There are some who speculate all SMSL and TOPPING products, along with a few other brands, are made in the same factory. I can see why this speculation exists when you look at the packaging and accessories, if not the overall functionality of the product. Yet this very SMSL SU-6/SH-6 stack, which takes on the TOPPING L30 II/E30 II directly cost wise, is quite different, to where I think it's more that these two brands have come up with a successful formula of churning out incrementally better products at various price points. Such is the overall level from the brands that very few others can match the build quality and feature set. Indeed, a lot of western brands have effectively given up competing at the budget level, to focus instead on more bespoke solutions that SMSL still has a presence in via it's VMV brand but to a lower degree. Given that the vast majority of end users looking for DAC/amps participate in $50-500 range, and more often than not on the lower end of that scale, I can only think of five brands that are always in the running—TOPPING, SMSL, FiiO, Schiit, and JDS Labs.

The latter two are subject to higher operating costs in the US, yet enjoy globally built brand awareness for far longer than SMSL/TOPPING, with FiiO coming in between them. Yet for the money I can't see Schiit and JDS Labs really competing with the rate of progress out of China. FiiO is only just getting back to the desktop source game and focuses more on combo units rather than stacks of separate DACs and amps anyway. So once again I think of the TOPPING E30 II/L30 II stack and I have to say I'd probably go with the SMSL route, not only because it's slightly less expensive but because the features offered by the SU-6 DAC more than overcome the power/usage deficiencies—however impractical the differences may be—with the SH-6 amplifier. This is also the price range that potential customers would want to see streaming support of some kind and Bluetooth connectivity is a perk when paired with your phone and preferred streaming app. Sure, the amplifier may be found wanting with more demanding headphones—especially lower impedance sets where a higher current draw is more relevant—but then again I dare say this isn't really the product set that customers of expensive planar headphones are really looking at anyway. This is a stack that does its job well and takes little room doing so, to make the asking price well worth it. Now consider the part where it goes on sale a few times every year, and there's no reason left to not recommend it for the average customer reading this review.