SMSL RAW-MDA 1 DAC & Headphone Amp Review

[Esprit]

Given that no human being can hear the difference: which is better, this DAC or the D-6s?

 

[klirren_65]

Thanks for your check, Amirm.
2 x S/PDIF, 2 x Coax? Pretty cool. Sooner or later the DAC will follow ...

 

[Bleib]

Given that no human being can hear the difference: which is better, this DAC or the D-6s?
View attachment 387767View attachment 387768

Raw has more inputs so it wins (plus HQ headphone amp), otherwise they should sound completely identical.

 

[Jim777]

Do the outputs mute when plugging headphones in?

 

[Bleib]

Do the outputs mute when plugging headphones in?

No, you choose which output is active. If headphones are on the others turn quiet

 

[PenguinMusic]

Hi,

SMSL, now give us the same with a streaming that is fully compatible with DLNA and... You'll be the winner

Regards.

 

[NDRQ]

Given that no human being can hear the difference: which is better, this DAC or the D-6s?
View attachment 387767View attachment 387768

The RAW is much better in terms of price/performance, its a great dac and also a great headphone amp.

 

[GWolfman]

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

So maybe only test some of the others only if the default is wrong or broken?

Thanks as always!

 

[Haskil]

Bad times for manufacturers of "very high-end" DACs which are only bigger and more expensive... However, a parametric equalizer per channel is missing...

 

[charlielaub]

Sorry if I missed this along the way in this thread... but does the volume knob also adjust the output level of the XLR and RCA jacks on the rear panel or only the front panel headphone output level? I could not find this info on the product page at Shenzhenaudio.

 

[aravaioli]

Do the outputs mute when plugging headphones in?

No

 

[billou5767]

While USB C is capable of 9V 2A (18W), most USB devices are backwards compatible to USB A, 5V 1A (5W).
Amirm measured 1.365W/ch at 33 ohms, 2.7W + processor load = ~3.5W.
To make this device universal, they included a GOOD power supply,
That doesn't even have any magnetic influence!
(-150dB @ 60Hz, Hol E Shite!)
In this lil box.

Remarkable.

This Lil Box is made for perfect headphones, amplified . . . Perfectly!

usb c can déliver 100 W since thunderbolt 3 ( 10 year) , chip usb4 or thunder its 2/3 dollars

 

[Wunderphones]

usb c can déliver 100 W since thunderbolt 3 ( 10 year) , chip usb4 or thunder its 2/3 dollars

Are there any DAC/amps that are set up to run off high wattage USB/Thunderbolt?

 

[Cogito]

Slap a Luxman or Krell (or similar) label on this and it would have retailed for $3995.00 and the likes of Absolute Sound or Stereophile would be drooling all over it!

 

[AVKS]

Was thinking hard about this one to save some desktop space vs the current E50/THX-789 combo but realized I could use external physical tone controls if the DAC and amp are integrated... first-world problems.

 

[Lambo1985]

Was thinking hard about this one to save some desktop space vs the current E50/THX-789 combo but realized I could use external physical tone controls if the DAC and amp are integrated... first-world problems.

A DAC/AMP with physical tone controls or 7/10 band graphic EQ sliders would be perfect. It doesn't bother me much since I EQ at the source, but it would be VERY handy, indeed.

 

[David_M]

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?

So, what is the most mathematically accurate filter? One that completely prevents aliasing. I have the Do400.

 

[JIW]

So, what is the most mathematically accurate filter? One that completely prevents aliasing. I have the Do400.

FL3's stop band begins at fs/2 at the cost of rolling off early at 18.5 kHz for 44.1 kHz sample rate. FL4 has extension to 20.5 kHz for 44.1 kHz sample rate but its stop band only begins at 0.55 fs.

 

[amirm]

Sorry if I missed this along the way in this thread... but does the volume knob also adjust the output level of the XLR and RCA jacks on the rear panel or only the front panel headphone output level? I could not find this info on the product page at Shenzhenaudio.

Pretty sure all of them adjusted at the same time.

 

[thunderchicken]

The one feature that Topping has and SMSL does not is auto turn on and off. It seems like a small thing but when hooked up to an Apple TV or a streaming device, it’s frustrating to need two remotes instead of being able to hit play and getting sound. Current use case is Wiim mini->Topping D70 (optical)->Fosi monos. All I have to do is hit play on my phone and the whole thing turns on. I had the SMSL DO100 in that system briefly and was very disappointed when it didn't do the same.