues...assuming you are running it from a Windows PC.

Click to expand...
I appreciate you linking that, I'll give that a try if the above mentioned USB1 mode doesn't fix the problem.
 
sejarzo said:
@artemis and @Ropeburn ...

Follow these directions to modify the XMOS driver settings and you will no longer experience sleep mode issues...assuming you are running it from a Windows PC.

Click to expand...
That discoveries / instructions was first published here on ASR forum:

www.audiosciencereview.com

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 www.audiosciencereview.com

With the latest XMOS drivers from SMSL (5.70) 'Options' tab is visible and 'Always On' is selected by default, so no need to change anything.
 
sejarzo said:
Power isn't the necessarily the issue I was concerned about, it's the voltage gain in dB between the DAC and the speaker outputs. I see now that the Crown XLS series has 31 dB gain and the input sensitivity on the balanced inputs ranges from only 0.725 Vrms on the XLS202 to 1.26 Vrms on the XLS602. Thus, it's no wonder you would need to run the DAC well below full output.

What crossover are you using? I am curious about the overall setup as you seem to run low/mid/high signals to the stereo amps plus a summed sub signal to the mono amp.
Click to expand...
Used DBX 3 way electronic X over since 2001, various pre and power amps, two years ago Behringer x over, clearer sound, I guess better operational amps, now 3 Behringer A800 power amps, and a Crown xls 1002 for subwoofer. DIY loudspeakers made in 2001, still very good. Never been rich, this cheapo stuff, does amazingly good, 2 Seas alu 8 inch woofers in a super massed enclosure, braced, cement ballasted chambers, mid highs module, seas mid, now a compression horned celestion tweeters, big treated room so I have to project sound.
 

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