SMSL R1 has been in a few days and I have some thoughts.
The build quality and smoothness of the volume dial is excellent, feels and looks expensive in that Quad retro aesthetic kind of way.
The rear output mutes when headphones are connected on the front.
You can connect up dedicated 5V USB-C power input if using a non-USB source input which powers the R1 anyway along with data to a computer etc. You do not get more power running a dedicated power input as well as USB-C data.
The VU meter thing cannot be adjusted, it is fixed.
There are 4 preset EQs that cannot be customised, EQ 3 and 4 are the warmest sounding whilst 1 appears to be neutral.
Toggling input when playing via USB results in an overly longer than expected delay before USB input is resumed as it kills the USB connection when switching input to something else, meaning the computer doesn't see it any more and when going back to USB yo have to wait for it to initialise the USB input and be detected by the OS again.
There does not seem to be a USB DAC delay on initial audio playback which is great, but there is a very slight clipping noise that can be heard if there has been no audio playing and suddenly you play something like a Windows screenshot tone etc. This is something i have seen on other USB DACs before such as Toppings but not something I hear on more premium models like the X9, even without installing the Eversolo USB driver. This is usually resolved by installing the USB DAC driver provided by the maker, but SMSL does not have such a driver for the R1.
The sound when the treble/bass sliders are set to flat and EQ is set to 1 (neutral) is decent, soundstage is wide and imaging is pleasing. I would say it sounds as good as any good dongle DAC out there. The volume dial stepping is digital, and its 0% volume rest position is around 8 o'clock but audio cannot be heard until the dial moves to just above 8 o'clock.
When all processing is flat/off there is no noticeable distortion even at high volume on both HE1000se and HD600. The power output is 130mW so quite low, but it's capable of driving both headphones just fine and loud.
When you enable any EQ or adjust the tone controls, distortion comes in at higher volumes especially noticed in songs with bass or audio with bass, so for gamers playing shooters, this is a big issue if you want to tone control or use one of the better EQ presets as flat is just that and lacks any smoothness/warmth in sound signature.
Using it is a DAC only and pre-amp using the RCA outputs to the power amp it does an OK job although there is noticeable noise floor interference that can be heard, just like what I found with the Creek 4040A a while back. Seems the analogue circuitry is not isolated. I then plugged in the RCA interconnect between the X9 and power amp to test and heard no noticeable interference noise. In this config the power amp was set to bypass and R1 used as pre-amp, in pure DAC mode and volume controlling via the power amp, the same noise can be heard once you increase the power amp's volume, the R1's volume is maxed out in this test to imitate bypass and be DAC only.
It is priced at $71 currently, I think if you must have a desktop sitting box to use and interact with then ok it's fine, but these caveats have to be considered. Otherwise I would say the ONIX Alpha XI1 offers better sound with none of the distortion issues or noise etc at a slightly higher price and offers more power, lower THD+N.
The other advantage of the R1 though is it has dedicated mic input, although if you are a gamer you almost certainly have a USB mic or headset anyway so this is not really a selling factor.
The build quality and smoothness of the volume dial is excellent, feels and looks expensive in that Quad retro aesthetic kind of way.
The rear output mutes when headphones are connected on the front.
You can connect up dedicated 5V USB-C power input if using a non-USB source input which powers the R1 anyway along with data to a computer etc. You do not get more power running a dedicated power input as well as USB-C data.
The VU meter thing cannot be adjusted, it is fixed.
There are 4 preset EQs that cannot be customised, EQ 3 and 4 are the warmest sounding whilst 1 appears to be neutral.
Toggling input when playing via USB results in an overly longer than expected delay before USB input is resumed as it kills the USB connection when switching input to something else, meaning the computer doesn't see it any more and when going back to USB yo have to wait for it to initialise the USB input and be detected by the OS again.
There does not seem to be a USB DAC delay on initial audio playback which is great, but there is a very slight clipping noise that can be heard if there has been no audio playing and suddenly you play something like a Windows screenshot tone etc. This is something i have seen on other USB DACs before such as Toppings but not something I hear on more premium models like the X9, even without installing the Eversolo USB driver. This is usually resolved by installing the USB DAC driver provided by the maker, but SMSL does not have such a driver for the R1.
The sound when the treble/bass sliders are set to flat and EQ is set to 1 (neutral) is decent, soundstage is wide and imaging is pleasing. I would say it sounds as good as any good dongle DAC out there. The volume dial stepping is digital, and its 0% volume rest position is around 8 o'clock but audio cannot be heard until the dial moves to just above 8 o'clock.
When all processing is flat/off there is no noticeable distortion even at high volume on both HE1000se and HD600. The power output is 130mW so quite low, but it's capable of driving both headphones just fine and loud.
When you enable any EQ or adjust the tone controls, distortion comes in at higher volumes especially noticed in songs with bass or audio with bass, so for gamers playing shooters, this is a big issue if you want to tone control or use one of the better EQ presets as flat is just that and lacks any smoothness/warmth in sound signature.
Using it is a DAC only and pre-amp using the RCA outputs to the power amp it does an OK job although there is noticeable noise floor interference that can be heard, just like what I found with the Creek 4040A a while back. Seems the analogue circuitry is not isolated. I then plugged in the RCA interconnect between the X9 and power amp to test and heard no noticeable interference noise. In this config the power amp was set to bypass and R1 used as pre-amp, in pure DAC mode and volume controlling via the power amp, the same noise can be heard once you increase the power amp's volume, the R1's volume is maxed out in this test to imitate bypass and be DAC only.
It is priced at $71 currently, I think if you must have a desktop sitting box to use and interact with then ok it's fine, but these caveats have to be considered. Otherwise I would say the ONIX Alpha XI1 offers better sound with none of the distortion issues or noise etc at a slightly higher price and offers more power, lower THD+N.
The other advantage of the R1 though is it has dedicated mic input, although if you are a gamer you almost certainly have a USB mic or headset anyway so this is not really a selling factor.
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, if they weren't incredible for that price I would be very concerned.
