SMSL DL100 Review: Best Budget DAC/Amp Under $200?

Pick #3 of 8 in our Best DACs guide.

The SMSL DL100 is a game-changer in the budget DAC market - it costs $180. That's not a high price for a device that can be a perfect starting point for a beginner audiophile with little money to spend. It also comes with a secret that's going to leave you wondering how they did that.

A sturdier build, with tighter tolerances

It's just another black box. They can get boring, especially when a company like SMSL offers dozens of similar products. That's why they dressed it up to make it more interesting.

The chassis is fully metal, made out of bent aluminum sheet. It's not super thick, but it's also not as thin as on the DO100 PRO - one of their products I recently had a chance to review. The sides are angled a little - that's a purely aesthetical move to differentiate this model from other similar ones they offer.

On the bottom, it has 4 rubber feet that do a good enough job of preventing unwanted movement on the desk. This unit is not heavy enough to allow you to plug in cables without holding the device itself - realistically though, how often do you plug and unplug headphones or amps from a DAC?

The front of this unit greets us with a small, tactile volume knob. Next to it is a very bright screen used to display volume, sampling rate, and current settings. It's an improvement over older SMSL products, as it is not only brighter but also more functional and refined.

(view larger)

It's also a step up in the way it feels. I wouldn't call it premium, but the case feels much more sturdy. The tolerances are better, which decreases wobble in the connectors, or even the potentiometer. The finish itself seems thicker, thus much harder to scratch off. All that gives me confidence that this unit is not going to fail or break out of nowhere.

HDMI ARC input and XLR outputs for $180

Watch this part (1:55)

Most of the I/O is on the back. We can find a standard power connector here, used for supplying AC power to the internal low-noise switch-mode power supply. Next are digital inputs in the form of USB Type-C, which has two modes to choose from: USB 1.1 for older devices and USB 2.0. They go through the brand-new third-generation XMOS chip.

The DL100 can take wireless audio with the use of Bluetooth input, using the external antenna. For TV users, HDMI ARC is going to come in handy. Then there is an optical Toslink connection, as well as a standard Coax.

(view larger)

Since it's a DAC, it outputs an analog signal. And because it's a balanced DAC - which is crazy at this price - it has XLR balanced analog outputs, plus a pair of single-ended RCAs for compatibility. I'm considering the RCAs to be a compatibility-only thing, because the balanced outputs sound noticeably better - they're cleaner, more detailed, and more dynamic. That's how I used it during the evaluation.

On the front, we have some more analog outputs - namely headphone outs, as this unit is also a headphone amp. It's mind-blowing how many things SMSL managed to fit in such a small box and tight budget. They come in two flavors - a 1/4-inch single-ended jack and a 4.4mm balanced.

MQA, DSD256 and five filters, one NOS-style

Watch this part (3:22)

It's a fairly feature-packed unit. It supports MQA decoding and MQA-CD for those Tidal users. I'm not using it personally, I prefer regular PCM files. It can decode DSD256, with the addition of DSD over PCM.

Their proprietary audio clock processing circuit was implemented to help greatly reduce clock jitter. It uses numerous audio-specific audiophile-grade resistors and capacitors, instead of regular cheap, Chinese parts. It is equipped with a full-featured remote control, and it can work as a digital pre-amp. SMSL even put some effort into getting a Hi-Res certification, thus a sticker confirming that.

Finally, we can pick from 5 different types of filters. The differences between them can be subtle, but I can hear them. The most interesting thing about them is the non-oversampling filter. It is not running your DAC in a real NOS mode, as it's not an R2R DAC. However, what it does is quite simple - it doesn't purposefully cut down any top-end frequencies, which is perfect for the signal phase. This filter is perfect for extremely well-recorded music and well-done recordings. For everything else, it's probably the worst, as it unmasks unpleasant issues in a very obvious way. My recommendation would be to use a slow and phase-compensated filter. That's the next best thing that doesn't mess up the songs as much, in cases where they aren't perfect.

Flagship specs from four Cirrus Logic chips

Watch this part (5:01)

It can take up to 32-bit, 768kHz PCM signals. For digital-to-analog conversion, it uses 4 pieces of Cirrus Logic's audio decoding chip. Its performance reaches a level of 0.00009% non-weighted THD+N. That's a very good number for a chip-based DAC.

The output level is a bit higher than standard. It provides 2.5V for RCA and 5.2V for XLR. That's, at least partly, why it performs so well on paper. But I wouldn't consider this cheating the spec sheets. Even with a little over 5 volts on the XLRs, you're rather unlikely to overdrive any amplifiers and make them distort.

The built-in headphone amplifier doesn't seem like an afterthought with no real amplification stage. SMSL developed an independent circuit dedicated to it. Its power output is not bad - 3 watts into 16 ohms, or 1.5W into 32 ohms, which is a more realistic measurement. That should be enough to power most headphones.

A clean, airy sound with light sub-bass

Watch this part (6:11)

At first sight, it shares the typical SMSL house sound. Tonally, it leans more toward clarity and airiness. It seems to avoid muddiness at all costs. In this case, that cost is some lower midrange energy, warmth, and fullness. This can make for a dull presentation if the rest of your chain - like the amplification, speakers, or headphones - are already on the brighter, thinner side of things.

But it can also pair perfectly with lots of warmer gear, making it more balanced, natural, and, for lack of a better comparison, more true to the recording.

The only real sonic characteristic I didn't particularly find appealing is the sub-bass. It doesn't seem that extended, despite what frequency response measurements try to indicate. That leaves us with less dynamic impact and punch than expected. It isn't anything major though - that's only noticeable compared to more expensive DACs and becomes clear once you get to the higher end of speakers or headphones. Before you get to this level, you're likely going to upgrade your source gear anyway to SMSL or another company's high-priced products.

The positive effect of the tonal characteristics affected the soundstage. It's not collapsed, but also not super wide. However, what I find very nice about it is the accuracy and precision. The analytical nature of this product helps it a lot. The instruments and vocals are very close to being locked in a single place where they're supposed to be. There's some movement and blurriness, nevertheless it's quite impressive.

The vocals are a little forward. I assume that it's on purpose, as they implemented an HDMI ARC connection - so they assume that people will use it with their TVs. The most common things that people watch on TV are movies, news, and stuff where human voices, as well as their intelligibility, really matter.