• Welcome to ASR. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

SMSL DO400 Fully Balanced Audio Decoder & Headphone Amplifier

I found for myself a ray harvester dac amplifier according to indicators and reviews this is the best price quality that I have found at the moment LOXJIE D40 PRO well, if it turns out to be bad, I'll just attach a sticker of my name to the brand name that's all, and what do you say comrades LOXJIE D40 PRO CRTL-c CRTL-v DO400
 
Last edited:
[new user]

I'm thinking of pairing this with one of the Buckeye Amps (Hypex or Purifi). If the advertised specs hold up no the DO400, it seems like a great HP/preamp.

Do you see any downsides to this combination?
 
Just out of curiosity, with what amp (power/integrated) you are planing to pair DO400 via XLR?
I have a pair of Yamaha DXS18XLF and DZR12's on each side of my desk, overkill for any indoor situation but fun, maybe not for my PC's glass side panel but for me it is. Loudest and simplest home theatre I can just move wherever. Company purchase used for holiday karaoke, DJing, and outdoor movie theatre at a lakefront seasonal resort. My living room is essentially the storage location for them. :)
The DSP on them and maybe not the best specced THD amp kind of wastes the potential of the DO400 but the convenience factor wins here, I swap between headphones and speakers very frequently and am very fond of rotary volume knobs. Perhaps in the future I could pick up a decent pair of passive speakers and a nice stereo amp but truth be told I love the sound signature of the Yamaha loudspeakers so it's unlikely I will change.
 
I found for myself a ray harvester dac amplifier according to indicators and reviews this is the best price quality that I have found at the moment LOXJIE D40 PRO well, if it turns out to be bad, I'll just attach a sticker of my name to the brand name that's all, and what do you say comrades LOXJIE D40 PRO CRTL-c CRTL-v DO400
@flywood was kind enough to direct my attention into D40 pro earlier.
Considerning what I have read in D40 pro topic, its not "copy / past" at full spectrum, additionally problematic firmware upgrade, at least one user bricked, ergo....
I have a pair of Yamaha DXS18XLF and DZR12's on each side of my desk, overkill for any indoor situation but fun, maybe not for my PC's glass side panel but for me it is. Loudest and simplest home theatre I can just move wherever. Company purchase used for holiday karaoke, DJing, and outdoor movie theatre at a lakefront seasonal resort. My living room is essentially the storage location for them. :)
The DSP on them and maybe not the best specced THD amp kind of wastes the potential of the DO400 but the convenience factor wins here, I swap between headphones and speakers very frequently and am very fond of rotary volume knobs. Perhaps in the future I could pick up a decent pair of passive speakers and a nice stereo amp but truth be told I love the sound signature of the Yamaha loudspeakers so it's unlikely I will change.
Thanx for your reply. I did not think it's that way.
Despite weak Edifier excercise which I have done some time ago, as an excercise only, I 'm not expert on active speakers., tho I had very much enjoyed Yamaha in the old days, but these days...
I hoped for finding interesting amp/int amp, to pair with DO400.
For now Audiophonics amps seems to be reasonable pairs

Btw. I have written this quite few times, but upgrade'able sys and usb, as I recall the first company which did this years ago was Hydra (hail Hydra;) / for those who do not understand its Marvel, not weak ideology).
 
Last edited:
Got this unit delivered to me. Fully-featured bargain at $500. Headphone amp is at Low and probably will remain there forever. Enough to drive Focal Utopia headphones perfectly.
PCM (32/384 max) & DSD both work, just for the latter have to either run in "exclusive" mode or via ASIO. Too bad DACs still don't include any digital outs...except very few ones. Will use I2S with external USB interface in the future jsut to be able to connect meter that needs Coax or Opt input.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20230918_203952 - Copy.jpg
    IMG_20230918_203952 - Copy.jpg
    135.2 KB · Views: 378
  • IMG_20230918_203418 - Copy.jpg
    IMG_20230918_203418 - Copy.jpg
    159.3 KB · Views: 377
Let us know if, after a few days, the USB out produces static crackling without any audio signal. This can be 'fixed' (on mine at least) by using the power switch on the back. It has happened twice so far, and could be indicative of a defective unit in my possession.
 
Let us know if, after a few days, the USB out produces static crackling without any audio signal. This can be 'fixed' (on mine at least) by using the power switch on the back. It has happened twice so far, and could be indicative of a defective unit in my possession.
Oh wow. That's interesting. Haven't noticed this yet, will report tomorrow after thorough use.
 
Oh wow. That's interesting. Haven't noticed this yet, will report tomorrow after thorough use.

Hope yours works as expected. Reached home this evening, turned it on, and the crackling returned for a third time. Powering it off at the back removed it — for now.

Here are the settings I've changed:

InputUSB
Volume-0.0 dB
Sampling frequency176.4 kHz
FilterLinear Fast
BrightnessLowest

Off to bed soon. I'll turn it off with the remote and test it in the morning.
 
Hope yours works as expected. Reached home this evening, turned it on, and the crackling returned for a third time. Powering it off at the back removed it — for now.

Here are the settings I've changed:

InputUSB
Volume-0.0 dB
Sampling frequency176.4 kHz
FilterLinear Fast
BrightnessLowest

Off to bed soon. I'll turn it off with the remote and test it in the morning.
No crackling to report here. It might have relay switching (when going from no sound to sound), but no USB crackling in my case.
Worried this thing gets pretty warm, which is not good for the oscillators inside.

As solution you can get SMSL PO100PRO and run I2S.
 
In this particular case of DO400 IMHO they did make progress, or as you put it "real improvements/ changes". HP AMP added+ USB / System upgrade'able by user. For me its exactly that - progress.
I might add for the first time for some time, previous incarnations SU-9 Pro, DO300, there were minor changes, DO400 seems to break this trend.


Just out of curiosity, with what amp (power/integrated) you are planing to pair DO400 via XLR?
Loxjie d40 pro is pretty much the same. Different aesthetics but functionality and specs remain almost exactly the same. Differences are negligeable. Regarding DO300 and su-u pro the headphone amp (in do400) is the biggest difference. Everything else also almost the same. As dacs/pre they're very similar too.
 
Let us know if, after a few days, the USB out produces static crackling without any audio signal. This can be 'fixed' (on mine at least) by using the power switch on the back. It has happened twice so far, and could be indicative of a defective unit in my possession.
What is this "crac;kling stuff"? XU-316 / ESS9039Pro is top combo, If there is any problem, at all it would be simply fixed by firmware upgrade.
If its not correct, pls correct me.
 
Last edited:
Loxjie d40 pro is pretty much the same. Different aesthetics but functionality and specs remain almost exactly the same. Differences are negligeable. Regarding DO300 and su-u pro the headphone amp (in do400) is the biggest difference. Everything else also almost the same. As dacs/pre they're very similar too.
Yes it is, correct.
But pls do not forget about system / USB upgrade'able by user.
 
Yes it is, correct.
But pls do not forget about system / USB upgrade'able by user.
It's a small difference that doesn't justify releasing a completely new unit. Just upgrade the previous one. a mkii or pro version (etc.)
 
It's a small difference that doesn't justify releasing a completely new unit. Just upgrade the previous one. a mkii or pro version (etc.)
Not 4me, I do appreciate it, as I have written before (hail Hydra;) which happened years ago, at quite different pricing ofc.
 
Last edited:
To avoid any misderstanding, mine has arrived some days ago,
Thanx to AOSHIDA to whom I have paid in full price / not any sample.
But when will I be able to "ride" it, its totally different case.
 
Last edited:
No crackling to report here. It might have relay switching (when going from no sound to sound), but no USB crackling in my case.
Worried this thing gets pretty warm, which is not good for the oscillators inside.

As solution you can get SMSL PO100PRO and run I2S.
Good to know yours is working as designed. I have do a PO100 Pro, but that does not fix the fundamental problem — namely, that my DO400's USB output is broken.

What is this "crac;kling stuff"? XU-316 / ESS9039Pro is top combo, If there is any problem, at all it would be simply fixed by firmware upgrade.
If its not correct, pls correct me.
I've recorded the crackling, and will post a clip shortly. While the DO400's firmware can be upgraded, I doubt that will fix mine because I suspect it's faulty.
 
Here is the video of my DO400's crackling artifacts over USB (lower the volume before playing):


Some notes:
  • Only the USB outputinput is affected
  • The crackles seem to occur after the unit has been switched off (with remote) for many hours — for example, overnight
  • Resetting the DO400 has no effect
  • Using the back power switch to turn off and on removes the crackling, but it is a temporary fix
  • Crackling is much louder than normal audio output; therefore, the amp was turned down by 12 dB for this recording
  • Audio captured with an Olympus LS-12 recorder, amplified to -1 dBFS, fade in and fade out applied — no other processing
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom