SMSL SA-98E: What is the dark magic?!?!

lattiboy

Well-Known Member
I had this guy sitting in a closet for the better part of 5 months, only using it as a "test" amp because of portability. My Marantz PM7002 has been acting up, so I threw the SMSL in it's place and WOW.

I have it driving a pair of the notoriously power hungry Dahlquist DQ-10s at the moment and it absolutely clobbers the 20x as large and heavy PM7002. I have it on max running as a power amp with a Nexus Engineering Bravura preamp and am seriously considering keeping it as my main setup. Even without the Bravura it was excellent. Only added it for phono and multi input.

Why isn't this little beast mentioned more?
 
I wonder the same, I replaced my breeze audio tpa3116 with a tda7498 based amp like yours. I like it better, and am really curious about trying out some of the new dual chip versions of this design. Claims double the power at 160wpc. Of course that's probably at 10% distortion, but I'm confident that's probably still over 100wpc at 1% distortion.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/FX-AUDIO-F...-Digital-Amplifier-Black-Silver-/322721377762

https://www.amazon.com/FX-Audio-M-160E-Bluetooth-Amplifier/dp/B0749LV9M2
 
I wonder the same, I replaced my breeze audio tpa3116 with a tda7498 based amp like yours. I like it better, and am really curious about trying out some of the new dual chip versions of this design. Claims double the power at 160wpc. Of course that's probably at 10% distortion, but I'm confident that's probably still over 100wpc at 1% distortion.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/FX-AUDIO-F...-Digital-Amplifier-Black-Silver-/322721377762

https://www.amazon.com/FX-Audio-M-160E-Bluetooth-Amplifier/dp/B0749LV9M2


Oh man, I am about to order one of those! Don't know which one to get, but I tend to hate the built-in media players and excessive LEDs. I'm a bit.... curious about that ebay seller though. They seem to be the only US outlet for this thing?
 
Looks like it, I only noticed these about a week ago, right after I noticed the dual chip tpa3116 and ordered one of those. I'm more interested in the ebay one as well, looks like it also has a headphone amplifier with a tpa6120.

There's also these.

https://www.amazon.com/Nobsound-TDA...8&qid=1508888802&sr=1-8&keywords=tda7498+dual

https://www.amazon.com/SMSL-SA-98E-...D=31EdxIteOIL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail

I have ordered from here before, and have been satisfied other than slightly slow shipping.
http://www.thanksbuyer.com/feixiang...20-headphone-silver-panel-29578?search=FX1602
 
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Would love to hear your thoughts on it. Especially how the headphone amp is like if you have some hard to drive headphones. In my last post I posted the smsl version, it's the second link.
 
Would love to hear your thoughts on it. Especially how the headphone amp is like if you have some hard to drive headphones. In my last post I posted the smsl version, it's the second link.

Hmmm. That one looks literally identical to the one I have. I'll open it up when I get home. I got mine about a year ago, so I don't think it can be the two chip version....
 
It doesn't help that they probably combined reviews for both versions.

So it turns out it’s 8 torx screws to open this little bastard. The mystery will remain for now. I’ll contact the seller to get info and let you know if I hear back.

UPDATE: It’s the single chip. Seller replied quickly. Boooooo
 
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Well more excuses to pickup another. I use spare amps like this to refoam speakers, test preamps, demo speakers I sell locally etc.
 
SMSL has so many enticing offerings. I'm waiting for the price on this one to come down.
s-l300.jpg
 
SMSL has so many enticing offerings. I'm waiting for the price on this one to come down.
s-l300.jpg


I found a sale on eBay a few weeks ago so I ordered one. So far so good. I like the fact it has AUX in and a sub out so it can functionally replace a much larger AVR in my desktop system and free up some space.
 
That is very interesting! I have a Marantz PM7002 that has a "class A" button which supposedly makes it operate as such. I've done some basic testing and have never been able to tell the difference. Maybe my ears aren't up to it.



 

that's a lot of money for 8wpc or less. But yes, the Chinese have lots of interesting amps on ebay that no one seems to have any experience with. I'm a bit interested in their NAIM circuit replicas.
 
That is very interesting! I have a Marantz PM7002 that has a "class A" button which supposedly makes it operate as such. I've done some basic testing and have never been able to tell the difference. Maybe my ears aren't up to it.
I had the preceding model, PM7000. It was the worst sounding amp I've ever had. I've also read other user saying they couldn't hear a difference with the button either. Botrytis is right about that.
 
have you guys considered any of the Chinese class A kits and/ assembled?

I've heard good reports on this 1969 Hood circuit:

As it happens, I ordered one of these three weeks ago! Was going to start a thread when it arrived, but here and now are as good a place & time as any. I like the straightforward topology and the prospect of new internals--we'll see what they are when they arrive. I'm only hoping it looks (on the inside) like the photos. Naturally a bit leery to begin with, I wasn't helped when it took the sellers over a week to ship. My guess is that they were either sourcing it or building it. So many of these sellers don't actually have the product they're selling. Also it shipped from Singapore rather than HK/Shenzhen as listed. But--it was so cheap that I'm not really sweating such matters.

Anyway, the tracking indicator shows that it's now in the USA so I should be able to report on it within the next few days. I'm kind of excited about it because it looks so nifty (on the inside). Also because the weather has turned cooler here and an extra space heater may come in handy. Especially one that puts out good clean sound.

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As it happens, I ordered one of these three weeks ago! Was going to start a thread when it arrived, but here and now are as good a place & time as any. I like the straightforward topology and the prospect of new internals--we'll see what they are when they arrive. I'm only hoping it looks (on the inside) like the photos. Naturally a bit leery to begin with, I wasn't helped when it took the sellers over a week to ship. My guess is that they were either sourcing it or building it. So many of these sellers don't actually have the product they're selling. Also it shipped from Singapore rather than HK/Shenzhen as listed. But--it was so cheap that I'm not really sweating such matters.

Anyway, the tracking indicator shows that it's now in the USA so I should be able to report on it within the next few days. I'm kind of excited about it because it looks so nifty (on the inside). Also because the weather has turned cooler here and an extra space heater may come in handy. Especially one that puts out good clean sound.

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Nice. I read elsewhere in another forum that this is a surprisingly good sounding amp. He compared it favorably to his Pioneer m-22. I did see that the Nobsound has a slightly different cap and transistor setup, instead of that big output cap.

 
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