So today my SP400 arrived and there are a few things I noticed (some of which have been mentioned here already) :
1. no way to toggle between pre-out and headphones, both outputs are driven simultaneously all the time
2. In my opinion the volume range is too fine-grained
In order to work around the first one, I have ordered a little Nobsound XLR 3-way Switch thingy, so I can just choose where my M500 DAC output goes, either to the powered studio monitors *or* to the SP400. Fine by me, also gives me the ability to add a third consumer later down the road if needed.
The second one is unfortunately out of my control. I have played a bit with different volume levels and then cycling through the gain settings but the volume control really is a bit cumbersome.
What I would *really* like to see here is a firmware update from SMSL, which basically adds a user-configurable setting in the menu called something like "volume step" or "volume increment". It can default to 1 and it could be configurable from 1 to let's say 20.
This would also solve the "slow" volume change, especially with "volume mode enabled". You could then just set it to 5 or 10 and the volume would increment (or decrement) by that amount.
One of the reasons I went with the SP400 was the resistor ladder output stage to have good channel balance and not having to rely on an analog potentiometer which might degrade over time. Unfortunately the slow volume change is more annoying than anticipated.
I will test it a few more days but I'm already slightly annoyed which is not a good sign.
Are there other R2R headphone amps within the same price range (~570 EUR / ~$650 US) that have comparable performance?
If not, I might give the Topping A90 a try.
My current gear:
- SMSL M500 DAC fed via optical toslink
- Sennheiser HD660S (150 Ohm)
- KRK Rokit RP6 G3 powered studio monitors (XLR <-> M500)
- new: SMSL SP400 HP-AMP (XLR <-> M500)
1. no way to toggle between pre-out and headphones, both outputs are driven simultaneously all the time
2. In my opinion the volume range is too fine-grained
In order to work around the first one, I have ordered a little Nobsound XLR 3-way Switch thingy, so I can just choose where my M500 DAC output goes, either to the powered studio monitors *or* to the SP400. Fine by me, also gives me the ability to add a third consumer later down the road if needed.
The second one is unfortunately out of my control. I have played a bit with different volume levels and then cycling through the gain settings but the volume control really is a bit cumbersome.
What I would *really* like to see here is a firmware update from SMSL, which basically adds a user-configurable setting in the menu called something like "volume step" or "volume increment". It can default to 1 and it could be configurable from 1 to let's say 20.
This would also solve the "slow" volume change, especially with "volume mode enabled". You could then just set it to 5 or 10 and the volume would increment (or decrement) by that amount.
One of the reasons I went with the SP400 was the resistor ladder output stage to have good channel balance and not having to rely on an analog potentiometer which might degrade over time. Unfortunately the slow volume change is more annoying than anticipated.
I will test it a few more days but I'm already slightly annoyed which is not a good sign.
Are there other R2R headphone amps within the same price range (~570 EUR / ~$650 US) that have comparable performance?
If not, I might give the Topping A90 a try.
My current gear:
- SMSL M500 DAC fed via optical toslink
- Sennheiser HD660S (150 Ohm)
- KRK Rokit RP6 G3 powered studio monitors (XLR <-> M500)
- new: SMSL SP400 HP-AMP (XLR <-> M500)