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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 2.0%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 32 9.0%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 311 87.9%

  • Total voters
    354

_thelaughingman

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I know truth is hard to take. But lets be honest, besides the ones that make money out of this BS , the rest of you would long ago enjoy your endgame 300 us$ splendidly measured dacs and amps , but you aren’t because your brain still can’t experience what you so think matters or better said messure. And now I am done convincing you lost souls. Last more tip: Go to Audio note site where they explain, perhaps better than I can… my last hope to put you on path of actually enjoying music. Wish you all the best and sorry for the rant.

BR, Andrej
Hey, welcome to ASR. We definitely appreciate your subjective opinion of how gear should sound and welcome you to join the queue of million others that are trying to preach the same drivel. Make yourself comfortable, for we enjoy newcomers that like to show us the way.
 

Slayer

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Go to Audio note site where they explain, perhaps better than I can…
Well, somebody needs to explain better than you have. I don't think to many here understood much of anything you said in three posts.
But your free to think what you will, this just may not be the best place for you to do so.
 

cheapmessiah

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I kind of did, but he didnt really say anything unknown, and the worst part is that none of what he said is a valid point against good measuring gear.

The gist of what he says is that your brain constructcs the mental "image" of sound from time queues and differences in amplitude between different parts of a sound wave, and he is not wrong there. What he doesnt seem to understand is that that happens AFTER the audio gear has done its job of making an electrical singnal into a sound wave, and its that process where good measurements are important, since thats how we measure fidelity to the recorded signal.

He tried to sound smart by repeating something he really doesnt understand well.
 

Labjr

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Look at Amir's credentials and tell us he doesn't know what he's doing?
 

wacomme

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For something a bit more practical, can anyone answer this question?

Does anyone know if the DO100 outputs both SE and balanced simultaneously?
 

_thelaughingman

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For something a bit more practical, can anyone answer this question?

Does anyone know if the DO100 outputs both SE and balanced simultaneously?
My guess is that it does not do simultaneous output to both. One or the other.
 

MaxBuck

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Hi, I’am a newby on this forum ... overanalyze music in unlistenable mess: to mind comes Benchmark DAC - horribly overrated pro gear. Sorry for being blunt but simply have hard time understanding the purpose of this forum.
The purpose of this forum is to attempt to disabuse people like you of the notion that you know what you're talking about.

That was harsh, I know, and apologies. But seriously, if you don't like the output of Benchmark gear, your problem is that either your source material or your transducers are crap, or maybe both.
 

wacomme

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My guess is that it does not do simultaneous output to both. One or the other.
Based on what? I wonder because there are no output choices on the remote, only input choices:

USB (USB input) BT (Bluetooth input) OPT (Optical input) COA (Coaxial input).
 
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I recently purchased the DO100 to connect to a Boxem Arthur 3409/N2. I have connected an old CD player, an Arcam Alpha7SE, to the do100 using the coax and it sounds fantastic through a pair of Revel M16s.

I had been thinking about purchasing a preamp to connect the cd player, but I dont think there is any need now- think I could happily live with this set up for some time.

This site is a godsend.
 

Sirphatsalot

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I just purchased this DAC and when I have it connected to my AV processors analog input, it works fine. However, if I plug in directly to my Emotiva XPA Gen 3 amp with either RCA or XLR connections, I get a nasty hum/buzz, regardless of the SMSL DAC volume. The amp works fine with other devices connected. Is this typical of sending a DAC's signal directly to an amp? Is the DAC signal too weak for an amp?

It would be nice if I could bypass my processor altogether...
 
Last edited:

Matias

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JSmith

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Is there a US distributor/sales?
Does the BT antenna come with the unit?

1654577606007.png


Ships from
Amazon
Sold by
Aoshida HiFi-US


JSmith
 

jaydillyo

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Mine just arrived. I plugged it into my Mac and it's showing a max sample rate of 96 kHz. I purchased this expecting 768 kHz support. Does anybody know how to enable higher sample rates? Am I SOL?

Please understand that for my purpose (testing some audio software) I actually need the higher sample rates.

P.S. This product would be much better if it could run off usb-c power too. Needing the power chord is annoying and the one that comes with it is short.
 

Labjr

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Mine just arrived. I plugged it into my Mac and it's showing a max sample rate of 96 kHz. I purchased this expecting 768 kHz support. Does anybody know how to enable higher sample rates? Am I SOL?

Please understand that for my purpose (testing some audio software) I actually need the higher sample rates.

P.S. This product would be much better if it could run off usb-c power too. Needing the power chord is annoying and the one that comes with it is short.

I don't have this DAC but I would think that's a driver or software issue. IEC power cords are a dime a dozen. Just get a longer one.
 

Veri

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Mine just arrived. I plugged it into my Mac and it's showing a max sample rate of 96 kHz. I purchased this expecting 768 kHz support. Does anybody know how to enable higher sample rates? Am I SOL?

Please understand that for my purpose (testing some audio software) I actually need the higher sample rates.
That's.. weird. It should support more rates, Amir's multitone test needs 192kHz to even run. So something's odd here.

I don't have this DAC but I would think that's a driver or software issue. IEC power cords are a dime a dozen. Just get a longer one.
Macs just have a general purpose driver so it should work out of the box, other DACs sure do. Agree on the power cord.
 

jaydillyo

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Alright. I did figure it out. The device itself has USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 modes. In order to get the higher sample rates it must be set to USB 2.0. Reading the manual helped, of course, but not that much. It's a pretty bad manual. Also, the display on the device is very cryptic so the options listed don't make any sense at all without the manual.
 

Palladium

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Mine only supports 32 bit depth 48KHz and up with the native Win10 driver.
 

Green7

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Mine only supports 32 bit depth 48KHz and up with the native Win10 driver.
Yep. I got mine today and it also just shows 32 bits and 48Khz and up in Windows 10 sound settings. Wierd! So does this mean that all 44.1Khz is getting upscaled to 48Khz in Windows 10?
 

Lajamajasaman

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Windows10 setting

For me it is set up under windows 10 as in this video. 382 kHz for me. 2.0 usb. But whatever format I listen to dsd, 44khz always has 382 prints on the display. Is that good? Or do I have to say something else? Factory driver is installed. 512 sampling. This is good? I use google translate.
 
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