SMSL DO200 Pro DAC Review

[torgeirs]

@staticV3, @JIW, some time ago I measured such a series for a single cs43131 on a large bandwidth, but taking into account only 9 harmonics. The rise on the left is due to clipping, on the right to “pumping” harmonics by noise shaping. Curious what might change after averaging a few chips. I suppose that nothing will change on the left, on the right distortion may decrease due to noise reduction. But by how much?..
BTW I consider THD+N vs Frequency measurement on a wide bandwidth a very unindicative measurement, because the total noise of such a bandwidth is always high and hides all details.
View attachment 429982

This approach improves dynamic range but is ineffective against distortions.

Is’t the trick to make the -6dB line to be the 0 dB line?
That is lessen the load on each DAC so they get less load dependent distortion.
Then they together can drive the low load with low distortion.
With low load I mean the low noise LP filter

 

[Elfriede]

A stupid question from a newbe. Which SINAD is still audible for the average human hearing?

 

[torgeirs]

Masking is destroying the ability to hear noise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_masking
The proof is MP3.
But maybe -60 to -80 dB in a silent chamber depending on frequency content of signal

 

[torgeirs]

The easy way of checking is using a digital volume control with dB scale.
Play music at the normal volume. Note the dB value
Turn down music until you dont hear it anymore. Note the dB value
The difference is the needed SINAD for that listening session

 

[antcollinet]

The easy way of checking is using a digital volume control with dB scale.
Play music at the normal volume. Note the dB value
Turn down music until you dont hear it anymore. Note the dB value
The difference is the needed SINAD for that listening session

That will tend to exaggerate the SINAD you need due to the masking effect you note in your previous post. The "turned down until you can't hear it" level has no masking signal to make it more difficult to hear.

I pretty much agree with your 60 do 80dB for a large majority of listeners in real world listening conditions (speakers in a room with typical background noise.)

For all listeners - even those with the best hearing, who are trained on what to listen for, in silent conditions and using headphones, we have this:

Audibility thresholds of amp and DAC measurements

Introduction A recurring theme on ASR is whether or not the various measured qualities of the devices are audible. In this post, I'll present some clear and visual thresholds for when those imperfections can be considered a potentially audible concern. I will not explain the basics of amp/DAC...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[nick_l44.1]

Is’t the trick to make the -6dB line to be the 0 dB line?
That is lessen the load on each DAC so they get less load dependent distortion.
Then they together can drive the low load with low distortion.
With low load I mean the low noise LP filter

I'm not sure I understood you correctly. The external load on the chip was extremely low, about 200 kOhm.

 

[agnostic]

Hi Amir

Thanks for reviewing this one.

The HDMI Arc input is an interesting selling point.
It's too bad you can't measure it.

Are you ever able to measure through HDMI Arc ?
Any way you could do it in the future ?

No, it's a weird design. This HDMI input can't take any signal from Blu Ray player. According to the handbook, it's desgiend for the ACR HDMI from TV to provide better sound quality, which is useless at all. The optical output of TV can be much common to use. And Before I returned this DAC I tried ACR HDMI from my Samsung TV, but it didn't work either.

 

[Jimster480]

No, it's a weird design. This HDMI input can't take any signal from Blu Ray player. According to the handbook, it's desgiend for the ACR HDMI from TV to provide better sound quality, which is useless at all. The optical output of TV can be much common to use. And Before I returned this DAC I tried ACR HDMI from my Samsung TV, but it didn't work either.

You mean HDMI ARC? So does it support I2S over HDMI but not ARC? Because I have seen some DAC's that just do I2S but use an HDMI cable.

 

[staticV3]

So does it support I2S over HDMI but not ARC? Because I have seen some DAC's that just do I2S but use an HDMI cable.

The DO200 Pro does not support i2s via HDMI. Only ARC.

 

[Jimster480]

The DO200 Pro does not support i2s via HDMI. Only ARC.

Yet another member said he can't get it to work with ARC?

 

[staticV3]

Yet another member said he can't get it to work with ARC?

Perhaps they forgot to enable ARC output in the TV settings, who knows ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

 

[agnostic]

You mean HDMI ARC? So does it support I2S over HDMI but not ARC? Because I have seen some DAC's that just do I2S but use an HDMI cable.

This DAC claims HDMI support not just I2S as others.

 

[agnostic]

Perhaps they forgot to enable ARC output in the TV settings, who knows ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

The point is not TV, but it's not useful totally. Why don't I just use the toslink from TV to get better sound if necessary? But if someone really need HDMI to connect DAC with Blu Ray, this HDMI port is completely useless. So why does it exist? Also it's so weird almost all Chinese DACs equipped with I2S, which is a very uncommon port.

 

[antcollinet]

Why don't I just use the toslink from TV to get better sound if necessary?

Becasue not all TVs have toslink. It is gradually being replaced with ARC as a more capable output for AVRs.

So why does it exist?

It is intended for the use cases when all your devices are connected to the TV (including your Blu-ray) and you want to send the sound of whatever device is connected back out to an external amp, avr. soundbar etc.

In AV applications you are often working with multi channel audio - which Toslink can only do with compressed audio, and even then, only with up to 7.1. Bitstream not available.

Also it's so weird almost all Chinese DACs equipped with I2S, which is a very uncommon port.

I2s and ARC are two completely different interfaces and are incompatible. I2S should never have used an HDMI connector IMO. In fact I2S should never have existed as an external interface at all. It is particularly pointless.

 

[staticV3]

Why don't I just use the toslink from TV to get better sound if necessary?

Because HDMI ARC, if HDMI-CEC is implemented as well, unlocks two great features:

1. Volume control with the TV remote
2. Turning the TV on automatically turns the DAC on. Turning the TV off automatically turns the DAC off.