In spite of its very compact dimensions (160mm W x 40mm H x 163mm D), it weighs a relatively substantial 2.6 lbs due to the heavy gauge aluminum alloy chassis. The front control buttons are mirrored in the supplied remote control. It's a basic no frills design - stop/eject, play/pause + off/on, track skip + fast forward/previous. Random and repeat functions are only accessible via remote. The volume control works only with headphones (see below) and the small display screen to the left is barely legible to my tired old eyes from my listening position.
On the rear panel of the unit from left to right are: coaxial and optical SPDIF outputs, 3.5mm headphone jack, right and left line output jacks and a USB-C 5V/2A power supply input. Some people have an aversion to its aesthetics and/or are apprehensive of the slot loading CD mechanism. I happen to like its external CD drive-like form factor, robust build and I'm happy to report that my CDs have remained scratch free!
For more info, download the manual.
I've been using the unit with the supplied USB power cable connected to a generic 5.0V @ 2.1A charging brick as specified in the manual. For my purpose, the supplied USB cable is a bit short at ~ 1 meter long. Unfortunately, when I tried using a longer generic USB cable, it powered on but wouldn't read CDs!😞 As shown in the video, the unit has no problems reading a CD-R, which contains wav files I burned from a DAT master tape of a live performance of my piano trio from two decades ago. My other CD-Rs containing wav files played with no glitches either.
Does it do gapless playback?
Actually, this isn't as important to me as sound quality. But the two guys below have done a great job of explaining how the PL100 can do gapless.
How does it sound?
As the younger set would say, let's do a deep dive...😊
As a standalone CD player, the Cirrus Logic CS43131 DAC chip-equipped PL100 sounds very smooth without the midrange grain or dark hash, which plagued early bitstream CD players. The sound is reminiscent of the Topping D30 DAC I owned a few years back that used an older Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC chip. IME, these CS DAC chips don't induce listener fatigue but lack the dynamics and scale of 80s to early 90s multi-bit CD players. So I wasn't surprised that it sounded quite bland when I compared it to my stock Magnavox CDB492, which was an entry level CD player fitted with the budget TDA1543 Philips DAC chip.
The headphone output sounds decent. It easily drove my Koss Porta Pro and Sennheiser HD6XX. However, it had a harder time driving my vintage pair of AKG K240 Sextetts and ortho-dynamic Fostex T10 and Yamaha YH-1.
When used as a CD transport in conjunction with my nosTDA1541tube DAC, the PL100 sounded quite similar to my thrift store sourced JVC CD players doing CD transport duty. Both offered a closer to the stage perspective that's more immediate and exciting. However, I prefer the wider, deeper and more atmospheric presentation of my vintage Philips CDM-4/(x) swing arm CD transports. They sound more effortless and possibly resolving more information. Ironically, the manual claims that the PL100 transport is a Philips type mechanism.
Even if I'd rather listen to my Magnavox TD1543 CD players or the Sony CDP190/291 counterparts, these are old machines with finite laser lives AND don't have SPDIF outputs. It can also be argued that a much cheaper big box store DVD player with SPDIF output can function as a CD transport just as well. Despite the PL100's squinty display screen, it won't require an external monitor to access the DVD player's menus. To top it all, the PL100 reads CDs and skips tracks as fast as any CD player I've handled since the 80s.
Now it's up to you to decide whether the SMSL PL100 is worth your 105.99 pre-tariff US$s.😊
After typing this article I had to rest my hands so I propped the Sony A7II on a tripod to shoot a video of the SMSL PL100 doing CD transport duty connected to my DIY nosTDA1541tube DAC, Western Electric 111C line transformers, triode connected 6F6Gs/Hashimoto HL20K6 preamp + Intact Audio nickel AVCs feeding my 37/6F6G(CCC)/300B/Tango NY15S mono block amps driving the Altec 753C monitors.
Oh yeah, that's me 🎻 a lifetime ago!😉
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