[Joong]

+1

 

[eljustinoid]

My friend lent me a souped up Audiolab MDAC (the "Premium Toy" upgrade) which sounds absolutely superb.
 
Having found that the £35 Wosong U308 (Wolfson chip) sounds basically identical to a Cambridge Dacmagic Azur (Wolfson again) I wondered if the SMSL M8 with the Sabre chip would sound as good as the MDAC.
 
The answer in my opinion is: The M8 costs 35% of the MDAC and gives you 90% of the quality. The MDAC is still better - but the difference is so subtle and I like the sound of the M8 so much that I can't justify spending more than the same again for the small gain you get.
 
To my ears the M8 sounds better than:
- Cambridge Dacmagic and Wosong U308 - Wolfson based. Far too neutral and laid back for my liking
- Xiang Sheng DAC-01A - Cirrus based (BUT makes a great preamp and is an amazing bargain)
- Arcam irDAC - Burr Brown (very nice DAC but M8 sounds better to me)
 
For the money the M8 is a no-brainer and a very nice piece of kit. I'm only playing PCM up to 96kHz, I can't comment on DSD sorry.
 
The M8 is a keeper for now and I'd recommend it without hesitation.

 

[GeoffW]

After 6 hours burn in, I'm liking the M8/VA2 combo more and more. It didn't sound that good at first - very little bass, but that may have been due to my filter selection or lack of burn in. It's detail and tone are getting much better.

I'm coming from an Asus STX II + Smsl VA2 combo, with LME49990 opamps (huge difference). The STX II has a very good PCM1792a dac. So far, I like the richer tonal quality of the STX a little better than the M8, but the M8 seems more detailed and the tone is getting better and better with the burn in, so we'll see. Also, the 384 upsampling and DSD are great.

The smsl va-2 is a better headphone amp than the STX- from the specs and price, I would guess it's as good or better than the O2 (which I haven't heard) and may be designed to compete with it. It sounds great with the M8. However, I wonder what the Smsl VA-1 amp sounds like? I can't find much about it on the net, except that it's supposed to be a clone of the Prism Sound Lyra's analog section, which many people seem to rave about. Specs are almost identical between the VA-1 and the Lyra, which are mostly better than the VA-2. Plus it has it's own power supply and a balanced input stage. I may take a chance on it.
 
Update: Well, that was quick. The M8 is now sounding generally better than my STX II (about 8-9 hrs burn in). I'm really enjoying it - very rich detail without being analytical, nice tone. Looks like it's a keeper.
 
Update 2: Ok, the M8 sounds great a day later. I was expecting it to sound somewhat dry and cool, but that's not the case. It's light, airy and spacious, and very detailed without being analytical. I wouldn't call it warm, but it's slightly on the warm side of neutral. It's definitely a little more detailed than the STX w/opamps, although the STX is no slouch either. However the STX has has a tonal richness that I can't seem get into the M8 with any amount of EQ-ing. Cellos have a little more guts, brass instruments have a little more weight. There's a thicker emotional intensity to the STX - which may or may not be desirable. So... I guess it comes down to preference. Right now, I'm preferring the airy detail of the M8. Maybe that will change, I don't know. In this comparison, it's important to keep in mind that the STX is competitive only with the LME49990 opamps (and possibly muses01's). With the stock opamps, the M8 wins hands down.
 
Last update: Be sure to use a good USB cable. I was using a old printer cable, but the cable that came with the M8 is much better. Soundstage is much bigger and quality is much better than STX in every area except tone, in which I like the PCM1792 slightly better. M8 tone still very good though. Will be returning STX, since I don't use other features on it. I can buy a cheaper PCM dac.

 

[fritobugger]

  After 6 hours burn in, I'm liking the M8/VA2 combo more and more. It didn't sound that good at first - very little bass, but that may have been due to my filter selection or lack of burn in. It's detail and tone are getting much better.

I'm coming from an Asus STX II + Smsl VA2 combo, with LME49990 opamps (huge difference). The STX II has a very good PCM1792a dac. So far, I like the richer tonal quality of the STX a little better than the M8, but the M8 seems more detailed and the tone is getting better and better with the burn in, so we'll see. Also, the 384 upsampling and DSD are great.

The smsl va-2 is a better headphone amp than the STX- from the specs and price, I would guess it's as good or better than the O2 (which I haven't heard) and may be designed to compete with it. It sounds great with the M8. However, I wonder what the Smsl VA-1 amp sounds like? I can't find much about it on the net, except that it's supposed to be a clone of the Prism Sound Lyra's analog section, which many people seem to rave about. Specs are almost identical between the VA-1 and the Lyra, which are mostly better than the VA-2. Plus it has it's own power supply and a balanced input stage. I may take a chance on it.
 
Update: Well, that was quick. The M8 is now sounding generally better than my STX II (about 8-9 hrs burn in). I'm really enjoying it - very rich detail without being analytical, nice tone. Looks like it's a keeper.

Still not sure how to get the M8 to upsample.  I tried running everything as DSD but there were occasional clicks and delays in the sound.
 
The M8 really needs better English language support.

 

[GeoffW]

  Still not sure how to get the M8 to upsample.  I tried running everything as DSD but there were occasional clicks and delays in the sound.
 
The M8 really needs better English language support.

 
In foobar2000, just use the SoX resampler. You have to actually type in 384000, instead of selecting from the dropdown list.

 

[Joong]

Burson Conductor and Geek Pulse xfi do not justify their tag values.
I sold Conductor and returned xfi after having listened to M8.

 

[Ashley2001]

What is the latest firmware i am currently using v6.60

 

[borrego]

  What is the latest firmware i am currently using v6.60

 
V6.6 is the latest.

 

[arhantd]

Hi everyone!
 
I am confused on whether to get a ifi Micro dsd or used concero or this new smsl m8 for a home listening setup.
I use a PC as a source and have a very neutral setup. I am looking to impart some energy into it.
 
Anybody who has some experience with either can please give me an opinion.
Thanks

 

[fritobugger]

Hi everyone!

I am confused on whether to get a ifi Micro dsd or used concero or this new smsl m8 for a home listening setup.
I use a PC as a source and have a very neutral setup. I am looking to impart some energy into it.

Anybody who has some experience with either can please give me an opinion.
Thanks

If you can afford the iFi Micro DSD then get it. But at half the price the M8 is very good.

 

[chips666]

Hello arhantd
 
I am very happy with the SMSL M8  but in combo with the SMSL P1 (power supply)
Never tried the IFI Micro
Did test the Concero HD (same Sabre dac) from a friend for a couple of weeks
For me in my home set-up this dac produced the best sound
Very liquid, easy and smooth sound
It does not need a separate power supply and accepted every file without a problem
I found it to expensive
Good luck with your  search and choice
 
Enjoy
Ronny

 

[Threeroofs]

Hi Guys, new to this thread, but been reading with great interest for sometime.

I am currently using a M8 and have been pretty happy with it's sound quality, but not sure how to implement upsampling features as mentioned in this thread.

I'm using Foobar for playback.

Can someone talk me through how to do it? Do I need to download SoX software, etc.

 

[fritobugger]

SoX is a Foobar component.  I could not get it to upsample in a meaningful way that would be recognized by the M8.  There are several versions of SoX so maybe I have one that is not compatible.  If you are using Foobar, download SoX from the component page.

 

[GeoffW]

For upsampling, all I did was download SoX resampler, install it, view it, and select the upsampling rate from a drop down menu. Then hit Ok or Apply. If the desired rate is greater than 192k, then it won't be on the drop down list - you actually have to type it in the edit field next to the drop down menu (384000 is what I use). You can verify it is working by checking the sample rate display on the M8.

I found this pretty easy to do. For me, DSD was a lot harder to get working, even after following all the directions. SoX will interfere with DSD, and had to be turned off. I think DSD sounds great, but I still can't get DSD64 to DSD128 upsampling to work in foobar without hearing too many annoying clicks, pops, and stutters from the upsampling. That's really a shame, because I can hear enough to tell that it sounds glorious. I'm sure the problem is in foobar somewhere, not in the M8. It's upsampling is not really ready for prime time IMO, so I leave it off for now. A lot of my listening is DSD, so its a pain to disable upsampling when playing a DSD track, which sounds much better native than resampled to PCM.

 

[Threeroofs]

Hi, thanks for your replies.

I had a look online yesterday trying to find the correct SoX software to download, but couldn't really fathom out what I need. Any chance of a link to correct application? Thanks