SMSL DAC Shootout! $200 vs $400 - Does one actually sound better?

Let's compare the SMSL D-6S with the SMSL DO200 Pro and try to determine which DAC is right for you!
Affiliate Links:
SMSL D-6S: apos.audio/pro...
SMSL DO200 Pro: aoshida-audio....
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicso...
Both DACs were sent to me for review by but am I not being compensated nor did I share my video before posting.
Join my mailing list: forever-analog...
Follow me on Instagram: / foreveranalog_
smsl d6s review
smsl d-6s review
smsl do200 pro review
smsl do200 pro
smsl dac
dac comparison
dac shootout

[@mattrismatt]

Great review. Another SMSL DAC released between these two models, the *DO100 PRO* hits the sweet spot: All the features of the D-6S, plus HDMI ARC and a larger display... for $219. I have it, and its sound is noticeably better - if only slightly - compared to the original D0100. I found the D0100 PRO to offer a wider, more evenly dispersed soundstage.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[@mcm934ify]

You have already heard smsl d6s and D0100 pro ?

[@amanieux]

thank you for fighting back against placebo

[@RosemarySoriano-n6v]

Thank you so much for a great review.😊

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thanks for watching!

[@hammer-and-thumb]

I just ordered a RAW-MDA1 a while ago, and I also want a DO200 Pro. They are very close to the same thing, but I have three sound systems that each need to be headed by a competent DAC source. I was going to buy a Mytek Brooklyn second-hand, but the new SMSL and TOPPING DACs are starting to be noticed by the audiophile press as being the current state of the art.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thanks!

[@isaacn751]

would like to see the SMSL D6S vs the Topping E50, since they have same price .. if you ad the su-1 someone said that adding a linear psu to the su-1 improves the sound a lot that would be an interesting video with those 3

[@ForeverAnalog]

Great idea. Thanks for watching!

[@monamaier1965]

And please include a Topping D10s with a Sparkos SS3602 op-amp ( it only needs one) even with the Sparkos you are around 180 $ depending if the Topping is on sale and also if Sparkos has a sale with 15% of - then you will be way below 200 $. I use this as my travel desktop system together with a Topping PA3s and the PSB Alpha 3 speakers - an absolutely amazing system with a bass performance I didn't believe to be possible on the desktop - wonderful soundstage, imaging and depth. For the money I believe it is hard to beat - and super lightweight for travel.

[@DruvisR]

Now please D6S vs Su1 video :))

[@ForeverAnalog]

That’s a good idea. I have to return the D6S soon but maybe I can make it work lol

[@thelowprofile9767]

Why is SMSL making a lot of DAC? How do you rank them according to performance? Why is the best value for money? The SU-1 appears to be great value for money. Not sure how it compare with the other SMSL models.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Lots of DACs on the market for sure! It would be a heroic feat to try and rack them all lol.

[@middleearthltd]

My expectation/opinion with a DAC would be that spending 200% more will not get 100% better sound so that is a confusing premise I would anticipate down to minus 10% to plus 1% to 10% difference in sound quality I expect generally no matter how much you spend, say $10k, you won’t get past 20% more, if that, in sound quality but if you have the money why not ? DACs may not sound exactly the same as they all do a decent job of DACing. The 200 looks nicer so if you got an extra $100 I would get that

[@ForeverAnalog]

Yeah, I'm not yet sure how to assign a percentage of improvement when it comes to comparing sound - I think for me it has to really stand out in one way, if it's just more detail or soundstage, etc. I agree most DACs these days are DACing well, lol, so this job is only getting tougher! Thanks for watching and sharing!

[@markrowe8824]

personally I don't think there would be much difference between the two at this price point, I would go for the cheaper one and spend the money saved on more music.🤔😀

[@ForeverAnalog]

That’s a plan I can fully endorse lol! Thanks for watching!

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

Works for me!

[@gogo-fk1lu]

If we're being honest, even between 200€ and 1500€ dac there isn't that much of a difference as there is in the price.

[@garymalone547]

Prefer the design of the smaller one. Such great value.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome - thanks for sharing and watching!

[@oguzaydin7482]

If you want to listen better bass detail, try DACs with AKM chips. ESS chips are usually bright which add some artificial detail while AKM chips give more neutral and full bodied sound. There are several other factors which effect the sound quality like circuit design, psu quality,etc but SMSL usually does good job for the money you pay but they are certainly not perfect. I have both SMSL-D-6S and Cambridge Audio 851N DACs, while sound D-6S is very good for the cost of the device but Cambridge Audio is better with cleaner mid range,better instrument separation and more detailed bass response.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thank you for sharing and watching!

[@CraciunAlexandruGh]

I think it would be useful for you to put details on the details of the 2 setups.

[@ForeverAnalog]

By 2 setups, do you mean my audio setup I use to test or do you mean the products themselves? Thanks for watching!

[@thelowprofile9767]

44.1 Khz is ‘file size’?

[@ForeverAnalog]

Yeah I said the wrong thing lol. I figured someone would catch it. I really meant the size of the font as displayed 😝

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

Hello Aaron.... Something that needs to be confirmed ... Over the past few days I've been testing SMSL and TOPPING DACs. I found a rather nasty aberration in the Su-1 and PS200 ... If you are using them with a Windows PC you lose the on-screen Volume Control and the Volume keys on a media keyboard stop working. This is even worse if you are using WASAPI Exclusive mode because all output levels are set to maximum. Lots of fun with 140w/ch on tap, as I found out the hard way. Daymn, that was LOUD! It might not be a problem if you have an amp with a volume control close by. But in that situation where a wireless keyboard is your remote control for an HTPC/PC-Streaming setup with decent audio, it can be a major annoyance. Yes you can control playback volume from the media player itself... but the rest of windows sounds will still be at full volume ... This is not windows USB compliant behaviour and it will "break" many of the setups it's plugged into.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thanks for the heads up!

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

@@ForeverAnalog Yeah ... I thought I should let my reviewer friends know. In technical terms ... in Windows Standard UAC1 and UAC2 modes, the volume control is actually in the DAC, not in Windows drivers. Volume management is done by signals on the USB port, not by hardware in Windows. The SMSLs I've tested do not appear to have this feature implemented. Not Good.

[@AnhNguyen-iw7cf]

D6s is really gem

[@ForeverAnalog]

Agreed. Thanks for watching!

[@D1N02]

It's the standard smsl screen, I just turn it off by default and use the Remote if I want to check something. If you can hear a difference between DAC's will also depend on the rest of your chain.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Great point. Thanks for watching and sharing!

[@adsph]

Nice comparo

[@patricaomas8750]

Sorry but both my TV and my Xbox use optical so that isn't the $2oo difference.? Also like the look of the 6s.

[@hammer-and-thumb]

The reason for using 12 chips is to allow them to cancel each other's nonlinearities. The 6 chips operating together provide better distortion and noise performance than a single chip per channel, and it shows how a commodity DAC chip can be used in multiples to rival what a high-end DAC chip can do. I wonder about the quality of the digital volume control of one compared to the other, because ESS has spent a long time improving their digital volume control, using a 32-bit internal data path for that so there are 16 bits of volume control available for a 16-bit DAC signal, or 12 bits of volume control available for a 24-bit DAC signal. The number of bits describes not the ability to 'go louder', but actually to 'go quieter' (below 0dBFS) without distortion.

[@christopherna1961]

What is best smsl dac d6s or smsl do100 pro?

[@steven2809]

It's not 'file size' it's the SAMPLING RATE!

[@ForeverAnalog]

Yeah, good point, thank you. I noticed it when editing but didn't have time to go back and re-record it all over. Sometimes dumb stuff just falls out of the mouth when recording lol

[@ConorHanley]

You don't need to spend $200 extra for an arc connection in a DAC like $200 for 8 Gb memory from Apple. I just bought a fosi DAC for £240 with an arc connection. Doubt they cost that much and its just a question of manufacturers getting around to putting them in DACs. Doubt I'll ever use it as I don't watch TV or play games.

[@dixieflatline1189]

Which one goes up to 11? Buy that one !

[@ForeverAnalog]

lol. Yes!

[@FFrrEEddRRiiKK1]

What DAC-chip does the 200 use?

[@ForeverAnalog]

I have a portion of the video that tells which chip is in each DAC 😊

[@crazyprayingmantis5596]

Yesterday i listened to a demo of 11 different speakers, yes it was through KZbin but you could easily distinguish the different sound characteristics between them all. It's in the comments section where it gets interesting because there's almost no consensus. E.g Bob thinks speaker A sounded a certain way and Dave thinks speaker A sounded almost the exact opposite Bob ranks speaker A as his 2nd favourite And Dave ranks A as his least favourite. So the question must be asked, do some people enjoy crap sounding audio? Because i know what i don't like and i know when i hear it, but then i read others comments about that very same bit of gear and they seem to like it and describe it totally different and its as if im looking at the colour blue and someone else is also but saying its green.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

Yep ... and you can write that down to the horrific inaccuracy of the human ear.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Yeah overall I’m not concerned with other people’s descriptions in the comments, especially for speakers. We all express what we hear differently and it all depends on our personal systems.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

@@ForeverAnalog The lack of a proper set of definitions for audiophile words also doesn't help ...

[@mikew8189]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I absolutely hate the menus on these SMSL devices.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Yeah...is there a company you think that does it best? Like a Topping, etc?

[@mikew8189]

@@ForeverAnalog Consider how leading tech companies like Apple have crafted intuitive and visually appealing interfaces. Keep it simple, don't bury the menus and make the UI intuitive.

[@gtye0h]

All dacs are the same if their opamps and power supply are the same

[@jr.3407]

Be careful, aoshida audio will charge you 5% when you cancel your order

[@ForeverAnalog]

I didn't know that - thanks for the heads up!

[@mikecampbell5856]

12 DAC chips. Sounds redundant. I'll have to report them to the department of redundancy department. I was thinking those guys needed to add another bass. Lead bass, rhythm bass and bass.

[@ForeverAnalog]

I’ll have the Bass and Chips instead of the Fish and Chips lol

[@mikecampbell5856]

@@ForeverAnalog You got it!

[@cremersalex]

If there is an obvious difference, I've never heard it.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thanks for watching!