VMV D2R Stereo DAC Review

[renaudrenaud]

Design....my wife can use a Walmart purse - it does the job, but she prefers Coach or Brahmin.

This is not an engineer approach. My wife is always saying "When you want to know, you measure". And here, the measurements are not at the top.

 

[TNT]

You are way too generous, how about this one:

SMSL SU-1 Stereo DAC Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the SMSL SU-1 stereo USB DAC. It was arranged to be sent to me by shenzhenaudio from the company and costs US $79.99. Despite its simplicity, the SU-1 manages to look elegant with nice fonts and LED indicators for different inputs. Back panel has...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Uses AK4493S

I just bought 2 pcs of these

//

 

[lc6]

I have also some time ago done some (not very scientific, but still) blind tests between DACs. I agree, people would be surprised how hard it is to hear any difference, even if a really bad measuring DAC, which passes well the threshold of transparence, is included.
This one is clearly transparent, but measures worse than many cheaper ones from SMSL. Seems to be more focussed on design.

Still, there are some who apparently have so much better ears than everyone else that they write along those lines:
"That sense of ease it [AudioQuest Cobalt portable USB DAC] offers with long-term listening is something I don’t want to do without."

That keeps new models coming in for review, I guess.

 

[restorer-john]

Really beautiful DAC.

Looks like a fifth grader's my first 3D print assignment to me, but hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say...

 

[Jimster480]

I would love for you to do a blind listening test with this DAC and maybe a good Topping or Schiit DAC, and maybe another blind listening test with a "very mediocre" DAC like on of the Audio-GD products.

It is my contention - after some half-baked blind A/B tests of my own- that people can't readily hear the differences between DACs. I did some A/B listening tests myself and also with a professional musician using a Topping D50s DAC and the very same Audio-gd R2R11 DAC that I sent to Amir to test ( https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-measurements-of-audio-gd-r2r11-dac-amp.5779/ ) and we could not tell the difference at a level greater than chance using Red book CDs with Quad ESL-57 speakers or Sennheiser HD-800 'phones. The Audio-gd R2R11 has pretty abysmal measurements so you'd think the difference would be plainly audible. Using music, it seemed it was not.

We did not try pure tones, which may have shown audible differences - but DACs are used to listen to music, not tones, so we used music.

What music did you listen to? That music really makes a difference.
I can tell you that I would be able to tell the difference for sure vs something with such trash performance.
However I use MrSpeakers / DCA Aeon & Oppo PM-2 with my testing as well as 1More Quad Driver; so my headphone choices are more revealing than an HD800 or really any speakers I've seen measured yet.

Doesn’t seem to measure better at 1 kHz than the budget model from them:

SMSL D300 Review (Balanced DAC)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the new SMSL D300 stereo USB DAC. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $399.99. I am pleased with the refinements of LCD and controls: The LCD no longer has that fuzzy look of prior SMSL products. And the flush mounted buttons look more...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Note that there is a comment later in the review where it seems like the cheaper model uses DAC ICs with mismatched output which is then corrected with resistors to match the two channels. Maybe this one uses the better ICs that don’t need that.

This one has exactly the same flaws; just does better in multitone performance.
The DAC chip is quite expensive though.

The price of the Rohm chip itself..

View attachment 331580
[pdf claims]: "The BD34301EKV delivers superior performance in audio equipment by improving sound quality in ways that cannot be defined by numerical characteristics "

Yep these chips are expensive. They are from a Japanese audio company that has been around but isn't big or well known. The D300 is one of the few more "affordable" DAC's with this chip.

Ok, they shaved off a couple of bucks off the BOM by using a second tier DAC chip. Anything new we get for our hard earned $1000?

No they didn't. This chip is more expensive than any chip from ESS or Asahi Kasei.

I have also some time ago done some (not very scientific, but still) blind tests between DACs. I agree, people would be surprised how hard it is to hear any difference, even if a really bad measuring DAC, which passes well the threshold of transparence, is included.
This one is clearly transparent, but measures worse than many cheaper ones from SMSL. Seems to be more focussed on design.

That is what the higher end products are; focused on design typically. Since the cheaper ones look to be cheaper; however most of the DAC's all use the same chips anyway. Just like how this one basically has the same design as the SMSL D300.

 

[restorer-john]

With 2 filters, one is broken.

At 44.1kHz, they are both broken, unless they are configurable by the manufacturer and SMSL has just dropped the ball. According to the datasheet plots, SMSL may have bodged the filter characteristics somewhat...

IMD test shows the same:

Why not expand the lower limit below -60dBFS?

 

[Egoist]

I don't understand someone who doesn't hear any difference between two completely different DACs but hears the difference between different filters in the same DAC - I can scroll between different filters and I do not notice any difference whatsoever. (how many times can one use the words different/difference in one sentence? )

 

[restorer-john]

how many times can one use the words different/difference in one sentence?

You win that competition.

 

[amirm]

Why not expand the lower limit below -60dBFS?

It would be more of the dame while taking away graph resolution on the right where distortion kicks in.

 

[Chagall]

Looks like a fifth grader's my first 3D print assignment to me, but hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say...

Wow! You should really come with a warning label.

 

[oceansize]

From the remote, looks like an expensive device.

Yet doesn't include batteries for the remote. If you're going to go for the high end consumer, details like that make a difference.

 

[restorer-john]

It would be more of the dame while taking away graph resolution on the right where distortion kicks in.

Fair enough. If the trend is the same.

 

[Angsty]

One question I ask myself in buying audio gear is whether an Ebay buyer will want to even pay 50 percent of the list price of the gear five years later provided it's still in good working condition. Can anyone envision someone wanting to pay $500 for this particular DAC?

DACs in general are known to have quickly depreciating lives. There’s always a “better” one available in 18 months at the same or lower price.

 

[dasdoing]

Really beautiful DAC.

View attachment 331556
Thanks Amir!

looks like a 80ies Atari console lol

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Nice looks , good review…we sometimes need a few higher priced items for our Christmas list. We can’t just always have those Toppings stocking stuffers. HO HO HO!
!!

 

[jayapple]

That's NOT an R2R DAC.
SMSL's RSR DAC is this one:

SMSL VMV D3 Balanced DAC R2R 4x PCM1704 32bit 768kHz DSD512 MQA - Audiophonics

SMSL VMV delivers with its D3 a real piece of jewelry, containing a concentrate of technologies within a perfectly thought architecture. The brand offers a high performance R2R DAC, whose DAC stage embraces four Burr Brown PCM1704U-J chips.

www.audiophonics.fr

...which costs around 3.250 euro here in Europe.

Other than that,this multicolor,multifont screen is a total failure and the overall design and size is not great either.

Thanks Amir!

I believe DACs used in the above R2R are the same used in my ancient Denon DVD 5000.

Maybe R2R sounds more emotional, more pleasant? I don't know.The truth is that ESS metrics are high, but they sound tight, cold, and emotionless. I have a lot of outdated DAC, and they sound soothing and sweet, and my ears love it.

 

[Chagall]

looks like a 80ies Atari console lol

I agree, it's a classic.

 

[Adi777]

Aimed at an audiophile audience? You've got to be kidding me. No audiophile will even look at it - Chinese, cheap, not very prestigious looking, a company with no good associations among audiophiles.
Hardly any audiophile will look at Matrix DACs, let alone this one.

 

[audiotron]

Tough sale this.

 

[pseudoid]

Manufacturer Specifications:
View attachment 331555

Whatsamatter @AdamG247? Couldn't you find any photos of the circuit-board lay-out ('innards') any where? Me neither.
*It appears that there are some solid engineering and good designs within this unit.
But this is NOT one of those:

Some have called it low-grade; based on a cheezy chip; and others bashed it by calling it a school project. No matter!
If it sucked as bad as all these nits, then my 2nd statement is a testament to the findings/results of @amirm that life does not end with an ESS.
We should also add that this SMSL physical design is shared by and complementary to the VMV P2 headphone amplifier.
Seems many of us have become punch-drunk on $250 DACs [self included].