SMSL RAW-MDA 1 DAC & Headphone Amp Review

[scw0w]

If you have a multimeter,

I have one. What should i measure?

 

[Roland68]

I have one. What should i measure?

I already wrote that.
Please check if there is a 0-ohm continuity from the ground pin of the device's power connector to the following points: the chassis, the ground of the RCA jacks, and the ground of the 6.3mm headphone jack.

 

[scw0w]

I found the culprit. Its hard to believe but it is. "Monitor shuts off briefly when I stand up from my desk... On multiple computers" in google.

 

[Sasaoka Toshio]

Some of you may already know this, but the driver for the RAW series, "XMOS_USBAudio_v5.74.0_2025-05-07_setup.exe," has been released. The modification time within the archive is November 20th. Although it contradicts the date in the filename, there is no doubt that it is the latest version.

 

[RHO]

And what is the correct way to update it?

Just run the .exe.
It's not firmware for the DAC. It's the XMOS USB driver for your windows machine.

 

[jareinertson]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the SMSL RAW-MDA 1 stereo DAC and headphone amplifier. It was sent to me by SMSL and it is a collaboration with Shenzehenaudio (available elsewhere as well) and is on sale for $246.
View attachment 387420
The first thing I noticed was the much more polished display. It is also quite responsive to rotary control. If you click it in, you get the standard SMSL menu system that is functional and easy to use, albeit not as pretty. Back panel shows addition of more inputs:
View attachment 387421

We nicely have internal power supply and balanced outputs -- two things I really like in this kind of product. I do wish there was trigger output though to turn our a power amplifier in home stereo setting.

SMSL RAW-MDA 1 Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard with balanced output with volume adjusted for nominal 4 volt output:
View attachment 387423
I expected SINAD of 120 dB for this price class but we have more than that, nicely landing the unit in our top 20 best list:
View attachment 387424

RCA output takes a smaller than usual hit:
View attachment 387425

Performance improves if you all the the full 5.3 volt output:
View attachment 387429

Dynamic range is of course superb:
View attachment 387426

IMD curve shows excellent performance:
View attachment 387427
As a note, the blue line was a $245 so the same price showing the progress the industry has made to make more quiet and lower distortion DACs despite the inflation.

Multitone performance is absolutely superb:
View attachment 387428

As is the stereophile test of 50 Hz into very low impedance of 600 ohm:
View attachment 387430

Jitter is excellent with both USB and Coax with tiniest spurious tones with Toslink:
View attachment 387431

I have gotten tired of running filter and filter response tests for all the settings as the results are always the same. So I am showing the default, Linear Fast Roll off:

View attachment 387432
View attachment 387433

Using the same, we get this excellent result of THD sweep with frequency:
View attachment 387434

Edit: linearity test:
View attachment 387686

Headphone power with 300 ohm nicely passes my minimum threshold of 100 milliwatts:
View attachment 387435

And produces healthy power with 32 ohm load:
View attachment 387436

The distortion and noise were so low that in both tests I had to scroll the graph up to see where it landed in low gain mode!

50 mv output test shows the best that can be done without a third, negative gain setting:
View attachment 387437

Conclusions
The RAW-MDA 1 aims high and achieves it across the board despite its very reasonable price. It is good looking, compact and easy to operate. Some of this we expect from SMSL but the total package is a step forward, as difficult as that may have seemed.

I am happy to recommend the SMSL RAW-MDA 1.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Thank you for the review. I have been a happy owner for about 6 months.

 

[jareinertson]

Perhaps you can leave the SMSL on all the time? I compared the power consumption of the Topping EX5 and the SMSL C200: the Topping EX5 consumes about 5W in standby mode with auto on/off, while the SMSL C200 consumes only 2.3W in on mode with the optical input selected.

Mine is on 24/7.

 

[jareinertson]

This Dac/Amp has a Stellar 87.9% "Great" votes on the first page but then pages of complaints about popping sounds and firmware issues.
Can anyone clarify their experiences with the the RAW-MDA 1 if used with a Pi streamer as a Roon Endpoint; is this still an issue or does it only happen when connected through a computer usb port?
Thanks.

RAW/MDA1 is working flawlessly for me with Toslink to WiiM Pro Plus as streamer and with Toslink to my CD transport. I am happy with its performance and feature set.

 

[jareinertson]

What are you all doing with your devices?
Mine is working faultless since day 1.

Mine too!

 

[jareinertson]

Test it blind and you'll not be able to differentiate between ESS or AKM or whatever decently implemented DAC-chip.
As mentioned before, it's all expectation bias/placebo.

Indeed. I am unable to consistently identify differences between the sound of my WiiM Pro plus RCA analog vs the Wiim Pro Plus/ Toslink/RAWMDA1/XLR as sources connected to my Levinson preamp. But I do enjoy the evaluations!

 

[jareinertson]

Is there anyone who has not suffered any issues with this unit? Possibly someone who has owned and used it already for several months.

I'm considering buying it, but I'm concerned about the issues explained in this thread.
As an alternative, I could consider buying the SMSL C200 PRO LDAC instead (hopefully with fewer issues).

Working fine for 6 months with no issues.

 

[orange_juice]

After 1 year and 10 days, mine started to malfunction and keeps rebooting when switching to headphones. I have tried to reset it, reinstall firmware but it still reboots with or without any cables connected.

Has anyone else experience something similar?

I have contacted SMSL support, sent them the video, described the problem and what I attempted to do as mitigation (reset, reinstall) and they replied after 5 days with the following:

sorry for that inconveninece, did you try resetting?
If not help, pls contact us in 3days later to return it back to factory for a check.

Apparently warranty is just 1 year and I no longer have the original box (which as per their website, they want it in case you need to return it). Quite dissapointed both with the reliability and support (they say on the website that they respond within 20 minutes).

Video with the issue:

 

[Jimster480]

After 1 year and 10 days, mine started to malfunction and keeps rebooting when switching to headphones. I have tried to reset it, reinstall firmware but it still reboots with or without any cables connected.

Has anyone else experience something similar?

I have contacted SMSL support, sent them the video, described the problem and what I attempted to do as mitigation (reset, reinstall) and they replied after 5 days with the following:


Apparently warranty is just 1 year and I no longer have the original box (which as per their website, they want it in case you need to return it). Quite dissapointed both with the reliability and support (they say on the website that they respond within 20 minutes).

Video with the issue:

Personally I always keep the boxes of this type of stuff. It makes alot of sense when you have to send it back or if you want to sell it in the future since it is specifically sized for the unit. Shame on the unit rebooting, thankfully none of my SMSL stuff has ever failed.

 

[orange_juice]

If the box is the only issue and they are willing to repair it 10 days after it ran out of warranty, I might consider buying a new one just to have the box to ship it to them and I'll sell one of them.

 

[orange_juice]

They replied and they want it sent back to China, via USPS, and paid by me first as they cannot provide shipping label oversea. (~$50-75 from what I can tell and takes 6-10 business days) and they did not confirm that they'll fix it since it's 10 days after the warranty expired so I'll just look to buy something else and avoid this company.

 

[jareinertson]

They replied and they want it sent back to China, via USPS, and paid by me first as they cannot provide shipping label oversea. (~$50-75 from what I can tell and takes 6-10 business days) and they did not confirm that they'll fix it since it's 10 days after the warranty expired so I'll just look to buy something else and avoid this company.

That’s bummer. Sorry your unit didn’t hold up. Sadly this is a risk with these China based companies. I will enjoy mine but when it fails I will buy from an EU/UK based company, probably Cambridge Audio. Good luck with your replacement search.

 

[Jimster480]

They replied and they want it sent back to China, via USPS, and paid by me first as they cannot provide shipping label oversea. (~$50-75 from what I can tell and takes 6-10 business days) and they did not confirm that they'll fix it since it's 10 days after the warranty expired so I'll just look to buy something else and avoid this company.

Where are you located that it would cost $50-75? I shipped my Aya Neo Back to China in a much larger box and it cost me around $15.

 

[Wunderphones]

Everyone would probably be better off if SMSL and Topping charged, say, 25% more for their products and plowed the money into a working customer service pipeline.

 

[Jimster480]

Everyone would probably be better off if SMSL and Topping charged, say, 25% more for their products and plowed the money into a working customer service pipeline.

Honestly, most customer service doesn't pay off at any rate anymore, simply because many customers are incredibly stupid and the more customer service you provide, the more time you waste dealing with literally useless conversations from people who are too lazy to read and are extremely entitled. So unfortunately, those of us intelligent and competent individuals have to deal with trash customer service because that's the only customer service that seems to be plausible to provide today.
They could probably do better on the side of repair and returns, at least from what I have read on this website. I've personally not needed repair nor return for any of my products.

 

[PenguinMusic]

Honestly, most customer service doesn't pay off at any rate anymore, simply because many customers are incredibly stupid and the more customer service you provide, the more time you waste dealing with literally useless conversations from people who are too lazy to read and are extremely entitled. So unfortunately, those of us intelligent and competent individuals have to deal with trash customer service because that's the only customer service that seems to be plausible to provide today.
They could probably do better on the side of repair and returns, at least from what I have read on this website. I've personally not needed repair nor return for any of my products.

Hi,

Sorry, but I disagree with this.

The problem is that some manufacturers are based in countries where customer service is not really mandatory. Where you can sell your devices without warranty.
That allows to keep low selling prices, because you do not have to provide customer support, which of course has a cost.
With those low selling price, they can develop products with good performance for a price that is much mless that what you'd pay in another country.
With that, they gain reputation overseas.
And in our current world, it has become so easy to order from that country and so you do.

And now the problem is those brands want to take benefit of other parts of the world, where people have much more money.
But what they do not understand is, that to play in those countries, they'll have to play by those countries rules.
So offer, as is mandatory in Europe, a 2 years warranty... all costs provided except the returning the product to them.
And once they understand they have to play with those countries's ruyles, they raise the prices.

Of course, there is a third way, but that is not possible in every country.
I live in France.
Here, Topping, SMSL, Aune, Shanling, Fiio... are represented by official resellers.
And those resellers are located in France. So they have to play by french rules (which are indeed european rules really).

So my advice is simple : you want to but chea stuff, at least buy it from a reseller located in a country where he has to provide customer service.

Just to examples :
- my BEO H9 headphone that I bought from an official reseller of Bang and Olufsen could not establish a bluetooth connection after 16 months. I emailed Band and Olufsen about the problem. They replied asking for a video showing the problem. After seingf the video they asked that I return the headphone to them and provided a shipping number so I did not pay for anything. After 11 days I got a brand new headphone, and even one from the newer model (mine was an H9 and I received an H9 mkIII).
- my Aune X8 "Magic" DAC had a defective optical connector. The cable would not stay in place. Reseller would not admit that he had to take it back into warranty. I complained here in a comment on a review on AUNE's products. I got contacted by the Aune representrative. He asked about the history. I told him everything. He then asked if I have a reseller in my area. Yes, I happen to have one. So he got in touch with that resellet to send him replacement board. Replacement board arrived defective Reseller decided to give a replacement unit from his ow stock and said he'll work it out with AUNE.

Yes, I'll buy again from Band and Olufsen.
Yes, I'll buy again from AUNE.
Yes I wholeheartedly recommend that reseller to everyone I know (and there are a lot of report of the same kindness towards other customers).
NO I'll never buy a device over 100€ on Aliexpress... The best I buy from them are cables...

Regards.