SMSL PS200 Budget DAC Review

[delta76]

Looks great, shame that it includes MQA as that probably added a few dollars to the price of the unit. A device worth remembering if friends ask for recommendations for a new DAC.

Got any measurements of the filter(s)?

I believe the MQA is from the chip, not the implementation of it. so, it's likely they bought the chip, and it's "included", so why not advertise about it? us on ASR do not care about it but many people still think it's an improved format. in the end, they need to sell to wider market also
put this in a better case and sell it for $99 and you have an end game DAC ...

 

[Bleib]

Frequency response measurement missing?
I've been recommending this DAC over the SU-1 for quite some time, looks I was right to do so

Adds BT support and the LED lights are dimmer than on the SU-1

 

[DSJR]

I've been recommending this DAC over the SU-1 for quite some time, looks I was right to do so

May I ask why?

 

[staticV3]

Frequency response measurement missing?

You can find detailed measurements of the PS200 by @NTTY here:

SMSL PS 200 internal view

I wonder what's holding up a review on this? I keep checking, but never anything interesting.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Bleib]

May I ask why?

See my edited comment above

 

[Roland68]

This is all you need.
SU-1 is virtually the same though with a metal case and 10$ less.

SU-1 has the AK4493S DAC chip, while the PS200 has the ES9039Q2M installed. Some people have their preferences.
The UAC1 mode can also be interesting with the PS200 if you need it for older/special devices.

For a little more money you can get the SU-1 as a C100 with display remote control and BT.
SMSL should slowly have every price and equipment range covered.

 

[peng]

Looks great, shame that it includes MQA as that probably added a few dollars to the price of the unit. A device worth remembering if friends ask for recommendations for a new DAC.

Got any measurements of the filter(s)?

Agreed, but if it added 0-$1, then okay but still won't use/need that feature.

 

[peng]

Opamps are OP1656. DAC is ESS9039Q2M.

SMSL IF YOU ARE LISTENING? PLEASE MAKE A PC AUDIO INTERFACE WITH PERFORMANCE LIKE THIS. I want a Behringer UMC202 or Scarlett 2i2 with good performance!

And I am going to repeat every time hoping SMSL may be watching, that is, make a 4 channel version so I can use it with Dirac Live Bass Control, PC version obviously.

 

[renaudrenaud]

It seems despite the measurements and the price, there is still some people asking for something else.

Maybe we should prepare a list in advance :
- metal box
- no mqa or advertise mqa
- remote control
- big screen
- internal eq of course
- roon ready
- 8 channels
- a good ADC
- XLR output
- 12V trigger
- please add your points here...

Ha, was forgetting: the RME is better in term on functions but marginally more expansive.

 

[VientoB]

I believe the MQA is from the chip, not the implementation of it. so, it's likely they bought the chip, and it's "included", so why not advertise about it? us on ASR do not care about it but many people still think it's an improved format. in the end, they need to sell to wider market also
put this in a better case and sell it for $99 and you have an end game DAC ...

Nobody thinks MQA is an improved format anymore. The issue is that some streaming services still only have the MQA version as "lossless" apparently, though they are working on replacing them with non-MQA.

 

[VientoB]

Improvements I'd pay $20 for:

orange screen

 

[Saponetto]

@amirm , being this little device MQA-able, do you have a frequency response table in order to check if it suffers of the same FR limitation at 44.1 that plagued the PO100 AK?

 

[delta76]

Nobody thinks MQA is an improved format anymore. The issue is that some streaming services still only have the MQA version as "lossless" apparently, though they are working on replacing them with non-MQA.

I have a friend who claimed "MQA is different" (in a good way). When we still have a lot of audiophools out there, there will be someone think/say MQA is better

 

[Billy Budapest]

us on ASR do not care about it but many people still think it's an improved format. in the end, they need to sell to wider market

I don’t think many people even know what MQA is.

 

[JeremyFife]

Thanks for the review, always good to see.

It's a DAC ... it's a very good, simple, cheap DAC. Nice.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Thank you

Skip the case and just implant it into humans

 

[jcbenten]

I don’t think many people even know what MQA is.

It takes Bits away to add DRM and Noise...

I like the PS100 as it has HDMI-ARC... Both are nice little boxes.

 

[Billy Budapest]

It takes Bits away to add DRM and Noise...

Right. It was created to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, to boot.

 

[jcbenten]

Right. It was created to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, to boot.

That is Marketing Fluff. The real purpose is DRM. That and the ability to sell a "new" version got the buy-in of the Labels.

 

[90sNintendoKid]

Is it worth the money to upgrade the Wiim Ultra? Or is the wiim on its own good enough?

I only use an external dac with the Wiim Ultra when I need balanced outputs, otherwise I use the rca line out. It states in the Wiim Ultra ASR review that “The WiiM Ultra easily makes way for itself among our very competent DACs, obviating the need to use an external one”.