SMSL M500 DAC and HP Amp Review

[Bun-Bun]

Have you looked at all at the unit.. basic description/quick look will answer all your questions

The manual specifies line out. Which suggests it is fixed line out. Other brands call it out better in their documentation.

 

[MusicNBeer]

It's only in specific cases with troublesome digital data.

See post #628. Yes, it's specific signals. Loudness war CD audio causes the most issues with this clipping.

 

[lawk]

Would this be an upgrade or sidegrade to my Sabaj D4 with dual AKM4452?

Can it drive DT880 600ohm? Sabaj D4 does 95mw into 300ohm and M500 only 65?

I use about 30 out of 40 volume on the D4 for 880.

 

[Thesoundof]

Although not yet officially released, M500 1.08 USB firmware is available below.

Download and install M500 1.08 USB firmware.zip from there.

https://download.shenzhenaudio.com/Smsl/M500 1.08 USB firmware/
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DFU tool / 25-Nov-2019 01:44-
Instrutions.txt 25-Nov-2019 01:41 395
M500 1.08 USB firmware.zip 25-Nov-2019 01:43 2M
SMSL_M500_1.08_DFU.bin 25-Nov-2019 01:41 120K
XMOS_USBAudio_v4.67.0_setup.exe 25-Nov-2019 01:41 2M
Txt.txt 25-Nov-2019 01:41 325
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Many is reporting issues installing the new firmware, so do I.
Does anyone know a fix for this issue?

SW 1.4 HW 1.2 2019 -07-28
XMOS USB DAC DRIVER stuck on v 1.05

Getting max 24, bit 384000 Hz in windows settings

XMOS mean sample rate of an MQA file is 44100 Hz

There is no difference between the sound quality on a youtube HD song or MQA through Tidal using this DAC as it is now.
Settings in Tidal is Use exclusive mode, Force volume, Pass trough MQA.

 

[half_dog]

Many is reporting issues installing the new firmware, so do I.
Does anyone know a fix for this issue?

SW 1.4 HW 1.2 2019 -07-28
XMOS USB DAC DRIVER stuck on v 1.05

View attachment 44435

Getting max 24, bit 384000 Hz in windows settings

XMOS mean sample rate of an MQA file is 44100 Hz

There is no difference between the sound quality on a youtube HD song or MQA through Tidal using this DAC as it is now.
Settings in Tidal is Use exclusive mode, Force volume, Pass trough MQA.

Hi there! The firmware 1.08 version solves this problem. You are unable to update it? :/

 

[Thesoundof]

Hi there! The firmware 1.08 version solves this problem. You are unable to update it? :/

unable indeed

 

[Shoaibexpert]

Chord mojo is coming today and I will do sound comparison with m500 and drivability test for MrSpkr AEON C & DT900 300Ohm.

I had Chord mojo for 2 years and I know it from my heart and lets see.

So how close are they? What's your opinion?

 

[w1000i]

So how close are they? What's your opinion?

When I used an amplifier Gilmore mk2 lite, both DAC sound the same.

But connecting my IEM and Headphone show me some difference. With IEM shure 535 It was clearly M500 has widerstage and slightly forword midrange.
With AEON the difference was on the bass better in M500

 

[Shoaibexpert]

When I used an amplifier Gilmore mk2 lite, both DAC sound the same.

But connecting my IEM and Headphone show me some difference. With IEM shure 535 It was clearly M500 has widerstage and slightly forword midrange.
With AEON the difference was on the bass better in M500

I was discussing this on another thread. Do more expensive Chord DACs such as the Qutest sound better than the cheaper ones or the well measuring chinese DACs? Let me know if you've ever A/B'd them...

 

[w1000i]

I was discussing this on another thread. Do more expensive Chord DACs such as the Qutest sound better than the cheaper ones or the well measuring chinese DACs? Let me know if you've ever A/B'd them...

I got your point, I think more expensive DAC with good measurements need an amplifier at least same or better measurements.
But lately something like THX and other exaptional performance can show the benefits with lower price.

In the case of Qutest, it has the lowest 3rd,4th etc distortion of any Amir DAC tested to date so I think an amplifier should have that low distortion at least to hear such performance.

 

[Shoaibexpert]

I got your point, I think more expensive DAC with good measurements need an amplifier at least same or better measurements.
But lately something like THX and other exaptional performance can show the benefits with lower price.

In the case of Qutest, it has the lowest 3rd,4th etc distortion of any Amir DAC tested to date so I think an amplifier should have that low distortion at least to hear such performance.

I believe it has. And as for performance, the M500 has lower distortion than the Qutest. It's why I was asking the question about M500 being better...

 

[Comrakoff]

Would this be an upgrade or sidegrade to my Sabaj D4 with dual AKM4452?

Can it drive DT880 600ohm? Sabaj D4 does 95mw into 300ohm and M500 only 65?

I use about 30 out of 40 volume on the D4 for 880.

It would be an upgrade in terms of DAC, sure, but in terms of the AMP juice it might be a slight weakening. I am curious enough to ask straightforwardly: why did you buy the 600 ohm version? Is this really better than the 250 one?

 

[bYOndo]

Hello, I just subscribed to this great forum, just to say a big THANK YOU to @amirm to let me know this specific DAC. Just bought it, come from Pro-ject S2 (I listen to a lot thru Tidal and MQA) and ... man, it’s like night and day! I didn’t expected such a huge quality jump; soundwise such detail, fullness, stage focusness, but buildwise too, the remote, the big screen, the super hot audio output (in terms of electrical signal amplitude, obviously). Maybe there’s a little of placebo effect, but now I’m just happy to re-discover my favourite records.

Massimo

 

[rooster.jorge]

Darn! I hooked up my oppo Blu-ray uhp 203 to the smsl with an optical cable. But only when I set the oppo SACD output(meaning Dsf files stored in a HDD) to PCM, do I get sound out and the hifi logo appears in the SMSL screen. My questions is, was the M500 NOT supposed to output DSD through all its connections?
What am I doing wrong?
I wish someone from SMSL were here to answer such doubt. After all, I decided to stick with with the SMSL M500 in spite of its rumored pitfalls.

 

[toshu]

Darn! I hooked up my oppo Blu-ray uhp 203 to the smsl with an optical cable. But only when I set the oppo SACD output(meaning Dsf files stored in a HDD) to PCM, do I get sound out and the hifi logo appears in the SMSL screen. My questions is, was the M500 NOT supposed to output DSD through all its connections?
What am I doing wrong?
I wish someone from SMSL were here to answer such doubt. After all, I decided to stick with with the SMSL M500 in spite of its rumored pitfalls.

I am guessing that like other DACs DSD files can only be inputted via USB. Optical in is limited in bandwidth to PCM I beleive

 

[half_dog]

Hey guys! Anybody has noticed current leaking in M500? When I use it connected to my smartphone via OTG, I can feel a vibrating buzz (current leaking) if I touch the unit in this condition. It doesn't happen when M500 is connect to any grounded device - desktop or external grounded headphone/power amplifier...

 

[Brolin]

Hi I have a question about MQA playback on M500. Does it also decode and play in MQA quality when the signal comes from the optical input (i use Blusound Node with MQA) ? Best regards Søren Brolin

 

[mkawa]

usb is required for mqa

 

[Comrakoff]

Got my M500. I used to have SMSL M6 (on AK4452) and M9 (on AK4490). Compared to M6 – M500 sounds way better. Especially the AMP is much higher quality, yet the volume is not mindblowing. Compared to M9 – M500 sounds less piercing and harsh, it’s even more detailed and juicy sounding, also M500 has got more bass, the bass itself is better, and the stage is wider and more engaging. I would’ve bought the dx7 pro if it had been cheaper and I was a balanced connection fanboy. Anyway, M500 is beautiful and sounds incredible, I am happy

P.S.
It’s got a good control over all frequencies and especially the bass. It reminded me the sound of the fantastic sony TA-ZH1ES, which I had an opportunity to listen to.

 

[hello0000]

Here is our usual filter responses:

View attachment 37193

Attenuation was extremely good with some of these, necessitating me lowering the limit in the graph to see the floor! You have a choice of no less than three filters that truncate well by the required 22.05 kHz bandwidth of 44.1 kHz sampled audio.

Can someone please explain what this means? Which filter is the best? I want the purest signal with no changes, basically I don't want a filter.