SMSL DO300 DAC Review

[Leefer55]

A head scratcher for sure . Needs measuring , sounds like some kind of phase change but who knows why that should be related to the usb connection.

The phase "thing" on the Dean Peer recording is how the recording was made, it is not an artifact to be questioned. I am saying the image is tighter and more 3 dimensional.

 

[Jimbob54]

The phase "thing" on the Dean Peer recording is how the recording was made, it is not an artifact to be questioned. I am saying the image is tighter and more 3 dimensional.

Yes . What you described as the 'tells' from those recordings sounds like the result of one channel being out of phase on one of the usb orientations from your description.

 

[Leefer55]

Yes . What you described as the 'tells' from those recordings sounds like the result of one channel being out of phase on one of the usb orientations from your description.

Are you also able to hear the out of phase starting at 1:42 from the link I provided? What I am trying to say is I hear the out of phase regardless of connection orientation and that one sounds more accurate than the other, to a somewhat small extent.

 

[RandomEar]

Depends on the recording I used.

On Dean Peer's "Lord's Tundra" at the 1:42 mark, the bass guitar solo is played out of phase and the image goes from being a little diffuse and slightly above my speakers to more precise and further above.

On Sara K's "History Repeats Itself", the soundstage is a bit deeper and wider and Sara's voice is a little more precise and further back.

I should add that the increase in precision and soundstage dimension still falls a bit short of my vinyl rig but it's better than the Dragonfly v1.2 I upgraded from.

If you had said that you heard a difference in noise, I would be open to ideas. Maybe a bad USB cable with faulty ground connections, a ground loop or something similar. But stating that the actual music sounds different using a digital signal is simply not plausible. It's digital - either you get music or you get dropouts/nothing. There's no inbetween.

 

[Leefer55]

If you had said that you heard a difference in noise, I would be open to ideas. Maybe a bad USB cable with faulty ground connections, a ground loop or something similar. But stating that the actual music sounds different using a digital signal is simply not plausible. It's digital - either you get music or you get dropouts/nothing. There's no inbetween.

That's exactly what I would have thought and yet here we are. Oh well, not gonna worry about this, just thought it was an experience worth sharing.

Edit 1: I will add, the USB A to C cable I am using cost me $30 CAD so perhaps the cable is the culprit.

Edit 2: The Youtube video I linked to earlier WAS NOT used in this test. I have a DSF file that I created when I ripped the title from my CD. I just listened to the YouTube video and both sounded the same. I was gonna attach the DSF file but it's kinda big...