Hello everyone,
This is a review and measurements of the SMSL PL150 CD player and transport:
After the review of the SMSL PL100 which seems to have been replaced by this one, I thought it'd be good to check out potential evolutions, as the PL100 did really well for the cost.
SMLS PL150 - Presentation
There are already a lot of information and reviews available for this little CD Player, and so similar to the PL100, let me go direct to the elements of (your) importance:
You can see the main difference with the PL100 as the power connector is no longer a USB-C type.
Let's have a look at the inside:
We get a Philips drive CDM-M10, which is a quality slot-in mechanism often found in cars. On the right, your can see the conversion board from SMLS:
It's again the Cirrus CS43198 DAC, so we are very likely to see very similar performances when comparing to the PL100.
Let's have a closer look at the back of the drive, since some have said it suffers from rust:
Nothing of such here.
I got this one for 30% more than the previous SMSL PL100. So, we are still talking about a very reasonably priced CD Player.
I like the fact I can power it on external battery, less convenient than having an internal one, but more than being stuck with a socket wall (and an external battery can be easily reused/replaced).
----
I am listening to it as I write this review (Beyer DT770Pro 32ohms, Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here), and I am nothing else but pleased.
----
And, by the way, this is the listening test setup of the moment:
Yes, I was lazy enough not to close it, in case you ask for more pictures of the inside. The battery powering the SMSL is on the left side, as you guessed. I wonder how long it will last. Maybe more than what I'm willing to test since after 3 hours the battery still shows 4/4 charge status.
SMSL PL100 - Measurements (RCA out)
All measurements performed with an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso (grade 0), and the Cosmos Scaler (100kohms from unbalanced input) for analog outputs, and a Motu UltraLite Mk5 for digital.
I am now consistent with my specific measurements for CD Players, as I described them in the post “More than we hear”, and as I reported them for the Onkyo C-733 review. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.
The SMLS outputs 1.97Vrms. The two channels are perfectly matched matched at 0.00dB, which is what we should always get from a modern device.
I saw a phase shift of 180° across the bandwidth.
Fun fact: there is only a 0.01dB difference in output level between the SMSL PL100 and the SMSL PL150. That's an indicator of the internals similarities AND the stability of performances between devices, and that is very good news.
----
As usual, let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from the Test CD (RCA out):
This is very close to what I measured from the PL100. The distortion is a little lower, and the ENOB got 0.1dB more. We still have a pack of random and correlated noise at the foot of the fundamental. It impacts a little the SINAD, but we are loosing .5dB less than the PL100, and it's a good take.
The two channels have the exact same performances.
Let's try the same 6dB lower:
Again very close and .5dB better that the PL100. Ok, that is more than negligible, but hey, that's an improvement.
t's free of power supply related leakage:
Very similar to the SMSL PL100, again, but we see a lowered noise floor, and that's where we get the .5dB improvement. Maybe that was the reason not to use a USB-C connector for the power supply?
Other than that, I'm repeating the same comments I made about the PL100: On that zoomed view between 20Hz to 1kHz, and with linear frequency scale, you can better appreciate the correlated noise (all these low level spikes). Their frequencies tell me nothing, I've never seen that. Also, note how the noise floor increase when approaching the fundamental. This is very low level random noise. Note that I tested these powering the SMSL from a phone's charger but also from a battery (delivering the required 5V/2A) and I got the same results.
We can suspect this type of issue to reveal itself with the Jitter Test, see below in the review.
----
Next is the bandwidth:
This is very flat despite the zooming and the two channels match perfectly, as you can see.
And let's have a look at the job of the oversampling filter, with a wider bandwidth:
The red trace show the filter's response beyond 20kHz. It's fully active at 24kHz with max attenuation of -95dB. We can see the noise shaper of the DAC increasing the noise floor past 45kHz.
You can also see that the aliases of the 18kHz&20kHz tones are very well attenuated. This is good performance.
Now, again, we can't miss the random noise floor at the feet of the two test tones, it is higher at these frequencies than previously at 1kHz. But all this being at -100dBr, at worst, will easily be masked by music.
All the above is strictly identical to the PL100.
----
Let's have a look at the multitone test that a lot of you like very much:
Again, same comments as the PL100 because it's the same perf.
This is when you get to like this test, because it reveals issues, when there are. This provides you with a view that of the low random and correlated noise problem. It increases with frequency. CD Audio format at 16bits is still preserved, but by an hair.
----
Well, time has really come to finger point the problem, with the jitter test:
Same as the PL100. And, yeah, it looks nasty.
The red trace is from the digital output of the SMSL, blue one from the RCA out.
So we get to see our noise and distortion. The SMSL suffers from Jitter, but at a low level, one more time. The highest side-bands are the closest to the fundamental, meaning that the problem will remain hidden to our ears when playing music, hopefully. But this is not nice.
----
Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):
The results of the SMLS PL150 mean that the oversampling filter has very little headroom to process intersamples over. It's better than none, and it's the same as the PL100, no surprise with the exact same DAC (having the same internal oversampling filter).
I added in red the same measurements from phones out (I did the same on the SMSL PL100) to show that there's no longer intersamples over issue when you use headphones. Isn't that nice? And note that the results are all noise dominated, because I add all noise up to 96khz. The actual distorsion is the below:
No distortion whatsoever. Headphones lovers should appreciate, but I guess they know the trick. The interesting part here is that it comes out of a desktop CD Player.
----
Long review, so I'm now listening to Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound of Thunder - CD1 (this is to double-check it's gapless
)
----
Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:
Similar to the PL100, I say: Wow, this is a beautiful trace, perfectly symmetrical and undisrupted by noise at this low level. This is ver nice. I desire to see that much much more often.
Theoretically we should get a square at this lowest level of the PCM 16bits format, and we don't because of the limited bandwidth. The ringing tells us that the reconstruction is asymmetrical, and yes it is:
As I did SMSL Pl100, I need to come back to the random noise that you might worry about, to tell you that the problem vanishes at lower level, proof is this very neat 3DC scope trace above. But let me show you more measurements. The below is a measurement of a 999.91Hz test tone with rectangle dither (on 0.5LSB) at -100dBFS, and it is absolutely flawless:
This is really not often that I see such a neat trace, as it compares with the initial WAV file. So the problem of noise I spotted before shows itself at -20dBFS and above, and will be easily masked into music. It is also the assurance of best reproduction of the quietest moments of any master.
Oh, by the way, about phones out, this is the same 3DC test at -6dBFS where we should expect degradation:
It is minimal and still a trace I'd like to see from all CD Players! The takeaway is that for those of you thinking to use the PL150 mainly with headphones, this is more than a good candidate...
---
Other measurements (not shown):
The IMD scores are very good despite the noise I mentioned.
The Dynamic range is the best I measured and can measure from CD Audio. No trace of crosstalk, and my test includes very low signal on the other channel to prevent it to shutdown. But really here, no crosstalk that I can measure.
The pitch error shows a deviation of 4.5ppm while it was less than 1ppm with the PL100. This is anyways more than we need for audio. High precision it is.
----
(Very) Long review, so I'm now listening to Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound of Thunder - CD2 (yes, the SMSL is gapless
)
----
Last and not least, I like to run a THD vs Frequency sweep at -12dBFS as it shows how the conversion has evolved over time. I am currently using the beta version of REW and I discovered that this sweep gives better and more reliable results than before. And for once I did not overlay with other CD players, because, and similar to the SMSL PL100, it's the best trace I got, and actually it is the same as if I run the test from the digital output of the SMSL:
You can appreciate the THD score in the graph (plot at 1kHz), this is indeed the bottom of the digital recording, or say what the software can compute on this sweep. This CD player has been absent from harmonic distortion all along my measurements
----
As I did with the Sony CDP-597, I add a "max DAC resolution" measurement test. It is performed from a 999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither (from Audacity). I restrict the THD+N span to 20Hz - 6kHz in REW not to account for the noise of the shape dither beyond 6kHz. I take the calculated ENOB and simply add 2bits to it (due to the -12dB attenuation, as 1bits=6dB). The potential maximum, when calculated from the digital WAV file, is 18.7bits under this test. A "transparent" DAC should achieve 18.7bits, ie 100% in this test.
Here are the results compared to others:
Because of the little less low level random noise, the PL150 wins over the PL100 by 0.1bits. So, that very small improvement is consistent accros the measurements.
SMSL PL150 - Testing the drive
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
The SMLS took only 4 seconds to read the TOC of my 40 tracks test CD, this is good. It takes on 1sec to load the disc, so in five seconds max, you get music. Nice!
Here are the results:
The SMSL PL150 was able to read without generating typical digital noise with dropouts up to the maximum I can measure, and that is 4mm. I could measure interpolation starting at 2.4mm but I could not hear it. This is the best results so far, only equaled by the TASCAM CD-200, what a reference! Drill a hole in a CD and the SMSL will read it without you noticing an issue!
Same goes with the narrower pitch and dropouts, it passed even in the worst case scenario. I rarely see this.
That said, I was surprised that it did not appreciate successive dropouts. It simply stops playing with as low as 0.2mm successive dropouts. Normally the score there is the same as with a single dropout. So, I now more before suspect some software decision to stop the reading for some reasons in this case, because it was exactly the same with the SMSL PL100 which shares the same drive. I suspect it triggers some sort of internal warning/abnormal working conditions. The other explanation could be that my test CD was laser-burnt in some places for the purpose of that test. And that might create reflections for the laser beam which could disrupt some drives. I was warned of the possibility, and that might be what we face here.
SMSL PL150 - Measurements (Digital Optical Out)
I know several of you want to know, is it a good transport?
So let's go with the 999.91Hz @0dBFS:
This is what is on the WAV file. Same with my usual 3DC measurement:
It is what we want to see.
The ultimate proof is when I reuse the intersample overs test at 5512.50Hz, with a phase shift of 67.5°, like I did for the TASCAM CD-200 review. This signal generates an overshoot of +0.69dB and so if the signal would be modified before being sent, it would show either a reduction of amplitude or we'd see some sort of saturation/increase noise/distortion. So here we go, the below is a comparison between the WAV File directly processed by the PC, and when played by the SMSL via the optical out:
Similar to the PL100, the traces are the same. Long story short: This is a "perfect" transport.
Measurements of phones out (into 100kohms load)
Following the interesting questioning of @Ruffy and my reply on the PL100 thread, I thought it'd be interesting to add some insights here too.
@Ruffy was wondering if he could directly drive his amplifier via the phones out of the PL100, as it obviously offers volume control. And yes he could.
Is it the same with the PL150? Guess what:
----
The SMSL continues to play Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound of Thunder - CD2 driving my good old Accuphase, for my utmost satisfaction.
----
Besides having fun with it driving a good old amplifier, I ran some test with the PL150 in that context, and that means feeding the Cosmos scaler that has an input impedance of 100kohms.
The PL150 outputs 2Vrms max (same from SE or Balanced), which is more than enough to drive a lot of amplifiers, but you should check yours anyways.
The below is the standard view of my 999.91Hz @0dBFS from phones out into 100kohms, and it the same as from RCA out:
So yes, it will directly drive an amplifier, just power it before the amplifier...
Conclusion
Well, what can I say? That I had fun? Hell yes, I hope you got that
The PL150 adds very little on top of the PL100 but it's only roughly 30$ more, depending on your reseller. Some of you might prefer the look and we all get Balanced and SE phones out on the front, that alone justifies the increased price. Performances are basically the same, .5dB less in noise is what we get.
To be honest, for the price, I have nothing to say. This is a perfect transport on a digital output perspective, with a drive that will read CDs with holes into them, without you hearing any issue! This exceptional resistance to scratched CDs could be the sole reason to adopt it.
There are many other reasons to be wanting this CD player, from the exceptional silent play at lower levels (RCA and phones out), to the bit perfect digital output, ability to play in any position, from a battery too, and a nice looking device (?).
I never recommended a CD Player in the past, but never say never. For the price, the overall performances are just staggering. So you decide.
I hope you enjoyed this review, and have a nice weekend!
This is a review and measurements of the SMSL PL150 CD player and transport:
After the review of the SMSL PL100 which seems to have been replaced by this one, I thought it'd be good to check out potential evolutions, as the PL100 did really well for the cost.
SMLS PL150 - Presentation
There are already a lot of information and reviews available for this little CD Player, and so similar to the PL100, let me go direct to the elements of (your) importance:
- It reads only the CD Audio (and mp3 too)!
- It's gapless provided you don't FFW or REW, skipping a track will not stop gapless playback.
- The drive is fast, same as the SMLS PL100. It takes only 4sec to read the TOC of my 40 tracks test CD, cool.
- It did not scratched nor left traces on the CDs I made it swallow.
- It has remote, and phones out moved from back to front, that is the main change besides the look.
- It gets Balanced phones out on top of SE (PL100 had only SE).
- Buttons are smaller than the PL100 and are again all the same. It's easier to identify what is what though, on that silver face.
- It comes without power supply, and same as PL100 requires 5V/2A. A USB cord is provided (I used an external battery for all my tests and listening).
- The build quality is more than decent, but no longer full aluminium, compared to the PL100. Buttons have some sense of luxury touch.
- The PL150 has a wider footprint than the PL100 (by 4cm) but lower depth (by 2cm).
- It plays if you place it on its side (I did not try upside down). In which case slot loading is also a necessary plus.
- As opposed to the PL100, inserting headphones will deactivate RCA and SPIF outputs (not practical for some of my measurements
).
You can see the main difference with the PL100 as the power connector is no longer a USB-C type.
Let's have a look at the inside:
We get a Philips drive CDM-M10, which is a quality slot-in mechanism often found in cars. On the right, your can see the conversion board from SMLS:
It's again the Cirrus CS43198 DAC, so we are very likely to see very similar performances when comparing to the PL100.
Let's have a closer look at the back of the drive, since some have said it suffers from rust:
Nothing of such here.
I got this one for 30% more than the previous SMSL PL100. So, we are still talking about a very reasonably priced CD Player.
I like the fact I can power it on external battery, less convenient than having an internal one, but more than being stuck with a socket wall (and an external battery can be easily reused/replaced).
----
I am listening to it as I write this review (Beyer DT770Pro 32ohms, Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here), and I am nothing else but pleased.
----
And, by the way, this is the listening test setup of the moment:
Yes, I was lazy enough not to close it, in case you ask for more pictures of the inside. The battery powering the SMSL is on the left side, as you guessed. I wonder how long it will last. Maybe more than what I'm willing to test since after 3 hours the battery still shows 4/4 charge status.
SMSL PL100 - Measurements (RCA out)
It is a challenge for me not to repeat the review of the SMSL PL100 because these two are nearly identical. But I'll make an effort so you don't get the impression I just did a copy paste. And that said, the PL150 improves measurements by a hair 
All measurements performed with an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso (grade 0), and the Cosmos Scaler (100kohms from unbalanced input) for analog outputs, and a Motu UltraLite Mk5 for digital.
I am now consistent with my specific measurements for CD Players, as I described them in the post “More than we hear”, and as I reported them for the Onkyo C-733 review. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.
The SMLS outputs 1.97Vrms. The two channels are perfectly matched matched at 0.00dB, which is what we should always get from a modern device.
I saw a phase shift of 180° across the bandwidth.
Fun fact: there is only a 0.01dB difference in output level between the SMSL PL100 and the SMSL PL150. That's an indicator of the internals similarities AND the stability of performances between devices, and that is very good news.
----
As usual, let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from the Test CD (RCA out):
This is very close to what I measured from the PL100. The distortion is a little lower, and the ENOB got 0.1dB more. We still have a pack of random and correlated noise at the foot of the fundamental. It impacts a little the SINAD, but we are loosing .5dB less than the PL100, and it's a good take.
The two channels have the exact same performances.
Let's try the same 6dB lower:
Again very close and .5dB better that the PL100. Ok, that is more than negligible, but hey, that's an improvement.
t's free of power supply related leakage:
Very similar to the SMSL PL100, again, but we see a lowered noise floor, and that's where we get the .5dB improvement. Maybe that was the reason not to use a USB-C connector for the power supply?
Other than that, I'm repeating the same comments I made about the PL100: On that zoomed view between 20Hz to 1kHz, and with linear frequency scale, you can better appreciate the correlated noise (all these low level spikes). Their frequencies tell me nothing, I've never seen that. Also, note how the noise floor increase when approaching the fundamental. This is very low level random noise. Note that I tested these powering the SMSL from a phone's charger but also from a battery (delivering the required 5V/2A) and I got the same results.
We can suspect this type of issue to reveal itself with the Jitter Test, see below in the review.
----
Next is the bandwidth:
This is very flat despite the zooming and the two channels match perfectly, as you can see.
And let's have a look at the job of the oversampling filter, with a wider bandwidth:
The red trace show the filter's response beyond 20kHz. It's fully active at 24kHz with max attenuation of -95dB. We can see the noise shaper of the DAC increasing the noise floor past 45kHz.
You can also see that the aliases of the 18kHz&20kHz tones are very well attenuated. This is good performance.
Now, again, we can't miss the random noise floor at the feet of the two test tones, it is higher at these frequencies than previously at 1kHz. But all this being at -100dBr, at worst, will easily be masked by music.
All the above is strictly identical to the PL100.
----
Let's have a look at the multitone test that a lot of you like very much:
Again, same comments as the PL100 because it's the same perf.
This is when you get to like this test, because it reveals issues, when there are. This provides you with a view that of the low random and correlated noise problem. It increases with frequency. CD Audio format at 16bits is still preserved, but by an hair.
----
Well, time has really come to finger point the problem, with the jitter test:
Same as the PL100. And, yeah, it looks nasty.
The red trace is from the digital output of the SMSL, blue one from the RCA out.
So we get to see our noise and distortion. The SMSL suffers from Jitter, but at a low level, one more time. The highest side-bands are the closest to the fundamental, meaning that the problem will remain hidden to our ears when playing music, hopefully. But this is not nice.
----
Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):
| Intersample-overs tests Bandwidth of the THD+N measurements is 20Hz - 96kHz | 5512.5 Hz sine, Peak = +0.69dBFS | 7350 Hz sine, Peak = +1.25dBFS | 11025 Hz sine, Peak = +3.0dBFS |
| Teac VRDS-20 | -30.7dB | -26.6dB | -17.6dB |
| Yamaha CD-1 | -84.6dB | -84.9dB | -78.1dB |
| Denon DCD-900NE | -34.2dB | -27.1dB | -19.1dB |
| Denon DCD-SA1 | -33.6dB | -27.6dB | -18.3dB |
| Onkyo C-733 | -88.3dB | -40.4dB | -21.2dB |
| Denon DCD-3560 | -30.2dB | -24.7dB | -17.4dB |
| Myryad Z210 | -70.6dB (noise dominated) | -71.1dB (noise dominated) | -29.4dB (H3 dominated) |
| Sony CDP-X333ES | -30.5dB | -24.8dB | -16.3dB |
| BARCO-EMT 982 | -32.7dB | -24.5dB | -16.3dB |
| TASCAM CD-200 | -73.5dB | -36.3dB | -19.7dB |
| Sony CDP-597 | -30.4dB | -24.7dB | -16.5dB |
| SMSL PL100 | -53.1dB | -31dB | -19.1dB |
| SMLS PL150 | -52.1dB | -30.8dB | -19.2dB |
| SMSL PL150 (phones out -6dB) | -72.2dB | -73.1dB | -74.8dB |
The results of the SMLS PL150 mean that the oversampling filter has very little headroom to process intersamples over. It's better than none, and it's the same as the PL100, no surprise with the exact same DAC (having the same internal oversampling filter).
I added in red the same measurements from phones out (I did the same on the SMSL PL100) to show that there's no longer intersamples over issue when you use headphones. Isn't that nice? And note that the results are all noise dominated, because I add all noise up to 96khz. The actual distorsion is the below:
| Intersample-overs tests THD only, and up to 96kHz | 5512.5 Hz sine, Peak = +0.69dBFS | 7350 Hz sine, Peak = +1.25dBFS | 11025 Hz sine, Peak = +3.0dBFS |
| SMSL PL150 (phones out -6dB) | -103.5dB | -93.5dB | -89.9dB |
No distortion whatsoever. Headphones lovers should appreciate, but I guess they know the trick. The interesting part here is that it comes out of a desktop CD Player.
----
Long review, so I'm now listening to Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound of Thunder - CD1 (this is to double-check it's gapless
)----
Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:
Similar to the PL100, I say: Wow, this is a beautiful trace, perfectly symmetrical and undisrupted by noise at this low level. This is ver nice. I desire to see that much much more often.
Theoretically we should get a square at this lowest level of the PCM 16bits format, and we don't because of the limited bandwidth. The ringing tells us that the reconstruction is asymmetrical, and yes it is:
As I did SMSL Pl100, I need to come back to the random noise that you might worry about, to tell you that the problem vanishes at lower level, proof is this very neat 3DC scope trace above. But let me show you more measurements. The below is a measurement of a 999.91Hz test tone with rectangle dither (on 0.5LSB) at -100dBFS, and it is absolutely flawless:
This is really not often that I see such a neat trace, as it compares with the initial WAV file. So the problem of noise I spotted before shows itself at -20dBFS and above, and will be easily masked into music. It is also the assurance of best reproduction of the quietest moments of any master.
Oh, by the way, about phones out, this is the same 3DC test at -6dBFS where we should expect degradation:
It is minimal and still a trace I'd like to see from all CD Players! The takeaway is that for those of you thinking to use the PL150 mainly with headphones, this is more than a good candidate...
---
Other measurements (not shown):
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Analog" (18kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -87.2dB
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Digital" (17'987Hz & 19'997Hz 1:1) : -94.5dB
- IMD AES-17 MD (41Hz & 7993Hz 4:1): -106.9dB
- IMD DIN (250Hz & 8kHz 4:1) : -97.2dB
- IMD CCIF (19kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -93.9dB
- IMD SMPTE (60Hz & 7kHz 1:4) : -101dB
- IMD TDFD Bass (41Hz & 89Hz 1:1) : -117.1dB
- IMD TDFD (13'58Hz & 19841Hz 1:1) : -103.2dB
- Dynamic Range : 98.9dB (without dither @-60dBFS)
- Crosstalk: unmeasurable (below -135dBr)
- Pitch Error : 19'996.91Hz (19'997Hz requested) ie <4.5ppm
- Gapless playback : Yes (provided you don't press FFW/REW buttons)
The IMD scores are very good despite the noise I mentioned.
The Dynamic range is the best I measured and can measure from CD Audio. No trace of crosstalk, and my test includes very low signal on the other channel to prevent it to shutdown. But really here, no crosstalk that I can measure.
The pitch error shows a deviation of 4.5ppm while it was less than 1ppm with the PL100. This is anyways more than we need for audio. High precision it is.
----
(Very) Long review, so I'm now listening to Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound of Thunder - CD2 (yes, the SMSL is gapless
)----
Last and not least, I like to run a THD vs Frequency sweep at -12dBFS as it shows how the conversion has evolved over time. I am currently using the beta version of REW and I discovered that this sweep gives better and more reliable results than before. And for once I did not overlay with other CD players, because, and similar to the SMSL PL100, it's the best trace I got, and actually it is the same as if I run the test from the digital output of the SMSL:
You can appreciate the THD score in the graph (plot at 1kHz), this is indeed the bottom of the digital recording, or say what the software can compute on this sweep. This CD player has been absent from harmonic distortion all along my measurements
----
As I did with the Sony CDP-597, I add a "max DAC resolution" measurement test. It is performed from a 999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither (from Audacity). I restrict the THD+N span to 20Hz - 6kHz in REW not to account for the noise of the shape dither beyond 6kHz. I take the calculated ENOB and simply add 2bits to it (due to the -12dB attenuation, as 1bits=6dB). The potential maximum, when calculated from the digital WAV file, is 18.7bits under this test. A "transparent" DAC should achieve 18.7bits, ie 100% in this test.
Here are the results compared to others:
| CD Player model or DAC | Calculated ENOB (999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither, THD+N span = 20Hz - 6kHz) | Percentage of max resolution achieved (higher is better) |
| OPPO BDP-95 | 18.7bits | 100% |
| SMSL PL-200 | 18.7bits | 100% |
| SMSL PS-200 (from CD player) | 18.6bits | 99.47% |
| Denon DCD-SA1 | 18.5bits | 98.93% |
| Denon DCD-900NE | 18.5bits | 98.93% |
| Onkyo C-733 | 18bits | 96.26% |
| SMSL PL150 | 18bits | 96.26% |
| SMSL PL100 | 17.9bits | 95.72% |
| Sony CDP-597 | 17.5bits | 93.58% |
| Onkyo DX-7355 | 17.3bits | 92.51% |
| Denon DCD-3560 | 17.2bits | 91.98% |
| Yamaha CD-S303 | 16.8bits | 89.84% |
| Accuphase DP-70 | 16.6bits | 88.77% |
| Sony CDP-337ESD | 16.6bits | 88.77% |
| Teac VRDS-25x | 16.5bits | 88.24% |
| Marantz CD-73 | 14.9bits | 79.68% |
Because of the little less low level random noise, the PL150 wins over the PL100 by 0.1bits. So, that very small improvement is consistent accros the measurements.
SMSL PL150 - Testing the drive
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
The SMLS took only 4 seconds to read the TOC of my 40 tracks test CD, this is good. It takes on 1sec to load the disc, so in five seconds max, you get music. Nice!
Here are the results:
| Test type | Technical test | Results |
| Variation of linear cutting velocity | From 1.20m/s to 1.40m/s | Pass |
| Variation of track pitch | From 1.5µm to 1.7µm | Pass |
| Combined variations of track pitch and velocity | From 1.20m/s & 1.5µm to 1.40m/s & 1.7µm | Pass |
| HF detection (asymmetry pitch/flat ratio) | Variation from 2% to 18% | Pass |
| Dropouts resistance | From 0.05mm (0.038ms) to 4mm (3.080ms) | Pass! |
| Combined dropouts and smallest pitch | From 1.5µm & 1mm to 1.5µm & 2.4mm | Pass! |
| Successive dropouts | From 2x0.1mm to 2x3mm | 0.1mm |
The SMSL PL150 was able to read without generating typical digital noise with dropouts up to the maximum I can measure, and that is 4mm. I could measure interpolation starting at 2.4mm but I could not hear it. This is the best results so far, only equaled by the TASCAM CD-200, what a reference! Drill a hole in a CD and the SMSL will read it without you noticing an issue!
Same goes with the narrower pitch and dropouts, it passed even in the worst case scenario. I rarely see this.
That said, I was surprised that it did not appreciate successive dropouts. It simply stops playing with as low as 0.2mm successive dropouts. Normally the score there is the same as with a single dropout. So, I now more before suspect some software decision to stop the reading for some reasons in this case, because it was exactly the same with the SMSL PL100 which shares the same drive. I suspect it triggers some sort of internal warning/abnormal working conditions. The other explanation could be that my test CD was laser-burnt in some places for the purpose of that test. And that might create reflections for the laser beam which could disrupt some drives. I was warned of the possibility, and that might be what we face here.
SMSL PL150 - Measurements (Digital Optical Out)
I know several of you want to know, is it a good transport?
So let's go with the 999.91Hz @0dBFS:
This is what is on the WAV file. Same with my usual 3DC measurement:
It is what we want to see.
The ultimate proof is when I reuse the intersample overs test at 5512.50Hz, with a phase shift of 67.5°, like I did for the TASCAM CD-200 review. This signal generates an overshoot of +0.69dB and so if the signal would be modified before being sent, it would show either a reduction of amplitude or we'd see some sort of saturation/increase noise/distortion. So here we go, the below is a comparison between the WAV File directly processed by the PC, and when played by the SMSL via the optical out:
Similar to the PL100, the traces are the same. Long story short: This is a "perfect" transport.
Measurements of phones out (into 100kohms load)
Following the interesting questioning of @Ruffy and my reply on the PL100 thread, I thought it'd be interesting to add some insights here too.
@Ruffy was wondering if he could directly drive his amplifier via the phones out of the PL100, as it obviously offers volume control. And yes he could.
Is it the same with the PL150? Guess what:
----
The SMSL continues to play Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound of Thunder - CD2 driving my good old Accuphase, for my utmost satisfaction.
----
Besides having fun with it driving a good old amplifier, I ran some test with the PL150 in that context, and that means feeding the Cosmos scaler that has an input impedance of 100kohms.
The PL150 outputs 2Vrms max (same from SE or Balanced), which is more than enough to drive a lot of amplifiers, but you should check yours anyways.
The below is the standard view of my 999.91Hz @0dBFS from phones out into 100kohms, and it the same as from RCA out:
So yes, it will directly drive an amplifier, just power it before the amplifier...
Conclusion
Well, what can I say? That I had fun? Hell yes, I hope you got that
The PL150 adds very little on top of the PL100 but it's only roughly 30$ more, depending on your reseller. Some of you might prefer the look and we all get Balanced and SE phones out on the front, that alone justifies the increased price. Performances are basically the same, .5dB less in noise is what we get.
To be honest, for the price, I have nothing to say. This is a perfect transport on a digital output perspective, with a drive that will read CDs with holes into them, without you hearing any issue! This exceptional resistance to scratched CDs could be the sole reason to adopt it.
There are many other reasons to be wanting this CD player, from the exceptional silent play at lower levels (RCA and phones out), to the bit perfect digital output, ability to play in any position, from a battery too, and a nice looking device (?).
I never recommended a CD Player in the past, but never say never. For the price, the overall performances are just staggering. So you decide.
I hope you enjoyed this review, and have a nice weekend!
Last edited:
