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SMSL M100 vs SMSL Sanskrit 10th

M100 or Sanskrit 10?


  • Total voters
    6
  • Poll closed .

KR8NUX

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Nov 7, 2018
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So the AliExpress anniversary sale is coming up, and these two have caught my eye because they can be bought for under 70$ with the right coupon.
Amir has measured the Sanskrit and it works well with spdif and a dedicated power supply. SMSL products have also been faring well on ASR tests.
I'm more inclined towards the m100 due to the form factor, higher dsd/pcm bitrate though we don't have measurements for it and it uses a slightly lower tier of akm DAC chip(4452 vs 4490)

What does everyone say ? Jump the gun or go with the tested Sanskrit?
 

NoobMD

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Mar 6, 2019
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So the AliExpress anniversary sale is coming up, and these two have caught my eye because they can be bought for under 70$ with the right coupon.
Amir has measured the Sanskrit and it works well with spdif and a dedicated power supply. SMSL products have also been faring well on ASR tests.
I'm more inclined towards the m100 due to the form factor, higher dsd/pcm bitrate though we don't have measurements for it and it uses a slightly lower tier of akm DAC chip(4452 vs 4490)

What does everyone say ? Jump the gun or go with the tested Sanskrit?

I am very much interested in this poll too.
 

Hugo9000

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I own the SMSL M100 and love it, but I don't have any test equipment. It has functioned perfectly since I received it on March 3rd, feeding my JDS Labs Atom to my various headphones, mostly KEF Space One (original wired version) and Sennheiser HD 58X. It is a small (smaller than the Sanskrit 10th) and attractive unit in a very minimalist way, and feels solid and not cheap/junky, although very inexpensive. I chose the black one.

Bear in mind that the Sanskrit 10th Anniversary has a remote control and can be used as a preamplifier with variable output. The M100 has fixed output, and is just a DAC. I had planned on getting the Sanskrit 10th, until I saw the pictures of the M100 in black, so I took a chance that it would be a good unit. I've had the tiny SMSL iDEA for well over a year now, and was happy with it but wanted something that would sit neatly on my desk (and also not require using the volume + button every time I connect it haha! Now the iDEA can just be used with my phone or as a backup if needed for my computer).
 

bravomail

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Why take risk? Not only chip is lower category, there are no measurements for M100. I'd take Sanskrit 10.
 

Zek

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What do these figures represent in relation to the sound quality of the device? :oops:
 

datguydere

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Sep 27, 2019
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I've just A/B tested the M100 and the Sanskrit 10th on the TEAC HA-501 with a MacBook Pro as the source. I mostly listened to the following three tunes because I'm familiar with them so it's easier to compare:

1. 300 - To Victory (Philip Steir's Sacrifice For Sparta Remix)
2. Nier: Automata - 砂塵ノ記憶
3. Blade Runner 2049 - 2049

Both DACs sound good, but the Sanskrit takes the cake. I detect more sound stage, more instrument separation, and more texture; the sounds is more pristine. In side-by-side comparison these differences are quite apparent. This really should be expected given that the M100 is based around the older AK4452 DA chip (vs the AK4490). Something tells me though that I wouldn't be able to tell you which one is playing in a blind test. I guess we will never know.

Aesthetically, the M100 wins in my book. It's smaller, has a more regular shape (personal preference), a nicer facia, and... it's black! Like, hello?

I don't care about the remove and volume control.

For what it's worth, I also threw in the Topping D30 to the mix and in my opinion it's worse than the other two.

HTH
 

mkawa

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the sanskrit sounds great as long as you stick to USB input and provide it at least 5v 1A through the aux port. watch out for the line out being a big hot though.
 

mkawa

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measures noticeably worse. 100db vs 106db. depending on your power amp or headamp, it might be a resolution bottleneck. ymmv. when i had sanskrit 10th -> smsl sa-150 -> axiom audio m80, i couldn't really hear the difference. when i moved to sanskrit -> axiom ada1000 -> axiom lfr880, i could definitely hear it.
 
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