thewas
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Yes, not even only at that corner, but actually several spots.Yep. upper left corner.
That's probably the worst mess we have ever seen here for a brand new gear
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SMSL PL100 Review (CD Player)
- Thread starter NTTY
- Start date
OP
- Thread Starter
- #182
Sorry guys, but where?
Hi there. Some interesting points in your post.So I think you are right. You are far way more qualified than I am to assess a CD device, you have seen so many. And you just forecasted what was goin to happen. Long story short, the Denon was in pristine condition BUT had a veeeeery noisy drive like the CD was scrathing something. I returned it.
And to justify my choice - I am a marketing guy. Pharma marketing, but still. I work on creating brand image every day. And what I saw that SMSL did with the PL series was in fact how not to create a brand image. They sold the PL100, with which I was not happy due to the looks. And then - pow they put on their news website a teaser for the PL150. Which is an upgrade, and has an external high fidelity PSU, and a true gapless playback, and a balanced 4.4 pentacon jack, and it was stated as audiophile grade CD player...the PL100 was not.....It is not there anymore but I saw it. And I said wow a better CD player...and I was waiting for it.
And then the PL150 was available...no PSU, no true gapless only the balanced jack (fully?). I do know that when you create a need and high (er) expectations, you do it with a purpose. And here there are two options - they did this knowing it is a lie, just wanting to create the hype, or they realized that they cannot do it - either case it is a bummer.
I do really appreciate the work you do to test the drives, I see the amount of work behind, I see the results are very good, but I need more from a customer point of view from SMSL. What turned me off was the case of re-used (maybe no reused, but re-converted) drives and the rusty chassis...I was born in a comunist country. I remeber when my father's car (a copy of Renault 12) tape player broke and I disassembled it and saw the rusty chassis....that was a sign of poor quality parts. And had a very ugly imbalance between channels...
Long story short, it is a cheap device. It is not only about price, but about a promise. I still have my CD player that my mom gave me when I was 16 - still working. Hard to press buttons, but her memory lies in every CD I play in it. BTW, that was 30 yrs ago. That is what I expect from a device.
Thanks again for opening our eyes with what you do. I really appreciate it
Just a quick question about the tape player in the car you mentioned. Couldn't that have been easily caused by high humidity over a long period period of time? I've seen it happen to electronics over here in the UK that have been left in damp houses and garages etc. I imagine the same could happen to such equipment in a car.
Hi there.
I've had a close look at the two photos and the rust appears to be mainly affecting the rough edges of the bent sheet metal where it's been punched.
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Droid_chinchilla
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Yes it could, but I am pretty sure it was from the factory because I know how they produced it...that era was a nightmare
OP
Droid_chinchilla
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Off topic, but I just opened a DCD-F109 and took a photo of its "organs". I am sharing, if anyone might be curious.
Droid_chinchilla
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Interesting Friday nightYou'll get to know everything about it(Probably tomorrow evening (CET)).
I noticed that the backlight on the PL100 display is not shut off when the unit is in stand by. So i'm powering it using a USB-A to USB-C cable with an in-line switch so I can easily power it off completely.
SAISN USB Type C Switch Charging Cable 2 Pack USB A to USB C Male to Male Power Cord with 501 On Off Switch USB to USB-C Adapter Wire for LED Desk Lamp, USB Fan, LED Strips Lighting, 6 Feet : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
SAISN USB Type C Switch Charging Cable 2 Pack USB A to USB C Male to Male Power Cord with 501 On Off Switch USB to USB-C Adapter Wire for LED Desk Lamp, USB Fan, LED Strips Lighting, 6 Feet : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
www.amazon.co.uk
noticed the exact same thing on the PL150 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
OP
Got an SMSL PL100 from Amazon Germany today and unfortunately it turned out defective. Out of the box it powers on and accepts discs, but it simply won’t play.
Here’s what I tried:
- Multiple discs (both pressed CDs and CD-Rs).
- Different power supplies, including a brand-new Raspberry Pi 5V/3A USB-C PSU.
- Standalone use with headphones.
- Connected to an external DAC.
The behaviour is always the same: the player spins up, the display shows “Disc” then “Read”, so it’s clearly attempting to access the TOC. But the moment I press Play, the display shuts off completely and only the red LED stays lit. No track info, no playback, no audio output of any kind.
Amazon initially asked me to get a return shipping quote, which came out to over €90 just to send it back. In the end they skipped the return process, refunded me in full, and told me to keep or dispose of the unit.
Overall, a weird and time-wasting experience. At least I didn’t lose money, but given that it failed straight out of the box, I’m not impressed. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
Here’s what I tried:
- Multiple discs (both pressed CDs and CD-Rs).
- Different power supplies, including a brand-new Raspberry Pi 5V/3A USB-C PSU.
- Standalone use with headphones.
- Connected to an external DAC.
The behaviour is always the same: the player spins up, the display shows “Disc” then “Read”, so it’s clearly attempting to access the TOC. But the moment I press Play, the display shuts off completely and only the red LED stays lit. No track info, no playback, no audio output of any kind.
Amazon initially asked me to get a return shipping quote, which came out to over €90 just to send it back. In the end they skipped the return process, refunded me in full, and told me to keep or dispose of the unit.
Overall, a weird and time-wasting experience. At least I didn’t lose money, but given that it failed straight out of the box, I’m not impressed. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
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Droid_chinchilla
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Maybe try to check if the cabling inside is well positioned on the pcb connectors?
Jim T
Member
I own both this and the Yamaha 303 and find them excellent players given quality CDs to play. I bought my Yamaha 303 off Accessories4Less for $229 as a refurbished player and in over a year it has never let me down or not played a disc fed it. I have used it alone or with a Topping D50 DAC and could tell only a slight difference, much like using the 3 filter settings of the D50. The PL100 is a steal for $105. I know there has been talk about them using let over car slot loaded mechanisms, but really, we don't know what is put in our gear as parts from let over runs caps, resistors, IC's or anything else. I have had more high-end gear fail than affordable products and they cost more to get fixed. Get one of the new Seth Macfarlane CDs of old Sinatra arraignments and you can hear with either of these players are capable of. I remain impressed for the money. What I find odd about this industry is that no one seems to care about sound quality as they can't even put a DSD/SACD chip in a $500 to $700 player anymore. I doubt that not many are crazy enough to have to spent $1300 to $2K to enjoy SACDs.
Although it worked perfectly, the ribbon cable was not fully engaged on my PL100. I pushed it all the way in after taking the photo...
OP
No, I'm located in the Middle East. I’ll check the cabling and provide an update if there’s anything of interest to report. However, I have no idea how to open the housing to access the internal components. There are seven screws on the back panel that look like Torx type, but I’m really unsure how to proceed or where to begin. Thank you.
Last edited:
Droid_chinchilla
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Thank you so much for sharing that YouTube video! It clearly explained how to open my defective new CD player and really helped me out. I appreciate you taking the time to post it.
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