SMSL RAW-MDA 1 DAC & Headphone Amp Review

[nanook]

The Topping L30 initially also suffered from ESD related problems a couple of years ago, so it's not only SMSL.
In winter you can accumulate a hefty amount of charge, so I usually touch some other grounded item before touching the gear.

Did you actually track down if your problem is related to ESD or rather to plugging/unplugging while music's playing?
And did you measure the PE connection to chassis and RCA?

 

[Burns]

I measured, All points from the photo + I added PE>HP6.3mm
The resistance is and is flat 0 (0.01) Ohm
Yesterday I was unable to reproduce the problem, both 2h device on, no music playing + 2h device on, music playing

 

[sonci99]

I think this dac is a keeper!
It`s like a BMW, a bit temperamental, but when it works it`s better than others.

 

[Burns]

Did you actually track down if your problem is related to ESD or rather to plugging/unplugging while music's playing?

You're probably not asking about this without reason?

My BMW clearly has some current problem or is poorly constructed.

Yesterday evening listening to music on headphones went without a problem. I turned the device off and went to sleep.

In the morning I turned on the MF M6si amplifier, I turned on RAWMDA1, it turns on just as I turned it off in HP mode, I switch to line out and I hear a shot from the floor speakers. Even the subwoofer set to auto on wakes up. All music sources fed to the DAC were and are turned off. Evidently turning on the DAC, or even better switching it from HP to Line out mode, accumulates some current and sends it further.

It is as if the capacitors intended for HP had energy stored all the time, which is trapped in them, and switching the output releases energy - current from these capacitors.
I can repeat the problem many times, the shot is weaker, but it wakes up the subwoofer every time. Connecting to the Topping E70 circuit instead of RAWMDA1 will not repeat this behavior. The subwoofer will not wake up when the audio circuit is turned on. The music must start playing, which seems logical and correct.

 

[amanieux]

for my iem (thieaudio hype2, a very typical midfi $300, 25 ohms hybrid iem) the power requirement at normal 77db listening volume is 30microW, this $200 dac/amp has a thd+n of -85db for the impedance of 33 ohms (close to my iem impedance of 25 ohms) but the $20 jcally jm20 also measured here ( https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/jcally-jm20-headphone-dongle-review.58749/ ) has a thd+n of -88db for 30microW, so 3 db less noise and distortion, does this means the $20 dongle dac is cleaner than this $200 dac/amp for iems ? so it makes no sense buying a desktop dac/amp for iems and only make sense for full size headphones that requires a lot of power ? am i missing something here ? isn't sound quality directly correlated to thd+n ?

 

[staticV3]

does this means the $20 dongle dac is cleaner than this $200 dac/amp for iems ?

Correct.

so it makes no sense buying a desktop dac/amp for iems and only make sense for full size headphones that requires a lot of power ?

Purely for sound quality, it makes no sense to buy the RAW-MDA1 for IEMs.

If output power is not a concern, then one can get more transparent sources for less.

am i missing something here ? isn't sound quality directly correlated to thd+n ?

THD+N is one aspect of sound quality, but tends to be overestimated on ASR I feel like.

 

[amanieux]

Correct.


Purely for sound quality, it makes no sense to buy the RAW-MDA1 for IEMs.

If output power is not a concern, then one can get more transparent sources for less.


THD+N is one aspect of sound quality, but tends to be overestimated on ASR I feel like.

so do you have a affordable ( sub $200) dac/amp with good sound quality/price ratio ( any form factor) recommendation for iem exclusively considering global sound quality and not only thd+n ? thanks

 

[staticV3]

so do you have a affordable ( sub $200) dac/amp with good sound quality/price ratio ( any form factor) recommendation for iem exclusively considering global sound quality and not only thd+n ? thanks

Unironically, the $10 Apple headphone adapter, or one of many cs43131 dongles (e.g. JM20), if you want native playback of >48kHz sample rate content).

 

[nanook]

In the morning I turned on the MF M6si amplifier, I turned on RAWMDA1, it turns on just as I turned it off in HP mode, I switch to line out and I hear a shot from the floor speakers. Even the subwoofer set to auto on wakes up. All music sources fed to the DAC were and are turned off. Evidently turning on the DAC, or even better switching it from HP to Line out mode, accumulates some current and sends it further.

That does indeed sound strange.
From what I see on the pictures in the video, the MDA1 has muting switches on the RCA and XLR outputs and it has relays on the HPA output. The DAC signal path is DC coupled with small potentiometers to adjust the offset (the circuit SMSL has implemented in several ES9039xxx DACs) and as far as I can see, the HPA is DC-coupled as well.
The behaviour you observe should not be possible as far as I understand unless there's some issue with an internal supply voltage.
-> To me it seems likely that this unit is faulty indeed and should be returned as "faulty" with a clear description of your observation.

 

[nanook]

... does this means the $20 dongle dac is cleaner than this $200 dac/amp for iems ?

There's one aspect to the JM20 and other CS43131 / CS43198 chip related portable DACs that are using the power-amplifier of the DAC chip and having this output stage configured as "Class H".

CS43198 and CS43131 DAC sound defects

reference-audio-analyzer.pro

I have not yet verified this behaviour (my JM20 is on its journey from China to Europe), but the description sounds realistic to me. If this is audible? - I don't know.
The CS43131 / CS43198 allow to switch the output stage to "Class A/B" which inherently is free from this potential issue - at the cost of a higher power consumption (these chips are meant for portable devices). The default setting is "Class H" for this reason. JCally has DACs similar to the JM20, that use a separate chip for the power output. I have not seen measurements on these so far.

An other thing not to overlook: In case you want to use the dongle for telephone calls as well, you should spent a few bucks more and get the "Pro" version - The JMcall JM20 does not have an ADC, the JM20 Pro does.

 

[Burns]

why are so many people on this forum looking for so many exaggerated savings?
They will do anything to prove that spending more than $20 is stupidity?
RAWMDA1 may turn out to be a production dud and it really is a shame to throw away $250
I understand that Topping DX9 or 7 where the first one costs over $1000 requires analysis whether we will not throw our money away,
I do not understand making PhDs from devices such as Topping 10B/10s/E30 II/E30 II where they differ only in a few functions and usually measure at the same level. They cost similarly, we only pay for additional functions, the way of serving.

I do not understand comparing RAWMDA1 to a hardware key, these are completely different devices with different purposes.

 

[Burns]

An other thing not to overlook: In case you want to use the dongle for telephone calls as well, you should spent a few bucks more and get the "Pro" version - The JMcall JM20 does not have an ADC, the JM20 Pro does.

JCALLY JM80E ES9280AC PRO DAC - and what has it? will it be good, will it be better in its implementation?

, the MDA1 has muting switches on the RCA and XLR outputs and it has relays on the HPA output. The DAC signal path is DC coupled with small potentiometers to adjust the offset (the circuit SMSL has implemented in several ES9039xxx DACs)

Yes, I can hear the relay switching,
I will have the second device on Tuesday to see how it behaves

 

[amanieux]

I do not understand comparing RAWMDA1 to a hardware key, these are completely different devices with different purposes.

as explained in my post i am looking at a normal iem at normal listening level, in this scenario the $20 jcally jm20 dongle dac has a3db better thd+n than $200 smsl raw mda1. but of course in the other scenario of powering a low sensitivity high impedance headphone the $20 dongle dac cannot even reach minimum loudness so if you own both iem and headphone the $20 dac is not a viable option. the explaination is see for this surprising result is that powerfull desktop dac/amp such as raw mda1 made compromises to reach high output power at the cost of poorer performances at low output power. the dongle dac makes the opposite compromise. the conclusion is that if like me you only own iems, the $20 dongle dac is not only good enough but much better than raw md1 (at least on thd+n ). those who own a midfi full size headphone i urge them to try the $60 total price combo for iem planar artti t10($50) + apple dongle dac($10) you will be surprised

 

[nanook]

JCALLY JM80E ES9280AC PRO DAC - and what has it? will it be good, will it be better in its implementation?

Honestly, I've no idea. I haven't seen measurements anywhere.
I hope these Class H related glitches (mentioned in the linked article in post #410) are not audible. I will post my impressions and measurements when I have the dongle.

 

[Pete James]

How does this compare to the Topping DX5?

 

[Burns]

How does this compare to the Topping DX5?

in RAW measurements it is better, but EX5 works better as hardware. It would be useful if EX5 got EX5 II chip update, on the other hand there is DX5 lite, unfortunately more expensive

 

[Burns]

The filter tested is not the linear phase filter but the minimum phase filter which is the default on the ES9039Q2M which is identified by the stop band level and ripple. SMSL have been mislabeling the filters on their ES9039 DACs for a while now with the D-6S, DL200, DO100 Pro, SU-X, DO400, D400ES as well as the VMV D1se as I have shown in this thread I created on 26 June.

In particular on 29 June, I already pointed out that this is also the case for the RAW-MDA1 in this post in the above mentioned thread. The image quality is poor due to being from pre-release manual. However, it is identical in the manual available on the SMSL website. Note the date and time.

View attachment 387452

This is the menu screen for the filters from a YouTube video. Clearly, selecting the linear fast roll off filter enables the minimum phase filter.
View attachment 387453

At this point, almost two months later, I was hoping SMSL has managed to fix it but alas not. @SMSL-Mandy what in the world is making this take so long?

Which filter should be chosen as correct and recommended, even if its name is incorrect? So I mean the one from the Amiram test and chart because I'm already lost...

 

[JIW]

Which filter should be chosen as correct and recommended, even if its name is incorrect? So I mean the one from the Amiram test and chart because I'm already lost...

Linear phase fast, Apodizing or Linear phase fast low ripple so 2, 3 or 4 for the latest firmware. If you don't particularly care about the intricacies of the filters, I suggest using 3 - Linear phase fast.

For the original firmware, 3, 4 and 5 and 4 instead of 3 if you don't care.

 

[Langestijn]

Between all the negative reviews, here is my take:

I jumped the gun and bought this unit. Connected to my PC with usb and from the SMSL to my active speakers (Kali Audio IN-8's). No jitter/weird artifacts or clicking noises. Very happy .

It worked right out of the box, everything is also still fine after installing the firmware and driver via the official website.
Also no static electricity issues, even though I have static electricity on me half of the time because of the chair I use.

 

[Burns]

Between all the negative reviews, here is my take:

I jumped the gun and bought this unit. Connected to my PC with usb and from the SMSL to my active speakers (Kali Audio IN-8's). No jitter/weird artifacts or clicking noises. Very happy .

It worked right out of the box, everything is also still fine after installing the firmware and driver via the official website.
Also no static electricity issues, even though I have static electricity on me half of the time because of the chair I use.

Nice. They also wished me trouble-free use of the device. In the meantime. In the meantime. I have had the second device for two days. We got along, I got used to its functionality of using the remote control instead of the trigger. It plays nicely, cleanly dynamically. I value it very much for its dual inputs. Unfortunately, my joy lasted exactly two days. This evening's session on headphones confirmed the previous ailment. 10 times connecting headphones or even just the cable restarted the device 10 times. I touched the radiator, put on rubber gloves, restarts did not fix it. Turning off the power did not help either, Every time I connected headphones equals a restart. After the 11th time I turned on HP music playback and every subsequent insertion of headphones is without restarts. I cannot find the logic and rule of restarts, but I know that it is a fact, as if the device had charges stored somewhere, power resources that are up to the brim of the device and every time I connected headphones overflows the bucket with electricity. Only when the current is drunk does it stop overflowing - restarting.