SMSL IQ Portable DAC/Amp Discussions | Drop

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SMSL IQ Portable DAC/Amp

Audiophile

FULL DISCUSSION

AJCxZ0

Feb 2, 2018

The DAC specs look great, but that power output looks really low - especially for the unbalanced output which most headphones would use - compared to e.g. my FiiO Q1 (> 190 mW @ 32 Ω, 75 mW @ 150 Ω) which costs half as much.
No mention of battery here and no details on the "big capacity battery" on the manufacturer's product page[1] or in the manual[2], which seems like a rather big oversight for a mobile device, but there are some response curves including one for frequency response above 20 Hz on this device advertised as "10 Hz–100 kHz".
The "USB" support details give little confidence in the DAC support. There is a Zip download which suggests proprietary driver for the limited versions of the two platforms mentioned, neither of which is the platform running on your mobile device. It may work with your Android, iOS or other USB Audio capable device, but apart from mentioning that they package a USB C cable the manufacturer doesn't seem to think it worth mentioning. We probably have to rely on support for the chip.
This may be a good portable DAC+Amp for some easily driven headphones, but the manufacturer is less than forthcoming on some most important details compared to some of their competitors.
[1] http://www.smsl-audio.com/productshow.asp?id=142 [2] http://www.smsl-audio.com/Upload/download/20171228135540110.pdf (n.b. it's not an English up-and-download)

Feb 2, 2018

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stalepie

Feb 4, 2018

AJCxZ0It's for IEMs primarily, as it says in the description. The FiiO Q1 Mark II which features balanced output also has less power output than the Q1, so that might be a trade-off in compact designs that offer both balanced and unbalanced.

Feb 4, 2018