Having been followed your reviews for a while, I must say that you're much better qualified than many other (established) reviewers out there on RU-vid and other websites. You always focus on basic sound signature of an audio device accompanied by pinpoint pros and cons, and your words are never mumbo jumbo . Thanks for yet another extremely detailed review.
Your best review yet! I love that you focus on sound signatures and compare to other things you have reviewed, regardless of price. Keep up the good work. I have a really good idea of what to expect if I buy anything you review.
I came across this video and I must say really liked your style of reviewing. Very honest and genuine. It is great that you spent some decent time talking about sound quality. Sometimes I get quite fustrated when some reviewers talk a lot and then finally spend a few seconds on the sound quality or it is not detailed enough. I'm personally always on the quest for that warmer, richer sound. So thank you.
Great Review. Highly informative and comprehensive. I continue to learn so much more from this Channel than from most other more popular Channels catering to this field.
Thank you for accurately describing MQA! I am so tired of hearing other reviewers refer to it as "Master Quality", it isn't, it is just another lossy format that does not necessarily sound better. Licensing play for Meridian is the key factor.
You Sir are correct, many of us would not refer to this as an "entry level DAC" 😄 Thanks for the review and for including info on the setup used to review it. I am considering upgrading my Chromecast Audio streamer for either the Allo Digione or USBridge. Now I know for reference what you seem to be happy streaming with 🙂
I have both the m400 and the Topping d70s. I've been testing them for a while now and I find the d70s more informative and layered in the stereo space, while m400 creates a fuller, warmer and more satisfying listening pleasure. So I seem to be choosing the m400.
Very nice review. I have the M400 and its a good description of the sound. The balanced connections are noticeably less lush and more dynamic than RCAs btw so another interesting aspect.
Very good review of the M400. I own this DAC and can attest to everything said here. I would urge anyone to try a better USB with it, though. I tried AQ’s top three cables and the difference with a good USB is stunning. Buy the Diamond from Amz and test. You will be floored. My digital has in some ways surpassed vinyl in sound quality. This DAC delivers!!!
I own this DAC as well. I would also recommend using the I2S connection if at all possible. I realize most people won’t but, if you can, you won’t be disappointed!!
Great review! I’m sold! BUT my only BUT is MQA. I REALLY love it and for me personally I love the difference. Listened to an album Ive been listening to since the 80’s (on cd). The difference for me was HUGE! Again, that’s how it sounded (and felt) for me. Awesome review!
I think its actually tempered glass. Its very nice. The sound signature your describing sounds identical to the m200 dac. That is also slightly warm sounding.
I havent heard the M400, but I bet the quality is pretty indiscernable from the M200 I have. I pair my M200 with a buffer tube preamp and a pair of matched Voskhod Rocket Tubes. The tubes takes the M200 to another level. I would not be surprised at at if my M200 plus tubes setup sounds better than the M400 my itself.
So the M400 haves more bass than the D1SE ? and which one would be best for Ananda headphones to bring the harshness down a bit. Out of the 2 which one would be best
Thank you for another fine review Srboljub. SMSL make some really nice products. I certainly would not class this as “entry level”. It sounds rich and it is. The DAC chipset alone does not define the sound, as you mention and many believe. The design, component matching and build quality are so important. I think that SMSL are doing very well in these important areas. I look forward to you getting a balanced amplifier and phones to review with this DAC. I believe that it will perform beyond expectation.
Thanks for the honest review. Very revealing the Ares II comparison. Apart from balanced, it would be nice to hear USB performance. This dac is known to have rolled-off RCA output (at least v1), and USB is known to sound better according to Thomas&Stereo and improves on jitter according to ASR.
Thanks for the excellent and well balanced review, ended up buying one of these M400 to connect to my old 1989 Sony E7ESD, and so far, so good wonderful detailed sound, the Sony's 80s dac good as it was back in 89 is showing it's age on those higher end detailed sounds, the M400 is much better overall balanced and still that excellent bass that the Sony offers, though I would love (if there is a way) to hook up something that I can play my SACD's, I do have a Denon 1930 DVD player and it can play SACD but only on it's limited quality analog output, I tried it on the M400 but only worked on the CD output at 44.1, there must be some sort of transport that can feed the PCM audio into the M400.
Fantastic review! I have this DAC, and I agree - on the RCA outputs, it's somewhat 'smoothed' and will mask some texture and detail. That might be a very desirable trait for some people, but not for others.
Reason for SMSL BT is LDAC. On my Adams T8V at least i dont hear any difference - and I´m using the D50s, connected with RCA-XLR adapters. Funny with pure RCA i had some "clicks" in the signal path on the Adams.
Great review, love the way you explain things in perfectly understandable language without audiophile buzzwords -- subbed! By the way I read somewhere (I think on ASR?) that the XLR out is different from the RCA. The RCA has roll off in the highs while the XLR does not. This may explain the smoothness effect you're hearing from RCA.
Thank you for the review. But I would still prefer Topping D90 over this DAC any day. M400 sounds just too blend and neutral for me whereas D90 reveals every detail and dynamics of music. It could be a personal preference but M400 is definitely a neutral and warm DAC.
Thanks for the review. I am a subscriber to your channel and if possible I have a request . Any chance you could obtain a DaArt Canary II DAC? . I consider the Canary II as entry level.
Thanks for providing such an insightful review. I must say I have been tuning into your recent reviews about the Freya+ and now this SMSL and I find your descriptions rather thoughtful, detailed and informative enough for us to consider the product for purchase. Appreciate your time and effort and you got a new subscriber. I wish to seek your advise. Would this as a dac be better in terms of sound quality connected to my bluesound node 2i. So my bluesound just serves as as a streamer. I currently have a Freya+ preamp, XTZ A2300 power amp and Klipsh 6000 Rp speakers and am thinking of adding this to my rig. Appreciate your thoughts.
It should surpass integrated DAC inside the Node 2i without much effort. That said, please take a look at SMSL M500 MKII review... It's a newer product and basically the same sound fidelity at a lower cost.
@@iiWiReviews Thank you for your prompt response. Yes I watched your review of the MK 500 2. Impressive review at the price point. Am also considering Denafrips Aris 2. I understand you wish to keep the SMSL Mark 2. Is the Mark 2 that much better than Denafrips?
I would say they are in the same ballpark. M500 MKII is cleaner and more dynamic... Ares II has wider soundstage but less deteiles. I like them both in their own way. But as you saw, I did prefer MKII slightly.
I have M200, it sound on Warm side, 2.5D. I think M400 should have better 3D imaging and more neutral sound than M200. I hope you can borrow a M200 for review.
I had the M500 and the M400 is night and day better. In all regards, it is worth the extra $$ to get the M400. It's probably my final DAC. Don't buy into MQA or any other hi-rez fads they will be gone in about a year, remember 3D TV? ditto
I have the 400 and it is truly amazing, it cleans and smooth and sweet sounding. Without it things sound missing or to crispy sounding. After listening for a few hours and then without it I realized I can’t listen without it and how good this thing is.
Not wanting to get into a big MQA debate but the whole point on of MQA is to correct for timing errors at the encoding and decoding stages, to give authentic master quality and also the possibility of hires at lower bandwidth. The bandwidth saving is actually the least important of the 3 benefits 👍🏻
Also not wanting to get into technical stuff, I am yet to hear MQA file sounding as good as a regular Hi-Res, let alone better. Adding to it that DAC manufacturers pay royalty for MQA since it's not an open standard, I'm simply not a fan. BTW, I use both Tidal and Qobuz simultaneously, but Hi-Res on Qobuz is my personal favorite.
jules153. I’m afraid you have swallowed the MQA marketing BS. Meridian is a fantastic company and a digital audio pioneer....but MQA was started years ago when most people had an internet connection of 8Mbps! It is derived I believe from Meridian Lossless Packing which became the standard for audio on DVD. It’s about cramming as much data as possible into a limited space.....not improving quality. They throw away some of the audio data before processing.....claims about timing improvements are at best ‘dubious’ in my opinion. Point is it’s a ‘lossy’ system and was designed to be so! 👍
Hello Iwi ! Thank you so much for job done since many videos/reviews i am following with attention. Idea of comparison to do, maybe.... 1 day (please, please, please in fact huhu !) : khadas > (one of the best budget dac) vs M400 (one of the best mid dac). Target : to evaluate the step up. Thanks again Iwi
finally, someone who has the budget of the average bloke. No this is not an entry level DAC based on it's price. Folks like Thomas and Stereo have deep pockets for their hobbies.
Thanks for the great review, one of the most honest I've came across on youtube! Is there any chance you to test it with balanced xlr outputs, I really want to know your thoughts? I think it will sound much more neutral than it is...
Thanks! Unfortunately, I don't have any amp with balanced inputs at the moment and neither does my friend that loaned it to me. I aim to get such amp sometimes this year so if M400 stays in his possession until then, I can revisit it.
i just received it. sounds good i tried changing the pcm filters but somehow on the rca i dont hear any differance. did you try the filters and felt any change with them ?
MQA can and often will sound better, in my subjective humble opinion, than regular high res flac files if your DAC uses a standard steep linear phase filter as standard. As MQA would bypass that process. This is of course if you enjoy the sound signature of slow roll off minimum phase filtering / NOS type of sound instead, as I do. I personally always gravitate towards those types over steep linear filters. So to me, MQA can actually sound quite a lot better in some cases.
It all depends on personal listening preference... I found SMSL 400 very neutral which means quite smooth but not dynamic. I prefer DAC with precision and dynamic rich one. SMSL 400 was not my choice. Personal preference is the name of the game!
I recently purchased this DAC second hand for a really good price. I have this in front of a Blue Sound 2I running to a Mystere IA11 tube amp and Klipsch Heresy III speakers with a Martin Logan Sub. I had not seen this review before purchase, but I fully agree with everything you state regarding this as a DAC. I also prefer a slightly sweeter signature. You have a new subscriber! I am now thinking of upgrading from the Blue Sound 2I. Does anyone think a Allo Digi One Signature would be a worthwhile upgrade to replace the Node 2I?
Hi just came across your post while I was looking at the SMSL M 400. I intend to connect this as a dac to my bluesound node 2i. I have a tube schiit freya + pre amp, Xtz power amp and Klipsch 6000f speakers. Did you find the SMSL to be a better dac than your node2i? Did you find the listening experience enhanced. Appreciate your thoughts.
Hi. I ve got a question. First u need to know that i own AirPods pro and listened to the sennheiser pxc 550 quite a lot but dont own them. I was never into hifi Hardware i just love to listen to musik. I want to upgrade from my AirPods to something better sounding. Those sennheisers sounded great but i want more / i dont need Bluetooth, anc,... on overears. I just want to listen to musik. How much do i have to spend for a good (better than the pxc550) pair of headphones? Do i need an amplifier? What would u recommend? Thanks!
I have Anthem Integrated 225 and Paradigm Prestige 85F I'm using a Node 2i right now they sound very good for me. You think this DAC will be a step up and make the NODE 2i as a streamer.
@@iiWiReviews Thanks, I don’t mind paying the greater amount. I’m just trying to decide between this and the ifi neo, or forget about the MQA unfolding and try an RME with its built in EQ but that is complicated to use.
thank you for your review. to what extent would you expect the sound of the m400 to improve using an Allo digione sig. over simple usb in from the phone if both (phone and digione) use Flacs from local drives? Thanks for your view!
@@iiWiReviews I tried it out and you were right. Using the Allo digione signature utilizing “only” SPDIF over high res USB was the biggest jump in quality I had in my system since ever. Simply amazing.
@@josch614 Glad to hear that, really. Measurements will often show USB connection as the superior one... but in my experience and in the experience of many of my friend audiophiles it's much easier and cheaper to get a really good sound using a high-quality digital source with SPDIF digital connection. And until I hear USB implementation that lives up to its good measurements in reality, I have no plan on ditching fine SPDIF sources anytime soon. Cheers!
Haven't heard D90 but from my experience with many other Toppings I would say go with Topping if you like analytical but somewhat colder and flatter sound. Go with SMSL if you like some more punch and warmth/fullness. Personally, I prefer SMSL sound signature but that's just me.
@@iiWiReviews hi thanks for your response. Yes I prefare a warmer sound . My amp is icon audio 20pp tube . And the klipsh rp600m Am I looking at the right combination here . . Ps best reviewer on you tube .
Hi again , I am still trying to get to grips with dacs , my dac magic plus with the bt 1 aptx let's me stream , but when I bought a usb b to type c for my android phone the dac was not compatible, is the smsl capable for wired connection to android , thanks again , this is the 4th time watching this review
Hello from the US. I’ve noticed you’ve got several of the DACs costing around $800 US. Have you heard a Schiit Bifrost 2? It’s $700. I’ve heard it compared to Denefrips Ares 2. It’s also a Multi bit device. If you’re buying these on your own, I’ve noticed Schiit will send their DACs to reviewers on RU-vid...May I ask where you are located?
Bought Ares myself and M400 is a loan from a friend. I would like to try Bifrost too, but to import it from the US to my country (Serbia) with FedEx shipping and taxes it goes up to ~ $1200. Schiit was actually not that forthcoming last time I asked about review samples... I purchased all their gear (Modi 3, Modi Multibit, Magni 3 and Wyrd) by myself so far. So, maybe sometimes I get one if there's enough room in the budget.
@@iiWiReviews Wow, that’s a heavy premium. I like Schiit products and their keep it simple philosophy. I think they have to do it that way since they manufacture/assemble here in the US. They have a great group of products for their price here, maybe not so much there. $1200 would be too much for me to get a Bifrost 2. Maybe you can try again with Schiit. You’ve certainly bought enough of their products and reviewed them very objectively.
While I don't agree at all with the statement that MQA is just a bandwidth saving compression strategy and above all with the statement that Qobuz HiRes sounds better, I have to admit that this review channel is really very well done even compared to others on the same DACs. I really like the ability to go into musical detail and the respective sonic differences with other items.
@Angela Ziegler I absolutely agree with you. Obviously everyone is free to choose and prefer Qobuz HiRes or Tidal with MQA encoding (in China they don't even have the problem of choice and 654 million (!!) satisfied XIAMI Music users can easily listen to music with MQA encoding both on the move and at home). But actually talking about MQA encoding (both in Europe and in America) very often, in the best case, we are in the hypothesis of approximation and hearsay, when it is bad instead it is real defamation and false information.
Search YT for interview with Bob Stuart (Meridian/MQA founder), he describes exactly what is described in this review. THE ACTUAL INTENTION OF MQA is to remove "unnecessary" content from the HiRes digital file to save bandwidth. Words straight out of the creators mouth...
Hey I think yours has the same "upgraded" sticker on the side. Is that referring to the firmware? It's the latest version but I've never seen a company label it like that. Lol
I havent heard the M400, but I bet the quality is pretty indiscernable from the M200 I have. I pair my M200 with a buffer tube preamp and a pair of matched Voskhod Rocket Tubes. The tubes takes the M200 to another level. I would not be surprised if my M200 plus tubes setup sounds better than the M400 by itself.
Dear audiophiles and music lovers. The 2020 has been a tough year but we somehow made it. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If you have some time for music enjoyment take a look of my humble suggestions. For the audiophiles. 1 Cassandra Williams Strange Fruits 2 Yosi Horikawa Babbles 3 Jack Marshall, Shelly Manne S'posin' 4 Christian McBride Night Train 5 Hok-man Yim Poem of Chinese Drums. 6 AR Rahman Dacoit Duel 7 Brian Bromberg My Bass 8 Arca Mutant 9 Malia, Boris Blank Magnetic Lies 10 Nenad Vasilic Bass Drops And for those in search of pure musical bliss with style follows 1 KC and the Sunshine Band Get Down Tonight 2004 remaster 2 Herbie Hancock Cantaloupe Island 3 T he Manhattan Transfer The Cantaloupe 4 Dina Blade Quando quando quando 5 Bing Crosby Louis Armstrong Bye bye blues 6 The King's Singers Good Vibration 7 Laid Back Bakerman 8 Yello Starlight Scene 9 Tony Esposito Kalimba De Luna 10 Black Wonderful Life HAVE A GREAT TIME AND DON'T PISS OFF YOUR WIVES AND NEIGHBORS WITH TOO MUCH LOUD MUSIC. Drink responsibly and stay safe.
Short answer is Ares II. But there's a whole section about that comparison here (just look at the time stamps): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mL1GE3yHVe0.html
@iiWi Reviews hi. Could you give me advice, im trying to build good system, i bought beyerdynamic dt 1990, flux labs fa-12s amplifier, but i dont know which dac should i get under 1000$ for this system. I listen to edm, pop and rock music, what should i buy? I hate sterile and digital sounding, thank you!
Take a look at my Denafrips Ares II review. That would be my current favorite at that price range. But if I remember correctly, DT1990 have very prominent treble region... So if you would like them tamed a little bit than M400 might be a better choice really cause it's super smooth.
@@iiWiReviews Thank you for reply, you are doing very good job, helping people to decide! I just ordered smsl m400, from you point of view and experience m400 is better than chord mojo or aune x8? Im interested because i didn't find in sub 400$ range any dacs which sounded better, i hope m400 will do better job:)
@@andjeyvolikov3508 I haven't heard Aune X8 and Mojo I did hear in a friend's system but never got a chance to test it in my own. That said, I do feel that M400 is a better, more lush-sounding device than Mojo. Much more convenient for everyday use too. :)
Leonard Cohen is not rough sounding but chesty, deep and very refined. He's not Tom Waits. If Cohen sounds "sandy" I would look at the recording and the gear.
@@iiWiReviews Really like your channel - well straightforward presentation reviews I'm at my mid-life crisis and just starting to learn more about sound/music other than CD Your channel has unlock my dinosaur mind a bit :) , love to learn a new thing every day And yes please review about this digital SPDIF vs USB interface Thank you
It's a shame we can't change the colour of the screen like on some of their DACs. I hate blue screens with a passion, especially if I listen in the evening in low light. Might sound trivial but I just hate that colour and the almost universal use of that colour these days. I suppose I could put a filter on the screen to reduce the annoyance.
what is a „soundstage” everyone speaks about here and then i will probably never understand… is it amount of top register? i never experienced anything i could describe as „soundstage” weather it's mobo integrated rltk chip, studio grade equipment or high sinad chi-fi.
When people usually mention the soundstage they are talking about how the speakers image the sound in space. For example, if you’re watching a live recording, can you discern where the instruments are but more so how far apart do you hear the spacing of them? Can you point to the guitar player over to the far right or the bass player on the far left? Or do you hear everything more in the middle? The first example would be a wide soundstage and the second might be described as intimate or a compressed soundstage. Hope that helps!
@@lowstryder1022 i can only hear weather the device producing sound is precise, accurate and if it's coloring - less coloring and distortion, faster speaker = more faithfull and revealing recording. still no „soundstage”. stereophony doesn't change that much.
I like SMSL, but 800$ is a serious amount of coin putting it head to head with Topping D90, a proven, highly specced, tried and true device. (as well as with SME ADI-2 FS!)
