The Hi-Fi Atlas
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Electronics / processing / China

SMSL

SMSL makes compact digital converters and amplifiers. Its desktop equipment appears in a venue’s rotating headphone setup.

Design & approach

SMSL develops DACs, headphone amplifiers and power amplifiers with its own research, manufacturing and marketing teams. Its company account dates the business to 2009. These compact electronics can occupy different roles in a listening venue, including a private headphone chain rather than the public room system.

Maker background & design sources ↗

Equipment index

Products in the rooms

Browse all SMSL equipment

Venue equipment records, including their original model uncertainties. Shared-system entries retain the full recorded context.

Hear it in the rooms.

Equipment, commissions and collaborations.

Bucharest / Romania

Bar Ton ↗

Equipment in use

Bar Ton lists SMSL in its source / playback setup. The equipment details below reflect the venue record.

  • Booth electronics / headphones: Models rotate; exact units not specified (Cambridge Audio / SMSL / Beyerdynamic)

Inside the system

Bar Ton separates the large Genelec room monitors from individual listening booths and their source equipment. The venue’s account of operating the monitors below capacity is consistent with keeping headroom for musical peaks instead of using their maximum output continuously.

Read the system story ↗

Further reading