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SMSL RAW Pro-DAC1 Balanced DAC Review

Rate this DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 2 1.0%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 8 4.1%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 50 25.6%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 135 69.2%

  • Total voters
    195
But with their performance target and current price about $1200 they could use dual ES9039Q2M chips
In fact, they use ES9039SPRO chips, which have the highest performance. They may be missing out in some areas of PCB layout optimization.
 
with the price of 1.2k , should be dual ESS9039Pro chips :cool:
This is certainly much more sensible than investing the money and effort into development and getting devices with better functions and functionality and better firmware. Quality and quality control would also be interesting points.
 
Quality and quality control would also be interesting points.
This is a little-known area about all these brands such as SMSL, Topping, FiiO, Fosi. There is not enough long-term data due to the newness of the devices. There are cases of failures, described including on this forum. Repairability and customer support is virtually non-existent outside of China. Only exchanges by resellers within the first month after sale.
 
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It's a shame that SMSL didn't keep the 2 coaxial inputs and the 2 optical inputs of the budget version. So I only give it the good grade. I wonder about the usefulness of having 2 usb inputs. Personally, I don't like USB-C on this kind of device because I think it's mechanically more fragile than USB B. But this may be a misconception. In any case. Thanks to Amir for this review.
 
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It's a shame that SMSL didn't keep the 2 coaxial inputs and the 2 optical inputs of the budget version. So I only give it the good grade. I wonder about the usefulness of having 2 usb inputs. Personally, I don't like USB-C on this kind of device because I think it's mechanically more fragile than USB B. But this may be a misconception. In any case. Thanks to Amir for this review.
I think that it should have those, as well as BT.
 
Why do people get all hung up on 12v trigger from DAC. All you need is an unused optical out (which you should never use because optical sucks -- jitter) run into one of these
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QS89MZG/ (Digital Audio Trigger Device with 12V Outputs - BobWire DAT1 Ads a 12 Volt Trigger Output to TVs, Streamers & DACs, auto Power on amplifiers or TV Lifts.)

And then this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WV7GMA2/ (Iot Relay - Enclosed High-Power Power Relay for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, PIC or WiFi, Relay Shield) to switch all your 12v-triggerless equipment.

That's how my RME ADI2PRO FS R BE turns on the hypex NC400 monoblocks.

PS: wow such price increases. Both of these are now at least 50% more pricey than when I bought them, which reflects the actual real inflation rate, not the fake rate reported by Biden's banksters and regime press propagandists. Meanwhile ChiFi got cheaper!!
 
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Thanks to Amir for the review and measurements.

I've read the comments from others who have commented on the "boring" nature of the unit and it seems many are complaining about the lack of PEQ/DSP functionality. I'd suggest they look at the FiiO K19 DAC which seems to have everything they asked for (like 31-band EQ/DSP) plus HDMI IN/OUT/ARC, Optical out, Headphone amp with SE and BAL 4.4 and XLR outputs, 12V trigger in/out etc. SINAD is 10dB lower than SMSL / TOPPING and most of the parameters are already measured and posted by the manufacturer themselves.
They launched the new K17 with AKM DAC + PEQ/DSP + a discrete class AB AMP.
It probably has a more warm sound than the K19, +- US$870 in AliExpress.
 
One additional reason for NOT having 12v trigger. In a real environment, that 12v trigger wire may look like a 0-12V DC "wire" but to the internals of the DAC, it looks like a giant antenna helping bring external RF signals via untwisted and unshielded wires into the DAC. And even if bypassed to the case or ground, end up as ground noise and a source for potential ground loops. So it's really best to just let the case of the DAC and the shielded, twisted, and/or balanced cables feeding RF interference&noise into the DAC (some of which might show up as jitter and not just noise) be the only source of unwanted signal.

Anyways that's a purist perspective, based on theory, and proximity to actual industrial practice (e.g. FCC certification) who gave weird orders to install inductors or resistors and I dutifully complied after learning all the reasons why such orders have been given. :)

It's also the reason why having fancy stuff, like LCD displays, spectrum analyzers, digital level meter displays, bluetooth I/O, streaming/ethernet/Wifi/5G may be best handled by external devices dedicated to the task, and then just use USB, AES/EBU, LVDS/HDMI-format etc to talk to the DAC.

It would be interesting to get a re-do of some of Amir's measurements with a fully-hooked-up in a real-situation setup, with every single connector you'd actually be using plugged in to existing equipment -- spdif, aes, lvds, 12v-triggers, XLR-out, RCA-out, sub-out, etc -- in a standard home or apartment with tons of Wifi, 5G-cell usage, baby-monitors, wireless-intercoms, home-automation, wireless alarms, and a high-power AM transmitter nearby (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFI ) that reportedly transmitted audible signal into people's dental-braces... all running as they would be during normal usage of the equipment.
 
Why do people get all hung up on 12v trigger from DAC. All you need is an unused optical out (which you should never use because optical sucks -- jitter) run into one of these
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QS89MZG/ (Digital Audio Trigger Device with 12V Outputs - BobWire DAT1 Ads a 12 Volt Trigger Output to TVs, Streamers & DACs, auto Power on amplifiers or TV Lifts.)

I assume the idea here is that you're triggering the switching of the wall power. That only works if devices turn fully on when the wall power is connected, rather than go into standby mode.

As an example, I'd want do something like WiiM -> SMSL C200 -> Fosi ZA3. I'd like to start playing something on the WiiM and have it turn on the C200 and ZA3. I don't believe your solution would come close to working, because both the C200 and ZA3 start in standby mode.

By contrast, if I replaced the C200 in this scenario with a ZD3, which has trigger in and trigger out, everything would work wonderfully. The only reason I haven't done that is that the ZD3 doesn't have a headphone amp.
 
It would be interesting to get a re-do of some of Amir's measurements with a fully-hooked-up in a real-situation setup, with every single connector you'd actually be using plugged in to existing equipment -- spdif, aes, lvds, 12v-triggers, XLR-out, RCA-out, sub-out, etc -- in a standard home or apartment with tons of Wifi, 5G-cell usage, baby-monitors, wireless-intercoms, home-automation, wireless alarms, and a high-power AM transmitter nearby (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFI ) that reportedly transmitted audible signal into people's dental-braces... all running as they would be during normal usage of the equipment.
You should set it up.


(which you should never use because optical sucks -- jitter)
You could measure the effect of that on the analogue output at the same time.


One additional reason for NOT having 12v trigger. In a real environment, that 12v trigger wire may look like a 0-12V DC "wire" but to the internals of the DAC, it looks like a giant antenna helping bring external RF signals via untwisted and unshielded wires into the DAC
And that.
 
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