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SMSL PS200 Budget DAC Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
Why are you looking for balanced outputs on just about the lowest cost decent dac out there. Balanced out is generally a premium feature.
It seems to be a widely held belief among audiophiles that balanced transmission offers superior sound quality compared to unbalanced transmission. Having spent many years designing professional audio equipment for a Japanese company, however, I have never designed a device with the intention of achieving better sound quality through balanced transmission. Balanced transmission is adopted for entirely different reasons; from a technical standpoint, I do not believe there is any inherent difference in sound quality between the two methods.
staticV3
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VientoB
Major Contributor
The only real benefit is resistance to interference. The small SINAD gain will not be heard.No: balanced outputs can be easily "downgraded" to unbalanced ones but not the opposite...
...that's why balanced outputs are better, IMHO.
those connectors have nothing to do with converting balanced to unbalanced. They will potentially damage your balanced outputs.No: balanced outputs can be easily "downgraded" to unbalanced ones but not the opposite...
...that's why balanced outputs are better, IMHO.
...well, dunno the internal config of those specific connectors, anyway the DAC manufacturer can easily provide proper ones (for low as $2 total price increase), IMHO.
Balanced TRS to unbalanced RCA - conflicting information
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Of course, but you can exploit the device both in balanced and unbalanced (if you need).
This and the connectors you showed before are not the same. The connectors will short one of two balanced output to ground, which the balanced output stage is unlikely to appreciate.
Internal config is irrelevant. They have TS connectors rather than TRS connectors. That means the R output will be connnected to S (short circuit to ground). Most will survive this - some may not.
this places' fascination fetishisation of XLR TRS is unexplicable
here's the thing.... this dac weights what? 200gm? if that? its a plastic snap box
it gets dragged by RCA... i had to use a stainless door stopper on top ala johnny darko to get it to sit
thing is the old Fosi ZD3 was $130 in the day and its the same chipset with comparable performance but it is a proper half width unit w/ remote and all the stuff
pay a little bit more for the features you want
i personally cant think of a reason why someone wants a quasi flagship processor in a snap closed throat lozenge dispenser
unless as some people said you want to hid this in the back of a HT setup as an always on device but this doesnt have hdmi???
here's the thing.... this dac weights what? 200gm? if that? its a plastic snap box
it gets dragged by RCA... i had to use a stainless door stopper on top ala johnny darko to get it to sit
thing is the old Fosi ZD3 was $130 in the day and its the same chipset with comparable performance but it is a proper half width unit w/ remote and all the stuff
pay a little bit more for the features you want
i personally cant think of a reason why someone wants a quasi flagship processor in a snap closed throat lozenge dispenser
unless as some people said you want to hid this in the back of a HT setup as an always on device but this doesnt have hdmi???
VientoB
Major Contributor
So you have one? Why?
The Fosi ZD3 is $180, so 50% more expensive. It also doesn't have a headphone amplifier. It's SINAD is lower and it's multitone test shows more distortion at lower frequencies.
You could always screw/glue a metal plate to the base of this.
Not XLR/TRS, but balanced inputs and outputs. For example, the new, inexpensive Topping DX1-II DAC, which retails for $120, has a balanced output. However, it's not built with bulky connectors, but with 4.4mm TRRRS connector. As a result, the connector takes up less space than two RCAs and guarantees the absence of problems with ground loops and other 50Hz hum.
If it's lowprice now, why use something worse when you can use something better?
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