Hello Everyone,
This is a review and details measurements of the SMSL PL200 CD Player and Transport.
It was kindly sent to me by
Aoshidaudio.com.
View attachment 478540
SMSL PL200 - Presentation
Released in 2023 and hosting an AK4499EX, this CD player intends to be a high-end one. There a transport only version of the same called PL200T.
Besides the top loading mechanism, this CD Player offers the below features:
- High-res DAC from AsahiKASEI with THD+N = -124dB / 0.0000631% / SINAD 124dB
- 5 selectable filters:
- Sharp (Default)
- Slow
- Short Sharp
- Short Slow
- Super Slow (aka NOS)
- Low Dispersion
- Four selectable "Sound colors" which I understand allow to change the delta-sigma oversampling rate, and as per my measurements:
- SC1 (5.6M) : Lowest Distortion, noise shaper kicking off at 30kHz (Default)
- SC2 (5.6M) : 10dB more distorsion than SC1, noise shaper kicking off at 80kHz
- SC3 (11M) : 5dB more distortion than SC2, noise shaper kicking off at 110kHz
- SC4 (11M) : No measurable difference (up to 380kHz) with SC3
- XLR and RCA outputs
- Headphones output (on the back, unfortunately), with selectable low and high output
- Volume control
- USB input up to 32bit/768kHz, DSD512
- Bluetooth LDAC (24bit/96kHz), APTX/HD, SBC, AAC
- It is truly gapless playback (whatever button you touch
)
The back of the unit is busy, due to the size:
View attachment 478542
We get big fat Canon XLR outputs, together with unbalanced RCA. We also get two SPDIF digital outputs, one headphones (unbalanced), the Bluetooth antenna and the USB input to use it as a DAC. It requires a socket wall, and I would have loved to be able to use it from an external battery, like the
SMSL PL150.
User experience
Similar to the
OPPO BDP-95 that I reviewed last week, I thought it's be interesting to share my experience with this device:
- It can play a CD with the top cover removed provided you press "Play" for 2 seconds.
- It's obviously very fast at reading the TOC of my 40 tracks test CD (less that 2 seconds as per the above)
- It will play on the side, which is funny (see below)
- It's nice to see the disc rotating, really
- Skipping a track is way faster than most modern players, I like it
- FFW and REW are fast too, maybe too fast actually
- The buttons are a bit too narrow for my fingers, but they react well
- The drive is noisy when going from the last track to the first one
Yes, it plays Dark Side Of The Moon gapless
View attachment 478544
On its side too
View attachment 478545
It's nice to see it spinning the silver disc:
View attachment 478546
The wife experiment
I don't need any measurements, I can tell you that my wife said this player made a massive difference.
How many times have you read something similar(y stupid)? As a matter of facts, when I received the SMSL, my wife was first in line to listen to it, really interested.
And after couple of minutes listening to it, she said "
This is crap, it's all well defined, very clean, ok, but no depth, boring as f***". My reaction was... LOL.
But I offered her a little game. I set three devices for comparison, all with headphones:
- The SMSL PL200, of course, playing from its headphones out
- My good old Sony CDP-557ESD playing too from the headphones out
- The Orpheus Zero (need to update that review...), playing through a Rotel Michi P5 preamplifier, headphones out
I adjusted the output and I got lucky to match the three players by 0.04dB max difference. And I asked the wife to select a CD and a track that I would play while she was blinded.
You know the result, right? She said "
Ok, I can't recognize them, I'd need more time". My reaction was... LOL.
View attachment 478617
Enough for the presentation let's go to measurements.
It will be again a long review, and I'm likely to split it in three posts:
- The standard CD Review
- The DAC standalone Review
- A bonus about the multiple filters
SMSL PL200 - Measurements (XLR 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.
All measurements below are with the default "Sharp" filter and "Sound Color : SC1", preamp output set to 0dB, unless otherwise noted.
The SMLS outputs 4Vrms with the preamp output set to 0dB, but the volume knob allows a +1dB, in which case it outputs 4.5Vrms. Output voltage is divided by 2 from the unbalanced outputs.
The two channels are perfectly matched matched at 0.00dB, which is what we should always get from a modern device. Phase was dead flat with default filter (Sharp).
----
As usual, let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from the
Test CD (XLR out):
View attachment 478558
Best in class and so close to the OPPO previously mentioned! What you see, besides two little spikes at 2k and 3k (at roughly -125dBr) is what is digitally recorded on the test CD!
Let's try the same at -6dBFS:
View attachment 478559
Distortion is gone, and similar to the OPPO, I get the feeling to be measuring a digital output, not the analog one.
This is perfect result.
----
I usually have a look at any potential PS related leakage, and you saw it before, there are none, even if I zoom with a punishing 512k FFT length:
View attachment 478560
The few spikes you see come from the digital file, quantization errors. And, as opposed to the OPPO BDP-95, we don't have low level random noise at the foot of the fundamental. Even if I like to see such good results, I should not get used to that too much, else I'll be disappointed in the future, I'm sure.
----
Next is the bandwidth:
View attachment 478561
This is flat within -0.1dB. Note the perfect balance between the two channels, again I like to see that.
And since there are 5 filters, let me overlay all of them (right channel only) and up to 22kHz (Linear Frequency scale, for better viewing):
View attachment 478570
I've put the plot at 20kHz to ease the analysis. This linear scale facilitates the review, especially of the attenuation. I split all traces on purpose, so don't bother the deviation from 0dB on the left axis.
What we see
- Sharp and Short Sharp filters are nearly flat beyond 20kHz. The Low Dispersion filter exhibits some ringing and attenuates by roughly -0.8dB.
- Slow and Short Slow filters attenuate a lot, by -8.5dB at 20kHz! They both are at -1dB as early as 13kHz. This is likely to impact the listening experience of the younger ears.
- Super Slow filter mimics a Non Oversampling Filter (NOS), so basically no filter, and the attenuation is therefore due to the sinus cardinal enveloppe wrapping the converted data (-3.9dB or so at 20kHz) which is the cause of the zero-hold function of the DAC.
That is a lot of information at once, I'll share more in a subsequent post about the filtering options of this CD Player, because that's really interesting. In the meantime, let me revert to the standard view of the Oversampling default filter (Sharp) with a wider bandwidth:
View attachment 478575
The filter is fully active at 24kHz (good) and reaches -110dB attenuation which is very good too. The aliases of the two test tones 18kHz and 20kHz are well attenuated below -110dB.
We also see the noise floor rising from 30kHz, and that is an effect of the noise shaper.
----
Let's have a look at the multitone test that a lot of you like very much, and guess what:
View attachment 478584
Yes,
flawless. It's the best I can expect from that test.
----
Oh yes, the jitter test:
View attachment 478578
The best trace I got to date! Even the OPPO was showing a little more. And no, this is not the digital output
This is a reference trace
----
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 |
| OPPO BDP-95 | -39dB | -28.8dB | -19.2dB |
| OPPO BDP-94 (vol -2dB) | -95dB | -97.5dB | -32.7dB |
| SMSL PL200 | -94.8dB | -97dB | -39.5dB |
| SMSL PL200 (vol -1dB) | -94.8dB | -97dB | -58.7dB |
With the volume set at 0dB (Default), the oversampling interpolator has nearly 2dB headroom. Decreasing the volume by -1dB or -6dB does not change things much, but we still get one of the best resistance to ISO that I've seen. This to appreciate, since
many CD Masters are recorded too hot. Well done again to SMSL.
----
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:
View attachment 478586
Woooooooow!!! This again is the best trace I ever reported, even better than what the OPPO achieved! And again, no, this is not the digital output but it so much looks like it!
That means a total absence of noise and distorsion at this theoretical lowest symmetrical level (undithered) of the PCM 16bits.
The ringing is due to the symmetrical reconstruction filter AND the Gibbs Phenomenon (meaning it's normal), else we'd see a square.
---
Other measurements (not shown):
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Analog" (18kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -112.1dB
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Digital" (17'987Hz & 19'997Hz 1:1) : -116.3dB
- IMD AES-17 MD (41Hz & 7993Hz 4:1): -119.5dB
- IMD DIN (250Hz & 8kHz 4:1) : -109.2dB
- IMD CCIF (19kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -116.7dB
- IMD SMPTE (60Hz & 7kHz 1:4) : -108.6dB
- IMD TDFD Bass (41Hz & 89Hz 1:1) : -129.7dB
- IMD TDFD (13'58Hz & 19841Hz 1:1) : -124.5dB
- Dynamic Range : 98.9dB (without dither @-60dBFS)
- Crosstalk: 100Hz (below -139dBr), 1kHz (below -139dBr), 10kHz (-125dBr)
- Pitch Error : 19'997.10Hz (19'997Hz requested) ie 5ppm
- Gapless playback : Yes
The IMD scores are best in class, nearly identical when compared with the boss
OPPO BDP-95.
The Dynamic range is the best that can be measured (unweighted) with the Audio CD.
Crosstalk was below what I can measure from the Audio CD at 100Hz and 1kHz, and a crazy low -125dBr at 10kHz. Eat this OPPO
Pitch error is a very small 5ppm.
----
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. I did not overlay with other CD players, because it's the best trace I got, again, and actually it is the same if I run the test from the digital output:
View attachment 478604
That's the distorsion present on the test CD, nothing else.
----
As I did with the
Sony CDP-597, I continue with a not so new now "max DAC resolution" measurement. It's performed from a 999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither. I restrict the THD+N span to 20Hz - 6kHz not to account for the noise of the shape dither beyond 6kHz. That gives me a local max resolution, which should be higher than 17bits as a proof that the CD Player can actually resolve more than the Audio CD.
Here are the results of the OPPO compared to others:
More than best in class, again! When I created this test, I calculated 18.7bits from the digital file. And I truly thought no player nor DAC would achieve the same value from analog outputs. So I set the max to 18.6bits, as the reference to achieve. The SMSL PS200 (DAC) did it, and I thought better would never be achieved. I was wrong.
The OPPO reset this test and the SMSL PL200 confirms!
We are in high-end waters here, no doubts!
SMLS PL200 - 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.
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) | 2mm |
| Combined dropouts and smallest pitch | From 1.5µm & 1mm to 1.5µm & 2.4mm | 1.5mm |
| Successive dropouts | From 2x0.1mm to 2x3mm | 2.4mm |
The above are very good results, although not repeating the excellence of the
OPPO BDP-95. That said, the results are unusual for that they vary, while usually I would see a 2mm resistance everywhere. I think this little drawdown is what it takes to be so fast for a modern player. In that area, the OPPO is nothing else but ashamed. Choose your camp.
SMSL PL200 - Digital Output (from Audio CD)
Ok, so it's a perfect CD player. Nothing more can be expected from an external DAC, the internal one being more than best in class for this ancient format. But let's verify if it outputs a "perfect" digital stream. And, from my standard 999.91Hz @0dBFS file...:
View attachment 478610
Nailed, no artifacts whatsoever.
The 3DC test is nailed too, of course:
View attachment 478611
My ultimate proof of "perfect" digital output 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 (by an ASRC for instance), it would show either a reduction of amplitude or we'd see some sort of saturation/increase noise/distorsion. So here we go, the below is a comparison between the WAV File directly processed by the PC, and when played by the SMSL PL200 via the optical out:
View attachment 478612
Same traces = perfect digital output
Partial conclusion (As a CD Player)
I will continue in the next post(s) about the DAC itself with measurements at 24bits and more.
In the meantime,
what a CD player! I thought, after the amazingly good results of the
OPPO BDP-95 last week, that I would get bored about testing other CD players. And I hoped this one would be a winner with its internal high-end AK DAC. I was not disappointed!
It is very good news that we can buy, today, a master CD Player, true High End, for much less than $1000. And it is more than a CD Player!
The SMSL PL200 sets a precedence nearly everywhere, like the OPPO did last week, even chasing and managing to get ahead in few areas.
And again, like the OPPO, I had the weird feeling to be measuring my test files directly from the WAV source, not from the analog outputs of a CD Player. And I'm addicted to that now!
This is
the best available CD Player I had in my hands so far.
Cherry on the cake, and this is a personal note: I know some of you find the top loading an odd thing from the past, but I love that. It makes me interact more with the media that I've been enjoying since 1983 (my 2 first CDs where
Michael Jackson - Thriller and
David Bowie - Let's Dance). And by the way, yes, I still love to spin a good old low-res record, I have so many. The SMSL makes me enjoy a similar pleasure and it's small enough to fit besides my turn table.
View attachment 478615
The pleasure to use is way higher than with the OPPO, on my perspective. So that's a big winner that I can only recommend as you would have guessed.
To be continued later...
It is the longest part of the exercice indeed.
