SMSL PL100 Review (CD Player)

[Droid_chinchilla]

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.

Glad it helped. Did you manage to fix it?

 

[NTTY]

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.

Edit. Oops, I did not see the above messages before publishing I keep the rest of the text anyways.


You only need to unscrew the four ones closest the the edges on left and right. Then gently pull back the back panel (you can pull it by handling the RCA connectors). Do it while looking at it from the top. Before you can remove the entire board that holds the drive too, you will see a small white connector. It comes from the front panel and is long enough to pull back the internal board by 3/4 so you can disconnect it. Once disconnected, you can safely remove the board.
Alternatively, and I don’t know what would be the cost of shipping, you can send it to me (Switzerland), I’d pay for the shipping and would try to identify where is the failure, if you don’t before that. Maybe there would be something to learn and share with the community, although I doubt so.

 

[Michou]

Glad it helped. Did you manage to fix it?

It's on my project list for the coming weekends

 

[Michou]

Glad it helped. Did you manage to fix it?

I opened the PL100 CD player to check internal connectors as suggested. All connectors looked good and made solid contact. Issue remains: when inserting a disc, the display shows "READ" but does not show playing time or disc length. Pressing "PLAY" blanks the display and lights the red fault indicator, requiring a power reset to eject the disc. No change after reseating connectors. Nice doorstop though ;-)

 

[aagstn]

For anyone looking for the PL100 in the US, the Silver one has appeared available to order from the official SMSL store on Amazon with a ship date of late September. Price is now $105.99. Returns are at least easy with Amazon if you get one with issues.

 

[Noske]

Yes, even though it says 2A next to the socket some have found that either 2.4A or 3A is a better choice. It would be good to know if that fixes it for you.

Mine is powered from a regular power board at 3A and has had no issues.

I'm now using a Ugreen X227, 20W max.

Is GaN, and I am guessing that is a good thing - it automatically adjusts. I'm not sure I've seen that with sockets before, I've only seen fixed. Maybe I have to get out more.

Much better thanks on many levels. 2A was clearly not enough.

 

[NTTY]

Much better thanks on many levels. 2A was clearly not enough.

What issue(s) does that fix?

 

[Noske]

What issue(s) does that fix?

As I mentioned in post #95 (and then mumbled some mumblings in post #100)

"Sometimes it just stops playing and other times it stutters a bit. On replay it doesn't. This on some new CDs.

Using 5V 2A lenovo phone AC adaptor, I might try something else. Anyway, it's OK probably about 95+% of the time. Just sayin'"

So, I only just got the new socket today and tried it on a few retail CDs which I knew were at issue, now no issue. I know I am being slightly hasty. I'm crossing fingers it is a permanent fix to what was a real issue. If it persists again in the fullness of time I guess I'll just accept that it may be a faulty unit. No worries.

 

[Lupin]

To me it looks like SMSL bought up some old batch of internal Lite-On optical drives, slapped an external case on it and called it a day.
Ooh well I'm sure someone will find this product usefull.

 

[DavidM1]

To me it looks like SMSL bought up some old batch of internal Lite-On optical drives, slapped an external case on it and called it a day.
Ooh well I'm sure someone will find this product usefull.

Ha! That would be me and many others. Great little CD player - small, solid and silent. Choice of bit-perfect digital outputs, gapless playback, quick to load, handy remote and headphone out, all for around $100USD.

I can’t actually think of a worthwhile feature that it doesn’t have.

 

[vvv]

非常感谢您的这篇评论。我一直在寻找一种小型桌面传输器来添加到我的 Topping DAC 和 Wiim Pro 堆栈中。这很合适，价格也很合适。也可以从数字中完美播放！

据我所知，没有其他东西（已经审查过）在尺寸和价格方面更接近了？

You want a small desktop CD player. Where will you use it? All the good traditional CD players are quite large.

 

[Smitty2k1]

You want a small desktop CD player. Where will you use it? All the good traditional CD players are quite large.

At a desk

 

[Bleib]

You want a small desktop CD player. Where will you use it? All the good traditional CD players are quite large.

The measurements show that both PL100 and PL150 should be good even with their own DACs. My PL150 is "under" my TV

Old picture. I have since replaced it with PL150. Also in this picture TP RA3 amp, SMSL RAW MDA1 DAC
The left loudspeaker appears not to be standing straight but this is for some reason an illusion

 

[vvv]

The measurements show that both PL100 and PL150 should be good even with their own DACs. My PL150 is "under" my TV
View attachment 477912
Old picture. I have since replaced it with PL150. Also in this picture TP RA3 amp, SMSL RAW MDA1 DAC
The left loudspeaker appears not to be standing straight but this is for some reason an illusion

thx for your picture! do you want a full-size CD player?and why

 

[Bleib]

thx for your picture! do you want a full-size CD player?and why

No, no, no. I mostly play from the PC ---> USB --- > DAC
I see no reason to create anything full size for CD these days. Most CD-players are rather empty on the inside

 

[A Posteriori]

I've had the SMSL PL100 for about 6 months now, and zero complaints.

To be honest, I was never really a CD guy. I've always been more into DAPs or just playing music directly from my computer, managing my .mp3 and .flac files. I really wanted to try the whole CD experience—buying a disc, checking out the booklets and artwork, and then playing it.

For the $70 I paid on an AliExpress sale, I don't think anything can beat it. I use the optical output to connect to a DAC and have had zero issues. It's an excellent introduction to physical media, and as a transport, it's honestly everything I could ask for.

Sure, it would be nice to have some extra features like seeing the song names or having gapless playback in all scenarios, but paying at least five times more for those features doesn't seem like a great deal to me.

 

[FrostedOxen]

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)_/¯

To say, My PL150 does this as well. Kinda weird. Not sure if that's their indication that it's in standby or what. In any case I don't really like it.

 

[anonyless]

To say, My PL150 does this as well. Kinda weird. Not sure if that's their indication that it's in standby or what. In any case I don't really like it.

no, it's a bug. i asked the seller on Amazon
i bought this switch https://he.aliexpress.com/item/4001133026413.html (5521mm, 0.2M) as a workaround and it does the job