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SMSL RAW-MDA 1 DAC & Headphone Amp Review

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 3 0.9%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 9 2.7%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 29 8.8%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 287 87.5%

  • Total voters
    328
My sample has been here for a while.
Dear Sir,

Being a newbie to the topic and digging the WWW for already a couple of months, I hopefully find your resource to be the most convincing and well-argued I've seen so far. Thank you so much!

At the same time, would you help me please with a question: will it be sufficient to connect two mono-blocks of Fosi Audio V3 Mono with SMSL RAW-MDA1 to output the signal to passive acoustics (2+1 or even perhaps 5.1 or more?) and optionally listen to music via Bluetooth in headphones?

Thank you again for your brilliant assistance!

*
 
No the price could have been way nicer but I just click the buy button! I have wanted to try a AK4499 dac a long time and given the reviews of the ESS MDA-RAW, the fact that it has two Coax inputs and XLR outputs made me jump the gun on this one
I took delivery of my new SMSL Raw Dac 1, with AK4499EX today! Very promising first listening...
 
This DAC is missing 12v triggers.
 
The manual has been updated. Filter 1 is mislabeled but filters 2-6 are correct. Filter 1 (dark blue) is a slow minimum phase filter hiding behind filter 7 (black), i.e. filter 1 is ESS #7 or #8 not #1 minimum phase.
Screenshot 2024-10-18 at 17.41.19.png
 
I have updated the firmware. Pretty easy process. However the issue is still not fixed. Loads of pops. Actually there are now pops when stuff loads on my computer now such as a new page, etc... pretty annoying
Curious, is this on a Mac or a PC? Connection? Is it happening with only one computer or every device you plug it in?

I was thinking about getting this but seeing how some people are getting issues with popping noises, I'm holding back for now until there is a solution.
 
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My Topping D30Pro just died today after a bit over 3 years of very light use. It has a nice metal case, but what is it good for, if the internals are lousy?
This might be the replacement.
 
So... I've had my SMSL Raw Dac 1, with AK4499EX now for a week or so and I think it is sounding better and better. I do not have any
fancy measurement tools to back this up but I think it sound better than my Audiolab 9000N with ES9038 PRO. A/B testing is not
possible at the moment since the remote to my preamp is malfunctioning (Nevo Q50) but with the SMSL Raw Dac 1 everything feels
more dynamic without being harsh (none of them are harsh).
 
So... I've had my SMSL Raw Dac 1, with AK4499EX now for a week or so and I think it is sounding better and better. I do not have any
fancy measurement tools to back this up but I think it sound better than my Audiolab 9000N with ES9038 PRO. A/B testing is not
possible at the moment since the remote to my preamp is malfunctioning (Nevo Q50) but with the SMSL Raw Dac 1 everything feels
more dynamic without being harsh (none of them are harsh).
Are you happy with the 9000n?
 
Are you happy with the 9000n?
Yes the 9000n is a rock solid streamer but I wish that it would have USB or i2s output when I want to pair it with external dacs. The built in dac is good but at the moment I am using it as a pure streamer via coax to the Raw Dac 1.
I guess it is overkill to use such a device as streamer only but it is a rock solid streamer. No glitches, no hangs, no dropouts.
 
Yes the 9000n is a rock solid streamer but I wish that it would have USB or i2s output when I want to pair it with external dacs. The built in dac is good but at the moment I am using it as a pure streamer via coax to the Raw Dac 1.
I guess it is overkill to use such a device as streamer only but it is a rock solid streamer. No glitches, no hangs, no dropouts.
Better bought the 9000A + WiiM Ultra? :)
 
Hi all,
I ordered the raw-mda1 and had it for 3 days and have severe problems with clock sync.

I use the DAC connected via usb to a MacBook pro (M1 Pro). I already applied the newest firmware from September 24 2024

1. I do hear pops (only on the left channel) every time I change the track. BTW this gets you constant frequent pops when you browse YouTube videos. Every time you hover over a clip it pops.
2. I have severe problems with Roon. I do hear pops as well when I change albums but the more severe problem is that after some time (even idle time) the Roon client cannot sync to the SMSL clock and skips songs until an error message occurs. To get out of the loop you have to restart the Roon client OR restart the DAC. This somehow syncs the clocks again.
3. When playing MQA coded audio it works and the DAC is displaying the correct MQA mode but it is not communicated back to the Roon client. So Roon is unaware that the DAC did a full MQA decode.

With this it is impossible to use the DAC with Roon on a Mac. (I didn't test it with a PC so far).
This is what Roon support was telling me:

Thank you for your report. The particular class of error you’ve indicated, “Too Many Errors,” indicates an issue between RAATServer and the endpoint currently engaged in playback.
We’ve pulled diagnostic logging and can only see examples of this failure with the SMSL DAC connected via USB.
In some cases, the SMSL DAC fails to synchronize any clocks with RAATServer. Is this device firmware attempting to serve as the lead clock in your setup? Please share a screenshot of the Audio Midi Setup tool under Applications → Utilities on this Mac.
In other cases, the SMSL instructs RAATServer to tear down the stream when receiving MQA files from Tidal.


Without a firmware update this is unfortunately not usable with Roon and totally annoying via usb due to the constant pops on the left channel
 
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since there's a Pro version coming to with the requisite price hike i wonder if these things are being cranked out at a rate that QC is slipping even harder than it normally is...
 
since there's a Pro version coming to with the requisite price hike i wonder if these things are being cranked out at a rate that QC is slipping even harder than it normally is...
Yes, on the other hand I expect that they use the same usb technology even in the device with the pro chip and should be able to iron this out for both devices. But this is a wild guess. Basically this is the risk if you invest in a device at this pricepoint.
 
smart thing to do would be to wait 6 months down the line so they got their stuff sorted out...
 
since there's a Pro version coming to with the requisite price hike i wonder if these things are being cranked out at a rate that QC is slipping even harder than it normally is...
I think this is the issue. I use a raw mda 1 with a M1 Macbook Pro and a Windows PC and have no popping or clicking playing tracks or playing videos. I only get a couple of light pops powering the DAC on and off. There has to be QC issues with this line causing some to have these issues. I don't use Roon so I can't test that. I can change tracks with the USB-C out with no pops even going between different bitrates. I have tried it with Moode Audio on a Pi, Plex on Mac and PC, and MusicBee on PC and there is no popping I can detect changing tracks and bitrates on my unit. QC is probably all over the place on these.
 
(firmware update issue)

I received my RAW-MDA1 today. And I wanted to update the firmware to the latest RAWMDA1MCUV101 (240924). But I had issues with connecting this DAC started in the "Update Mode" to PC. An USB drive did not show in the Windows 11 or Linux on HP ENVY x360 notebook and also neither on an Android phone.

Fortunately using an old Dell Precision M4600 notebook running an Linux kernel 5.10 I was able to connect to a virtual USB drive update of the DAC and update its firmware successfully :)

BTW, in the "Update Mode" the Synwit SWM34SVET6 ARM Cortex-M33 MCU is being programmed.

Here is a video with internal photos of this DAC:
 
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Using what software and in which mode of operation?
I observe DC pop-in and DC pop-out on headphone output within the first 0.5s during opening and right after closing of the audio device. Tested with firmware updated to RAWMDA1MCUV101 (240924) on Linux with raw ALSA driver.

It would be helpful to include DC check for start and stop playback to the testsuite. This is a bit unpleasant.

Yes, I know how to workaround it (using a sound server/daemon), but it will still pop on a sample rate change.

EDIT: I just tried this also in Windows 11 with RAW-MDA1 USB driver version 5.68.0 (2024-02-13), and it happens too either with WASAPI exclusive or ASIO. Some remedy to this might be enabling "Streaming: Always on" as described https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...os-driver-settings-for-no-cutoff-delay.25838/
The file that should be edited is this one "C:\Program Files\XMOS\XMOS_Audio_Driver\x64\XMOSUSBDACCpl.xml".
 
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since there's a Pro version coming to with the requisite price hike i wonder if these things are being cranked out at a rate that QC is slipping even harder than it normally is...

Is there any news anywhere about the pro version or at least when it will come out?

Is the popping noise on a sample rate change something that is happening on all units of this model, or just some of them? I was going to try to get one around Black Friday, whether there is a sale or not by then, but I would not want to spend close to $300 for a DAC/amp that has this issue be a common or normal thing. If it's only a small percentage of units that experience this, I don't mind ordering from Amazon and just keep returning/replacing the unit until I get one without a problem. It'd be great if this can just be fixed with a firmware update.
 
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