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WolfX700 Measurement of SMSL M300 MkII Edition

Darvantus

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Received mine yesterday and I am testing it with a thx 789, so far so good, sound is amazing, after a couple weeks with only my old fiio e10k everythong sound just fuller and with more body behind every note, for an uneducated ear like mine this pair may very well be endgame.
Anybody knows if installing the driver from smsl page is worth it?
No reason to if you are using windows 10/linux. Perhaps if using win7/mac?
 

Salad

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No reason to if you are using windows 10/linux. Perhaps if using win7/mac?
Actually, I fount the opposite. DO NOT PURCHASE THIS DAC IF YOU ARE USING LINUX (and want 'bit perfect playback')!
The firmware of the dac only allows for 32 bit playback without the driver. I confirmed this by running MPD in bit perfect mode, addressing the hardware directly (Pulseaudio is not installed), and running the following command while playing music to see what was actually going to the DAC:

cat /proc/asound/card*/pcm*p/sub*/hw_params

If you are running one device (the dac) exclusively while playing music through it, all other devices should be closed, so you should see something similar to the following (after some lines saying "closed", or before depending on the card number ALSA gave to your DAC, which in my case was card 3, the last card):
access: RW_INTERLEAVED
format: S32_LE
subformat: STD
channels: 2
rate: 96000 (96000/1)
period_size: 12000
buffer_size: 48000

As you can see, when playing a 96000/24 bit track, the correct sample rate is used by the DAC, however the DAC will not allow anything other than 32 bit to be passed to it. This is identified under the section "format:", which is always set to S32_LE, aka 32 bit, no matter what your ALSA settings or MPD settings are. This will also be the case when not running the dac exclusively.

You can replicate this in Windows, at least I was able to. In the device settings for it, without the driver the only option is 32 bit at a variety of sample rates. Installing the driver solved this issue. Even more annoying, in Windows Tidal would not recognize the dac for use in exclusive mode without the drivers. But at least the problem is fixable with Windows drivers, something not possible in Linux.

I know that increasing the bit depth shouldn't be an audible problem, but it still irks me that the device states it is Linux compatible despite not being fully so.

Would be really awesome if SMSL provided a firmware update to fix this issue on Linux (and Windows, and probably MacOS too!) :) @SMSL-Mandy
 

Saxkun

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i'm thinking of buying a pair of active speakers, can I feed them directly from my m300 or do I need another amp in my chain?
Thanks in advance.
 

zajogungster

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greet from Slovakia! I am the owner of this facility S.M.S.L M300 MkII, 2 months. I wanted to write earlier, but reality could be obscured by initial enthusiasm :) so I'm writing only now! after about 200 hours of listening. Everything has been described before and I agree with everything, it's a really mature sound! The only reproach is to the USB micro address (you can't use many serious HIFI cables) but I found a solution in reducing USB-micro vs USB-B! using wirevold ultraviolet USB-B and I will tell you, in all possible ways a huge improvement, especially in dynamics. I am currently waiting for the new Wireworld USB 2.0 Cable Starlight 8 (S2AM) A-microB and I will share my experiences later :)
 

Veri

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I am currently waiting for the new Wireworld USB 2.0 Cable Starlight 8 (S2AM) A-microB and I will share my experiences later :)
Aww. I have a second hand older-gen wireworld cable like amir measured and it's okay but the gen 8 cable is really thin, not durable and overall overpriced to hell. I think wireworld is producing cheaper quality cables to increase margins. Basically, I would recommend a standard heavy duty USB cable rather than wasting your money. Just a warning. you can do whatever you want of course :p
 

zajogungster

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[QUOTE = "Veri, príspevok: 475169, člen: 909"] Aww. Mám z druhej ruky drôtový kábel staršieho genómu ako amir meraný a je to v poriadku, ale kábel gen 8 je skutočne tenký, nie odolný a celkovo predražený do pekla. Myslím, že wireworld vyrába lacnejšie káble na zvýšenie marží. V zásade by som radšej odporučil štandardný vysokovýkonný kábel USB, než aby ste zbytočne míňali peniaze. Len varovanie. samozrejme môžete robiť, čo chcete : p[/ QUOTE]
a môžete mi poradiť? Naozaj som veľa hľadal, ale stále nie sú bežné kvalitné káble A-microB.
 

ProfessorB

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cat /proc/asound/card*/pcm*p/sub*/hw_params
...
If you are running one device (the dac) exclusively while playing music through it, all other devices should be closed, so you should see something similar to the following (after some lines saying "closed", or before depending on the card number ALSA gave to your DAC, which in my case was card 3, the last card):

I have this DAC, and I'm listening to music with bit-perfect playback under Linux as I'm reading this thread. As long as I turn off pulseaudio first, I haven't had any issues at all getting bit-perfect playback with the DAC in exclusive mode in a number of different programs including Strawberry, DeaDBeeF, JRiver Media Center 26, Roon (using wine), and more than a few others whose names aren't jumping to mind. I ran the command you suggested, with the following results (pulseaudio off, DSD playback via JRiver Media Center 26 active):

Code:
❯ cat /proc/asound/card0/pcm*p/sub*/hw_paramsclosed
closed
closed
closed
closed
closed

I didn't install any drivers or do much of anything except configure the programs I'm using to use the DAC exclusively. Maybe it's a kernel issue? Or, maybe it's a distribution issue? For what it's worth, I'm using EndeavourOS:

Code:
❯ uname -a
Linux xps 5.8.1-zen1-1-zen #1 ZEN SMP PREEMPT Wed, 12 Aug 2020 18:52:16 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Hope this helps -- this DAC definitely works 100% under Linux for me. If I can help out with any info on my setup or configuration, just shoot me a message.
 

Ucftechguru

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I bought this DAC and have not been impressed but maybe I’m doing something wrong. I am using my iPad Pro and the Tidal app to send Master and HIFI tracks to the SMSL using a USB-C to USB Hub and then plugging in the USB cable that came with the SMSL to connect to my USB Hub and the SMSL. Then I am using RCA cables from the SMSL to my new Denon x3700 Receiver. For some reason using the HEOS app directly streaming to the Denon sounds better than trying to go hardwired through the SMSL. I thought the SMSL would sound better... Is it the way I have it hooked up or settings on the SMSL??

Here’s how I have it all connected

Tidal app on iPad Pro -> USB Hub -> SMSL -> Denon x3700
 

zajogungster

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[QUOTE = "Ucftechguru, post: 496577, člen: 16029"] Kúpil som tento DAC a nebol som ohromený, ale možno robím niečo zle. Používam svoj iPad Pro a aplikáciu Tidal na posielanie skladieb Master a HIFI do SMSL pomocou USB-C na USB Hub a potom zapojením USB kábla dodávaného s SMSL na pripojenie k USB Hubu a SMSL. Potom používam RCA káble z SMSL do môjho nového prijímača Denon x3700. Z nejakého dôvodu použitie aplikácie HEOS priamo streamuje do Denonov zvuky lepšie, ako sa snažiť dostať sa pevne cez SMSL. Myslel som, že SMSL bude znieť lepšie ... Je to tak, ako ho mám zahnutý alebo nastavenia na SMSL?

Tu je návod, ako to mám všetko prepojené

Prílivová aplikácia pre iPad Pro -> USB Hub -> SMSL -> Denon x3700 [/ QUOTE]
Existuje niekoľko možností! SMSL DACs znejú celkom prirodzene, vyvážene a možno je to len dojem, ak ste zvyknutí na zvuk, kde hrany vyčnievajú, nejaká skupina je zvýraznená ... čo DENON vždy robí, najmä počas prijímača. To znamená, že niekedy je to menej! A možno existuje problém v skutočnom nastavení komunikácie Ipad-DAC alebo káble hrajú veľmi dôležitú vec v kvalite zvuku.
 

Ucftechguru

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[QUOTE = "Ucftechguru, post: 496577, člen: 16029"] Kúpil som tento DAC a nebol som ohromený, ale možno robím niečo zle. Používam svoj iPad Pro a aplikáciu Tidal na posielanie skladieb Master a HIFI do SMSL pomocou USB-C na USB Hub a potom zapojením USB kábla dodávaného s SMSL na pripojenie k USB Hubu a SMSL. Potom používam RCA káble z SMSL do môjho nového prijímača Denon x3700. Z nejakého dôvodu použitie aplikácie HEOS priamo streamuje do Denonov zvuky lepšie, ako sa snažiť dostať sa pevne cez SMSL. Myslel som, že SMSL bude znieť lepšie ... Je to tak, ako ho mám zahnutý alebo nastavenia na SMSL?

Tu je návod, ako to mám všetko prepojené

Prílivová aplikácia pre iPad Pro -> USB Hub -> SMSL -> Denon x3700 [/ QUOTE]
Existuje niekoľko možností! SMSL DACs znejú celkom prirodzene, vyvážene a možno je to len dojem, ak ste zvyknutí na zvuk, kde hrany vyčnievajú, nejaká skupina je zvýraznená ... čo DENON vždy robí, najmä počas prijímača. To znamená, že niekedy je to menej! A možno existuje problém v skutočnom nastavení komunikácie Ipad-DAC alebo káble hrajú veľmi dôležitú vec v kvalite zvuku.

Huh?
 
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Racheski

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I bought this DAC and have not been impressed but maybe I’m doing something wrong. I am using my iPad Pro and the Tidal app to send Master and HIFI tracks to the SMSL using a USB-C to USB Hub and then plugging in the USB cable that came with the SMSL to connect to my USB Hub and the SMSL. Then I am using RCA cables from the SMSL to my new Denon x3700 Receiver. For some reason using the HEOS app directly streaming to the Denon sounds better than trying to go hardwired through the SMSL. I thought the SMSL would sound better... Is it the way I have it hooked up or settings on the SMSL??

Here’s how I have it all connected

Tidal app on iPad Pro -> USB Hub -> SMSL -> Denon x3700
Do you have the SMSL in "fixed" mode?
 

Ucftechguru

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Last edited:

olinko

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I bought this DAC and have not been impressed but maybe I’m doing something wrong. I am using my iPad Pro and the Tidal app to send Master and HIFI tracks to the SMSL using a USB-C to USB Hub and then plugging in the USB cable that came with the SMSL to connect to my USB Hub and the SMSL. Then I am using RCA cables from the SMSL to my new Denon x3700 Receiver. For some reason using the HEOS app directly streaming to the Denon sounds better than trying to go hardwired through the SMSL. I thought the SMSL would sound better... Is it the way I have it hooked up or settings on the SMSL??

Here’s how I have it all connected

Tidal app on iPad Pro -> USB Hub -> SMSL -> Denon x3700
You didn't mention that part, but I guess you know that the M300 doesn't support MQA?
(or maybe I don't know how Tidal works, don't have it personally)
 

gwarlek

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I've been stuck trying to decide between M300 Mk2 and Gustard A18 to pair up with A90 (D90 is out of my price range). They measure essentially the same, with a very slight advantage for A18 unless I don't understand the tests fully, and have a very similar feature set with SMSL unit being twice as cheap.

I'll list some points that concern me. If anyone has anything to add that will sway me in either direction I'll greatly appreciate it.
A18:
- superior build quality/mechanical design
- convenient form-factor
- physical knob
- Gustard as a company has no website (only support via taobao), drivers come on a disk, but I'll be buying from a local distributor which handles warranty
- cannot turn off the unit besides the switch on the backside, the usual button on the remote does nothing

M300 Mk2:
- cheaper
- better display
- case shape that is harder to accommodate
 
Last edited:

Racheski

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I've been stuck trying to decide between M300 Mk2 and Gustard A18 to pair up with A90 (D90 is out of my price range). They measure essentially the same, with a very slight advantage for A18 unless I don't understand the tests fully, and have a very similar feature set with SMSL unit being twice as cheap.

I'll list some points that concern me. If anyone has anything to add that will sway me in either direction I'll greatly appreciate it.
A18:
- superior build quality/mechanical design
- convenient form-factor
- physical knob
- Gustard as a company has no website (only support via taobao), drivers come on a disk, but I'll be buying from a local distributor which handles warranty
- cannot turn off the unit besides the switch on the backside, the usual button on the remote does nothing

M300 Mk2:
- cheaper
- better display
- case shape that is harder to accommodate
I use the Mk2 and A90 as my daily driver. Unless there is a Bluetooth codec you need, the SMSL is the better choice. The case shape stacks well with the A90, and gives you extra room to stack something else on the A90, like a power supply or USB hub, etc. You are going to put the DAC in fixed mode and control volume on the A90, so you don’t need a physical knob. It’s also absurd that the remote doesn’t turn the Gustard off, like wtf were they thinking?
 
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