WolfX700 Measurement of SMSL M300 MkII Edition

[WolfX-700]

It will be resealed this week, But for the china traditional spring festival, we will have 15 days holiday.
The items stop shipping for 15 days. And we have sent the M300 MKII to amir for review and measurement.

Better than 4497 Datasheet. Great work!

 

[Kane1972]

And is there a definitive price yet?

 

[Veri]

@WolfX-700
does it need the 5V input or can it work from USB for power+data?

 

[WolfX-700]

@WolfX-700
does it need the 5V input or can it work from USB for power+data?

need 5V PSU

 

[Zek]

Is the PSU included in the package?

 

[Kane1972]

So the V1 was data and power provided by USB together and the V2 is data ONLY via USB and power via 5v wall wart?

 

[WolfX-700]

Is the PSU included in the package?

Of course, it is included in the package. There seem to be many small things like fiber optic cables in the package ...

 

[WolfX-700]

So the V1 was data and power provided by USB together and the V2 is data ONLY via USB and power via 5v wall wary?

Yes

 

[PPP]

Better than 4497 Datasheet. Great work!

the high jitter of this product and the Sanskrit 10 is just ugly

 

[NTomokawa]

the high jitter of this product and the Sanskrit 10 is just ugly

These look like coax measurements. @WolfX-700 did you measure jitter using coax input?

 

[PPP]

These look like coax measurements. @WolfX-700 did you measure jitter using coax input?

they are not. see https://l7audiolab.com/f/measurement-of-smsl-m300-mkii-edition

 

[Veri]

the high jitter of this product and the Sanskrit 10 is just ugly

That's not "high jitter" ... it's below the threshold of audibility and about on par with the DX3: a best seller and very well liked DAC.

There's no problem, what's more at this price it's more than fine.

 

[PPP]

That's not "high jitter" ... it's below the threshold of audibility and about on par with the DX3: a best seller and very well liked DAC.

I never regard dx3 as well designed product. It utilizes two ak4493 but performs much worse than Dacs with only one ak4490. The jitter and linearity are terrible. And a lot of broken units!

 

[PPP]

There's no problem, what's more at this price it's more than fine.

it’s 2020 and people deserve more. We are now in an era when 200 usd can buy well designed and made balanced headphone amps or Dacs, such as soncoz with textbook picture perfect performance. Here, Fixing the jitter problem won’t make the cost any higher— the designer just need to be more careful.

 

[Veri]

I never regard dx3 as well designed product. It utilizes two ak4493 but performs much worse than Dacs with only one ak4490.

What products with one ak4490? Besides RME ADI-2 I can't think of a single one that compares to its line out. Are you making things up?

 

[PPP]

What products with one ak4490? Besides RME ADI-2 I can't think of a single one that compares to its line out. Are you making things up?

No. Aid-2 is one example. Also first version of
Sanskrit 10 (with a usb adaptor) is on par (actually 0.x db better) to dx3 line out performance, cost around 70USD.
Schiit modi 3 is very close, too. All of them use one 4490 only.

anyway I will stop here rather than argue with you on the details. My point is Chinese manufacturers such as topping or smsl needs to do it better. DACs are easy to do—anyone with EE degree can do it well as a course project. tHe cheap price should not be the excuse to ignore the fundamentals.

 

[Veri]

No. Aid-2 is one example. Also first version of
Sanskrit 10 (with a usb adaptor) is on par (actually 0.x db better) to dx3 line out performance, cost around 70USD.
Schiit modi 3 is very close, too. All of them use one 4490 only.

anyway I will stop here rather than argue with you on the details. My point is Chinese manufacturers such as topping or smsl needs to do it better. DACs are easy to do—anyone with EE degree can do it well as a course project. tHe cheap price should not be the excuse to ignore the fundamentals.

I agree with you on some things but not all. Original DX3 was fine, but not reliable. New DX3 is more reliable but the new headamp is not ideal..
But really, I do believe its line-output is fine. Sanskrit 0.x db better, means basically it's the same and not "better".

 

[Kane1972]

it’s 2020 and people deserve more. We are now in an era when 200 usd can buy well designed and made balanced headphone amps or Dacs, such as soncoz with textbook picture perfect performance. Here, Fixing the jitter problem won’t make the cost any higher— the designer just need to be more careful.

The Soncoz is over double the price of the M300 unless you have a link to somewhere I can get it for $200?

 

[Koeitje]

The Soncoz is over double the price of the M300 unless you have a link to somewhere I can get it for $200?

The new one without the volume control and such is that price.

 

[Kane1972]

The new one without the volume control and such is that price.

I wasn’t aware of that one. Does it measure as well as it’s bigger brother?