SMSL A300 – A Chinese Integrated amplifier.
As promised here is a user review on the USD 200, SMSL A300 power amp, a Chinese product of Shenzhen audio that is gaining followers. So get a coffee, find a chair and make sure you do not fall off !!!
The amp is sold as a stereo power amplifier but this is a full integrated amp. SMSL needs to get their terminology right. It was probably lost in translation. You can read the specs online but to summarise it is tiny, has 2 RCA inputs with a USB input to connect yr laptop via USB cable. The front panel is minimalistic. One rotary volume control where u need to put your finger into a small depression and rotate. I would have preferred a traditional volume control. The display panel is in blue (adjustable brightness) and readable from across the room. Buttons for power, menu. Blue tooth 5.0 is available so u can stream from your phone or ipad. The amp is Class D design that does not get hot and rated at 85RMS into 8 ohms and 165RMS at 4 ohms load. Impressive as not every amp can do this. The remote is basic but does all the functions of power on, input selector, volume , and tone control. Works from a max of 16ft distance. The power cord is Uk/Singapore rectangular flat type and so an adaptor is required. There is a master power switch on the rear panel and active sub woofer out at 50 Hz and below. To use Blue Tooth just select it and search for SMSL BT on yr phone. Click to connect..It claims to have an extended range for the signal. Also a BTL out which is when u want to bridge both channels and use as mono block. Power output doubles and you need two identical amps. RCA connectors are gold plated...and have a protection circuit for over heating..Dont know how that works as Class D amps do not generate heat. The amp in a black aluminium casing, came well packed in a cardboard box with foam inside and the amp itself wrapped in a plastic envelope with the remote, power cable etc in plastic covers. It weighs just over 1 kg.The instruction book is the size of a packet of Dunhill cigarettes and with very small print that is hard to read. However there is a online pdf available.
Connected to a very basic Sony cd player with Monster interconnects. Speakers are Jamo S626 floor standing with side firing subs built in. Frequency responce 42-20k at 6 ohms and sensitivity 89db. Placed about 8 inches from the rear wall and several feet of space from side walls. Speaker wire is Cable Talk bi-wire.
My listening is mainly concerts, country, jazz, instrumental and some pop. First played a CD with Sax and it was amazing. Natural sound, very smooth , no distortion and total silence between tracks.
The soundstage was good. Some adjustment of the speakers by moving them a little forward, little further apart and a slight toe in made a lot of difference to the sound. It was deeper, and the soundstage was wider with instruments more clearly defined. Neil diamond- “Beautiful noise “ was reproduced very well with all the street noise in the background. Dave Brubecks “take 5” had very good drums. In my large living room, the volume set between 30-33 was more than adequate to get quite high sound levels. The amp goes to a max volume of 60. At a volume level of 20-22 its adequate for background music while u work or on the phone..The bass is deep and quite tight with excellent midrange. The system would benefit with using a powered sub to extend bass to lower frequency. Keep in mind that this is not a high end amp and the performance and expectations has to be in relation to the price point. This is a musical amp.
The A300 also highlights shortfalls in CD recordings. Poor recordings and highly compressed recordings do not sound good. But insert a very well recorded CD, press play and you are in for a treat. The amp would sound better by upgrading my CD player to a Denon or Marantz.
Female vocals of Joan Baez, Celine Dion, Linda Rondstadt, ..... were smooth and natural sounding. On the concert of Celine Dion for the track talking about the turn of the century (year 2000), you could hear her breathing. So also male vocals such as Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Neil Diamond, ...... The cd of Yanni concert at the Acropolis, Greece with lots of different instruments was sounding very good. Some tracks of the concert makes high demand on power due to the high energy music with lows and extreme highs. The SMSL coped very well and did not run of power. Impressive. Clearly this amp has been “voiced” very well and the power supply can handle it. Viji Krishnan's carnatic fusion“Malabar to Morocco” with the flute and violin was very realistic. Wind and string instruments sounded natural... German power amplifier ICs have been used with Japanese electronic volume control. Some amplifiers can make you tired if you listen for extended periods. Not this one. A 5 hour listening session was very enjoyable.
What is lacking? There is no head phone socket and no digital input except for the USB. This costs money and would have pushed the retail price higher. The amp is ideal if on a limited budget with good speakers. Overall it competes with amps costing 2-3 times the price. So dont be in a hurry to sell your Mark Levinson, Carry Audio, Krell, Pass Labs, Macintosh and other high end amps. SMSL is not in that league. I do plan to hook it up to my Tannoy Reference speakers to see what happens.
SMSL makes a whole range of audio equipment and even reasonably priced valve amplifiers when u compare them to American valve equipment. Having heard the A300 my respect for Chinese audio equipment has gone up several notches. Upgrading to a SMSL integrated valve amp is very tempting option.
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As promised here is a user review on the USD 200, SMSL A300 power amp, a Chinese product of Shenzhen audio that is gaining followers. So get a coffee, find a chair and make sure you do not fall off !!!
The amp is sold as a stereo power amplifier but this is a full integrated amp. SMSL needs to get their terminology right. It was probably lost in translation. You can read the specs online but to summarise it is tiny, has 2 RCA inputs with a USB input to connect yr laptop via USB cable. The front panel is minimalistic. One rotary volume control where u need to put your finger into a small depression and rotate. I would have preferred a traditional volume control. The display panel is in blue (adjustable brightness) and readable from across the room. Buttons for power, menu. Blue tooth 5.0 is available so u can stream from your phone or ipad. The amp is Class D design that does not get hot and rated at 85RMS into 8 ohms and 165RMS at 4 ohms load. Impressive as not every amp can do this. The remote is basic but does all the functions of power on, input selector, volume , and tone control. Works from a max of 16ft distance. The power cord is Uk/Singapore rectangular flat type and so an adaptor is required. There is a master power switch on the rear panel and active sub woofer out at 50 Hz and below. To use Blue Tooth just select it and search for SMSL BT on yr phone. Click to connect..It claims to have an extended range for the signal. Also a BTL out which is when u want to bridge both channels and use as mono block. Power output doubles and you need two identical amps. RCA connectors are gold plated...and have a protection circuit for over heating..Dont know how that works as Class D amps do not generate heat. The amp in a black aluminium casing, came well packed in a cardboard box with foam inside and the amp itself wrapped in a plastic envelope with the remote, power cable etc in plastic covers. It weighs just over 1 kg.The instruction book is the size of a packet of Dunhill cigarettes and with very small print that is hard to read. However there is a online pdf available.
Connected to a very basic Sony cd player with Monster interconnects. Speakers are Jamo S626 floor standing with side firing subs built in. Frequency responce 42-20k at 6 ohms and sensitivity 89db. Placed about 8 inches from the rear wall and several feet of space from side walls. Speaker wire is Cable Talk bi-wire.
My listening is mainly concerts, country, jazz, instrumental and some pop. First played a CD with Sax and it was amazing. Natural sound, very smooth , no distortion and total silence between tracks.
The soundstage was good. Some adjustment of the speakers by moving them a little forward, little further apart and a slight toe in made a lot of difference to the sound. It was deeper, and the soundstage was wider with instruments more clearly defined. Neil diamond- “Beautiful noise “ was reproduced very well with all the street noise in the background. Dave Brubecks “take 5” had very good drums. In my large living room, the volume set between 30-33 was more than adequate to get quite high sound levels. The amp goes to a max volume of 60. At a volume level of 20-22 its adequate for background music while u work or on the phone..The bass is deep and quite tight with excellent midrange. The system would benefit with using a powered sub to extend bass to lower frequency. Keep in mind that this is not a high end amp and the performance and expectations has to be in relation to the price point. This is a musical amp.
The A300 also highlights shortfalls in CD recordings. Poor recordings and highly compressed recordings do not sound good. But insert a very well recorded CD, press play and you are in for a treat. The amp would sound better by upgrading my CD player to a Denon or Marantz.
Female vocals of Joan Baez, Celine Dion, Linda Rondstadt, ..... were smooth and natural sounding. On the concert of Celine Dion for the track talking about the turn of the century (year 2000), you could hear her breathing. So also male vocals such as Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Neil Diamond, ...... The cd of Yanni concert at the Acropolis, Greece with lots of different instruments was sounding very good. Some tracks of the concert makes high demand on power due to the high energy music with lows and extreme highs. The SMSL coped very well and did not run of power. Impressive. Clearly this amp has been “voiced” very well and the power supply can handle it. Viji Krishnan's carnatic fusion“Malabar to Morocco” with the flute and violin was very realistic. Wind and string instruments sounded natural... German power amplifier ICs have been used with Japanese electronic volume control. Some amplifiers can make you tired if you listen for extended periods. Not this one. A 5 hour listening session was very enjoyable.
What is lacking? There is no head phone socket and no digital input except for the USB. This costs money and would have pushed the retail price higher. The amp is ideal if on a limited budget with good speakers. Overall it competes with amps costing 2-3 times the price. So dont be in a hurry to sell your Mark Levinson, Carry Audio, Krell, Pass Labs, Macintosh and other high end amps. SMSL is not in that league. I do plan to hook it up to my Tannoy Reference speakers to see what happens.
SMSL makes a whole range of audio equipment and even reasonably priced valve amplifiers when u compare them to American valve equipment. Having heard the A300 my respect for Chinese audio equipment has gone up several notches. Upgrading to a SMSL integrated valve amp is very tempting option.
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