[blse59]

I'm kind of surprised a thread hasn't been made for this wonderful all in one DAC/Amplifier from SMSL. This little box has outputs for two speakers and a subwoofer (!) and a headphone out. Stupid question but the 4.4mm headphone jack is a balanced out right? It's funny because in the ads and the reviews you don't see mention of balanced out. Maybe because it's assumed? Usually manufacturers advertise it has balanced outputs.

 

[IAtaman]

Might be just single ended. In fact, like you, I think the lack of mentioned of a balanced output indicates it is not balanced. A few SMSL products have balanced jacks that provide the same power as the SE, provided for convenience I think this might be one of those. Interesting product still though. Would be good to see actual measurements of it.

 

[blse59]

Might be just single ended. In fact, like you, I think the lack of mentioned of a balanced output indicates it is not balanced. A few SMSL products have balanced jacks that provide the same power as the SE, provided for convenience I think this might be one of those. Interesting product still though. Would be good to see actual measurements of it.

I'd probably prefer if it only had a single 6.35mm jack, then, just to keep it slick and minimalist. Finally hooked it up to a pair of bookshelf speakers and the sound is great. If there is one nitpick I have with the unit it's I wish I could wake it up out of sleep mode by rotating or pushing in the volume dial. Right now it can only be woken up through the remote. Maybe they can add this in a firmware?

 

[uncletim]

a friend just picked one up, I was thinking about using with TV and small speakers as opposed to soundbar.

So far he likes it but sometimes in the morning no audio. I think he might not be powering on the amp before the TV or source.

If the HDMI input does not support CEC and the TV does not control the amp volume, what is the advantage of using HDMI as opposed to optical from the TV?

 

[blse59]

a friend just picked one up, I was thinking about using with TV and small speakers as opposed to soundbar.

So far he likes it but sometimes in the morning no audio. I think he might not be powering on the amp before the TV or source.

If the HDMI input does not support CEC and the TV does not control the amp volume, what is the advantage of using HDMI as opposed to optical from the TV?

I really don't know what the advantage of HDMI CEC is over optical in terms of audio quality. So far I have been happy with my tv's optical output to my speakers and headphones - so much so that I haven't had the desire or inclination to test out HDMI.

Not sure what is going on with your friend's audio. It shouldn't matter which device he powers up first. I would say he either forgets to select the output type in the settings on the tv, or the input type on the AO300.

 

[TCTrox]

I’ve left mine on since I got it in October. No issues.
For a speaker amp I love this unit. The headphone section is definitely an afterthought.