[PROblemdetected]

Any could tell about headphone amp?
Ive got a pair of beyer 880t 250ohm that I dont know if the m500 could made them work

Another question about mqa full deconding.
Could I play any MQA file from a player that doesnt support that format (aimp or musicbee) and Its gonna make the full unfold of the file?

 

[Mellowship]

Any could tell about headphone amp?
Ive got a pair of beyer 880t 250ohm that I dont know if the m500 could made them work

Another question about mqa full deconding.
Could I play any MQA file from a player that doesnt support that format (aimp or musicbee) and Its gonna make the full unfold of the file?

The m500 will make the 880t work, no problem. They might not have a lot of headroom, reach high volumes, but they will play nicely, no worries. My k340 which are 400 ohms and one of the most demanding pair of headphones ever known to mankind, do play rather nicely at 85-100% volume.

The m500 only unfolds using USB input. It has to be concerned to a compatible player, like a computer or a smartphone with Tidal, or a streamer that accepts upnp (some of them can make full or partial unfolding). If you have mqa files hanging around, I think foobar2000 has a plugin, but not sure. As for the software you mentioned, I don't know.

 

[PROblemdetected]

The m500 will make the 880t work, no problem. They might not have a lot of headroom, reach high volumes, but they will play nicely, no worries. My k340 which are 400 ohms and one of the most demanding pair of headphones ever known to mankind, do play rather nicely at 85-100% volume.

The m500 only unfolds using USB input. It has to be concerned to a compatible player, like a computer or a smartphone with Tidal, or a streamer that accepts upnp (some of them can make full or partial unfolding). If you have mqa files hanging around, I think foobar2000 has a plugin, but not sure. As for the software you mentioned, I don't know.

Are u using high gain mode for these headphones?

About MQA question. M500 is a full decoder, its not a renderer like ifi idsd micro (the ifi dac needs a compatible player to play mqa stored files, for example roon or audirvana)
But a full decoder doenst need to make the full unfold.
If anyone could test mqa files with another player I would like to know

 

[Mellowship]

Are u using high gain mode for these headphones?

About MQA question. M500 is a full decoder, its not a renderer like ifi idsd micro (the ifi dac needs a compatible player to play mqa stored files, for example roon or audirvana)
But a full decoder doenst need to make the full unfold.
If anyone could test mqa files with another player I would like to know

The m500 doesn't have high gain mode. It has full discrete amplification and output with digital volume control. It is not the most powerful amp out there, far from it, but it is very clean, and the 40 steps on the volume control are enough for using either high sensitivity iems or high impedance headphones.
Currently I seldom use the m500 as an amp, except for iem or headphones that I can only connect in single ended mode. Been using it yesterday with my 150 ohm Sennheiser hd565 ovation, and it's pure bliss at around 17-22 volume. With my AKG k701, I use 14-20 volume. The Grado 60e will play at about 10-16. The AKG K340, as mentioned, will only start to blossom at 28...29.
Most of the times I use my AKGs at balanced mode, as they are modded that way, connected to a loxjie p20 using the balanced outputs on the m500.

As for MQA files, I stream tidal through mConnect to the Raspberry Pi 4 running MoOde Audio. This upnp solution allows MQA, and it shows the correct sample rates and MQA icon in the m500's display. What I could never achieve is the purple dot using this streaming method. Don't know why. When I tried Roon with the same setup, I could manage to get the purple dot. But the need for a core running all the time and the price, it ruins Roon for me.

It would be nice if someone could figure this purple MQA dot out. Why and in what circumstances does it shows? What does it really mean? And the green and blue?

 

[PROblemdetected]

The m500 doesn't have high gain mode. It has full discrete amplification and output with digital volume control. It is not the most powerful amp out there, far from it, but it is very clean, and the 40 steps on the volume control are enough for using either high sensitivity iems or high impedance headphones.
Currently I seldom use the m500 as an amp, except for iem or headphones that I can only connect in single ended mode. Been using it yesterday with my 150 ohm Sennheiser hd565 ovation, and it's pure bliss at around 17-22 volume. With my AKG k701, I use 14-20 volume. The Grado 60e will play at about 10-16. The AKG K340, as mentioned, will only start to blossom at 28...29.
Most of the times I use my AKGs at balanced mode, as they are modded that way, connected to a loxjie p20 using the balanced outputs on the m500.

As for MQA files, I stream tidal through mConnect to the Raspberry Pi 4 running MoOde Audio. This upnp solution allows MQA, and it shows the correct sample rates and MQA icon in the m500's display. What I could never achieve is the purple dot using this streaming method. Don't know why. When I tried Roon with the same setup, I could manage to get the purple dot. But the need for a core running all the time and the price, it ruins Roon for me.

It would be nice if someone could figure this purple MQA dot out. Why and in what circumstances does it shows? What does it really mean? And the green and blue?

About MQA.

On my test It has 3 modes:
1. Only capable player: 24 bits/96khz unfold (normally green or blue light depends of the dac)
2. Capable player + compatible RENDERER dac: magenta color, full unfold to the top khz posible (Zorloo Ztella or ifi dacs)
3. Full decoder dac (hopefully it doesn't need any player to do that) magenta color, goes to full unfold files

Some files are on 24/96, but u could find some on 24/192. For example, "what a wonderful world" has more khz that othee songs

 

[Mellowship]

About MQA.

On my test It has 3 modes:
1. Only capable player: 24 bits/96khz unfold (normally green or blue light depends of the dac)
2. Capable player + compatible RENDERER dac: magenta color, full unfold to the top khz posible (Zorloo Ztella or ifi dacs)
3. Full decoder dac (hopefully it doesn't need any player to do that) magenta color, goes to full unfold files

Some files are on 24/96, but u could find some on 24/192. For example, "what a wonderful world" has more khz that othee songs

There are some albums at even higher rates. Hoff Ensemble - Quiet Winter Night, 2012, on Tidal, is 24/354.

The m500 is a full decoder, it fully unfolds MQA if told to. When I connect a laptop with Tidal and set the output to full DAC control, it displays the magenta (sometimes it seems more like a purple-ish colour) light. Same thing with streaming Tidal through Roon using a raspberry pi as endpoint connected to the m500. But with mConnect (which is developed by a company that acquired MQA licence, thus capable of streaming MQA at correct rates), I don't get the magenta light... Well, the sound is still excellent, I don't worry much about it.

So I guess there are players that are capable to some extent but not fully capable, and this affects the MQA unfolding even if the DAC is a full MQA decoder. But I don't know if the culprit here is the Raspberry Pi, the Moode Audio software it is running on, the mConnect upnp player, or a mix of the aforementioned.

 

[JohnnyOps]

What I can't understand at this point is: "Is a blue light the exact same result as the blue dot?" Using Roon->Ropieee->SMSL M500, I can get the magenta dot if I use the core decoder, but them I am beset by pops and clicks between every track (see my post #104 in this thread above). So I let the SMSL do the full decode and unfold, both steps. Results in what sounds great and a blue dot (or green occasionally, but that is a per-stream result as expected). But what I can't tell is if there's any "benefit" to getting the magenta dot vs. the blue dot or if the output is identical. Can anyone verify - perhaps @smsl mandy ? Many thanks.

 

[PROblemdetected]

There are some albums at even higher rates. Hoff Ensemble - Quiet Winter Night, 2012, on Tidal, is 24/354.

The m500 is a full decoder, it fully unfolds MQA if told to. When I connect a laptop with Tidal and set the output to full DAC control, it displays the magenta (sometimes it seems more like a purple-ish colour) light. Same thing with streaming Tidal through Roon using a raspberry pi as endpoint connected to the m500. But with mConnect (which is developed by a company that acquired MQA licence, thus capable of streaming MQA at correct rates), I don't get the magenta light... Well, the sound is still excellent, I don't worry much about it.

So I guess there are players that are capable to some extent but not fully capable, and this affects the MQA unfolding even if the DAC is a full MQA decoder. But I don't know if the culprit here is the Raspberry Pi, the Moode Audio software it is running on, the mConnect upnp player, or a mix of the aforementioned.

Could u try to use musicbee with the laptop to play a mqa file in exclusive mode?

 

[Mellowship]

Could u try to use musicbee with the laptop to play a mqa file in exclusive mode?

I'll try whenever I can. I'll be back to you in a few days with the results

 

[PROblemdetected]

I'll try whenever I can. I'll be back to you in a few days with the results

Ive been doing some investigation.
Its not going to work, seems that the full decoder is capable to make the last unfold, but U always need a capable player to start unfolding

 

[Michelest]

Hi everyone

Is it correct that asio is not active?

 

[liuj2001]

My setup: Colibri on Mac mini -> SMSL M500 -> Drop + THX AAA 789, cannot be happier!
SMSL M500 can fully unfold MQA files: blue dot means the track gets stamped by the mastering engineer, green light indicates it's still MQA encoded but doesn't have the stamp, magenta shows the DAC is only doing the rendering. Since I have large collection of MQA tracks, full MQA decoding saves me $$ on Roon or Audirvava, the $5 Colibri is enough to play all my music to their full potential. I have a trial version of Audirvana, and tried both software decoding and DAC hardware decoding, honestly I can't hear any difference (well I read somewhere someone says Audirvana decoding sounds a bit better, but I can't confirm). Also played couple DSD256 just for testing, M500 handles them fine without any problem.
While M500 drives all my headphones fine, but I just feel the sound from the THX AAA 789 amp is a little bit more enjoyable. I used XLR balanced cables to connect them. M500 volume noob DOES change the volume on line out (balanced output), I just dial it all the way up, and use the amp's gain and volume noob to control the final output.

 

[HardstyleLoco96]

I have a SMSL M500 V2 and been using it heaps with no issues at all. I've been driving my Ultrasone Edition 11, Avantone Planar, Focal Clear, Audeze Sine DX, and a few other headphones and iems. I won't list all haha. I just recently ordered a SMSL SH-9 to go with my M500 though. I'll be using RCA and the M500 as a dac and SH-9 as the amp. What improvements should I be expecting? Some people have said this combo will be extremely similar to a SU-9 + SH-9 stack just the M500+SH-9 will be a bit more anylytical while SU-9+SH-9 is slightly warmer/musical. But its extremely hard to tell the difference. Anyone have experience with the M500+SH-9?

 

[Mellowship]

I have a SMSL M500 V2 and been using it heaps with no issues at all. I've been driving my Ultrasone Edition 11, Avantone Planar, Focal Clear, Audeze Sine DX, and a few other headphones and iems. I won't list all haha. I just recently ordered a SMSL SH-9 to go with my M500 though. I'll be using RCA and the M500 as a dac and SH-9 as the amp. What improvements should I be expecting? Some people have said this combo will be extremely similar to a SU-9 + SH-9 stack just the M500+SH-9 will be a bit more anylytical while SU-9+SH-9 is slightly warmer/musical. But its extremely hard to tell the difference. Anyone have experience with the M500+SH-9?

If you are getting a balanced headphone amp, why don't you go full balanced? That's where the big improvement should be! Get balanced interconnects and headphone cables and have fun!

 

[smsl mandy]

I have a SMSL M500 V2 and been using it heaps with no issues at all. I've been driving my Ultrasone Edition 11, Avantone Planar, Focal Clear, Audeze Sine DX, and a few other headphones and iems. I won't list all haha. I just recently ordered a SMSL SH-9 to go with my M500 though. I'll be using RCA and the M500 as a dac and SH-9 as the amp. What improvements should I be expecting? Some people have said this combo will be extremely similar to a SU-9 + SH-9 stack just the M500+SH-9 will be a bit more anylytical while SU-9+SH-9 is slightly warmer/musical. But its extremely hard to tell the difference. Anyone have experience with the M500+SH-9?

This combo will be extremely similar to a SU-9 + SH-9. Thanks