S.M.S.L SH-8 Headphone Amplifier 6.35mm/Balanced RCA/XLR Input High Performance HiFi Headphone Amplifier

I'm using the SH-8 with an smsl SU-8 dac. My signal source is the digital output of a squeezebox touch streaming from a one thousand CD collection ripped in lossless format to my local media server. I've used 4 different headphones so far, a Koss pro 4AA, a Koss Pro 4S, a Sennheiser mm400, and a Koss Porta Pro. They all sound better than I have heard them sound before from more normal headphone feeds. I'm running a balanced XLR cable from the DAC into the SH-8 and the volume levels available are more than enough.I have a Beyerdynamic DT-177x on order from Massdrop which will allow me to use the balanced connector on the SH-8. All of my listening thus far has been through the 1/4 inch plug. I'm also using the RCA jack feed from the su-8 DAC into a Threshold S-200 power amp. Hooked to the speaker outputs of the Threshold is a Stax srd-7 "earspeaker adapter" for a pair of Stax SRX Mark III electrostatic headphones. That doesn't require the SH-8 headphone amplifier, but gives me another point of refererence for the sound delivered by the SH-8.The volume controls on both of the smsl units work perfectly with the remote control to allow me to change volumes to whatever level needed. The volume level set on the su-8 also effects the volume output of the sh-8.Physically, the sh-8 matches the companion dac and they look good sitting together with my other audio equipment. The build quality appears first rate, with a nice solid feel, and enough weight so the component doesn't slide around when attached to a headphone.Update 8/18/2019: I received a Sennheiser HD-6xx headphone a few weeks ago, and have been able to listen to it through the SH-8 for many hours. The 6xx is the massdrop slightly modified version of the hd-650. I have been impressed by how well the SH-8 works with this new headphone. Plenty of power to drive them, and the sound is excellent.

This is a great little headphone amp. I am pairing it with the SU-8 dac on my desktop. This is a great combo and has enough adjustments and power that it gives all my collection a great sound. I'm currently running a Denon 7000 , Senn HD 700 and Beyer T1. Also using the dac to feed my Vanatoo desktop speakers and it does a great job of that also. Very impressed so far!

Love this amp. The tone controls work great. For the price you won’t feel left out. It’s awesome that it’s balanced. I love the matching DAC.

XLR balanced, SDB! Try it! Very clean look nice color too.

So personally; I'm a fan of SMSL. Buying audio gear from the manufacturing powerhouse across the Pacific has always been a good experience for me. The products are always good bang for the buck. The customer service when I've had to deal with them has been first rate, the one issue I had was handled professionally and quickly considering the time difference. The gear has always sounded good and functioned in the manner intended. I've owned the Sanskrit Pro 6 and currently own the Darkvoice. Good equipment. Not hating on US made audio...I own Schiit gear too. The Asgaard 2 is an awesome for the money amplifier. This is my first foray into balanced headphonery and so far I'm not disappointed, there's a difference. Figuring out how much and to what extent will take awhile. This amplifier both balanced and single ended will drive all of my cans satisfactorily. The balanced or course requiring less twisting of the volume pot. The pot....the pot will take a little getting uses to. It's very nearly flush. The remote for the SU-8 though will control this unit. The fit and finish for both units is great. Really nice. Everything feeling and looking tight and snug. I'll be willing to comment on the sound more in a couple of weeks...right now I really feel like I got my money's worth.Update*** To start. I still feel like thus is a really great amplifier. At the price point it's hard to beat. That said, I'm having a hard time caring about the balanced headphone output. It's different but it's still hard to put my finger on the difference. When comparing single ended to balanced it sounds different. But; not a lot. It's certainly louder but I can't say the sound quality is better. It drives my HD 600's to higher volumes, through it's singke ended output the SennSisters are both veiled...and a bit muddled. The muddling is probably a result of the summing of the balanced signal into SE and the veil because the single ended connection is underpowered. You really want to run balanced with this little amp. When comparing the balanced connection with a SE amp of similar power using the SennSisters, while the signature of the two is different the sound quality is really really close. The detail retreival and clarity is close. I can't say that balanced is better. I fed the single ended outs on the companion dac out to my Schiit Asgard and while again the signature is different I have to give the soubd quality to the Schiit. The Asgard is a really great amplifier. Not as many bells and whistles but cleaner. A little more articulate. A little more air and separation. Its was a total pain switching back and forth. Moving the balanced cable back and forth on the sisters. Listening to tubes a little in between and then back to scrutinizing this little amp. Long story; short. It's a great amp for the money. It doesn't take up a whole bunch of space on the desk. S.M.SL. is a good company with great customer service; despite the time difference...no language barrier, every email I've ever exchanged was written in perfect English. Non-issue. I'm keeping it. I've got a huge desk I've got room enough for this my other headphone systems and a few more yet... and this little combo produces really good sound. I'm just sold on balanced.

I bought the SMSL SU-8 & SH-8 together. Connected together with short high quality XLRs. I feed the SU-8 from the optical SPDIF out of a $40 Chromecast Audio dongle (essentially WiFI to SPDIF optical). The CC is fully supported by Roon and together with the SMSLs and my HD700s with a balanced headphone cable result in superb Roon/Tidal performance. The setup sounds better than my Synchrony One Bs and REL subwoofer, and for a fraction of the price. I have not found anything I would criticize about these products.

Essendo gia in possesso di un DAC Smsls SU-8 ho pensato di acquistare anche l'Smsl SH-8 da abbinare al DAC e dopo averlo collegato sia con connessione XLR che RCA ho provato prima una Sennheiser HD650 con collegamento bilanciato e poi una Hifiman Sundara con collegamento Sbilanciato, la Sennheiser suonava gia con un'ottima resa gia a livello di volume a 30 su 50 e poi con piacevole sorpresa la Sundara anche se era collegata in sbilanciato riusciva a suonare con un livello di volume 35-40 con grandissima qualità e in modo estremamente dettagliato.

Für den Preis eine gute Leistung deshalb durchaus zu empfehlen. Wie zu erwarten besteht zwischen diesem Gerät und meinem Violectric hpa v200 ein Unterschied bei kräftigen tiefen Tönen. Aber der kostet auch das fünffache. Das versenkte Plastikrad als Volume-Regler passt jedoch nicht zu der sonst recht stabilen Ausführung.Ich betreibe den SMSL SH-8 mit eimen SMSL SU-8 mittels XLR Verbindung. Als Hörer habe ich im Regelfall den Denon AH-D9200 angeschlossen. Dieser hat daran auch einen ausgezeichneten Klang. Den Denon AH-D5200 habe ich auch. Der ist jedoch als Reserve verpackt und wurde noch nicht angeschlossen. Da beide Hörer im Aufbau ähnlich sind vermute ich keinen Unterschied. Im Zuspiel verwende ich Hires-Flac Dateien, sodaß Qualitätsverluste hörbar wären. Auf jeden Fall ist die Kombination von SH-8 mit SU-8 einem SMSL DP5 vorzuziehen, da diese neu entwickelte Gerät nicht die Leistungsdaten dieser beiden Komponenten klanglich erreicht.

Only a few hours into playing with this but still felt compelled to review, the unit was replacing a budget headphone amp (sap ii) so I expected a good jump in quality especially from the balanced input/output and I wans't dissapointed, very clear sound with great seperation and warmth. Powerful enough to run my HD650's (300ohms) to a comfortable listening volume at just over half of its potential volume with no distortion, the menu is a little tricky at first with the lack of buttons! but a remote is available (would have been nice to see this included)

DAPでHD599ヘッドホンドライブでパワー無く籠もった音になる。これにしてからはベールが剝けてスッキリ聞こえる。SU-8とバランス接続し、HD599もバランスケーブルに替えてフルバランスで聴くと、生々しい立体感のサウンドに包まれる。今まで聞こえなかった楽器の余韻など、まるでライブハウスに居るような錯覚に陥る。救急車のサイレンとか本物か、映画か判らないでヘッドンをつい外してしまうほど。もう感動の域。

Si tratta di un amplificatore per cuffie con ottima resa sonora, più che gradevole estetica e prezzo contenuto (io l'ho pagato su Amazon.it € 159,99).