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SMSL SP200 THX AAA-888 Balanced Headphone Amp
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SMSL SP200 THX AAA-888 Balanced Headphone Amp
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Product Description
SMSL has joined forces with THX to create a high-performing balanced headphone amp with next to no distortion. True to its name, the SMSL SP200 THX AAA-888 Balanced Headphone Amp features ground-breaking THX AAA-888 technology to deliver detailed audio with extreme output power and impressively low crosstalk Read More
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Smee
19
Nov 12, 2021
I've had both. The 789 sounded better with a deeper sound stage I noticed in games. Also the treble was better. By that I mean a high hat or cymbal on the 789 sounded like a splash, and on the 888 it's more of a tink. I'm listening to an SP200 right now and browsing for a 789 if that gives you an idea which sounds better. The One version I also had and it too sounded better, but was running out of power on the more demanding headphones.
XiiNyth
0
Oct 30, 2021
Why is it advertised as a balanced amp when its neither balanced internally or at the output (xlr measures the same as 1/4 inch) ? The only differences go on in the cable which are not a part of the product. Don't get me wrong it's a good amp at a good price but this type of advertising just feeds into all the misinformation in the audio industry.
jgillingham
177
Oct 31, 2021
I don't have this amp, and I don't know what kind of circuitry it contains, but it doesn't matter if it's not internally balanced, and it doesn't matter if it doesn't have a bridged output.
Bridged outputs provide four times the output power, but that's their only benefit when driving typical headphones or loudspeakers, which are inherently balanced anyway and derive no benefits from being driven by balanced drivers.
"Internally balanced" amplifier circuits are generally utterly pointless and provide no benefits that can't be provided by simpler, cheaper circuits.
I agree that advertising is often misleading and dishonest, but in this specific case, it's not. The problem here is the ignorance of audiophiles and reviewers who have no clue what balanced circuits are and how they work.
Further reading, written by Very Intelligent People:
Bruno Putzeys:
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hypex.nl%2Fimg%2Fupload%2Fdoc%2Fan_wp%2FWP_The_G_word.pdf&chunk=true
John Siau:
https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/balanced-vs-unbalanced-analog-interfaces
Xii-Nyth
21
Nov 26, 2021
jgillinghamoh yeah I know it really doesnt matter here, its already delivering 1.9 watts on low gain into 33 ohms...
just why put it in the title of all things when its not even true
XiiNyth
0
Mar 3, 2022
jgillinghamoh thanks for putting this all here, without it my comment wouldve been pointless since only people who already know why it doesn't matter in this case would understand it.
anyways I ended up getting this amp, and for anyone who saw my other comments either the channel imbalance issue was fixed by switching to better potentiometers or I just got lucky. Really flawless, only thing it cant do is drive electrostatics or speakers :).
quick tip for anyone getting moderately hard to drive headphones like a 560s which is most people, and not some really hard to drive aeons, its actually a lot better to run on high gain turning it up a little then on low gain up high. Though you would think its still enough power on low gain while being slightly cleaner, it sounds significantly less harsh on high gain.
Anything like a 598 though keep on low. Was purely subjective and only had my friends 560s on for about 3 minutes but it was pretty obvious. Could also be that the 560s are have lower sensitivity then whats listed on the specs that I just searched up quickly though, but on whatever you get I'd at least try it out even if you don't think your headphones need the power.
Maybe the power output curve is a double bump across impedences? (since I only have measurements at 33 and 350 and nothing in the middle like 120). It logically wouldn't be voltage or current limited in the middle of the 2 and that's a sweet spot, but maybe whatever opamps or whatever is used in it switch to a different mode at a certain threshold and there's an independent voltage limit at low gain. Doubt Ill get an answer on this but could explain what I heard.
DamienR
168
Oct 3, 2021
On paper barely, But I wouldn't advise it. My experience with the HE6se on the SP400 is there are times i feel it could use more power which is interesting since the Jot2 owners don't have that complaint.
holsen
203
Jan 6, 2022
Is this thing too much for IEMs? I'm currently running a D50s into a JDS Atom and have been considering upgrading the Amp, but not sure if this is the one..... Comments?
mentok80085
2
Jan 6, 2022
this guy said it can be to much for iems and you should get the monoprice thx amp because it has 3 gain settings. https://youtu.be/cEpJHb8bKpU
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