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S.M.S.L M3 Mini DAC
Mar 23, 2016 at 3:13 AM Post #2 of 47
If you are familiar with Z-reviews on youtube, he has one and seems to like it. He briefly talks about it in his recent Fostex t50rp mk3 review. He basically just says it powers the hard to drive fostex t50rp mk3. I'm hoping he will release a review of it soon, so maybe give him a sub and hopefully he will release a review soon. Unfortunately that is practically all I've heard about it on the whole internet.
Vid link:
https://youtu.be/yqm50k-PK30?t=8m50s
 
May 31, 2016 at 5:36 AM Post #5 of 47
Have both SMSL M3 and E10K
Only subtle differences,powering K240
Sound on M3 comparing to E10K is bit more solid and controlled, E10K sounds lighter and closer to head.
 
M3 does not have Gain switch and produce significant noise on earphones( at least on my brainwavez Delta - 16omh)
 
 

 
May 31, 2016 at 6:10 PM Post #6 of 47
killz4gold said:
Have both SMSL M3 and E10K
Only subtle differences,powering K240
Sound on M3 comparing to E10K is bit more solid and controlled, E10K sounds lighter and closer to head.

M3 does not have Gain switch and produce significant noise on earphones( at least on my brainwavez Delta - 16omh)
Click to expand...

So which one would you recommend? Do you have a favorite?
 
Jun 1, 2016 at 9:36 AM Post #8 of 47
I will keep SMSL M3 mostly to more solid sound signature versus light/thin E10K
Second reason is the volume knob, M3 simply is much more pleasant to use than thumb one on E10K
 
Aug 14, 2016 at 6:38 AM Post #10 of 47
Bought my father one of these for his birthday.
 
I must say... very impressed overall.
 
Superb build and finish. Everything is metal and very well screwed together.
 
The sound is so airy and open. Even more so than my ODAC. It pairs superbly well with bassy and/or warm sounding headphones/IEM's.
 
More than worth it's price.
 
Sep 27, 2016 at 6:33 AM Post #11 of 47
I bought mine three weeks ago and it's a good entry level dac/amp. I have easy to drive headphones so I can't talk about raw power.

With my SRH440 (and HM5 pads) the soundstage is noticeable large and the bass is more punchy. The cans work just fine without an amp but there is a improvement if you are used to the sound as much as I do.
I have also a pair of VE Monk+ and I will test these in the next weeks too and edit this post. I listened a couple of hours and I'm not able to say anything.

There is definitively an audible noise but I guess that is because my cans are way to easy to drive to this amp (at 9 o'clock is loud, I have to turn the knob to 8 o'clock or even less). A channel imbalance at very low volume is also present in my setup but like I said, with more power hungry cans this should not be an issue.

It works with GNU/Linux, plug and play.

Code: 
card 1: DAC [SMSL M-3 Desktop DAC], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
 Subdevices: 0/1
 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Update: The VE Monks+ are overall a bit better with the amp. The sound is fuller (the low end is definitely not the best but the sound has more body with this amp) and the mids have more detail, but not that much, it can be the placebo effect.
I have also tried my SRH440 with the stock pads and the mids and the low end are more clear, less congested.

2nd update: I recently bought a pair of Fidelio X2 and there is no floor noise at all. The channel imbalance have also disappear because they need a bit more power than the Shure. Being open I think it helps too.
Great setup and a fun sound for less than 400€.
 
Oct 4, 2016 at 9:21 AM Post #13 of 47
For music its enough but for some blurays or dvds never on ps4. The m3 put out 1,9 mv the 650 needs at least 2 mv. The tarion trd 80 is better from smsl too more power. Yeah power is volume. The m6 is very decent too or the Fiio taishan d03k with that u can use every amp with line out on ps4 :)
 
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