Survey：What kind of products do you want in 2019?From S.M.S.L

[jtwrace]

• Roon Ready (Ethernet In)
• USB Input
• Fully Balanced DAC with measurements to prove it's worth (FPGA Based?)
• Remote Control Volume
• 8, 16 or 24 channel output (I'd do an 8 ch version and be able to link them with an umbilical to increase channel count)

This is what I'd recommend if you want to do something that is not currently on the market for a reasonable cost.

 

[Veri]

AKM4499 device would be very cool! Or, cirrus logic top-of-the-line maybe, whichever works better in your design!

Call it the SU-9 (SU-99? limited edition 'NEIN NEIN')

 

[SiW]

8 channel spdif coax input DAC with master clock please

 

[Dogen]

Among the other fine suggestions...

Ethernet, DLNA, Airport and Bluetooth connectivity

Digital DSP functions, including equalizer and crossfeed, infinitely adjustable on the fly through an Android/iOS mobile app, as well as through Windows/Mac desktop app

Ability to define and save several DSP settings

Digital volume control

Two or more gain settings

 

[Hugo9000]

I think something like the A8 but with 100 wpc into 8 ohms would be nice. I like the clean look of the A8 and the similarly styled SMSL units very much. Also, a more powerful headphone output would be wonderful, resulting in a really nice one-box solution.

Thanks very much @SMSL-Mandy for your participation in this forum, and for taking feedback from @amirm and the community here at ASR back to SMSL so your products can be improved further!

 

[Kyle / MrHeeHo]

Honestly what I would like is for SMSL to potentially find dealers for the Western market.

But yeah DSP functionality would be nice too

 

[Pillars]

I think SMSL would benefit from a strong headphone amp. Well designed... nil output imp, truly balanced. The SU-8 while it had a hiccup is a good performer. In its price bracket no other offerings come close to it's features. The matching amp however felt out of place.

Additionally, and this obviously has no relation to a new product.. I believe stronger customer service stateside would help break the barrier in the western market if that is indeed your goal. Hire someone over here to handle PR, customers and issues. Timely responses and standing behind products earns lifelong customers since we audio nuts like to upgrade, downgrade and dabble.

 

[Mad_Economist]

An amp or DAC-amp combination unit featuring the OPA1622/INA1620 for under $100 would be stellar. The OPA1622 is a superbly well-measuring amplifier IC which sadly doesn't appear to be featured in pretty much any amp on the market yet, even though it's pretty much the ideal single-IC solution to driving headphones. A single 1622 on +/-15v rails can theoretically put 500mW into 32Ω and over 300mW into 300Ω - a pair in parallel (one IC per channel) with +/-18V rails could do 2W @ 32Ω and nigh on half a watt at 300Ω, and all this while maintaining very low THD - seriously look at the FFTs at the end of the datasheet.

It's not even terribly expensive in volume - I'd guess that you could make an OPA1622-based headphone amp for no more than the TPA6120A2-based designs tend to run, while having substantially better performance in pretty much all regards, including not needing a large output resistor for stability. Put a couple 1622s in a box in parallel for $70 and I'll buy several - throw in a decent DAC for $100 and you've just permanently solved the headphone chain problem.

While you're at it, replace the headphone driving stages of your other products with it too And be sure to use my referral code when you order from TI - at least, I ought to be getting paid for how often I shill that opamp!

 

[Kyle / MrHeeHo]

Actually I would love to see SMSL tackle the portable player market. Right now there are multiple devices in that market selling at MSRPs of several thousand dollars that barely measure better (and sometimes even worse) than ipods from a decade ago.

 

[maxxevv]

Actually I would love to see SMSL tackle the portable player market. Right now there are multiple devices in that market selling at MSRPs of several thousand dollars that barely measure better (and sometimes even worse) than ipods from a decade ago.

Has there been a measurement of such somewhere ? Especially the iPod part though.

 

[Kyle / MrHeeHo]

Has there been a measurement of such somewhere ? Especially the iPod part though.

Both Sterophile and Ken Rockwell have done measurements of various ipods over the years and and ohm image has some measurements of audio players

 

[maxxevv]

Both Sterophile and Ken Rockwell have done measurements of various ipods over the years and and ohm image has some measurements of audio players

Stereophile perhaps ... But KR ??
But frankly I have not looked closely enough especially at Stereophile.

 

[andymok]

simple monitor controller functions for A/B comparison

eg.
- output select in both headphone/XLR output
- hardware switch (toggle, rocker whatever. Personally prefer Rocker coz it looks sleek. Nothing really sticks out like toggle does, nor confusing like tacktile does)
- volume memory to match 2 output with 0.5dB precision

better yet if can do mono for phase checking

 

[Kal Rubinson]

• Roon Ready (Ethernet In)
• USB Input
• Fully Balanced DAC with measurements to prove it's worth (FPGA Based?)
• Remote Control Volume
• 8, 16 or 24 channel output (I'd do an 8 ch version and be able to link them with an umbilical to increase channel count)

This is what I'd recommend if you want to do something that is not currently on the market for a reasonable cost.

I'd be very happy without the on-board DAC because there are so many stereo DACs already available.

 

[samshaver]

A minimalist dac focused on pure performance (SNR and distortion) and still relatively low price, to be paired with the Massdrop THX798 amp.

whatever gives best performance (including intermodulation distortion...)

AKM4499 device would be very cool! Or, cirrus logic top-of-the-line maybe, whichever works better in your design!

Agreed on all points!
And low power consumption.

Yes, this dac is missing on the market right now, as far as I know.
Maybe even in collaboration with Massdrop? Then the cases could match 100% visually.

Give us a choice of black and silver(we are all different!).

@SMSL-Mandy

Agreed!

I think a balanced DAC that gets rid of "the ESS hump" would be great!

To do it as a Massdrop collaboration and have the aesthetics match the Massdrop Stack would just be icing on the cake (as I'm sure there are a fair number of people on here looking for a good DAC pairing for their Massdrop THX AAA 789)!

Just to keep competition in mind, I think the Topping D70 may come pretty close to filling this void.

Thanks for your time, consideration, and contributions to the forum!

 

[rajapruk]

@SMSL-Mandy

Agreed!

I think a balanced DAC that gets rid of "the ESS hump" would be great!

To do it as a Massdrop collaboration and have the aesthetics match the Massdrop Stack would just be icing on the cake (as I'm sure there are a fair number of people on here looking for a good DAC pairing for their Massdrop THX AAA 789)!

Just to keep competition in mind, I think the Topping D70 may come pretty close to filling this void.

Thanks for your time, consideration, and contributions to the forum!

The problem with Topping D70 for me is that the price is not matching the THX789.
My stupid setup needs 4 dacs (balanced with state-of-the-art SNR and distortion).

 

[samshaver]

The problem with Topping D70 for me is that the price is not matching the THX789.
My stupid setup needs 4 dacs (balanced with state-of-the-art SNR and distortion).

Wow, 4 DACs at once! How does that work?!?

Well then I hope you jumped on and got 4 of the Massdrop x Grace Design Standard DAC Balanced versions while they were up.

 

[rajapruk]

I was tempted, but did not join.
I have active 4–way DIY stereo speakers.

 

[samshaver]

Ah... That makes sense.

 

[Oukkidoukki]

Optical coax usb in..........balanced and rca out..........thats it.. Then mega super specs, like best in the world! We buy bluetooth box separately, fly tidal wirelesly or usb.....volume is in smartphone or pc......from dac we go to active speakers or amp. This is super simple. Prize down!Go!