SMSL DO300EX DAC users

[tonyo123]

New SMSL DO300EX DAC user. Letting it burn in (if that makes a difference - I've experienced yes with some past components particularly with their imaging to lock in). Still, it's great sounding from the start vs Tone board and other high quality DAC dongles.

Enjoying the product from a sound and esthetics perspective. While it hasn't been tested-reviewed by Amir, given the SMSL track record and other measurements of DACs with the newish AK4191+AK4499EX combo, I was pretty confident the design would prove-out well. Those are the two reasons I chose it.

The sturdy heavy physical build, the display, and menu structure are very good (yes, some of the sub-data labels are a little small but I have the DAC by my laptop where I play my music via Foobar2000). In fact the display is so good that the labels look like stickers at times.

Using Foobar2000 with the SMSL ASIO driver, I am able to play up to DSD256. However, I do not seem to be able to get DSD512 to play. DSD comes up as DOP and I've not been able to configure is as DSD native. These issues could be my setup, not sure at this time. Have yet to reload open ASIO drivers as I decided to remove them to eliminate possible installation issues with the SMSL version. Will keep tinkering.

For what it's worth, without DSP processing and 'no replay gain' (bummer, volume changes between MQA, PCM, DSD can jump up), the MQA light does come on. Very hard to distinguish MQA encoded vs not (for a few Coldplay albums). But, I've not had time to do critical listening.

Bluetooth LDAP from my Android Pixel works well and sounds good. Will playy with some of those options in the future.

What are others' experiences including setup issues?

 

[tonyo123]

New SMSL DO300EX DAC user. Letting it burn in (if that makes a difference - I've experienced yes with some past components particularly with their imaging to lock in). Still, it's great sounding from the start vs Tone1 board and other high quality DAC dongles.

Enjoying the product from a sound and esthetics perspective. While it hasn't been tested-reviewed by Amir, given the SMSL track record and other measurements of DACs with the newish AK4191+AK4499EX combo, I was pretty confident the design would prove-out well. Those are the two reasons I chose it.

The sturdy heavy physical build, the display, and menu structure are very good (yes, some of the sub-data labels are a little small but I have the DAC by my laptop where I play my music via Foobar2000). In fact, the display is so good that the labels look like stickers at times.

Using Foobar2000 with the SMSL ASIO driver, I am able to play up to DSD256. However, I do not seem to be able to get DSD512 to play. DSD comes up as DOP and I've not been able to configure is as DSD native. These issues could be my setup, not sure at this time. Have yet to reload open ASIO drivers as I decided to remove them to eliminate possible installation issues with the SMSL version. Also, turned off the pre-volume option. Will keep tinkering.

For what it's worth, without DSP processing and 'no replay gain' (bummer, volume changes between MQA, PCM, DSD can jump up), the MQA light does come on. Very hard to distinguish MQA encoded vs not (for a few Coldplay albums). But, I've not had time to do critical listening.

Bluetooth LDAP from my Android Pixel works well and sounds good. Will playy with some of those options in the future.

What are others' experiences including setup issues?

 

[DVDdoug]

Letting it burn in (if that makes a difference -

Hopefully not! You wouldn't want it to be unstable!

...Your brain can "burn-in".

Where I work (non-audio electronics) we burn-in at elevated temperature for 48-hours before shipping. That's NOT to change or improve the performance. It's to weed-out early failures.

I've experienced yes with some past components particularly with their imaging to lock in).

Electronics don't affect "imaging" unless they have a balance control, or some headphone amps have a crossfeed control that blends the left & right. Or you could have a defect where the left or right is louder.

The "soundstage" is an obviously illusion since the sound is really coming from a pair of speakers (or headphones). Soundstage comes from the recording, the speakers, speaker placement, the room, and your brain. (Not many people get a good soundstage illusion with headphones. The most common perception is the sound coming from inside the head.)

Using Foobar2000 with the SMSL ASIO driver, I am able to play up to DSD256. However, I do not seem to be able to get DSD512 to play. DSD comes up as DOP and I've not been able to configure is as DSD native.

I don't know how to do it... Although it would be "nice" to get it working, MOST digital formats are better than human hearing and any conversion is usually audibly perfect unless you go below "CD quality" (16-bit, 44.1kHz) or possibly if you use lossy compression like MP3. (MP3 or the other lossy formats can actually be very good. Dolby Digital on DVDs is also lossy but it usually sounds great!)

Very hard to distinguish MQA encoded vs not (for a few Coldplay albums). But, I've not had time to do critical listening.

I've never heard it but I think it subtle. It's also pretty-much obsolete. It's questionable whether it's an improvement or degradation. The "hi-fi ideal" would be to not mess-with the sound. If you want to alter/improve/enhance the sound, EQ or other effects are a lot more straightforward and completely controllable.

 

[tonyo123]

@DVDdoug, yes, MQA doesn't matter, just wanted to test that it works.

I can tell you what I heard on imaging and instrument placing. After a week of play, sound got a bit reigned or I got used to the sound, lol. One test is Roger Waters 'Amused to Death' recorded w/QSound. Think 2nd song has the dog barking and growling. Way outside the front soundstage. Makes you look to the sides for it. With collapsed soundstage that doesn't happen. Overall the album instruments are well recorded and separated (that's the illusion part, right?).

DSD doesn't work for you on Foobar? I can post the setup in the near future. I've extracted the bitstream from Pioneer SACD player via ethernet link. Was quite a trick that some on the internet figured out. Now I barely use the physical player for the many disc's I bought over the years. I just play DSD64 via Foobar. Have a few higher rates but agree that these don't improve the DSD sound which appears a bit smoother to me than PCM.

I've got nice headphones but I never get great imaging and soundstage from them. When I sit down to listen I'd rather have the system and speakers playing in front of me. As a result, I don't use the headphone portion of the SMSL DAC.

 

[Cazzesman]

If............................. I say if I wanted to add an SMSL headphone amp to my DO330EX, to drive some 'Hard to Drive' headphones does anyone have any suggestions? I presume the H400 is the pick of the bunch. Any other thoughts please?

Regards Cazzesman

 

[tonyo123]

My current Philips Fidelio X2HD, AKG 371. amd Ety in-ears all function loudly enough. I do have a CMOY Altoids Tin Amp. Works well enough.The dedicated H400 for sure. I searched for other otpions saw this:

Best Headphone Amplifier of 2025 - Ultimate List — Audiophile ON

The ultimate list of the best Amps that you can buy for your headphones this year. Featuring lots of styles, prices and models we are confident we can recommend you a source device to improve your audio with high-resolution playback features.

www.audiophileon.com

What headphones are you driving?

 

[Cazzesman]

Hi Tonyo,

Currently the best HP I have are some Mark Levinson 5909 which are closed back Noise Cancelling. The 300 is fine for those but I was looking at expanding my HP purchases if something caught my eye. Thanks for the link.

Regards Cazzesman