Audio science review SMSL DO100 DAC

Audio science review SMSL DO100 DAC

This is a review and detailed measurements of the SMSL DO100 stereo balanced DAC with Bluetooth.

SMSL DO100 DAC Review Stereo Balanced USB DAC.jpg

Sorry about the fuzzy front panel picture. It looks better in person. The rotary control makes it nice to adjust volume. Back panel is the usual affair but with USB-C connector instead of the usual Type B:

SMSL DO100 DAC Review Stereo Backk Panel Bluetooth Balanced USB DAC.jpg

Nice that AC adapter is built into the unit so you don’t have to worry about a dongle. The usual SMSL remote control is provided.

SMSL DO100 Measurements
Let’s start with our usual dashboard using XLR balanced out:

SMSL DO100 DAC Measurements Stereo XLR Balanced USB DAC.png

This is superb performance especially at this price, landing the DO100 nicely in our top 20 list of best DACs ever measured:

Top 20 DAC Review 2022 stereo.png

RCA output is just slightly worse:

SMSL DO100 DAC Measurements Stereo Balanced USB DAC.png

Same shows up in dynamic range:

SMSL DO100 DAC Measurements DNR noise Stereo Balanced USB DAC.png

Multitone test shows the extremely low distortion:

SMSL DO100 DAC Measurements Stereo Multitone Balanced USB DAC.png

We are talking 15 dB lower than threshold of hearing folks!

IMD distortion is excellent with ever so slight hint of “ESS IMD Hump:”

SMSL DO100 DAC Measurements Stereo IMD Distortion XLR Balanced USB DAC.png

Jitter performance is superb across all three inputs — something we don’t always see:

SMSL DO100 DAC Measurements Stereo XLR Jitter Balanced USB DAC.png

Linearity is textbook perfect of course:

SMSL DO100 DAC Measurements Stereo XLR Linearity Balanced USB DAC.png

Seven different filters are provided:

SMSL DO100 DAC Measurements Stereo Filter Balanced USB DAC.png

Using the default filter 1, we get incredibly good performance in our wideband distortion measurement:

SMSL DO100 DAC Measurements Stereo Distortion vs frequency XLR Balanced USB DAC.png

Conclusions
This is a flawless performance from SMSL.

Every test is aced, leaving no room for any complaint whatsoever.

When you consider that this state of the art performance is offered at relatively low cost, it is quite an achievement.

There is no excuse left to not opt for full transparency folks.

It is my pleasure to recommend the SMSL DO100.

 

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/smsl-do100-review-stereo-dac.34198/

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