The BEST DAC 2021 - SMSL DO200

#BESTDAC2021 #smsl #DAC

This SMSL DO200 has officially earned my seal of approval. In fact I think it is the best DAC of 2021. Want to know why? Take a look at why I think the SMSL DO200 is the best DAC of 2021.

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[Toid]

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[latheofheaven]

Ah, FINALLY another good review of this new excellent DAC! Although I've been pretending to be an Audiophile for over 40 years now, I've never EVER been the slightest bit interested in anything digital whatsoever. *Vinyl ONLY!* (if the link with pictures of my system and collection isn't removed below, you'll see what I mean) 😁 But... with like somewhere in the neighbourhood of about 6000-7000 albums in FLAC on my HDDs, I figure with the lower cost DACs coming out now and so many of them getting good reviews, I thought, what the hell, why not just try a DAC and see how it sounds with my primary system.

Well... This is my very first DAC, and I've had it now for a few weeks. My primary system is somewhat unusual in that it is comprised of 2 tall multi-driver fully open baffle dipole line arrays. My system is currently tri-amped with 2 vintage (Read: Ancient!) Discrete Sherwood Newcastle amps running dual-mono and a Crown 2502 400/side running the 2-15" dipole woofers. So, it is designed strongly to favour image and soundstage. It is not really expensive, but I feel it is still rather sensitive and shows very subtle differences in the sound according to what source is used. So far, I am quite shockingly impressed with this DAC! With my long standing negative attitude towards digital sound, I really did not expect much. But, WOW! after 'burning in' for a couple of weeks it just keeps sounding better and better. And, I can tell, just like with vinyl pressings, that the source quality of the FLAC files can also make a huge difference in the sound, which shows to me that the DAC must be conveying pretty accurate sound through my system.

Since this DAC is so new, I've been looking for more reviews of it and I was really glad to find yours. This DAC is currently about $489 on Amazon, since you didn't mention it. It is not the most expensive DAC, or even up to some of the highly reviewed 'Mid' level DACs like the Denafrips Ares II which everyone raves about, but is upwards of about $900 shipped. And, others are easily around $2000+ But, I think for just about $500, so far, this seems like it is really doing a nice job in my system. I'll try to post a link to pictures of my system if anyone is bored or has absolutely *NOTHING* better to do 😊 I've posted comments on the lower right corner of some of the pictures giving more details about how my system is set up. Usually, Google's AI immediately deletes any posts with a link in it, but sometimes it allows it, so I'll give it a try in reply to this post. Just to give an idea as to what I'm playing it through.

Thank again mate for the good review, keep up the great work Bro! 👍

[shawnbrennan]

I'm new to the DAC scene. Will this connect to my android phone with USB-C

[danielcortez]

Pretty new subsciber here. Been enjoying your channel and slowly trying to get caught up with all your projects and reviews. Great content! Thx
You are familiar, like I knew you long ago. SE Asia, HI, USAF? Whatever. LOL. Enjoying your channel. Continued success. All the best ... "Sir Toid"! 🙏🏼

[thekittencult]

besides PS audio, can somebody tell me who else uses i2s?

[emarshallp]

Excelent Did you compare it with smsl vmv d1 se? Thanks and greetings from Argentina!

[billbryant]

Have you compared the DO200 and the D300? I just replaced my Emotiva DC-1 with a D300 and I like it a lot. Forget the audiophile jargon. The D300 just makes instruments and voices on CD sound more real.

[Messi-btrg]

smsl do100 is much inferior to do200 ?
i am using do100 .

[cisco]

Would you say this is less harsh or warmer? sound. I think I would like a warmer sound. I'm looking at this DAC the SU-9 and the SU-8S, DO200, LOXJIE D50, LOXJIE D40, M500 MK2, and the VMV D1SE or the SU-9N. I stream music with Tidal and never heard MQA but would like to have.

[cisco]

Would the SMSL SP200 work with this good. And is the VMV D1SE any better

[ScotianBlooded]

noob question how does the chain go dac-headphone amp-speaker amp?

[landosazo]

GREAT REVIEW....FOR THE SAME PRICE, DID YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO COMPARE WITH THE GUSTARD X16? THANKS

[stevenslater]

Would it be worth it to run this into my Yamaha aventage and run pure direct?

[vincesanity]

what stack was on the vid? do200, hO200, and ao200?

[TheRockerxx]

Can you use it as a pre and DAC with volume control simoltaneisly?

[brandonmachado]

Stumbled upon your channel and the idea of building my own speakers intrigues me but what tools do you need in order to do all of these circular cuts in the wood etc? Not really just the circular tools but what tools would one need at hand in order to make the box I suppose is what I'm asking.

[mjcaron]

Kind of off topic. Headphone recommendation? Looking for best possible sound quality. Any suggestions

[hemanthsonu]

Great review!! Can you suggest a amp which can be stacked along with dac. Primarily for passive speakers

[tpn]

Does this dac work with the other common smsl remote you showed in the video?

[natnut]

Can you please comment on the quality of the preamplifier portion of this DAC? Does it live up to the DAC component or should I get a separate preamplifier?