[UntilThen]

Sow-uh... Bought the infamous S.M.S.L. "200" combo at Hifi-express, 459$ on Black Friday week and quickly sent to Italy from a warehouse in France.
Set up this balanced-wired, bedside pedestal, dirty corner in roughly five minutes, and absolutely loving the sound and convenience these twins provide!
A joy to use.

My best regards to all of you M200 companions and gentlemen out there! Cheers!

Despite several amps and headphones here with me, the SP200 didn't feel out of place. Like it so much I'm thinking of the Benchmark HPA4.

 

[StarTreker]

Welcome to the audio station, where literal sound waves make you pop a nut. The SP200 domination king will change your life. YES SIR! HEHE. Excellent picture, looks good there, and thanks for sharing!

 

[Telin]

NEVER EVER use a power adapter that was NOT made for your device. I did that once when I was a kid, and toasted a CD player!

I know how you feel, but in the end, don't be lazy, and rout the new power cord.

The reason they provide a 4-AMP power adapter is for the pre-amplification circuit. It makes sure there is enough power going to the box, so that it can push its full potential without getting restricted, which keeps heat generation down, and provides proper efficiency.

Ok ok ok, I will route the new cable from the power supply when it arrives like a good boy
You're not going to give me any slack do you

 

[StarTreker]

You just keep slack in that power cable so it don't snap, thats your slack. LOL! I can't wait for you to try out your new gear, really hope you like it as much as I do.

 

[Telin]

Boxes arrived today from Amazon Germany!

Pretty unremarkable boxes, just the name and a picture of the product on the box nothing else, no marketing, no specs no nothing.

Connected it as the following:
Computer => M200 using USB cable
M200 => SP200 using XLR cables
SP200 => Sennheiser Game Zero
M200 => Edifier powered Desktop Speakers using RCA cables.

M200 comes with a remote which I haven't even put the batteries in.. as you can see in the pictures i will post at the bottom of this message I'm sitting right in front of it, no need for a remote. Besides I consider my DAC a "set and forget" device. Sure can be fun in the beginning to play around with the filters but won't do that all the time, especially after a while.

Anyone found out what the Pr0/Pr1 setting exactly does?
From my testing I noticed that it will disable the volume control and I find that it also changes the sound slightly. So my guess is that it is some kind of "pure DAC" pass through option.

Can't say that much definitive about the sound quality as I'm using my crappy Sennheiser Game Zero headset as my Fostex are over at my colleague's house for the time being. The Sennheiser does sound better with the SMSL compared with the ARC but the real improvement comes when I can plug in the much more precise and needy Fostex.

Build quality is "ok" I guess. Its not bad but not at the level of Schiit either. Feel like with SMSL you get "higher" grade chips but in a lesser box and with Schiit you get "lower" grade chips but in a better box for roughly the same price. Comparing SMSL AK4497 based M200 to Schiit AK 4473 based Modius.
By far the worst part when it comes to build quality for both the M200 and SP200 is the volume control knob. It's light, very plastic feel and in case of the M200 also very wobbly. Good thing you dot have to interact with the volume knob of the M200 much, if at all. To be honest it feels like a part from a 5 euro Chinese toy, not a part from a piece of serious audio equipment. The knob on the SP200 is slightly better. Still very light and plastic feeling but at least not as wobbly as the knob on the M200.

The blue knob is on about somewhere around China and have to wait another month for it to arrive i think. Am I right that you need to unscrew the for screws in the corners of the front plate of the SP200 so it comes off and then can unscrew the volume knob from the pot?

I will post some more when I have my Fostex back and can say something more meaningful about the SQ.

 

[StarTreker]

Boxes arrived today from Amazon Germany!

Pretty unremarkable boxes, just the name and a picture of the product on the box nothing else, no marketing, no specs no nothing.

Connected it as the following:
Computer => M200 using USB cable
M200 => SP200 using XLR cables
SP200 => Sennheiser Game Zero
M200 => Edifier powered Desktop Speakers using RCA cables.

M200 comes with a remote which I haven't even put the batteries in.. as you can see in the pictures i will post at the bottom of this message I'm sitting right in front of it, no need for a remote. Besides I consider my DAC a "set and forget" device. Sure can be fun in the beginning to play around with the filters but won't do that all the time, especially after a while.

Anyone found out what the Pr0/Pr1 setting exactly does?
From my testing I noticed that it will disable the volume control and I find that it also changes the sound slightly. So my guess is that it is some kind of "pure DAC" pass through option.

Can't say that much definitive about the sound quality as I'm using my crappy Sennheiser Game Zero headset as my Fostex are over at my colleague's house for the time being. The Sennheiser does sound better with the SMSL compared with the ARC but the real improvement comes when I can plug in the much more precise and needy Fostex.

Build quality is "ok" I guess. Its not bad but not at the level of Schiit either. Feel like with SMSL you get "higher" grade chips but in a lesser box and with Schiit you get "lower" grade chips but in a better box for roughly the same price. Comparing SMSL AK4497 based M200 to Schiit AK 4473 based Modius.
By far the worst part when it comes to build quality for both the M200 and SP200 is the volume control knob. It's light, very plastic feel and in case of the M200 also very wobbly. Good thing you dot have to interact with the volume knob of the M200 much, if at all. To be honest it feels like a part from a 5 euro Chinese toy, not a part from a piece of serious audio equipment. The knob on the SP200 is slightly better. Still very light and plastic feeling but at least not as wobbly as the knob on the M200.

The blue knob is on about somewhere around China and have to wait another month for it to arrive i think. Am I right that you need to unscrew the for screws in the corners of the front plate of the SP200 so it comes off and then can unscrew the volume knob from the pot?

I will post some more when I have my Fostex back and can say something more meaningful about the SQ.

Thanks for taking the pictures, I always love to see how people have their devices setup. Looks like the stack just fits under the monitor stand, which is awesome! Well, S.M.S.L is not a super high end brand, they are a mid-range brand of audiophile gear. So my opinion is, I prefer higher quality chips, over a higher quality box. And yes the volume knob is wobbly on the M200, which is why I just use the remote. Besides, MUTE functionality with the M200 works via the remote, so ya.

You don't need to remove the screws on the box on the SP200 to get the volume knob off. As its a plastic knob, it just pulls off, but you have to pull hard, cause its on there pretty good. The new metal knob will use a tiny screw to secure it to the flat half of the POT shaft. Please remember to leave a gap, as instructed in my install instructions, to prevent the knob from scraping the box, from having it all the way against the case.

So far, you have only talked about the physical aspects of the units, now I would like to hear your opinion on the sound of them.

 

[Telin]

So far, you have only talked about the physical aspects of the units, now I would like to hear your opinion on the sound of them.

As I said in my other post I don't have my Fostex available right now so I want to be careful about my "conclusions" of the SQ.

Right now I only have my Sennheiser gaming headset which is not hard to drive and doesn't sound very good to begin with.

I do hear some differences with this new stack and the ARC though.
Better separation. Lows are more detailed and distinctive.

I expect/hope to hear some real differences with my Fostex as they are way more precise then the Sennheiser. They will allow me to hear differences and nuances that the Sennheiser simply can't reproduce.


So you just yanked off the knob?
When I look closely at the factory knob I (think) I do see a hole which could house a little screw to fasten the knob to the shaft. But it is at the base of the knob, the part that falls within the spacing of the front plate. That why I asked if you removed the front plate to get access to this little hole.

I will have another (closer) look one my knob arrives.

 

[StarTreker]

Thanks for clarifying Telin, appreciate it! When it comes to plastic knobs, they are made to fit on with a tight fit, on lots of gear. Just pull hard enough to get it to come off. Additionally, you could possibly get enough room to wedge a couple of tiny flat head jewler screwdrivers on each side of the knob, to help you pop it off if you prefer that.

Now the metal knobs are universal fit, so they won't just fit on tight, thats why they include a tiny screw and allen wrench to tighten them down. Remember, its a very tiny screw though, so just tighten it till its well snug, but don't overdoo it with your HULK strength, cause that will surely strip it out. lol And as you saw in my pictures, align the arrow on the knob to like 7-oclock in the all the way turned down position on the pot, which will put the screw hole facing towards I guess 2-oclock position.

Thank you for your preliminary info on the sound for now, always good to get a quick opinion before the final one comes out. I've been sick with flue and so my brain is only functioning 50%, but I am doing best I can to help with info.

 

[Telin]

By the way..
Does anyone use the XMOS V4.82 driver with the M200?
On the SMSL website the V4.76 driver is offered for download when selecting the M200 but SMSL offers the V4.82 if you select another device.
From what I've found online it should be all compatible but never hurts to get some first hand confirmation.

To answer my own question.
XMOS USB driver is needed. I plugged in the M200 without any drivers and Windows 10 Enterprise 2H20 did pick it up as an SMSL USB DAC.
But I missed most options as most if not all pulldown menus in windows concerning the M200 were empty, the sample rate and bit depth were also stuck as some weird values. Device manager gave the warning that the M200 was not installed completely/correctly.

So I installed the XMOS V4.82 driver. After a system reboot everything was at it should be. DAC is correctly picked up and displayed in the device manager and all the options in the configuration tabs are also available now.
Hopefully the XMOS USB driver will be/stay stable with future windows updates.

 

[StarTreker]

You know, with as much as computer's have advanced, as shown by Linus, who always shows the latest and greatest in hardware, I'm truly surprised that computers still requires drivers to link to the hardware. All that tells me, is that all our supposedly better computer hardware that can play overhyped games like Cuberpunk, are actually still as stupid as a sack of nails.

Many have talked about a new computer technology called Quantum computing, but they have been talking about it for at least 2-years now, and none of us have seen it. I can tell you right now, if they don't make computer's smarter, then all their going to be is just a faster version of stupid, taking up desk space.

I remember my tech teacher back in high school, he said that computers are actually stupid, they will only do what you tell them to do, otherwise they just sit there as a fancy paperweight with lights. And still to this day, its the same, except you have the added benefit being data mined behind your back. So ya, I am really on the fence when it comes to modern computers, especially considering the cost of them.

 

[Telin]

Last night I came home from visiting my colleague and picking up my Fostex. I got pretty curious about how the Fostex would sound with the SMSL I decided to fire up the computer just to listen to 1 or 2 tracks as it was actually already late and should gone to bed.. I ended up listing to the entire album being pleasantly surprised by the sound quality this stack nad headphones offer.

I listen to the album The Holographic Principle from Epica. First because I'm a big fan of Epica and secondly because I know this album very well listen to it for countless hours on different systems and setups. I know how this album sounds on different setups which makes it a good candidate to hear how well the SMSL stack and Fostex combo sound.

What I kinda already expected from listening using the far inferior Sennheiser headset got confirmed and exceeded listening to the Fostex. The bass is tight, detailed and gives just enough "oomph" to add to the overall sound experience without it taking over. It's a please to follow Arien's bass drumline throughout the song.
What I didn't really expect and what made me listen the entire album in one go again is how much the highs opened up.Truly amazing, so much clarity and range. Simone's mezzosopran voice never sound so good. Compared to the old DAC/AMP it feels like there was an invincible ceiling of some kind that prevent from hearing Simone's full voice range. Now with the new setup that ceiling is gone and I listened to tones and little nuances in her voice I had not heard before. I will listen to my entire library again just to experience this. In a way you could say you're listening to a new song.

If I have to say something negative it would be that during some stages in some songs the mids sound a tiny bit narrow. Not sure how to put it into words.. could say that it feels like the mids are squashed between excellent lows and extremely impressive highs with not enough room to breathe, to stand on it self.

Overall I find this setup extremely pleasant and enjoyable to listen to. Definitely a step up up from my old setup.
It is a rather analytical sounding stack and that's where the modded Fostex come in. In my opinion the DAC and/or AMP should not color the sound. If you want warmer sound get a headphone with a warmer sound signature. The modded Fostex just gives me sound that I'm looking for.

About the volume..
I have the AMP on low gain and I consider volume at 9-10 o'clock to be normal listening volume. 12-1 o'clock I consider loud only suitable for short sessions. Everything north of 2 o'clock I consider uncomfortably loud and personally would never listen to anything that loud for any amount of time.

 

[Telin]

Many have talked about a new computer technology called Quantum computing, but they have been talking about it for at least 2-years now, and none of us have seen it. I can tell you right now, if they don't make computer's smarter, then all their going to be is just a faster version of stupid, taking up desk space.

So you're not scared about the possibility of a real Skynet

 

[StarTreker]

Excellent review Telin, that is exactly how I feel about the AMP, very analytical, the clarity is real, and if Skynet is born, will shut em down using those high frequencies lol. This is also one of the biggest differences between a tube amp and a transistor amp. A tube amp by its nature, gives you a very warm tone, but for some headphones, that can really drown out the clarity. A transistor based amp, its all in the chips, and its all about that clarity, that crispness, that analytical signature, it reveals all in songs.

If you were to step out of the music field, and jump into video games, where clarity is required, a tube amp is a NO GO. I pretty much do it all with my setup. Most people here listen to only music. But on my setup, I listen to music, watch TV, movies, play video games. I needed something that would tick all those boxes, and my S.M.S.L SP200 and M200 stack, ticks all those boxes for me. I am happy to hear that for you anyway, this stack does produce most of what you are looking for, and really help to open up those Fostex.

Thanks again for sharing your review, I really appreciate it, and I know other's do as well.

 

[Fvizeu]

Hello there!

I already had the SP200 for sometime now, and I love it. In fact, I like it so much that I ended up buying an m200 and I have a question that hasn't been addressed here yet:

Does using the BT connection as the input uses the AK4497 chip to convert to analog or the process is completely done inside the Qualcomm chip?

I think it uses the AKM chip, but I couldn't confirm this anywhere

 

[Dannemand]

Hello there!

I already had the SP200 for sometime now, and I love it. In fact, I like it so much that I ended up buying an m200 and I have a question that hasn't been addressed here yet:

Does using the BT connection as the input uses the AK4497 chip to convert to analog or the process is completely done inside the Qualcomm chip?

I think it uses the AKM chip, but I couldn't confirm this anywhere

All inputs on the DAC will use the AK4497 chip. BT transmits digitally, and the DAC chip converts it.