smsl sp200 review

It seems that SMSL designed a special 24Watt power supply for this unit to be very efficient, small and obviously an ultra-low-noise one. I am not that lucky by nature so obviously I forgot to pre-order one and put my hands on it. It is encapsulated inside a metal shell, that is always a good sign and hum or hiss should be undetected. It’s there in the right dose and again it comes when it’s called for. It just grabs you and pounds you with tons of energy, speed, and impact, its spectral decay is perfect and diaphragms control as well. If you wanted to go all-in for the best available THX chips available: the dual-mono only THX AAA-888, you needed to shelve some serious cash for the $3000 Benchmark HPA4 that I also reviewed and later on purchased for myself as I couldn’t sleep at night without one, that’s how good it sounded with all my headphones. In low gain mode it works exceptionally well and there is plenty of volume. SMSL send me this amp to review, which was good timing as it was one of the most requested items for me to review. People called it as the Holy Grail of headphone amplification, as an End-Game, shift+delete your head-fi account type of amp. The volume works in analog domain, this is an analog pot and at lowest volume there is a bit of channel mismatch, but going past 8 o’clock the channel balance comes back and is not something to be concerned about. At the same time, I remembered how good my former reference Gilmore Lite Mk2 from Headamp sounded, or the Burson Fun or even the cute Bacillus from Erzetich Audio, all were small but huge in terms of sonics. Did it impress me? Note, this review follows our new scoring guidelines for 2020 which you can read up on here. This technology allows for the highest fidelity with extreme output power and ultra-low crosstalk for a high-quality, low distortion sound. SP200 is incredibly powerful, I almost can’t believe it drives the Arya like it’s nothing. My usual folk-rock tunes and my older electronica kicked some serious punch into my eardrums. This is where SP200 is shining brighter than other headphone amps, it feels at home when it comes to resolution. If you have a mediocre sounding source and you expect that a headphone amp will somehow magically make it sound much better, that will never happen with SP200, it will expose all the flaws of the source and of your recordings. When SMSL released their SP200 – a THX based achromatic audio headphone amplifier, it created ripples in the headphone amp market due to its great sound quality, high output power and super affordable price point. I connected my sensitive IEMs and I am glad to report that the noise floor is nowhere to be spotted in low gain mode. SP200 is brutally honest, it can be slow only when the song asks for it, otherwise expect some impressive dynamics. The volume works in the analog domain, this is an analog pot and at the lowest volume, there is a bit of channel mismatch, but going past 8 o’clock the channel balance comes back and is not something to be concerned about. I’m very excited about that comparison, stay tuned for that! It’s an unusual choice from SMSL, but it does tend to give the … Join the Apos Audio community to read member-only content and receive exclusive offers! On the front panel you have two headphone outputs: a ¼” and a 4-pin XLR output, an On/Off switch, a RCA or XLR input selector, a High/Low gain selector and a volume wheel. The best transient response I ever heard from a headphone transducer was heard on HPA4, if I move to faster paced music it will always put a big smile on my face. Bass control is not something a lot of headphone amps can be proud about and yet SP200 has it under strict control. I think it looks interesting, it’s not over the top and most importantly doesn’t have any sharp edges. When I first looked at it, I wasn’t really sure I am looking from a right angle at it, but when I got to play with it in my hand, I observed the slightly angled case. I connected my sensitive IEMs and I am glad to report that the noise floor is nowhere to be spotted in low gain mode. It is available right now, you don’t need to wait for the next batch and you don’t need to preorder anything. If you have a mediocre sounding source and you expect that a headphone amp will somehow magically make it sound much better, that will never happen with SP200, it will expose all the flaws of the source and of your recordings. You bet it did, it wiped the floor with some higher-priced amps and this is why it gets my highest recommendation. SP200 as the rest of THX family of products are excelling at recreating the original intent of the recording engineer, it will extract everything that the engineer intended us to hear. It’s lightning-quick, strikes immediately with a huge force and impact. This review is posted here in partnership with Soundnews.net. There is however a small issue with sensitive IEMs: it starts to be really loud really fast so take great care when you touch that volume wheel, I personally can’t listen at more than 8 o’clock position, at 9 it is way too loud for me. 3 watts is a good chunk of power for an amp but I wanted that true balanced design. I presume it will do just fine will all planar-magnetic headphones with an exception or two (AB-1266 and Susvara came to mind). With a great source the final result will be great and with a mediocre source the final result can be disappointing. It is brutally honest – this could be a good thing or a bad thing. Linear and straight as a line, zero coloration, Deep and controlled bass, clean top-octave, Ultra-low harmonic or any kind of distortion even at loud levels, Lightning quick transient response, great slam, Incredibly powerful headphone amp section, Highest value in the headphone amp category as of today, DACs: Matrix Audio Element X, Burson Audio Conductor 3, Headphone amps: SMSL SP200, Benchmark HPA4, Massdrop THX-789, Full-sized headphones: Hifiman Arya, Quad ERA-1, Sennheiser HD660S, Portable headphones: Sennheiser Momentum M2, Erzetich Thalia, Wireless headphones: Master&Dynamic MW65, Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless, Interconnects: QED Reference XLR (x2), Aune AL3 XLR, Balanced Isolation Power Conditioners: PLiXiR Elite BAC400, KECES BP-600.

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