SMSL PL200T Review (CD Transport)

[amper42]

Why a PL-200T? Well, there is a distinct egotistical pleasure in knowing I am listening to a source that is as good as the theoretical limit of the medium, in the precious, blessed and rare time when I am all ears to my music system. It is similar, but more intense and fulfilling, to the pleasure I get driving with the correct tire pressure, engine oil level, and air cabin filter change interval.

Perhaps you should offer to do oil change commercials?

It's funny how the mind works.
You keep your home tidy and everything in its place and your mind is at peace.
Someone feeds you measurements that reflect accuracy and it puts you in a good frame of mind to own it.

However, from my experience it's extremely hard to find a CD player that doesn't sound audibly identical to just about any other model when used only as a transport. If you select the optical out from most CD players it bypasses the internal DAC and allows your favorite DAC to complete the audio playback instead.

Having that knowledge can save the buyer from overspending on a new CD player that is advertised as having magical powers. When used as simply a transport, pretty much every model CD Player does a fine job.

Anyone telling you this CD transport or another model reveals musical information that was missing before should be viewed with a large amount of skepticism.

 

[EJ3]

Anyone telling you this CD transport or another model reveals musical information that was missing before should be viewed with a large amount of skepticism.

So you say that they all sound the same (which is certainly true for most of them. But not all of them!).
That means that we get to buy on how the looks make us feel.
Once competency has been proven, then we get to select on how it makes us 'feel'. Or any other criteria that we come up with.
Of course (at least me), I would not want one that was not competent.
But now, I have a large selection of competent ones.
And this company & this particular unit, strike my fancy, so I bought one. & I suspect that there are many other's that, once a certain competency level is achieved, will chose based on whatever other factors are relative to them.
With competency shown to be excellent, then the next factors of each individuals desires come into play.

 

[Jimi Floyd]

It is not true that all CD transports perform equally well. Take the $5000 Jay's Audio CDT3-MK3. Tested by Stereophile, they discovered that it arbitrarily performs dithering on the last bit. That way one gets only 15 uncorrupted bits of the original 16. Why it is a mystery, but it demonstrate that a tested transport is preferable to a random transport, at any price.

 

[amper42]

It is not true that all CD transports perform equally well. Take the $5000 Jay's Audio CDT3-MK3. Tested by Stereophile, they discovered that it arbitrarily performs dithering on the last bit. That way one gets only 15 uncorrupted bits of the original 16. Why it is a mystery, but it demonstrate that a tested transport is preferable to a random transport, at any price.

1. Anyone spending $5,000 on a CD transport might want to first consider other available options. Spending more does not always = better.

2. Even in this esoteric transport example the results will not be audible. At 44.1kHz, the CDT3 output appears to have dither added at the level of the least significant bit, raising the noise floor just below about −130dBFS, which effectively limits the resolution to closer to 15 bits instead of the theoretical 16. This is not “throwing away” bits of music; it is adding extremely low‑level random noise at the very bottom of the 16‑bit range, a standard technique in digital audio to linearize behavior at very low levels.

You won't find this type of activity in most CD Players. Classic and midrange Denon CD players generally output 16‑bit/44.1kHz over optical and coax when playing a CD, regardless of any internal oversampling used before their own DACs.

 

[tokyo_blues]

Anyone telling you this CD transport or another model reveals musical information that was missing before should be viewed with a large amount of skepticism.

Just a note on the 'system is revealing more" type of comment and your ensuing observation above, as well as similar ones here and there.

I suspect some of the people saying their new toy 'reveals ore' might simply mean that with some of (cumbersome) logistics of music delivery out of the way (because for example, replacing older gear with this new device has led to a significant simplification of the workflow/kit) one might end up in a more relaxed, attentive or "available" state of mind that favours longer, more focused, more critical listening sessions? This might be the reason why more appears to be "revealed". The tech is where it should be, and that is out of the way, making it easier to concentrate on the music.

Sitting down in a settled state, minor worries about technical or quasi technical minutiae out of the way, might lead someone to observe something new is "revealed" to them, in a qualitative, not quantitative sense of the verb.

 

[rappaport]

You should probably attempt the blind test before making this statement.

People who know me well and recognize my nick are probably laughing their butts off reading everybody doubting the above.
If you'd read what I wrote. I'd gladly do it in a double blind listening test.
It's funny how; what can not be done by everybody no single person is allowed to.
I cannot either play the violin virtuosly. Neither have I spent a lifetime trying to.

 

[Mart68]

People who know me well and recognize my nick are probably laughing their butts off reading everybody doubting the above.
If you'd read what I wrote. I'd gladly do it in a double blind listening test.
It's funny how; what can not be done by everybody no single person is allowed to.
I cannot either play the violin virtuosly. Neither have I spent a lifetime trying to.

I'll doubt it right up until you do it.

We have a saying here, 'Either piss, or get off the pot.'

 

[rappaport]

I'll doubt it right up until you do it.

We have a saying here, 'Either piss, or get off the pot.'

You're welcome! Be my guest
I couldn't be more indifferent to what you doubt.

 

[DavidM1]

I cannot either play the violin virtuosly. Neither have I spent a lifetime trying to.

Announcing you have become a virtuoso violinist is never quite as convincing as playing a few bars. lol.

 

[rappaport]

I'll doubt it right up until you do it.

We have a saying here, 'Either piss, or get off the pot.'

We have a saying here:
I couldn't care less what you doubt

 

[rappaport]

Announcing you have become a virtuoso violinist is never quite as convincing as playing a few bars. lol.

I wish you all a speedy recovery

 

[EJasonC]

I literally just acquired this unit yesterday and was rather surprised how much better it sounds than my Tascam Pro Audio Transport! Didn't think a transport could make that much difference, but I stand corrected; it definitely makes a huge difference! Overall bass weight is fuller and tighter than the Tascam, soundstage as good if not better, both using the same DAC. As many have mentioned in reviews it's a very solid and high quality transport; I guess time will tell regarding its reliability. So far, so good!

 

[amper42]

oh my... is the IP for these last two posts the same?

 

[PeterF]

Got my PL 200T after reading the review and I couldn't be happier as it was even better than my expectations until on the third day it stopped reading CD's properly and now it is unnusable.
Clearly a laser unit / servo problem, happy to be wrong but to my understanding those are plastic factory fixed assembly with no adjustment what so ever.
SMSL -support asked for video on how it misbehaves and after that I haven't heard anything from them.
Hopefully I didn't loose my money on this....
I put back my old Yamaha player that I used as a transport before this like 10 years or something.
I know it is hard if not impossible to test and tell, but what about the reliability of normal production line units showing possible QC -issues.
Also how does different brands handle their after sales support showing for example what if brand xxx unit is broken in 2 days of receiving what kind of support they commit to.

 

[G|force]

Conformation Bias is alive and well!
Hats off to those that claim they are the exception to the rule.

 

[DavidM1]

This transport has substantially heightened TIMING, COHERENCE and TRANSIENT DELIVERY besides a tightening to the sound compared to the Pioneer - used solely as a CD transport. This transport has even totally changed my focus to the way musicians play their different instruments. Making it so much easier to follow their playing.

I've done endless double blind listening tests in my capacity of being "the deciding ear" for one of the most respected british brands.
Proving again and again that what I hear is indeed quantifiable. And not just some sort of figment of my imagination.
I would probably be able to pick this transport 10 out of 10 in a double blind test against the one I used before.

The problem here is that this site respects scientific inquiry and the value of objective tests. The results at the top of this thread have demonstrated that the sample would send a bit-perfect digital file to a DAC. There is no reason to expect an audible difference from a DAC if fed the same file from different transports.

Without some objective basis for your claim to hear the unmeasurable it will, pardon the pun, fall on deaf ears.

Enjoy your CD transport. It tests very well!

 

[AndreaT]

When subjective becomes objective. In spite of the lack of objective basis, it sounds better to my ears. Is it maybe because my frontal cortex conditions the occipital one after reading NTTY review and its perfect set of measurements? Or maybe the knowledge that to buy such a perfection in a transport I would have had to shell Nagra-money until a few years ago? Does my auditory system, down to the last dendrite, improve after enjoying the review and the debate? Or maybe is it my heightened focus and attention, state of consciousness, reverb of my thalamo-cortical radiation that plays the trick? Nescio, sed fieri sentior and gaudio.

 

[PeterF]

Got my PL 200T after reading the review and I couldn't be happier as it was even better than my expectations until on the third day it stopped reading CD's properly and now it is unnusable.
Clearly a laser unit / servo problem, happy to be wrong but to my understanding those are plastic factory fixed assembly with no adjustment what so ever.
SMSL -support asked for video on how it misbehaves and after that I haven't heard anything from them.
Hopefully I didn't loose my money on this....
I put back my old Yamaha player that I used as a transport before this like 10 years or something.
I know it is hard if not impossible to test and tell, but what about the reliability of normal production line units showing possible QC -issues.
Also how does different brands handle their after sales support showing for example what if brand xxx unit is broken in 2 days of receiving what kind of support they commit to.

Respond to myself here to be fair towards SMSL; I got the respond from SMSL -support and I need to send the unit back to China and I will get a refund or an exchange if I like.

 

[DonDish]

However, from my experience it's extremely hard to find a CD player that doesn't sound audibly identical to just about any other model when used only as a transport. If you select the optical out from most CD players it bypasses the internal DAC and allows your favorite DAC to complete the audio playback instead.

IMHO, this should be the least you pay for. ..and it shouldnt be that hard. Technology is old and proven. Bandwith is low compared to other technologies of data transfer.
It could have other qualities though. Longevity, aestethical, brand loyalty or whatever. Thats perfectly fair I guess, but if the product work as intended one shouldnt assume any change in sound. Anything less would just be malfunction.

About the pl200t. I have read some reviews, and some ppl complain about skipping. So maybe S.M.S.L really cant be trusted with "moving parts" products. I had my finger on the buy button for a pl200t yesterday, bought a SMSL B100 BL receiver instead. Saving my money for a TEAC.

 

[tokyo_blues]

About the pl200t. I have read some reviews, and some ppl complain about skipping.

Do you own one? Does it skip?

I own one - It doesn't skip.

It's perfect so far, a few hundreds CDs in, many of them very old, some of them quite scratched.

I find reporting 2nd hand information from 'somewhere' on the internet not that useful.