SMSL PL20 Review (CD Player)

[ChenHui]

Gapless or not ?

I suspect SMSL lacks the incentive to tackle the seamless playback issue. Perhaps they don't see it as a problem at all.

 

[Haskil]

I suspect SMSL lacks the incentive to tackle the seamless playback issue. Perhaps they don't see it as a problem at all.

I recently spoke with the head of Warner Classics, who just retired and handed the reins to the head of Nonesuch, a wonderful American publisher— he's French, lives in Paris, and we've known each other for 50 years — about the awful metadata they were sending to streaming platforms with their recordings and the lack of PDF booklets for most of the discs they made available online. He barely understood what I was talking about and wasn't particularly bothered by it. So how can you expect SML to care about gapless playback?

 

[HeadBanger]

I recently spoke with the head of Warner Classics, who just retired and handed the reins to the head of Nonesuch, a wonderful American publisher— he's French, lives in Paris, and we've known each other for 50 years — about the awful metadata they were sending to streaming platforms with their recordings and the lack of PDF booklets for most of the discs they made available online. He barely understood what I was talking about and wasn't particularly bothered by it. So how can you expect SML to care about gapless playback?

Not sure I understand the relevance. Or are SMSL now owned by Warner?

HB

 

[aagstn]

I suspect SMSL lacks the incentive to tackle the seamless playback issue. Perhaps they don't see it as a problem at all.

They aren't concerned about DACs that pop and click on Mac and Linux so I doubt gapless is a concern. They are too busy creating 17 more variations of the same product.

 

[norcalscott]

I get the complaints about gapless and upsampling but I guess I'm more surprised that a lot of people here still listen to CDs - I have a cheap no-name CD RW drive I got a number of years ago to rip my CD collection to FLAC and probably haven't used it at all since. Not meaning to offend anyone, but I'm curious about the appeal of listening to a spinning digital disk in this day and age?

 

[aagstn]

I get the complaints about gapless and upsampling but I guess I'm more surprised that a lot of people here still listen to CDs - I have a cheap no-name CD RW drive I got a number of years ago to rip my CD collection to FLAC and probably haven't used it at all since. Not meaning to offend anyone, but I'm curious about the appeal of listening to a spinning digital disk in this day and age?

Some of us like having both options. All of my discs are ripped and I stream most of the time, but I also like to relax sometimes and pull CDs off the shelf and listen to them. My old players are all still going strong so I don't have a major need for a new player, but having a budget option that follows the redbook standard is nice to have on the market.

 

[norcalscott]

Some of us like having both options. All of my discs are ripped and I stream most of the time, but I also like to relax sometimes and pull CDs off the shelf and listen to them. My old players are all still going strong so I don't have a major need for a new player, but having a budget option that follows the redbook standard is nice to have on the market.

Fair enough - I do the same with vinyl, occasionally, but since I started using Moode I find myself normally just casting music to that from my phone for the most part. I had so many reliability issues with CD players since I let my SONY ES 5 CD changer go that I kind of gave up on them.

 

[tokyo_blues]

Fair enough - I do the same with vinyl, occasionally, but since I started using Moode I find myself normally just casting music to that from my phone for the most part. I had so many reliability issues with CD players since I let my SONY ES 5 CD changer go that I kind of gave up on them.

I tried Moode. It's really not my cup of tea. Try Volumio, much better.

Anyhow - I'm not streaming my FLACs much anymore these days. Popping a CD in the player or a record on the turntable is my favourite way again.

All my CDs are back on the shelves after years in the cellar and it's great to have them back.

 

[Haskil]

Not sure I understand the relevance. Or are SMSL now owned by Warner?

HB

It's quite clear: two companies are neglecting the very core of their business: providing recordings with complete metadata and accompanying booklets, and supplying CD players that meet the standard set by Philips and Sony, which mandates playback without gaps between tracks.

The moral of the story: neither company actually uses the products they sell.

 

[norcalscott]

I tried Moode. It's really not my cup of tea. Try Volumio, much better.

I was a Volumio premium user for many years but got fed up with the bugs and issues every release. They also raised the price beyond the value in my opinion.

I switched to Moode and like it a lot better for my use, especially the last few updates that improved PEQ and added Peppy Meters.

 

[jareinertson]

It's quite clear: two companies are neglecting the very core of their business: providing recordings with complete metadata and accompanying booklets, and supplying CD players that meet the standard set by Philips and Sony, which mandates playback without gaps between tracks.

The moral of the story: neither company actually uses the products they sell.

And let’s not forget to verify if the players properly decode the CD pre emphasis applied to some early generation CD’s…

 

[jareinertson]

It's quite clear: two companies are neglecting the very core of their business: providing recordings with complete metadata and accompanying booklets, and supplying CD players that meet the standard set by Philips and Sony, which mandates playback without gaps between tracks.

The moral of the story: neither company actually uses the products they sell.

And let’s not forget to verify if the players properly decode the CD pre emphasis applied to some early generation CD’s.

 

[early rejecter]

…I'm curious about the appeal of listening to a spinning digital disk in this day and age?

I just find browsing and interacting with a physical library so much more satisfying than a digital one. I do discover a lot of new music via streaming, but even if I love something it often happens that if I don’t buy a physical copy, I tend to forget about or neglect it after a while once I’ve moved on to new streams. I’m sure I could solve that issue with smart playlists or other systems, but that feels like work to me.

 

[M.C. Logan]

You know they make three wheeled cars as well. who needs four?

They also made 6 wheel ones, why aren't we all driving those?

 

[M.C. Logan]

Yes, but as I said, there are many. Check this thread for a ton other examples just within Radiohead’s catalog:

https://www.reddit.com/r/radiohead/comments/rhtcor/what_are_some_good_examples_of_seamless

If you only have one example in your entire catalog, then I would suggest that it’s either fairly limited or you aren’t aware of which tracks are gapless.

The decision to have gapless tracks is an artistic one. The artist intended for us to hear it that way, so in my book it’s a form of lowering the fidelity to introduce gaps. Even if it’s one in 50 albums where it’s an issue, why wouldn’t I want that capability? I get you’re saying most people don’t care…but most people wanting to achieve CD playback would buy the cheapest player they can find on Amazon, plug into the headphone output (or connect via BT), and be done.

MY tastes are pretty varied actually, just that *on CD* my collection is limited to Jazz. soul, punk, funk, rock and Pop, vinyl much the same, which as I say are a gapless free zone for me. Classical is either files or streaming, don't listen to prog, ambient or adjacent genres, nor 'mix' albums. This is not an uncommon use case.
I would imagine a lot of CD player sales are replacements for decent/ish dying/dead players, not new purchase cheapy Amazon trash.

 

[aagstn]

MY tastes are pretty varied actually, just that *on CD* my collection is limited to Jazz. soul, punk, funk, rock and Pop, vinyl much the same, which as I say are a gapless free zone for me. Classical is either files or streaming, don't listen to prog, ambient or adjacent genres, nor 'mix' albums. This is not an uncommon use case.
I would imagine a lot of CD player sales are replacements for decent/ish dying/dead players, not new purchase cheapy Amazon trash.

I would bet you have albums with a gapless track or two and don't even realize it. I have quite a number of rock, pop, and jazz albums with gapless sections somewhere on an album. If it doesn't bother you that is fine, however, it doesn't make it acceptable for a company to release a CD player defective by design. What is next, I never skip tracks so I don't care if those buttons work. I always listen to the same CD so I don't care that the eject button doesn't work. Where is the line drawn on incompetent design choices?

 

[M.C. Logan]

I would bet you have albums with a gapless track or two and don't even realize it. I have quite a number of rock, pop, and jazz albums with gapless sections somewhere on an album. If it doesn't bother you that is fine, however, it doesn't make it acceptable for a company to release a CD player defective by design. What is next, I never skip tracks so I don't care if those buttons work. I always listen to the same CD so I don't care that the eject button doesn't work. Where is the line drawn on incompetent design choices?

Weeeel, I don't actually skip tracks, but if you did, you'd get a gap. Just as you would using program play, so there's that.

 

[JensA]

There are not too many standalone CD players with cd-ripping features around at entry price levels, so this is somehow unique for a CD player/transport in the under 200 $ segment.
However, it appears that CD-ripping with the SMSL PL20 is rather cumbersome compared my present workflow (using the dbPoweramp cd-ripping software with external usb-c cd drive for my Mac, total cost less than 50% of the PL20) which is apparently much faster, includes AccurateRip and provides excellent meta data.
So personally would still prefer the PL150 in case I would look for a nice, low budget cd player

 

[gusieber]

there is a frimware-update:

https://www.smsl-audio.com/upload/portal/undefined/PL20FWV20260130.zip

now, mine is playing gapless.
my best from munich!

 

[Daniele CL]

@gusieber the update came out last month, I check it every day because I'm hoping for a new firmware for my PL150. The description doesn't mention adding gapless functionality, can you guarantee it?