S.M.S.L, in short SMSL, is a relatively new company, established in 2009 with headquarters in Shenzhen. Their full name is Foshan ShuangMuSandLin Technology, hence the acronym (for which we are obviously grateful!) serving, also, as their brand name. Some of you, probably, already know SMSL from a distinctive series known as Panda (due to its two-color pattern in black and white), introduced in 2015, or an integrated amplifier with ICEPower modules, code-named A6, in 2016, but the list of their products has grown significantly since, demonstrating, the least, strong creativity in aesthetics and a significant diversity, including DACs, amplifiers, headphone amplifiers, digital interfaces and even a pair of passive desktop loudspeakers.

The DO200 we are reviewing on the following pages is the latest in a series of 17 in total models (!) and is an attempt to combine a good features package with good manufacturing quality, available at a reasonable price. Of course, this is not an unusual goal to set and devices of this kind appear at times, with a wide range of results, so often, in fact, that the format is now somewhat of a de-facto standard: A narrow, low profile chassis, a display with a menu interface for user access to various settings, sometimes an output to drive headphones through a dedicated amplifier and the capacity to be used as an elementary preamplifier, most often for digital-only signals.
Given all that, what is really worthwhile to look at is the way this goal is approached each time. We had the opportunity to extensively use the DO200 and these are our findings…

Dimitris Stamatakos

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Original Publilcation: 2021/12/11	Last Follow Up: 2021/12/11	Original Language: English

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