The amazing DAC with 1000 sounds - S.M.S.L RAW-MDA 1
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Saturday October 5, 2024
David Mellor
David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.
I wanted to please consult you I'm hesitating between SMSL RAW-MDA1 and topping d50 iii ?
My equipment is two amplifiers ROTEL RA11 and YAMAHA RN 602.
Speakers Bowers & Wilkins CM8 and PHASE TECHNOLOGY Velocity V-12 (which I prefer).
I use One Little Bear VU3 SWITCHER .
I listen to music mostly from the computer connected with SMSL SU1 to Rotel and two streamers each connected to a different AIYIMA DAC-A1 each connected to a different amplifier in short,
On the computer connected to Rotel I use VIPER 4 FOR WINDOWS
And to YAMAHA I connect Equalizer Rotel RE-830
I prefer the SMSL RAW-MDA1 because of the connections and convenience
On the other hand, the topping d50 iii has a built-in EQ in the computer application and according to CHAT GPT the sound with the EQ will be better than the VIPER 4 What do you think? Please help me decide what is important to me is the first thing the sound quality (I really like listening with EQ) Of course, convenience is also important to me and I think that with the new SMSL it will be easier to use
@semut7226: Is it good for r70x?
@palmerinozde: I bought one from Amazon but returned due to USB C issue, it can’t be connected with my iPad Pro via USB C portal directly. iPad Pro doesn’t identify the device and music can’t be went through. Were you guys have same issue?
@r2d3vadar92: Thanks for saving me money. I will stick with the internal DAC of my CD player. I also put extra first press cold press virgin olive oil in my ears for ear health, had stable volume off on YouTube and listening through HD600's on a jds labs atom 2 stack headphone amp and dac.
@roguewave06: Better this or new c200 pro?
@CeeKayNow: The digital filters, you're probably not going to hear anything. The sound colors, you will notice slight differences probably. But maybe not. Your mileage may vary. I must say, I do love options though. You never know, there could be one or two of your favorite tracks that could benefit from one of these sound color options.
@greenbeginner9221: The AI girl creeps me out.
@geniussnake497: Oooh, Betty! 😂
@TheSuperTigerwing: You talk too much 😊
@AlonzosTech: I am enjoying this desktop DAC with workstation. Thank U for sharing your opinion.
@Hey.Joe_Ridley: I heard plenty of YouTube sound mangling (artefacts) when the bloke with the recognisable North East of England was talking. The samples, though? All of them let through the same 4kHz tinnitus in my right ear. So if I get one of these, I’ll not be messing with the options.
@keithlevkoff8579: So... what does their "DPLL" do that the jitter reclocking in the Sabre DAC chip doesn't do?
And why would I possibly want anything other than "as little jitter as possible"?
And, BTW, doesn't the asynch USB connection eliminate the jitter anyway?
And, no, I couldn't hear any differences between any of your samples...
(Only kidding... I'm sure the DAC in my USB headset is bad enough to obscure any differences that might have been there.)
I hear this unit has two Coax and two Optical inputs... so that's a plus... and the menu looks reasonable.
Maybe we need a random play feature that picks a different set of filter options each time you turn it on...
Then we could have a feature that lets you vote "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" each day when you turn it off...
🤣
@LDFades: My filters on my RAW MDA1 seem to be named differently 🤔
@peterpipe9015: Hello ,does it sound better than topping e70 velvet ?
Thank you
@gwine9087: I don't even like equalising.
@fretbuzz_: Didn't hear any difference through my phone to a bluetooth speaker while in a tile bathroom and in the shower. All sounds the same for some reason.
@SastusBulbas1: Nice colourful review, your mentioning of the DPLL filter and jitter was an interesting one, you mention TV use, the reality is many connect TV's to dacs to enjoy many shows and movies in stereo, not eveyone likes surround sound or TV sound.
Some while back I read an article regarding appaling performance from LG tv's digital output via toslink into ESS dacs, and this could well be why such is implimented. My own LG TV connects to an older non ESS dac and I experience no issues but also it's not critical listening.
I find it kind of strange considering just how many in todays audio world claim jitter or digital noise/artefacts or whatever else is nonsense as all digital sounds the same, to see a manufacturer impliment a variable DPLL filter, infering there therefor can be issues with digital outputs.
@lancewood1410: I hope you will get to do the review for the RAW-HA1 as well.
@joelcarson4602: Does it have a "Stereo Direct" setting? That's the one I want.
@julesc8054: I absolutely appreciated the .wav file on my cellphone speakers.
Is this working am I trolling properly.😅
@AudioMasterclass replies to @julesc8054: You're doing OK by the rules set by the Academy of Trolling. However, there are further levels to be achieved https://youtu.be/dKs6ZzoLnp4
@julesc8054 replies to @julesc8054: @AudioMasterclass you mean some day I'll own a rocket company🤩 I already feel more valuable to society.
@LeeBergerMediaProd: I used a pair of Sony MDR -V6 headphones connected to my IPhone 15 ProMax via the Apple USB C to 3.5mm adapter (DAC there in) and couldn’t hear any difference. If a difference was to be heard I’m sure YouTube’s encoder would make that null and void.
@gordondyer6310: My ears have a cillia hair rolloff at 10kHz. I coulnt hear the difference.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @gordondyer6310: Don’t worry! You still have nine of your original ten octaves left.
@artysanmobile: I strongly recommend acoustic instruments. Piano and classical guitar are very revealing sounds. Synthesizer key pads and drums are exactly the opposite. Human voice, especially speech, is revealing because we all know its sound so well.
@artysanmobile: Ah, the mythical digital harshness. Will this nonsense never end?
@Hi-EndAudioGuy: Maybe the tube settings sound different, others no diff.
@thomprd: None of the audio sample differences make it thru YT, my Meridian Explorer DAC on my computer, then my Grado RS2E headphones enough for me to hear a difference.
@RosemarySoriano-n6v: Thank you so much for the great review😊
@AudioMasterclass replies to @RosemarySoriano-n6v: You’re welcome.
@andysummersthxcinemaandmyc7748 replies to @RosemarySoriano-n6v: @AudioMasterclass it doesn't approve for b chain its in the cat litter with this product
@stevenhoward3358: Please give Betty a Geordie accent
@robinkleinsteuber5217: Yeah, what the hell. Have different DAC for each day of the week.😁 And I'd be very preoccupied with 1050 different sounds on this DAC! 🤣 No. Have a great day, and happy listening! 😊🎶🎶🎶
@AudioMasterclass replies to @robinkleinsteuber5217: Yeah, MonDAC, TuesDAC etc.. Why not?
@virafdastoor399: I set this up 3 days ago.
Am perfectly happy with the factory settings bit will tweak a bit in the days to come.
I zeroed in on this model after almost 2 years of searching. I wanted multiple inputs, BT and a powerful head phone amp.
This has hit the nail on the head.
I am using it with my Yamaha AS 501, Q acoustics 2050 I, REL T zero and senheiser HD 650 .
The transformation is quite remarkable.
@kaifa76: mine died in 48 hours, the usual chinese trash
@geoff37s38: A device like this would drive me nuts, constantly fiddling to try and convince myself I can hear an improvement. I suspect speaker choice and room acoustics will totally mask any actual differences. Even moving your head a few centimetres will have a much greater effect a good recording of a human voice would be a better test.
@johto replies to @geoff37s38: Yep, and like us old farts can even hear above 12khz ! LOL
@grahamstrahle4010: Hey, you run your own YT channel and follow what's of interest to you. Deplorable, and worth celebrating. Keep it up!
@mikemullin9771: Using a sound track that has nothing human is useless for sound quality judgement....
@AncientEgyptArchitecture: I'm a simple old man, with simple old gear. My Hafler SE100 serves me well and I have no complaints about its jitter or phase. I do like your equipment 'reviews that aren't reviews'. 😉
Something I've noticed over the years; if the sound coming out of my speakers doesn't seem quite up to my expectations, a little 'listening training' always helps.
@TriAmpMyFi replies to @AncientEgyptArchitecture: Did Aliens build the Pyramids?
@rabit818: YouTube Audio Mangling - i need that high sampling rate for my vintage DAC
All I want from a DAC is soften digital harshness. 1,000 plus filters only my dog will hear and notice, nice.
@HafsteinnHafsteinsson: I paused the video at 5:24 where the rolloff chart is shown. I noticed that almost all of it is above 20Khz. So my prediction is that all none of the filters will make any difference. I will reply after the full video.
@Douglas_Blake_579 replies to @HafsteinnHafsteinsson: Those are 'Reconstruction filters" that operate at half the sampling rate. At 95khz, for example, they would be at 48khz. The different slopes allow for fine tuning against aliasing and reflected artifacts.
@GauisHelenaMohaim replies to @HafsteinnHafsteinsson: Believe it or not but some people can hear frequencies up to 21khz. That 20kHz limit is not written in to stone.
@MaaZeus replies to @HafsteinnHafsteinsson: @GauisHelenaMohaim Only young children and teens can get that high. But still, most of the listening people do are from streaming services like Spotify which do lossy compression which do cut off unnecessary data to save space. Youtube also does a hard cut at 20hz and 20khz, there is no audio information beyond those points. But still, even if we were talking about losslessly compressed audio or pure CD audio, nobody will make music with ultrasonic frequencies in mind. At best it is just noise if there is anything detectable up there.
@knockshinnoch1950: Reminds me of those HiFi stacks that sound equalisers back in the day- that novelty soon wore out for most folks. For me I like to hear the music as it was intended without filtering ar manipulating bass/treble.
@thomasalexand replies to @knockshinnoch1950: Music as intended? So a bad cd production must simply be tolerated.
@robinkleinsteuber5217 replies to @knockshinnoch1950: Equalization was meant to be used to compensate for poor recording quality. And only just as needed to make those subpar recordings listenable. Equalizers were not originally intended to be used recreationally to "alter to taste". As for loudspeakers/room problems, that was originally thought to be best handled by room acoustic treatments and, of course, if it be so needed, better loudspeakers. This was the way of thought decades ago, at least.
@knockshinnoch1950 replies to @knockshinnoch1950: @thomasalexand You really are deluded if you think twiddling a few knobs on your amp/cd player are going to make the kind of improvements required for a poorly recorded/badly mastered recording sound good.
@duskonanyavarld1786 replies to @knockshinnoch1950: I still use equalizer. It is nice for gaming. Gaming have better audio settings than music. You can increase voice and leave background lower. I hope music and films have this feature in the future.
@SubTroppo: I didn't hear any difference but I did fall asleep.
@robinkleinsteuber5217 replies to @SubTroppo: I did too, but that could've been the consumed beer. 😅
@Ready4Head replies to @SubTroppo: Very slight difference, I do prefer Tube 3 tho. Relaxed my body better.
@Realityforall: The biggest distortions are coming from the room acoustic, then the speakers and bass management or lack of it and third from amplifier. DAC s differences are negligible in comparison with those and most probably all reviewers that are splashing their enthusiasm about the extraordinary sound signature of a $10k DAC won’t be able to identify the “great” DAC from other regular DACs in a double blind test 😂
@michaeldeloatch7461: There is too such a thing as good and bad texture. I advise against burlap undergarments beneath a polyester leisure suit, for example.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @michaeldeloatch7461: The UK famous Dick Emery might have advised you correctly.
@michaeldeloatch7461 replies to @michaeldeloatch7461: @AudioMasterclass Oh you limeys call it Hessian. Too much sibilance in that term for my taste, no matter which filter you apply.
@gracenotes5379: The DPLL is probably not be utilized in (asynchronous) USB mode, which I understood was used for all these sound samples. AFAIK, the DPLL is only used when there is a need to synch up to an external "implied" clock as is the case for TosLink or S/PDIF signals.
@rhodaborrocks1654: I like it that I can't hear any difference when testing the different filter options, because if there was a noticeable difference it would tell me that at least one of them is wrong and I'd worry about that. Regarding valve vs transistors, I think in the early days of transistorized amplifiers linearity was was the main issue, they definitely sounded different, but with modern devices operating within their design limits it should be very difficult to tell valves and transistors apart, it's when they get pushed beyond their design limits, i.e. party mode that the differences become apparent, valves handle that kind of abuse in a much more civilised way.
@marxman00: Raw MDMA sounds better
@dornauge1995: the PLL sample was actually the most audible for me.... with pll setting at max it sounded kind of smeared vs precise
@middleearthltd: Looks like a good first DAC that could hang around longer as it probably sounds as good as anything up to $500 or so with dual ESS chips and it looks nice
Can be used as a pre-amp
I can’t hear much distinction on the A/Bs due to YouTube audio as opposed to the actual sound
I see in the Apos link that iiWi liked it a lot
@philipcooper8297: I don't like having too many options. I still use the DacMagic 200M that has got 3 filters and that's two too many, if you asked me. That being said I do leave it on ''short delay'' as that tends to sound the best on my HD660S headphones, for whatever reason, and on my JAMO active monitors.
@Douglas_Blake_579: A question for David ....
What is the USB input using? UAC1 or UAC2 ... It matters because some older machines won't do UAC2 which is where all the fancy filters and stuff will have the most effect.
Another issue noted on SMSL DACs is that their designs tend to disable the onscreen volume controls and multimedia keys in Windows, leaving everything at 100% volume.
(UAC1 == stereo up to 24/96, multichennel up to 48ksps. UAC2 opens the floodgate for 32/384 stereo and multi channel up to 96. Fully compliant devices will not need external drivers. Windows machines pior to Win10-1803, XBox and many phones support only UAC1)
@philipcooper8297 replies to @Douglas_Blake_579: As the claim PCM 32bit/768kHz and DSD512, I'm going to say it's UAC2.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @Douglas_Blake_579: All I can say is it works from my Mac. What it won’t work with I’ll leave for someone with more patience than me to test.
@Douglas_Blake_579 replies to @Douglas_Blake_579: @AudioMasterclass
If you're helping your viewers make a buying decision it's kind of important to know where it works and where it's a waste of money.
@Douglas_Blake_579 replies to @Douglas_Blake_579: @philipcooper8297
I just dug a little deeper ... Apparently it has menu options for UAC1 or UAC2 which is good. To get beyond 384 you need to install an external driver which, in my expeience tends to be kind of flaky.
But there's still the onscreen volume question. A lot of people use wireless keyboards with HTPCs so they can listen/watch without crossing the room to adjust volume... The SU1 and DS200 both disable this feature.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @Douglas_Blake_579: @Douglas_Blake_579 No thank you. I’ll continue to make my videos on what interests me. Other reviewers are available.
@JustinGray-Yarg: Great video. I just bought one and I was wondering what those settings did.
Quick question, if I want little to no changes to my output, I am guessing I should set everything to standard and turn the jitter to min?
@AudioMasterclass replies to @JustinGray-Yarg: Standard colour yes. But the filter depends on what compromise you want to make and, indeed, whether you can hear any difference. DPLL can be minimum if you have no jitter problem, and you probably don’t.
@JustinGray-Yarg replies to @JustinGray-Yarg: @AudioMasterclass thank you so much
@Douglas_Blake_579: 5:22 ... Because the text list and chart are not colour coordinated here's the relationship...
Minimum Phase == FL1 on the chart
Linear Fast ROFF == FL2
Linear Fast ROLR == FL3
Linear Slow ROLL == FL4
Minimum Fast ROFF == FL5
Minimum Slow ROLL == FL6
Minimum Slow ROLR == FL7
Seems like a rather obvious omission in the documentation.
@ConorHanley: Thinking of getting one, not for the 1000 sounds which I doubt I'd be able to discern. Wonder if it'll be any better then my pre-historic Mission DAC 5.
@buriedbits6027: Interesting device. I got me thinking about my setup. Maybe you could improve things even further by adding software as I think I heard you output music from your computer using USB.
My Audiolab 8200CD has a healthy number of digital inputs, including USB, one optical input, and coaxial inputs that resemble RCA plugs. By the way, I’m not recommending a different DAC. Despite trying different speakers—not the best out there, just JBL Control 5 monitors and small DALI bookshelf speakers with wooden cones—I always found the sound from the 8200CD setup to be tinny, metallic, and almost sterile. It was so neutral that it lacked the warmth I prefer. However, when I added Audirvana software, everything changed. Playing lossless audio in 44.1 kHz through Audirvana to the 8200CD via USB brought the sound to life. Musical instruments and the human voice felt incredibly natural, with every instrument perfectly pronounced. The difference was dramatic—like looking through dirty windows versus clean ones.
@thepuma2012 replies to @buriedbits6027: and how is the sound if you change that 8200 for another source?