[Telin]

Hi all,
Hopefully I can get some insights from the more experienced people here.

Currently I have a Mayflower Electronics ARC combined with a Fostex T50RP MKIII (modded) and some Edifier 2.0 desktop monitors
Actually I'm pretty happy with this setup.

Now I'm in the situation that I could get a almost new, only couple weeks old, SMSL M500 DAC/AMP.
My question is if it would make sense to invest in getting this M500?
What will the SQ be compared to the ARC, will it be marginally better (if at all) or will it be notably better? If so how, in what way?

I compared both spec sheets and I must admit that I'm far from an Hi-Fi guru so I'm not sure how half of those numbers should be interpreted and I know that numbers dot mean everything.

I looked at the product page of the M500 over at SMSL and I noticed that on the spec sheet the headphone output power is quite a bit lower then what is listed for the ARC. ARC has 1w @ 32 ohms, 365mW @ 150 ohms and 92mW @ 600 ohms. While the SMSL M500 "only" has 570mW @ 32 ohms, 125mW @ 150ohms, 600 ohms is not even listed.

Would this lower output power have any effect on the Fostex headphones?
At the moment I don't have any real plans to change headphones but the 50% output power loss over the ARC makes me kinda worried for possible future upgrade possibilities.

I'm looking forward to all the opinions/input you guys can give me!

 

[DuncanDirkDick]

I wouldn't. The ARC is a reasonable DAC/AMP and the T50RP aren't the easiest to drive headphones. Depending on how loud you'd like to listen the difference in power output might be noticeable.

 

[Telin]

Thanks for your input.

I'm also starting to think about an Schiit Magnius/Modius stack.. even more expensive but massive headphone power and some extra connections.
Not sure how the M500 and this Schiit stack compare to each other.

Also talked a bit with Tyler from Mayflower (great guy!) and he basically says that the AMP of the M500 should be good enough for the Fostex

If anybody has some ideas about this please let me know, greatly appreciated.

 

[KrazyDiamond]

Not sure how the M500 fares for signature but the ARC is very neutral, much like the O2. The M500 definitely doesn't have as much output power as the ARC but, iirc, the Fostex T50RP MKIII is only ~45-50 Ohms. I think its sensitivity isn't the greatest though, but the M500 should be more than enough I think. I never did understand why the T50RP were considered so hard to drive, maybe it has to do with being planar?

EDIT: Could be the combination of relatively low impedance and low sensitivity. Would require a much higher current draw. That said, I still think the M500 should be more than enough to comfortably reach listening levels.

 

[Telin]

I'm still worried that the M500 can't provide enough power to the headphone, or it just might at (near) max volume.
I've been looking for alternatives and I have the following alternative in mind:

AMP: Schiit Asgard 3
DAC: Schitt Modius or SMSL M300 MKII

I'm not sure about the DAC.. Is there any noticeable difference between these two? If so what are they and what would you suggest?
M300 has the better DAC chip and more features but is slightly more expensive and the formfactor is different so it doesn't stack very well with the Asgard 3
Modius stacks really well with the Asgard but has a lower tier DAC chip and micro USB-B.. eww

I wonder if it would make a difference for me at all between the SMSL and the Schiit as I'm not going to use super high end headphones/speakers with it anyway.

 

[XxTheXoStoxX]

I'm still worried that the M500 can't provide enough power to the headphone, or it just might at (near) max volume.
I've been looking for alternatives and I have the following alternative in mind:

AMP: Schiit Asgard 3
DAC: Schitt Modius or SMSL M300 MKII

I'm not sure about the DAC.. Is there any noticeable difference between these two? If so what are they and what would you suggest?
M300 has the better DAC chip and more features but is slightly more expensive and the formfactor is different so it doesn't stack very well with the Asgard 3
Modius stacks really well with the Asgard but has a lower tier DAC chip and micro USB-B.. eww

I wonder if it would make a difference for me at all between the SMSL and the Schiit as I'm not going to use super high end headphones/speakers with it anyway.

Which dac did you end up buying?

 

[Telin]

Which dac did you end up buying?

I ended up with a SMSL M200 / SP200 stack.
The SP200 went up in smoke after 5 months or so. No use to send send something back to China in this price range so I took my loss.

At the moment I have a Topping D30Pro / A30Pro stack but I'm mainly using my Audio-GD NFB-11.38

 

[XxTheXoStoxX]

I ended up with a SMSL M200 / SP200 stack.
The SP200 went up in smoke after 5 months or so. No use to send send something back to China in this price range so I took my loss.

At the moment I have a Topping D30Pro / A30Pro stack but I'm mainly using my Audio-GD NFB-11.38

Thats very unfortunate to hear. But in the good side of things now you have an even better stack.
By the way, do you recommend the SMSL M200?, I'm still trying to decide if its worth it over the Modius

 

[Telin]

Thats very unfortunate to hear. But in the good side of things now you have an even better stack.
By the way, do you recommend the SMSL M200?, I'm still trying to decide if its worth it over the Modius

Technically the M200 should be better (AKM 4497 in the M200 vs. the AK4493 in the Modius) although personally I feel they're so close together the deciding factor(s) should be aesthetics and functionality.

M200 is smaller than the Modius which can be a factor when you're tight on desktop space. M200 has a blue LCD display, some hate it some love it. The display is not overly bright so I think it's ok, although the orange LCD display of the D30Pro is better imho
M200 has BlueTooth which the Modius doesn't have also the M200 has pre-amp functionality which the Modius also doesn't have could be interesting if you want to connect desktop powered monitors or something.

Modius uses Schiit Unison USB interface which is totally fine for Windows 10 but is problematic for older Windows versions. M200 uses XMOS UE208 interface which also works on older windows versions.

Some minor quirks of the Modius are like there's no on/off button and it's using Micro USB instead of USB-B.

So the M200 is a bit more expensive but you get more functionality back for it.
Choose based on what functions you need and/or aesthetics you like, you can't go wrong with either of them when it comes to SQ.