Been lurking in this forum for a while now and I must say, it’s not healthy, especially for my wallet!
I have recently upgraded my setup to ;
SMSL SP200 888
Audeze LCD-2C
Cheapo DAC - waiting for the SMSL DAC to stack properly
First of all, I’m really happy with this setup, the only thing that’s bugging me is that the SP200 is not truly balanced and obviously I’m abit worried with SMSL’s build quality, seeing that I had a few issues in the past with the SAP2 amp.
I’m still able to return this product for a full refund, therefore, have you guys got any suggestions for good amps that go good with my headphones? I’m also open to DAC suggestions! (If possible, available in Europe) OR should I stick with my current AMP and wait for the upcoming SMSL DAC?
Everything was purchased through amazon, so I should have very good warranty
Also I am not familiar with the sap200 from smsl, do you mean sp200, or is it a different product? Depending on the answer I don’t know if it’s worth it to upgrade or not tbh
To be honest, if you want balanced, and since you live in Europe, I would say stick with the sp200. It’s a solid amp an I think your money would be better spend on either another headphone (or an upgrade to your current one) or the matching dac when it comes out. Getting a good fully balanced setup at this price range is hard, and also I think the sp200 is already pretty good. So I would just wait for the matching dac (or just get a su8) and enjoy your setup
If you have issues with the sp200 and don’t want another one there may be other options
Seeing that you have a large knowledge base with this stuff, is it worth it to go full XLR connections between the DAC and AMP ? or is it a complete waste of money with the SP200?
So it’s still worth it to use the xlr in and out with the sp200, you get a bit better separation, and a stronger signal with less noise (although noise is minimal anyway). Most balanced devices will perform better on balanced because the designers may put more care into the xlr and the single ended may be an afterthought on a balanced device, so typically you get better performance using the balanced. Single ended devices can achieve a similar performance as well, it really just matters what the designers intend you to use, and the sp200 was designed to use balanced in and out (and the su8 was designed for balanced out)
But yeah, I’m enjoying my stay, I like reading posts from people such as M0N who are knowledgeable in this hobby, especially when they put stuff in simpler terms so people like me can get the hang of it
I mean till last month, I was happy with my JVC-SZ2000 bass cannons, but oh my god these planars! I feel like I’m privileged to be listening music through them!
SP200 likely is top dog at its price point. I don’t think SMSL products suffer universally from build quality issues. I have their SU8 and their Q5 desktop amp and both are well built and durable. I think the SP200 suffered a little bit because there was a bit of a race to join (Mass)Drop in the dedicated THX amp category. The SU8 is an awesome dac, so if you get tired of waiting, it’s sitting right there.
My chief SP200 complaint is actually that the SU8 can overload its XLR inputs. When I set the SU8 volume to max and something loud plays there’s audible distortion in the sound. Back off the SU8 volume to about level 32 (of 38), turn up SP200, clear as can be.
I believe the SP 200 like a few other amps isn’t truly balanced.
The XLR input to Mons point are typically higher voltage in, which results in lower noise… But the noise that does exists is already below that of human hearing. So your making something good, great.
The benifit comes from the increased input signal voltage which bumps the output of the amp.
In the case of the SP 200 running XLR input even with the single ended output results in what I’d call a “turbo charging” effect…
Everything is increased the thump, and impact goes way up, along with the rest of the SP200 characteristics.
So XLR input makes a difference but more so in the overall output you can hear and feel vs the noise you couldn’t hear anyway.
And that’s using the XLR input and single ended 1/4 inch output.
Side note: Some amps change character completely with increased XLR input voltage.
ex. SP200 sound scales but maintains the same tonal characteristics if that makes sense.
The Archel 2.5 Pro gets richer, lusher, more full sounding… Very pleasing to listen too… But sounds just as clean , but noticable different than just the 2 volt RCA input.
That’s fair, but it depends on the headphones tbh, the 2.5 is also more accurate though in presentation and actually driving the headphones correctly imo. Thx just sounds off most of the time, you should really try a rnhp some time and see what I mean
Also any extra thoughts on the clear after using them for a bit?
Very interesting , now I want to try everything with XLR !
With regards to the su-8, I have been eyeing it for a while now, but SMSL should be coming out with a new DAC that matches the SP 200 soon, so might as well wait a bit and see what they release and if it’s worth the price.
I’m actually probably going to get a RNHP amp.
I’ll probably wait a month or so.
Quick thoughts. Fantastic, clean clear sound. Especially in the treble. The bass is solid. Nearly perfect to me… No idea was Zeos was taking about in his review.
Vocal/mids are more forward compared to other headphones in my collection, but it still sound stages well.
