SMSL M500 - Owners' Thread

[TC!!]

Wanted to float the idea of owner's threads for devices away from the normal review and measurement threads. I saw a complaint in one recently that someone was getting annoyed with the chat when they just wanted to know if firmware updates were available.

Are there any rules for this? No not really but I think comparison of measurements should stay in the review thread. It'd be great if this was a place for owners to highlight any issues they're having with the product and for potential buyers to ask current owners some questions.


I'll try to keep the top post updated with links to product information, manufacturer's page, manuals and firmware.

Review and Measurements
Product Page
Manual
Driver / Firmware Page

Firmware Releases:
USB Firmware 1.08

Revision History:
1.08 fixed the 32bit can not be played.
1.07 fixed the android phones volume low problem! with canceling the volume adjust the function of USB.
1.06 first release

 

[ryohnosuke]

Is the any owner who wants to talk about built quality? M500 feels cheap? I'm thinking about to buy this DAC.

 

[TC!!]

Is the any owner who wants to talk about built quality? M500 feels cheap? I'm thinking about to buy this DAC.

I'll see if I can summon some owners to give you feedback, I know one had issues with build quality:
@Jaysz @SoyBean0809 @NielsMayer @BDWoody @mkawa

 

[BDWoody]

I'll see if I can summon some owners to give you feedback, I know one had issues with build quality:
@Jaysz @SoyBean0809 @NielsMayer @BDWoody @mkawa

Mine has been great. No issues at all.

I think multiple threads on the same unit might be confusing...and hopefully Amir will get a unit to test shortly, which should answer a lot of questions.

 

[TC!!]

Mine has been great. No issues at all.

I think multiple threads on the same unit might be confusing...and hopefully Amir will get a unit to test shortly, which should answer a lot of questions.

Thanks for the feedback I was just hoping for a place where people can easily get info by stacking that into the 1st post and then discussion from actual owners rather than speculation and detailed measurement analysis.

 

[SoyBean0809]

@TC!! Thanks for your effort!
@ryohnosuke The built quality of the M500 is good in my opinion, although it's weight is lighter than I expected (about 0.9kg), so some people may consider it not that "solid-feeling" comparing with other dac. The jacks are well made and work properly on mine. I may say the volume knob has a little "wobble" feeling, but it's not a big concern for me.

 

[mkawa]

build quality is great. feels solid and the knob has nice detents and a solid click

 

[TC!!]

@TC!! Thanks for your effort!
@ryohnosuke The built quality of the M500 is good in my opinion, although it's weight is lighter than I expected (about 0.9kg), so some people may consider it not that "solid-feeling" comparing with other dac. The jacks are well made and work properly on mine. I may say the volume knob has a little "wobble" feeling, but it's not a big concern for me.

build quality is great. feels solid and the knob has nice detents and a solid click

Thanks for the feedback guys, great to hear people are happy with the M500.

How are you guys finding the USB input, my main reason for a new DAC is problems with my current DAC over USB, popping due to buffer issues.

 

[SoyBean0809]

Thanks for the feedback guys, great to hear people are happy with the M500.

How are you guys finding the USB input, my main reason for a new DAC is problems with my current DAC over USB, popping due to buffer issues.

I mainly use the usb input, listening to files up to dsd256 is fine, no popping sound during playing. I can hear little bit of noise when changing format such as from dsd64 to dsd256, but soon after the music starts playing, they just vanished and won't show up during further listening.

 

[Shoaibexpert]

Anyone care to photograph and post HD internals of this DAC...if possible... marking the components... curious!

 

[Toku]

The design and overall quality of the M500 is very good.

It is a good DAC if it is used only for playback of PCM384kHz or less and MQA.
There is a big problem with playback of DSD and high bit rate PCM.

 

[TC!!]

USB Firmware 1.08 has now been officially launched on their site: http://smsl-audio.com/download.asp

Some people are reporting improvements in playback if high PCM music.

 

[Toku]

USB Firmware 1.08 has now been officially launched on their site: http://smsl-audio.com/download.asp

Some people are reporting improvements in playback if high PCM music.

I received a similar report.
The noise of PCM 768kHz has disappeared.

 

[Veri]

I received a similar report.
The noise of PCM 768kHz has disappeared.

That's great..

 

[NorthGraves]

In XMOS driver control panel, in output, should I choose 24 bit or 32 bit?
Asking as I do have some 32/192 albums, but I don't want degraded quality for everything else if the DAC "recalculates" 24 bit to 32 bit somehow.

 

[Veri]

In XMOS driver control panel, in output, should I choose 24 bit or 32 bit?
Asking as I do have some 32/192 albums, but I don't want degraded quality for everything else if the DAC "recalculates" 24 bit to 32 bit somehow.

It will add zeros. No calculation problem whatsoever. I leave everything to 32-bit when available.

 

[NorthGraves]

It will add zeros. No calculaties problem whatsoever. I leave everything to 32-bit when available.

Perfect, meaning set to 32 bit and forget about it. That works, thank you.

 

[pcdinh]

I received a similar report.
The noise of PCM 768kHz has disappeared.

What about DSD256 DSD512 playback? Thanks

 

[NorthGraves]

What about DSD256 DSD512 playback?

DSD256 seems to be playing just fine, not hearing any noise.

 

[Koeitje]

I just got my M500 and am getting a delay through USB. I'm using software on my PC to output from USB and SPDIF at the same time. With my old DAC (Schiit Modi) I always felt there was no real delay, but this is pretty noticeable. Might be annoying for video, I'll see if I can test it with SPDIF to both.

Edit:
I installed the drivers and turned down the buffering a bit, that solved a part of it. Its still not perfect, but better. I don't know if its my setup or just USB, I never got around comparing it properly in my old setup but it was noticeable right away in my new one.

My setup is:
Motherboard optical -> TDA1543 Muse ****** dac -> Denon stereo amplifier
Motherboard USB -> M500 -> Marantz stereo amplifier

I use "Voicemeter" to output to both at the same time time.