SMSL C200 ES9038Q2M HiFi DAC Headphone Amplifier, DSD512 32Bit/768kHz, USB/Optical/Coaxial/Bluetooth 5.1 to 4.4mm/6.35mm/RCA/TRS Digital Analog Converter for Phone/PC/PS5

Great performer and doesn't have the issue of a faint pop when changing bit rates. Volume wheel is smooth, but uses the 1/4" RCA instead of XLR, and the same power on the 6.35mm and 4.4mm headphone jacks. On the Hifiman HE5xx I can only go to 75% volume in low gain mode before it's too loud. In high gain it can handle probably 90-95 percent of headphones on the market. If you equalize with a big preamp reduction to avoid distortion, you'll be glad high gain mode has got some power on it.It runs barely warm, and in DAC output mode it's not even warm since the amplifier part gets turned off. The sound is fantastic if you have clean and quiet USB ports, or run it on optical for a silent noise floor. The 3 prong power cord helps eliminate ground loop issues. 6 ft is the limit on USB cables, a long 10 foot one caused playback issues, but the Amazon Basics 6ft is flawless. This is worth keeping, since it's such a great DAC if you decide later to add an "Ampzilla" for more power later. Also a combo for a DAC is a great backup plan in case an amplifier fails. I have a DL200 also and the form factor on it is much better for fitting an amplifier on top of it, but it has a faint pop when changing bit rates.Audiosciencereview did full measurements on it, and it might not look as elegant as a Topping DX5, but it competes on price, especially if it's on sale. Filters 1 and 6 have the best performance (1 is default best for 44.1khz music). Gamers who run in 48khz mode will probably prefer filter 6. Also the USB mode is great, since mode 1 works with consoles and doesn't need drivers in Windows, just limited to 24 bit 9600khz rates. If you have a phone with LDAC the Bluetooth is really impressive. It's compact and runs cool, but if your plans are for a full sized amplifier later, the DL200 is much better for stacking on top of it.

This unit is fantastic for my purposes. Needed a tiny and simple, but quality dac/amp in my living room with balanced outs for my active monitors, RCA to a sub (yes, RCA is active while using the XLR outs), USB from PC, toslink for audio from my Switch (using HDMI to my TV as a thru). Nearly every feature is in use without issue.Everything is essentially flawless except for the remote that requires nearly direct line-of-sight for the C200 to receive commands. And I mean DIRECT. Remote signal will stop being received as soon as you hit roughly 35° to the left or right. Otherwise, the remote is great. The optional feature for LCD shutoff shortly after control changes is an essential feature that I'm glad the C200 has, especially for use near a TV.Nothing needs to be said about the ES9038Q2M and its implementation in this unit. Read the ASR measurements and review of this unit if you need to. Nowadays, you can discard any criticism you hear about nearly all ESS chips. I don't have much use for the headphone amp on this, but HEX v2, HD-6xx and Verite Open sounded perfect in these. The latter two were not underpowered by a longshot.Lastly, I want to commend the speed of the sample rate switching and general lack of failure amidst frequently changing parameters. Most DAC's and studio audio interfaces I've owned have had some sort of issues that required power cycling the unit to fix. I have yet to encounter a single one on the C200, and I've been using it daily for 5 months. No failures going between DS and ASIO. Almost no delay in foobar when changing from a 44.1 kHz track to one in 192.I am so happy with this unit aside from the poor remote response. Almost subtracted a star for the remote, but the quality and reliability of this thing manage to outshine that completely. This is my first SMSL product and I can see why everyone loves this company.

Update July 9th, 2023: it developed cracks/pops only over usb and only for my MacBook. Otherwise it still worked excellent over optical and coaxial. From what I have read it’s an issue with the xmos chip in these dacs and smsl’s implementation. There are some on forums that mention updating firmware, using windows drivers (not available for mac), or switching to usb 1.0 audio. I could not get the popping/cracking to stop, so I sent in for repair and got refunded when the item was determined unrepairable. Instead of getting another Dac I ended up just buying a high quality headphone amp, and I’ll wait to get one of the dacs with the 3rd gen xmos chips when one that suits my needs is affordable. Aside from the cracking and popping sound was excellent. So I still think with all the features and the ability to use over optical and coaxial it’s a 4 start product. Just beware of potential issues before you buy.Original review: This was my first desktop Dac/amp (I have a fiio btr5). I don’t have any difficult to drive headphones (hd 560s, dt 700 pro X, vmoda Crossfade 2 wireless, and numerous IEMs). I bought this to be able to use cross platform (Mac, windows, console) and for that it works very well. Switching inputs is easy, as is switching between the headphone out and line out. Sound quality is solid. Go check out the review on audiosciencereview.com if you care about the technical performance (it was measured as near zero audible distortion). For me everything sounds great and plenty of power to drive higher impedence headphones. No issues using Bluetooth either.This is often compared to the topping dx3 pro. I considered getting that as well, but opted for this because of the usb c input and the volume knob. It has a balanced headphone out, but it doesn’t offer any more power than the SE port. Otherwise technically it performs near identical to the topping according to audiosciencereviews.com.The one downside is that it doesn’t seem to be shielded very well. I noticed I get a lot of distortion when my phone is near. But as long as I keep my phone away, I have not had any issues. Very happy with the purchase.