SMSL DO400 DAC & HP Amp Review

[Rick63]

According to the strict definition of innovation as "something new that brings satisfaction and value," the new SMSL DO400 is not an innovative product. It is not clear what is the "job to done" of this DAC.

Could not agree more! I mean, what does it add besides the I^2S input and .5 more SINAD while losing PEQ, that makes it worth $200 more than the Topping DX5 II? And it's too early to say reliability.

For those reasons I changed my vote to not terrible.

 

[amirm]

While it measures well and all, it's easy to see why Topping and SMSL have almost all of the top 20 measuring DACs. It's because they both seem to release a new model every other month. Most of the time all they appear to be doing for the most part is chasing a little more SINAD and changing the casework.

It is not for that reason as neither has managed to break the barrier which is the AP itself not allowing higher SINAD.

They do it because for their domestic market, anything more than 6 months old is too old. Their channel demands new models so they keep producing them. It is a cultural thing.

They also do special versions for different online sellers which adds to variations.

 

[Rick63]

It is not for that reason as neither has managed to break the barrier which is the AP itself not allowing higher SINAD.

They do it because for their domestic market, anything more than 6 months old is too old. Their channel demands new models so they keep producing them. It is a cultural thing.

They also do special versions for different online sellers which adds to variations.

Either way, they need to focus more on #2 and especially #3 on my list.

Oh, and customer support. But I get it, that's why these units are inexpensive.

 

[amirm]

Wonder if SMSL will go upscale at some point and produce something to compete with Eversolo or MiniDSP, or if they're happy being among the top cats of the desktop market?

Streaming is hard software wise so I am not sure they will go there. Topping has certainly going up market. But form factors are still small to make shipping and inventory easier and cheaper.

 

[amirm]

There is very little doubt that 2nd order harmonics are at worst benign and, for many people, warmer and more "musical" experience than a distortionless design.

That is a myth I think. Look at my FFT:

The second harmonic is in the treble range. No way does it add warmth. And that is what I hear with tube products. Their treble doesn't sound good and the spray of harmonics creates a grungy, unpleasant sound.

The only case for warmth would be if the second harmonic in bass coincides with a room mode. There, it would sound like there is more bass and hence warmth I guess. I have heard this a couple of times.

 

[Cbdb2]

What Topping and SMSL are understanding is that what people actually like about tubes is low-order harmonic distortion, especially 2nd order --

You can also get comppresion, load dependancey (high output impedance) higher distortion as amplitude goes up (on peaks or with loudness) if the rails sag. Not even mentioning the effects of output transformers which can be audible.
More to "tube sound'' than adding some 2nd HD. The above are mostly not applicable to tube pres and IMO thats why some people think Tube power amps are the only way to get "the real tube sound".

 

[phoenixdogfan]

For me, this would be a golfing panther if it had PEQ. Instead, it has these bogus "tone modes" meant to simulate "the richness of tube sound" and the like. So it's far less useful than it could otherwise be. And it's $500 so no excuses for not executing to the current standard. Still a happy panther though. It looks great, and performs well. Just have to feed it EQ from something like Roon or your PC.

Amir, as always, a terrific review.

 

[Gorgonzola]

I contend that “low order” harmonic distortion created by many tube amp circuits is not audible. What people are hearing instead is the roll-off at both high and low frequency extremes (i.e., “warmth”) and the low damping factor (i.e., “tubby bass”). Distortion has almost next to nothing to do with “tube sound” unless the distortion is so extreme that the harmonics are something like 50dB below the fundamental or the THD is exceeding 20%.

I dare say flabby bass adds something to the warmth of tube amps, (to a much lessor extent, tube preamps). However, on the contrary, I thing the 2nd/3rd harmonics are very important to tube sound. The low-order harmonics are not heard as "distortion" per se, but as smoothing and warming, and possibly contributing to the "holographic" of some tube equipment and given tubes.

 

[Gorgonzola]

That is a myth I think. Look at my FFT:

The second harmonic is in the treble range. No way does it add warmth. And that is what I hear with tube products. Their treble doesn't sound good and the spray of harmonics creates a grungy, unpleasant sound.

The only case for warmth would be if the second harmonic in bass coincides with a room mode. There, it would sound like there is more bass and hence warmth I guess. I have heard this a couple of times.

@Billy Budapest made the comment to the effect that weak bass control is what makes tube amps sound "warm", and doubt so in part.

I'm not sure, though, why you would imply that a 2k harmonic on a 1k signal would have no effect, not to mention 2nd harmonics at lower frequencies. It's be know since antiquity, (Pythagoras as I recalled), that 2nd order harmonics mellow the fundamental's sound. High-order harmonics, say above 4th and up, make the sound increasing discordant and harsh.

I'm going to suggest that the principal reason so many audiophiles trekked back to tubes in the '80s and '90s from solid state was that the latter amps of that era had THDs comprise of relatively high high-order harmonics not mellowed by low-order harmonics. (There as to be some reason that phenomenon happened.) Current amps don't have that problem. In the first place many are amazingly low in distortion; additionally distortion such as it is, is mostly 2nd/3d order.

 

[Jcrow]

I was looking at this DAC a while ago, but ended up with a DX5 ii. To me, it seems crazy that SMSL has not released something to compete with the DX5ii. The DO400 feels almost archaic in comparison.

Edit: I just realised the DO400 is 50% more expensive than the DX5ii. But I guess it's a fair bit older.

 

[Rick63]

I was looking at this DAC a while ago, but ended up with a DX5 ii. To me, it seems crazy that SMSL has not released something to compete with the DX5ii. The DO400 feels almost archaic in comparison.

Edit: I just realised the DO400 is 50% more expensive than the DX5ii. But I guess it's a fair bit older.

Exactly. I actually changed my vote to poor. To me it's taking a step backwards to introduce a new product with no new features or better measurements that are already available on units that sell for far less money?

 

[Jcrow]

Exactly. I actually changed my vote to poor. To me it's taking a step backwards to introduce a new product with no new features or better measurements that are already available on units that sell for far less money?

Lol, poor might be a little harsh, though. I think this was released in 2023, so at the time was probably competitive

 

[Rick63]

Lol, poor might be a little harsh, though. I think this was released in 2023, so at the time was probably competitive

My bad. I thought this was a new release based on a couple of the replies. I'll go change my vote yet again to my original fine vote.

Thanks!

I checked and it was released in Sept/Oct 2023. No way they should be asking $200 more for a nearly 3 year old unit than the Topping costs IMO. I still see no reason to pick this over the DX5II. If they wanted to compete in sales with Topping on this unit they should lower the price to match the Topping.

 

[Pierun]

I mean it's a great product I'm not going to lie.

It's just that Loxjie D40 Pro is a carbon copy of DO400 (when it comes to internals obviously) that goes for noticeably less (like at least 30% less?).

Still would take it over the Topping at that price point

 

[honn]

It seems like in terms of power output, Topping DX5 II is still superior with even more cleaner power?

 

[Pierun]

It seems like in terms of power output, Topping DX5 II is still superior with even more cleaner power?

I mean yeah, DX5 II has noticeably higher power output (whether it's "cleaner" is a bit debatable imo) than DO400/D40 Pro

But at this price point I think one should look after reliability as well

 

[xanalog]

Thank you for the review, @amirm,

I hope someday soon, I will be able understand the rationale for including AES/EBU and/or I^2S interfaces, in consumer products.
If only they had designed the DO400 with an HDMI/eARC and a USB-C I/O, they would have sold more and at same price-point!
Sad.

 

[Rick63]

@amirm, would it be possible to include the release date in equipment reviews in the future to avoid confusion like I had earlier that resulted in some criticism from me? I'd have been a bit less harsh had I known it wasn't a new release. If you had reviewed it when new I'd have certainly gave it a golfing panther, but things have changed in 3 years.

 

[Alpharius]

Gave it a fine due to lack of trigger output and PEQ. SMSL really needs to hop on the PEQ train, I would've bought a few of their products purely on aesthetics but went other directions due to this. Great otherwise

 

[SnakeLord]

SMSL DO400 is a fine product as it is, it just cant compete at the price point of 500$ with Toppings DX5II which not only is offering more feauters like PEQ and triggers but also costs significantly less ~300$.

Tbf. the DO400 is actually almost 2 years older compared to DX5II.