SMSL DP5 Music Streamer and DAC Review

[gvl]

Of course all we really need is Spotify to offer hi-res, or at least lossless, tier and Wasapi support. That would put everyone else out of business.

 

[maverickronin]

I must be the only person left who appreciates information dense interfaces. I can't stand the flashy interfaces on stuff like Jriver or Roon. It's all been downhill since cover flow on ipods.

I'll be sticking with foobar.

 

[Chromatischism]

It is now $700 for lifetime.

Ouch. I started to type a search to look into it until I saw this.

Jesus, these developers must think they've created god's gift to music with that kind of pricing.

 

[Xulonn]

A full-fledged NAS might be overkill for this purpose. An Odroid HC2 running Samba would suffice.

I looked up the Odroid HC and HC2 they look like an terrific, simple solution for basic file storage and streaming, and AmeriDroid, located in Ukiah, California, looks to be a good vendor for the U.S. market. They offer great transfer speed for transfers and backup, and are quite simple to assemble, configure, and use. All the advantages of a commercial NAS, and no hassles of connecting and disconnecting external USB HDDs or SDDs.

I owned the original Squeezebox Classic and then the Squeezebox Touch, but sold them before I moved to Panama in 2012, and now use a Synology NAS to store video and music, and Kodi on an older Intel NUC for streaming from the Synology. However, the Synology is too complex for my needs with dozens of features and capabilities that I will never use. I like having my music, video and data on small, portable devices, with one big capacity HDD-NAS drive for backup to be stored in another location. I will probably get a combination of HC1's and 2's for my current external HDDs and SDDs and ditch the Synology.

Although we have pretty good internet service here 972mbps for me), we also have frequent power outages and internet glitches here in the remote region of a developing nation. So I don't do live streaming except for sports, and it always seems that every week during a critical play, the stream stops for one reason or another. As far as music, movies and TV show episodes, I simply download them and watch them at any time. Roon doesn't appeal to me, and I haven't bothered to index my thousands of music files, but rather rely on the ancient system of hierarchical file and folder organization with my computer based media system.

But when non-computer literate friends ask me to help them with a similar system, I tell them "No! If you are not into personal computers, find a commercial consumer one-box solution - but apparently this SMSL model should not be on any list of recommendations. However, companies like SMSL and Topping are responding to reliable measurement-backed criticism by a competent and experienced engineer (@amirm) with there truly excellent newer products, and I wouldn't be surprised to see an update - or new product - that addresses the issues with this unit. Perhaps they sent this unit to Amir for evaluation just to get strong criticism to convince their product development team to get their butts in gear and come up with something better.

 

[Xulonn]

I don't need Roon for metadata

I use MusicBrainz Picard to automatically add/update/correct metadata and correct track titles to standard format - free and works great.

 

[gvl]

Ouch. I started to type a search to look into it until I saw this.

Jesus, these developers must think they've created god's gift to music with that kind of pricing.

Considering you get lifetime support and updates it's not too unreasonable. With JRiver you need to buy a new license if you want to get a new release to the tune of 30-40 usd. That often is the only way to get a bug fix. Roon must pay someone to get all that metadata too, plus there's ongoing expense to keep the back office running.

 

[samsa]

I looked up the Odroid HC and HC2 they look like an terrific, simple solution for basic file storage and streaming, and AmeriDroid, located in Ukiah, California, looks to be a good vendor for the U.S. market.

AmeriDroid is a fine vendor. But I have found that, even ordering direct from HardKernel, the shipping from South Korea is quite fast.

Although we have pretty good internet service here 972mbps for me), we also have frequent power outages and internet glitches here in the remote region of a developing nation.

If that's the case, you should consider getting a DC UPS (they are typically $40-$60) to power the HC2. Power outages are hard on HDDs. I bought one of these from a vendor on Amazon, but there are lots of similar products available.

They offer great transfer speed for transfers and backup, and are quite simple to assemble, configure, and use. All the advantages of a commercial NAS, and no hassles of connecting and disconnecting external USB HDDs or SDDs.

An HC2 (or even a cluster of them) is a great alternative when you need network-attached storage, but don't need all the features of a conventional NAS. If you do need ECC memory, hot-swappable HDDs, a built-in UPS, RAID, ..., then I'd look at a Helios 64.

 

[Tks]

Antiquated UI, lack of streaming integration.

Roon has its own UI issues, but isn't hideous or complicated. Roon/qobuz integration is excellent. And RAAT is genius for devices that support it. For devices that don't, there are cheap pc/rpi ways to provide it.

So aesthetics, and streaming integration.

 

[BillG]

Roon must pay someone to get all that metadata too

When such large and comprehensive metadatabases as Discogs and Musicbrainz exist, and are routinely accessed by any number of applications without any restrictions whatsoever, that argument falls flat.

 

[gvl]

When such large and comprehensive metadatabases as Discogs and Musicbrainz exist, and are routinely accessed by any number of applications without any restrictions whatsoever, that argument falls flat.

Maybe, maybe not. I don't know where Roon gets its data, but Spotify and others get it from paid sources, it contains curated reviews and detailed artist information, genre and other tags, and not just plain track lists.

 

[jhwalker]

I might splurge for it but not before the price goes to $1k So you guys have a dedicated box somewhere in the closet that runs it (Roon) ?

I already had a Mac Mini running iTunes and hosting a couple of external drives holding the primary copy of my music library (it's backed up to a NAS and to the cloud, as well), so installing Roon on that was a no-brainer. Even upsampling everything to DSD512 for my Topping D90, it has plenty of horsepower.

 

[bluefuzz]

I don't know where Roon gets its data

From the brief time I had Roon, all the bios and release info I looked at were identical to Allmusic.com so i assume that's where they get it. I decided to save the $700 and browse Allmusic for free when I want to look at some Artist bio.

Album metadata is from Musicbrainz I think. At least I noticed several of the same errors from Musicbrainz ... ;-)

 

[gvl]

From the brief time I had Roon, all the bios and release info I looked at were identical to Allmusic.com so i assume that's where they get it. I decided to save the $700 and browse Allmusic for free when I want to look at some Artist bio.

Album metadata is from Musicbrainz I think. At least I noticed several of the same errors from Musicbrainz ... ;-)

I'm going to guess then that Roon gets the bios from Tivo as this is where Allmusic gets it, it is in the FAQ section. I think most other streaming services get it from Tivo too. Tivo metadata is not a free service.

 

[bluefuzz]

Roon gets the bios from Tivo as this is where Allmusic gets it

Yes, apparently they do. And Tivo is in turn owned by some creepy looking 'media experience' company called Xperi who also seem to own DTS and IMAX. Wheels within wheels ...

 

[anmpr1]

Same here. I think the price has gone up but still, think of it as buying a piece of audio hardware.

Considering you get lifetime support and updates it's not too unreasonable.

At the price point, and in the context of audio hardware, it may make some sense to think of it that way. And lifetime support is certainly a good thing. But one must understand that however one considers it, long-term viability depends upon the 'lifetime' of the company, and not the user.

Since in their advertising Roon shows a picture of Revox tape decks, I recall how in the '70s Studer would sell you one of their expensive recorders with a lifetime warranty (except for heads and belts). Try claiming warranty service on your A77, today.

I'm no streamer, so it's not a thing for me, but I can understand how one could like the service. I liked my B77 too. Until it needed service. LOL

 

[gvl]

Yes, apparently they do. And Tivo is in turn owned by some creepy looking 'media experience' company called Xperi who also seem to own DTS and IMAX. Wheels within wheels ...

They merged earlier this year. Their music metadata service was a part of Rovi before Rovi bought Tivo a couple of years ago, and originally it was Muze that Rovi bought. And Rovi used to called Macrovision, remember VHS tape copy protection? Long history.

 

[MenloBob]

ShenzenAudio should get this Roon Ready certified. There's pretty good demand for an all in one Roon streamer for people that don't want to build a Pi.

 

[Sukie]

ShenzenAudio should get this Roon Ready certified. There's pretty good demand for an all in one Roon streamer for people that don't want to build a Pi.

A Pi doesn't need to be built. You just need to pop one into a case, screw it down and stick in a micro sd.

 

[gvl]

Since in their advertising Roon shows a picture of Revox tape decks, I recall how in the '70s Studer would sell you one of their expensive recorders with a lifetime warranty (except for heads and belts). Try claiming warranty service on your A77, today.

There's a subtlety. It's a lifetime of the product, not your lifetime. Should one complain if the latter is longer than the former?

 

[amirm]

ShenzenAudio should get this Roon Ready certified. There's pretty good demand for an all in one Roon streamer for people that don't want to build a Pi.

Clarifying, Shenzhenaudio is just a reseller. The product is by SMSL.