I've owned this dac for at least 5 months now (vers 1.0).As a headphone/dac combo nothing beats it at this price point.Clean clear and outstanding musical presentation.Once again SMSL prooves that you don.t have to be rich to access great sound !
Ah ah not any more, there's a new kid on the block in the shape of the new Fiio K11 it's so good I immediately ordered a second one as a spare finally a combo unit where the amp section is fully worthy of the dac section i also own the K7 but this beats that hands down, for just £119 it's simply astonishing.
I have owned this dac/headphone amp for a few weeks. I purchased it over the SU-1 because I thought that it was a better value. Just having a remote (did you mention that?) was a big plus and the option of the true balanced headphone output intrigued me. I have yet to purchase IEMs to try, and I wish you would have included how they sound in your review and if using them was a better option. I paired this with a Wiim mini, which allows me to switch from different input sources in their app, and then into my amplifier. So far this has been a great entry level option to stream hi-res music and play CDs close to audiophile levels but at a budget price..
Hello, I listened to your review from beginning to end. I would like to contribute to your comments and evaluations. SMSL M300SE is a balanced preamp and dac with XLR output. It's not bad as a headphone amplifier either. SMSL SU1, TOPPING E30 As someone who has experienced it, SMSL M300 SE is more musical. Its ability to be used as a Dac, headphone amplifier and preamplifier seems unrivaled at this price level. The ability to control all functions with the help of the Remote Control also exceeds expectations. Thanks
The balanced outputs are perfect for my Presonus Eris 3.5BTs. I can use XLR to TRS cables to my Sub8 and voila! I'm going to buy this DAC this week to also use with my FiiO FT1s. Thanks for the great review.
My desktop system: SMSL M300SE on Topping P50, silver plated OCC XLR cables, Sabaj A20h amplifier on Fiio PL50. In my opinion, the Audeze LCD2 CB headphones sound much better on this equipment than on the Hifiman EF600, which I bought earlier.
I've gone the SU-1 way for my WiiM Mini, and it's a nice entry-level combination. If this little dac is anywhere near SU-1 regarding SQ, it's worth the money since it has a hedphone amp, and it seems to have a remote as well. I would have liked the SU-1 much more if it had a remote as well
I have had this DAC for a few months. I really like it but I damaged the 3.5mm single ended line output on the back last weekend when i accidentally pulled it off its shelf - my headphone cable was plugged into the front and it caught on my leg! The 3.5mm socket on the back which had a cable going to my amp snapped internally. I've opened it up and looks like I can solder it back on but disappointing it wasnt more securely attached.
Pozdrav. Nisam ga čuo i verovatno neću raditi njegovu recenziju, ali sa obzirom da je A0200 MKII odličan uređaj za tu cenu, pretpostavljam da je isti slučaj i sa AO300.
Fiio KB1.. By the way, how does the SU-1 sound with the monitors? I have the cheap PS100 (integrated with a old ESS 9023 DAC) connected to the Yamaha HS7 studio monitors and the sound is not bad at all but it still sound kind of flat.. Do you think the SU-1 worth the upgrade? Cheers
@@victormedrano2316 I haven’t bought Smsl su-1 because I didn’t know how control volume with s/pdif connection. Maybe Smsl m300se would be better for me, because it has extra headphone amp and volume remote control
I had it from a..., does not play via coax from my sony BD player, made bursting noises, so i returned it, tryed a second one, this made me furious with crackling noise at full volume, but no music. Its a peace of trash! Every other dac played with my sony! This one was homesick as well and returned to the big river
Adjectives can be used in several different fields. For example: - Sound, food, and girls can all be sweet - Bassline, bosses, and boobs can all be firm It's the same with chewy. It means for the bassline the same it means for the food, or dog toys - that it lacks solidity, firm form, crisp edges...
@@darwinbalares570 If somebody wants to combine those two units as a set, like you did, maybe, but I still stand by my comment for a cheap standalone unit. XLR balanced is unnecessary for that unit as a standalone, and poses no benefit, other than maybe what you have described here. I say maybe only because I don't have those two units here to verify your claim.
OMG !! not again, not another SMSL incarnation. To be honest there are many who wish that SMSL would stop this proliferation of product just for the hell of it, with no real benefit. It does not serve any purpose, nor does it do much to enhance their reputation.
It's funny how every SMSL video has several comments like this one which makes it feel like people are really tired of it. Yet, they usually bring more views and subs than almost anything else. 🤔
@@iiWiReviews Call it curiosity I guess. Like they say, necessity is the mother of invention and SMSL is definitely not re-inventing the wheel with their incessant releases. They're just adding to the confusion in the already overcrowded DAC world. I have their fully balanced SU-8 Ver 2, with the dual ESS9038-Q2M chips, from a few years ago. It's a great little DAC and serves my needs for the time being.
@@chutgowdingo-loon3212 Same here for me. I am curious to hear if these kind of brands have improved. Like you mentioned all these DACs simply put more confusion. I was on the market for probably a new DAC or a preamp as I do have one. After a month of searching not a single DAC convince me. They are mostly the same with tweakings. I was almost ready to have another go. Alas I am sure that with the poor design in power that these have this will be a downgrade in my system. These brands avoid to talk about the power stage in their marketing except for the products more pricy. This should ring a bell !
@@mccririck01 I think you might have misunderstood the reason for my comments. It has nothing to do with the value, measurement and / or sound aspect, rather more to do with the continuous stream of different models just for the hell of it, or so it seems . Currently they have 30 DACs listed - 31 if you count the SU-8 Version 2. Other than Topping (20 DACs), I don't know of anyone else who does this sort of thing. They also do the same thing with their speaker and headphone amps - the DA, A and H series via Shenzhen Audio and other retailers, and the AO and HO series via Aoshida Audio.
No payment from SMSL. YT rules say that if you use Affiliate links you have to check that box. Since all of my Amazon and AliExpress links are now Affiliated (which I state above all links in the description), "payed promotion" has to be checked for basically every video.
Thanks for that, I really appreciate your response. It's just that I am becoming very sceptical about you tube reviews. Did you get to keep the Dac though?@@iiWiReviews
Let me tell you exactly how it works in this case and you'll see that it's not black and white like you're receiving payment for a review. HiFi Express sends the sample to me for free and they get the link in the description (that's why they do it). But I pay for FedEx shipping to Serbia and all import taxes (here taxes total 31% of the product value + shipping, I know it's annoyingly high, especially looking from a US perspective). That's $50 for FedEx and $55 for taxes which totals ~$105 of my own costs. Now that review is done I will keep it for some time for future comparisons, and eventually sell it used for no more than $100 which will simply cover my initial costs to get it delivered here. So if you look at what I received - yes I got to keep a device worth $130. But it will be sold for less to cover the cost of getting it here. An alternative would be that the sender pays for all these costs (plus shipping back) which sometimes they do. Orchard Audio from the USA did that with PecanPi+ DAC for example. They also don't offer affiliate links either so I spent a few days testing it, filming, and editing that review to earn some 50 bucks on it from the YT ads (10K views is no Mr. Beast). Nonetheless, I gave it a great review because it's a great device. Take a look at it - ua-cam.com/video/OQ7UiUmVb5Y/v-deo.html But then I don't have it for direct comparisons anymore and when someone asks for that comparison I can only draw from my memory. Also, if every review was done like that, I couldn't afford to invest this much time into the channel and it would simply stop existing. Also, I spend my own money to buy many products like Schiit, Geshelli Labs, etc. Because they don't even want to send samples as a loan. So those reviews burn through the budget that has to be built in some other way - like selling free SMSL samples. Like it or not, it works the way it works - I can only promise that getting to keep something doesn't influence what I say about it and you can either trust me or not. It's your choice. BTW, did it feel like I was hyping M300se in this video, or that I was putting down Schiit or Orchard Audio?
Apologies if you think I am doubting your integrity that's not the case. When I first started watching you tube reviews about three years ago, I thought they were all amateur and did as a hobby. I now realise this is not how it works. Personally, I don't think there is much bad product out there, it's just the value for money that seems to get put on the back burner. You are one of best and I do enjoy your content, but my ears don't seem to be able hear difference/improvements most reviewers claim. But thanks again for taking the time to reply and add some clarity. @@iiWiReviews
No problem, it's just a type of question that is not easy to answer with a simple yes or no. I belive most started as amateurs, I know I did... But somewhere along the line we transitioned to full time reviewers. I love doing it still, but I would simply not test so many products if it stayed a hobby (no time and no money).
What u means dac chips doesn't gives any influenced towards the systems?? Its the mains things bra... Its like a microproccesor in a computer bra.. Ha3 Sumtime u r funy.. I know wutz u means is the "Implementations" not dac chips points..My current ranks towards dac chips : Conexant no1 AKM no2 Rohm no3 Cirrus Logic no4 Ess n so on.. Peace!
![Оценка качества ЦАП SMSL M500 на ES9038PRO [DacMaster]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JpEfcXgEO1w/mqdefault.jpg)
I've owned this dac for at least 5 months now (vers 1.0).As a headphone/dac combo nothing beats it at this price point.Clean clear and outstanding musical presentation.Once again SMSL prooves that you don.t have to be rich to access great sound !
Ah ah not any more, there's a new kid on the block in the shape of the new Fiio K11 it's so good I immediately ordered a second one as a spare finally a combo unit where the amp section is fully worthy of the dac section i also own the K7 but this beats that hands down, for just £119 it's simply astonishing.
I'll have to check this K11 out then. Thanks for the tip :)
I have owned this dac/headphone amp for a few weeks. I purchased it over the SU-1 because I thought that it was a better value. Just having a remote (did you mention that?) was a big plus and the option of the true balanced headphone output intrigued me. I have yet to purchase IEMs to try, and I wish you would have included how they sound in your review and if using them was a better option. I paired this with a Wiim mini, which allows me to switch from different input sources in their app, and then into my amplifier. So far this has been a great entry level option to stream hi-res music and play CDs close to audiophile levels but at a budget price..
Hello, I listened to your review from beginning to end. I would like to contribute to your comments and evaluations. SMSL M300SE is a balanced preamp and dac with XLR output. It's not bad as a headphone amplifier either. SMSL SU1, TOPPING E30 As someone who has experienced it, SMSL M300 SE is more musical. Its ability to be used as a Dac, headphone amplifier and preamplifier seems unrivaled at this price level. The ability to control all functions with the help of the Remote Control also exceeds expectations. Thanks
The balanced outputs are perfect for my Presonus Eris 3.5BTs. I can use XLR to TRS cables to my Sub8 and voila! I'm going to buy this DAC this week to also use with my FiiO FT1s. Thanks for the great review.
My desktop system: SMSL M300SE on Topping P50, silver plated OCC XLR cables, Sabaj A20h amplifier on Fiio PL50. In my opinion, the Audeze LCD2 CB headphones sound much better on this equipment than on the Hifiman EF600, which I bought earlier.
I've gone the SU-1 way for my WiiM Mini, and it's a nice entry-level combination.
If this little dac is anywhere near SU-1 regarding SQ, it's worth the money since it has a hedphone amp, and it seems to have a remote as well. I would have liked the SU-1 much more if it had a remote as well
The CS43131 is used in many very good Dongle DAC's so it is not so strange to use in a Head-amp dac
I have had this DAC for a few months. I really like it but I damaged the 3.5mm single ended line output on the back last weekend when i accidentally pulled it off its shelf - my headphone cable was plugged into the front and it caught on my leg! The 3.5mm socket on the back which had a cable going to my amp snapped internally. I've opened it up and looks like I can solder it back on but disappointing it wasnt more securely attached.
Hello, how does this DAC sound compared to the SMSL C100?
can this dac be conected via xlr to the Fosi Audio V3 Mono Power Amplifier ?
Have enjoyed the m500mk11very much that you had recommended!!
Поздрав, Србољубе интересује ме твоје мишљење о SMSl AO300 уређају (да ли вреди у том ценовном рангу), и да ли планираш рецензију тог уређаја?
Pozdrav. Nisam ga čuo i verovatno neću raditi njegovu recenziju, ali sa obzirom da je A0200 MKII odličan uređaj za tu cenu, pretpostavljam da je isti slučaj i sa AO300.
Хвала. @@iiWiReviews
May i recommend the Fiio K11 for you to test? For £119 its simply astounding
Are you going to review Smsl SU-X ? Love your channel, thank you
What sounds better this or the c200 thank you
Nice shirt
iiWI...is there
any inexpensive headphone amp, worth its weight, is that could be a good match with an SU-1 DAC ?
SMSL SH-6 is a good match.
I’d like to connect Smsl su-1 to my active studio monitors to listening music. Could you please recommend a volume controller?
Fiio KB1.. By the way, how does the SU-1 sound with the monitors? I have the cheap PS100 (integrated with a old ESS 9023 DAC) connected to the Yamaha HS7 studio monitors and the sound is not bad at all but it still sound kind of flat.. Do you think the SU-1 worth the upgrade? Cheers
@@victormedrano2316 I haven’t bought Smsl su-1 because I didn’t know how control volume with s/pdif connection. Maybe Smsl m300se would be better for me, because it has extra headphone amp and volume remote control
@@victormedrano2316 fiio kb1 doesn’t have rca connectors. How to connect to Smsl su-1?
@@yarnykh you just connected straight to the pc/hub usb port
I had it from a..., does not play via coax from my sony BD player, made bursting noises, so i returned it, tryed a second one, this made me furious with crackling noise at full volume, but no music. Its a peace of trash! Every other dac played with my sony! This one was homesick as well and returned to the big river
Who needs that? Probably nobody. I don't know anyone using balanced jacks.
You sold me on the C200 - LOL
First! But oh no, not just another SMSL or Topping DAC. Please more variety on your channel.
How about AkLIAM D1 ES9038Q2M DAC ? And the Rod Rain Audio DA10 .
Why not. Don‘t know that brand.
What does chewy mean? This seems to be related to eating and not HiFi.
Adjectives can be used in several different fields. For example:
- Sound, food, and girls can all be sweet
- Bassline, bosses, and boobs can all be firm
It's the same with chewy. It means for the bassline the same it means for the food, or dog toys - that it lacks solidity, firm form, crisp edges...
SMSL.. that was an awfully dumb move 😵💫 you don't need XLR for something that cheap.. it's just ridiculous..😂
Agreed, full size RCA preferably drop the balanced, save space, put the $ into better amo or drop $10 off MSRP.
i beg to disagree. its a nice combo with the new fosi audio za3 with the balanced xlr out. Cheap but good sounding nothing beats the price
@@darwinbalares570 If somebody wants to combine those two units as a set, like you did, maybe, but I still stand by my comment for a cheap standalone unit.
XLR balanced is unnecessary for that unit as a standalone, and poses no benefit, other than maybe what you have described here.
I say maybe only because I don't have those two units here to verify your claim.
OMG !! not again, not another SMSL incarnation. To be honest there are many who wish that SMSL would stop this proliferation of product just for the hell of it, with no real benefit. It does not serve any purpose, nor does it do much to enhance their reputation.
It's funny how every SMSL video has several comments like this one which makes it feel like people are really tired of it. Yet, they usually bring more views and subs than almost anything else. 🤔
@@iiWiReviews Call it curiosity I guess. Like they say, necessity is the mother of invention and SMSL is definitely not re-inventing the wheel with their incessant releases. They're just adding to the confusion in the already overcrowded DAC world.
I have their fully balanced SU-8 Ver 2, with the dual ESS9038-Q2M chips, from a few years ago. It's a great little DAC and serves my needs for the time being.
@@chutgowdingo-loon3212 Same here for me.
I am curious to hear if these kind of brands have improved.
Like you mentioned all these DACs simply put more confusion. I was on the market for probably a new DAC or a preamp as I do have one. After a month of searching not a single DAC convince me. They are mostly the same with tweakings. I was almost ready to have another go.
Alas I am sure that with the poor design in power that these have this will be a downgrade in my system. These brands avoid to talk about the power stage in their marketing except for the products more pricy.
This should ring a bell !
SMSL and Topping make some of the best value, best measuring and best sounding products these days. That's just fact.
@@mccririck01 I think you might have misunderstood the reason for my comments. It has nothing to do with the value, measurement and / or sound aspect, rather more to do with the continuous stream of different models just for the hell of it, or so it seems .
Currently they have 30 DACs listed - 31 if you count the SU-8 Version 2. Other than Topping (20 DACs), I don't know of anyone else who does this sort of thing.
They also do the same thing with their speaker and headphone amps - the DA, A and H series via Shenzhen Audio and other retailers, and the AO and HO series via Aoshida Audio.
you had to try because the child in you just wanted to know what happens....
When you say this video includes paid promotion. Who paid you and how much?
Was it SMSL?
No payment from SMSL. YT rules say that if you use Affiliate links you have to check that box. Since all of my Amazon and AliExpress links are now Affiliated (which I state above all links in the description), "payed promotion" has to be checked for basically every video.
Thanks for that, I really appreciate your response. It's just that I am becoming very sceptical about you tube reviews. Did you get to keep the Dac though?@@iiWiReviews
Let me tell you exactly how it works in this case and you'll see that it's not black and white like you're receiving payment for a review. HiFi Express sends the sample to me for free and they get the link in the description (that's why they do it). But I pay for FedEx shipping to Serbia and all import taxes (here taxes total 31% of the product value + shipping, I know it's annoyingly high, especially looking from a US perspective). That's $50 for FedEx and $55 for taxes which totals ~$105 of my own costs.
Now that review is done I will keep it for some time for future comparisons, and eventually sell it used for no more than
$100 which will simply cover my initial costs to get it delivered here.
So if you look at what I received - yes I got to keep a device worth $130. But it will be sold for less to cover the cost of getting it here.
An alternative would be that the sender pays for all these costs (plus shipping back) which sometimes they do. Orchard Audio from the USA did that with PecanPi+ DAC for example. They also don't offer affiliate links either so I spent a few days testing it, filming, and editing that review to earn some 50 bucks on it from the YT ads (10K views is no Mr. Beast). Nonetheless, I gave it a great review because it's a great device. Take a look at it - ua-cam.com/video/OQ7UiUmVb5Y/v-deo.html
But then I don't have it for direct comparisons anymore and when someone asks for that comparison I can only draw from my memory. Also, if every review was done like that, I couldn't afford to invest this much time into the channel and it would simply stop existing.
Also, I spend my own money to buy many products like Schiit, Geshelli Labs, etc. Because they don't even want to send samples as a loan. So those reviews burn through the budget that has to be built in some other way - like selling free SMSL samples.
Like it or not, it works the way it works - I can only promise that getting to keep something doesn't influence what I say about it and you can either trust me or not. It's your choice. BTW, did it feel like I was hyping M300se in this video, or that I was putting down Schiit or Orchard Audio?
Apologies if you think I am doubting your integrity that's not the case. When I first started watching you tube reviews about three years ago, I thought they were all amateur and did as a hobby. I now realise this is not how it works. Personally, I don't think there is much bad product out there, it's just the value for money that seems to get put on the back burner.
You are one of best and I do enjoy your content, but my ears don't seem to be able hear difference/improvements most reviewers claim.
But thanks again for taking the time to reply and add some clarity.
@@iiWiReviews
No problem, it's just a type of question that is not easy to answer with a simple yes or no. I belive most started as amateurs, I know I did... But somewhere along the line we transitioned to full time reviewers. I love doing it still, but I would simply not test so many products if it stayed a hobby (no time and no money).
These all-round devices can do a lot
but nothing really good.
Sure, a lot Functions for the Money but...............
But what?
What u means dac chips doesn't gives any influenced towards the systems?? Its the mains things bra... Its like a microproccesor in a computer bra.. Ha3 Sumtime u r funy.. I know wutz u means is the "Implementations" not dac chips points..My current ranks towards dac chips : Conexant no1 AKM no2 Rohm no3 Cirrus Logic no4 Ess n so on.. Peace!
I like your Videos.. do you want Show us your aktually hifi Rig with all the goodys? Greetings from the insane asylum germany😊