Wolf's Measurements of SMSL M200 DAC

[mcd]

Dear All,



First time here after scouring reviews of the m200. I ended up with two units, both showing v1.04 but only one had the "Pr" volume locking option!

One had gold (coloured) bluetooth connector the other silver - herein I differentiate to them by these colours. Different power bricks. And here is where things become interesting as the silver unit had Pr1 or Pr0 in the menu, but the gold unit did not.

Also the gold unit failed to connect to two different iPhones, whereas the silver unit had no problems.

As a result I will keep the silver unit and return the gold. Both were purchased from Amazon, with the Silver being via SMSL Official and the gold from Audiodeals.

Strange. But I hope the helps clear thing up a little.

Thanks

Mark

That's weird. What's your HW revision number? My device reports v1.04

View attachment 75472

View attachment 75473

View attachment 75474

 

[finitol]

Dear All,



First time here after scouring reviews of the m200. I ended up with two units, both showing v1.04 but only one had the "Pr" volume locking option!

One had gold (coloured) bluetooth connect the other silver - herein I differentiate to them by these colours. Different power bricks. And here is where things become interesting as the silver unit had Pr1 or Pr0 in the menu, but the gold unit did not.

Also the gold unit failed to connect to two different iPhones, whereas the silver unit had no problems.

As a result I will keep the silver unit and return the gold. Both were purchased from Amazon, with the Silver being via SMSL Official and the gold from Audiodeals.

Strange. But I hope the helps clear thing up a little.

Thanks

Mark

Not strange...

Clearly a different production bunch and different software...

And, obviously SMSL don't explain why.....

And this is the real point on this whole affaire

 

[finitol]

Did you note serial number of them?
That should be a clue to begin an investigation...

 

[mcd]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Serial Numbers of Gold = 3277 18 and Silver = 3277 81

Gold volume level set at 0dB is much louder than equivalent setting with silver (with either Pr = 0 or Pr = 1 at 0dB). These are connected via RCA to Cyrus XP > Mono Xs.

Also noticed that silver has "SMSL M200", while gold has "SMSL HDBT," as bluetooth device names.

So cosmetic, functional and performance differences. Can't tell you which sounds better as my hearing is shot due to sinus trouble!

 

[ModDIY]

Dear All,



First time here after scouring reviews of the m200. I ended up with two units, both showing v1.04 but only one had the "Pr" volume locking option!

One had gold (coloured) bluetooth connect the other silver - herein I differentiate to them by these colours. Different power bricks. And here is where things become interesting as the silver unit had Pr1 or Pr0 in the menu, but the gold unit did not.

Also the gold unit failed to connect to two different iPhones, whereas the silver unit had no problems.

As a result I will keep the silver unit and return the gold. Both were purchased from Amazon, with the Silver being via SMSL Official and the gold from Audiodeals.

Strange. But I hope the helps clear thing up a little.

Thanks

Mark

Hi Mark,

I dont understand a bluetooth color do you have a picture ??

 

[mcd]

The bluetooth antenna/aerial connector was gold in 3277 18 or silver in 3277 81:

Hi Mark,

I dont understand a bluetooth color do you have a picture ??

 

[Zek]

gold in 3277 18 or silver in 3277 81

Silver one are 3227 81 (as on your picture).

 

[ModDIY]

For SMSL, it would be easy to correct, it would only require new firmware that can be installed via USB. They do it for other models just like Topping too

 

[finitol]

For SMSL, it would be easy to correct, it would only require new firmware that can be installed via USB. They do it for other models just like Topping too

So.... what are they waiting for?
This kind of things made a brand substandart....

They ought to be smart cause Topping is gaining market with good products and quick post service..

 

[finitol]

I send a few days ago a mail to smsl asking for this...

Every owner ought to send their own mail, claiming for this issue

 

[Paradoxx]

Can confirm the "silver" variant and bluetooth name as "SMSL M200" does have "bypass mode" (Pr0/1), and as mentioned it only disables the volume knob, but volume stays as what it was set to before.
DSD volume bypass (dP1) does seem to work as intended, no "sound colour" documentation and hardware revision 1.04.
Connected to PC with usb and SP200 via xlr, other than the volume bypass "issue" it's awesome and my knob is pretty solid (no pun intended).

 

[CASE2112]

I have a question about the m200 that i hope you guys can answer. If i were to to get a m200 and a sp200 (or thx 789 if I can find one) and I want to connect the head amp and a pair of monitor speakers.

How would that work in regards to switching between balanced and unbalanced. So xlr goes to the monitors and the rca goes to the head amp. I was looking in the m200 manual and all i could find was how to switch inputs not outputs. Could anyone who owns it or knows more shed some light on how this works on the m200? Or would the m300/500 be the better choice then?

Was there ever a solution given for the switch from XLR output to RCA output?

 

[VinceS]

Was there ever a solution given for the switch from XLR output to RCA output?

No CASE unfortunately not. I am still hoping someone who owns the device has the time to answer this question.

 

[Paradoxx]

No CASE unfortunately not. I am still hoping someone who owns the device has the time to answer this question.

I only have it connected to the SP200 right now, should be able to test it for you some time during the week though.

 

[CASE2112]

No CASE unfortunately not. I am still hoping someone who owns the device has the time to answer this question.

Well, we're both in the same situation. I assumed that since the DAC had both outputs that one or the other could be used.

 

[VinceS]

I only have it connected to the SP200 right now, should be able to test it for you some time during the week though.

That would be great thank you.

 

[aldarrin]

Was there ever a solution given for the switch from XLR output to RCA output?

On the SP200: the XLR output, 1/4" output, and RCA output are on all the time.

You could buy an 4-pole XLR cable, cut the end off of one, strip the wires, and wire them into speakers (assuming regular unpowered speakers, right?). You'd want to pull out the wire diagram of an 4 pole XLR connector and test and label the L+/- and R+/- wires with a multimeter. But these would always be one whenever the XLR cable is plugged into the balanced output. You'd have to unplug it to kill the sound from the speakers.

 

[CASE2112]

On the SP200: the XLR output, 1/4" output, and RCA output are on all the time.

You could buy an 4-pole XLR cable, cut the end off of one, strip the wires, and wire them into speakers (assuming regular unpowered speakers, right?). You'd want to pull out the wire diagram of an 4 pole XLR connector and test and label the L+/- and R+/- wires with a multimeter. But these would always be one whenever the XLR cable is plugged into the balanced output. You'd have to unplug it to kill the sound from the speakers.

My dilemma involves the SMSL M200 connected to an L30. 1) with active monitors, not "unpowered" speakers, plugged into the XLR outputs; 2) which I'll turn off to utilize the RCA outputs to the headamp - that's the best it'll get as I understand it & both outputs (balanced & RCA) can remain plugged in

 

[aldarrin]

My dilemma involves the SMSL M200 connected to an L30. 1) with active monitors, not "unpowered" speakers, plugged into the XLR outputs; 2) which I'll turn off to utilize the RCA outputs to the headamp - that's the best it'll get as I understand it & both outputs (balanced & RCA) can remain plugged in

The outputs on the M200 and SP200 are always on all the time (currently running both). If you want to turn off an output, you'll need to unplug it.

 

[Digital Mastering System]

Here and in Amir's test plots, I'm never informed of the bin bandwidth in FD or sample length in time domain. This is very important in knowing the actual SNR. This should always be displayed in the plots, as noise floor can arbitrarily lowered with longer samples, narrower bins.