New S.M.S.L. M300 SE 120$

[UA8890]

And when the M300SE uses the last XU316 and the last Cirrus Logic, why it is not a 2024 DAC?

The presence of modern components in a DAC does not guarantee that it is a complete and good engineering design.The 2024 DAC should not have such childhood diseases. This is what I want to say.

 

[UA8890]

This is Audio Science Review, we need data and not romantic point of view: other websites are doing this kind of jobs.

Pops, clicks, crackles, volume knob skipping - this is not a romantic point of view. It's not subjective. I came across such facts in the operation of this DAC. Even if the measurements are good, but the DAC of this model works like that, with such shortcomings, then who needs it?

 

[TonyJZX]

topping has its own issues with vol. ctrl.

i use a m300 and a c100 and the vol. ctrl. is fine on both

but i use them as attenuators... i max out the vol. at 40 and then use the analog vol. on my preamp

my m300 is a very early v1.0 not upgraded one

i dont hear no clicks on vol. changes.

 

[UA8890]

i dont hear no clicks on vol. changes.

Bad translation. There is no clicking sound when changing the volume. That's not what I said. With a slow, slow change in volume, there are misfires. The volume knob turns slowly, and the number on the display does not always work. Doesn't always change. Sometimes it misses.Incorrect translation distorts the meaning of what is said.

 

[UA8890]

my m300 is a very early v1.0 not upgraded one

I have a new version with filters.

 

[UA8890]

but i use them as attenuators... i max out the vol. at 40 and then use the analog vol. on my preamp

Why turn it up to 40? There seems to be a pure DAC mode there. For your use case.I used it in pre-amplifier mode. Changed the volume. Therefore, volume work is important to me.

 

[renaudrenaud]

Pops, clicks, crackles, volume knob skipping - this is not a romantic point of view. It's not subjective. I came across such facts in the operation of this DAC. Even if the measurements are good, but the DAC of this model works like that, with such shortcomings, then who needs it?

Is it the general case?

My understanding is the SE is working correctly, but could be wrong.

For my part I use it in my living room many hours a day and don't have any problem. Just one sample of course. Very happy with it and so small form factor I put it in my bag last holidays to enjoy my headphones.

 

[UA8890]

Is it the general case?

I have several amplifiers and several DACs. When the m300se is used with one of the amplifiers, the unpleasant phenomena I described occur. They do not arise when working with others. But even without an amplifier and without a source, my M300se DAC shows DC voltage surges on the multimeter. I wrote this already. I don't know. This is a marriage or a general case. My other DACs do not have this phenomenon.

 

[UA8890]

For my part I use it in my living room many hours a day and don't have any problem. Just one sample of course. Very happy with it and so small form factor I put it in my bag last holidays to enjoy my headphones.

For example, this m300se DAC with the Topping pa3s amplifier works for me without these problems. (I think the amplifier dampens and smoothes out these surges...) And with another class AB amplifier, this DAC works with pops and clicks. This is the design of the DAC. Incompatibility with some amplifiers occurs.

 

[UA8890]

My understanding is the SE is working correctly, but could be wrong.

It works correctly with some amplifiers. He makes mistakes with others. But the volume knob does not work very clearly when turned slowly. There are failures.It is during a slow, slow turn.

 

[kodreaming]

Is it the general case?

My understanding is the SE is working correctly, but could be wrong.

For my part I use it in my living room many hours a day and don't have any problem. Just one sample of course. Very happy with it and so small form factor I put it in my bag last holidays to enjoy my headphones.

Really like the idea of the machine and fits my need perfectly but the random static sound just drive me crazy. Had to return it...still looking for another option...

 

[Yakoff]

i use a m300 and a c100 and the vol. ctrl. is fine on both

I'm currently choosing between the C100 ($100) and the M300Se ($125). What would you recommend?

 

[UA8890]

@Yakoff I wrote to you in private

 

[rialler]

I want to upgrade my very cheap DAC FIIO d03k on my active setup with SMSL M300SE because will make my system fully balanced.

Someone upgraded from cheap DAC to M300SE and notice an improvement in sound quality?

 

[Toku]

I want to upgrade my very cheap DAC FIIO d03k on my active setup with SMSL M300SE because will make my system fully balanced.

Someone upgraded from cheap DAC to M300SE and notice an improvement in sound quality?

The recent evolution of DAC products is remarkable. If you replace FIIO d03k with the latest DAC product, you will definitely experience a change in sound quality.
However, I do not recommend the M300SE you selected due to its performance. The DAC chip used by the M300SE is CS43131, which is a headphone output DAC for USB dongles.
I recommend SMSL SU-1 as an upgrade from FIIO d03k. Although it is a very small and inexpensive DAC, it has high sound quality. Although it is an SMSL product, it is sold by Shenzhen Audio. I'm currently using two of these.

S.M.S.L SU1 AK4493S Digital to Analog Convertor (DAC)

shenzhenaudio.com: professional headphone, earphone, amplifier, dac, decoder, hifi player, cable supermarket. you will find good price here.

shenzhenaudio.com

 

[UA8890]

I want to upgrade my very cheap DAC FIIO d03k on my active setup with SMSL M300SE because will make my system fully balanced.

Someone upgraded from cheap DAC to M300SE and notice an improvement in sound quality?

As a former m300se owner, I do not recommend this DAC. (I wrote about the reasons earlier in this thread). I had a hard time getting rid of it. Now I have Su-1 and Topping E30ii lite DACs. Great DACs. No problem with them. Work with different amplifiers and sound sources. Forum member Toku's advice is correct. I fully support his advice.

 

[Toku]

I just got a new M300SE and it has issue when playing MQA file on Windows. It is flipping between MQA and non-MQA mode when playing a MQA file. As a result, the sound output is on and off. It happens for all the players I use (Tidal native program, foobar, Audivana). I tried ASIO, WASAPI exclusive but it doesn't help. I tried both the latest SMSL driver and windows native USB drivers too.

However, when I plug it into a Mac (M1), it can play MQA files without any issue.

Just wondering if it iis a known issue. Is there any fix?

Moreover, when I pay 768kHz file, it pops quite a lot on windows. Is there anything I can do? Foobar is very bad; using HQPlayer helps a bit but it still pops ocassionally. Any idea on how to fix it? Thanks.

Many DACs that support MQA have such playback behavior. The severity of the symptoms varies, but it is not a problem unique to the M300SE.
PCM768kHz playback is very delicate, and may behave like that depending on the playback environment and settings. I think this is probably a problem specific to the M300SE. It may be necessary to modify the FW.

 

[Toku]

Thank you for your detailed experience report. We will consider it for future reference.

Regarding the USB driver, for example, when I connect Topping E30ll to my Windows 11 PC,

Without a driver, it will be authenticated as a USB device named "Speaker (E30 ll)".
In this state, when played by the Windows 11 audio system, all files of PCM44.1~768kHz DSD64~DSD512 will be resampled to the preset sampling rate and output as PCM files. Naturally, DSD cannot be played.
For Foober2000, if you select Speaker (E30 ll) [Exclusive] in "Output", the original PCM44.1~768kHz will be output without being resampled. DSD is converted to 44.1kHz and output.
ASIO output is obviously not possible.

When you install Topping's USB driver, it will be certified as "Speaker TOPPING USB DAC". The difference from when there is no driver is,
The "E30 ll" part of the Foober2000's "Output" display will now display "Topping USB DAC". If you select "Speaker (Topping USB DAC) [Exclusive]" for Output, all files will be output as original PCM44.1~768kHz without being resampled. DSD can be played from DSD64 to DSD256. (DoP mode? DSD512 is not possible)
Also, the ASIO output "Topping USB Audio Device" selection has been added to the "Output" column, allowing operation in ASIO mode. Select this to play all files.
In my explanation, I am connecting E30 ll, but it should be the same with M300SE.

When using a player such as Foober2000, you can play PCM44.1~768kHz and MQA without a driver by selecting [Exclusive] mode. The only thing that cannot be done is native playback of DSD.

I am also wondering about the operation of PCM705/768kHz of CS43131 of M300SE. I previously asked a question about this on ASR, but there was no response. In my opinion, it's probably down-converted with an XMOS XU316 chip.
The same goes for the Topping D70 Pro OCTO with CS43198.

I don't really understand the history and differences between WASAPI's Push Events. However, the only knowledge I have is that Event has a lighter load from the PC's perspective, and Push is superior in terms of sound quality.

 

[Toku]

I am not sure if DoP is considered as native DSD. WIth the Microsoft's driver, I can still play DSD with DoP. In that case, the DAC would still be able to get the DSD data stream natively (but packed in PCM packet) and it will decode the DSD data directly without converting it to PCM. There is no difference betwee DoP or "Native DSD" over ASIO in terms of the data the DAC received. The only difference is that it needs a higher bandwith to transfer DSD data over DoP.

The support of 768kHz sampling does help to support the DSD256 over DoP. With 386kHz, it would only be able to support DSD128 (over DoP).

On the SMSL website (M300 SE (smsl-audio.com)), they expliclity mentioned that the DAC supports 768kHz without downsampling (shown in one of the pictures)... I hope they really do support it as one of the major reason for me to get the M300SE is to play 768kHz audio (that I upsample with HQPlayer / PGGB-rt).

A quanto mi risulta, la descrizione di SMSL dell'M300SE di HP significa che l'M300SE può catturare fino a PCM768kHz, ma non indica che il DAC elabora direttamente PCM768kHz.
A prova di ciò, HP afferma nella sua spiegazione che l'XU316 è responsabile dell'elaborazione di PCM768kHz. Pertanto, ho capito che il segnale PCM768kHz è stato prima sottocampionato a 384kHz da XMOS XU316 e poi inviato a CS43131.
Inoltre, l'uscita audio del CS43131 è un'uscita per cuffie adatta per dongle USB e non è presente un'uscita di linea audio. L'M300SE ha questa uscita per cuffie ramificata per l'uscita di linea, che è diversa da un tipico DAC. Pertanto l'M300SE non dispone di un amplificatore per cuffie.

 

[dimxbox]

I see that a lot of people here write about "Pops, clicks, cracks...", I also had some problems when I connected the M300SE with a long Baseus TypeC cable.
I couldn't set high sampling rates (192, 384, 768kHz), there was a lot of distortion and noise, if I set 48kHz it seemed fine, but I heard some stuttering, not very noticeable, but a slight click... I thought it was a bad quality DAC.

But when I connected the M300SE through a short 1m Ugreen cable (US355), everything worked as it should, without any problems.
Maybe this will help someone.