This is a review, detailed measurements and comparison of Zorloo ZuperDAC-S and SMSL Idea DAC and headphone amplifiers. They are both on kind loan from a forum member with him stealing the ZorLoo from his poor son.The ZuperDAC-S was apparently an Indigogo project and retails for USD $89 from their site. The SMSL Idea was the one I kinged as the best portable DAC/Amp a while ago so this is a refresher with my new measurement gear. It retails for USD $86 from Amazon with free Prime shipping. Assuming Zoerloo charges shipping, it will be more expensive of the two.I will be presenting comparison data to recently portable DAC/AMPs such as DACPort HD and Audioquest Dragonfly Red and Black.Both of these units distinguish themselves with onboard volume control through up/down buttons:The SMSL Idea is certainly the nicer looking of the two. It is thinner but a bit wider and longer as you can tell in the above pictures.Let's put them on the test table and see how they perform.Let's start with the kid on the block, the ZorLoo ZuperDAC-S dashboard view:Wow, that is impressively low level of distortion and noise! SINAD (signal over distortion+noise) is impressively high at 105 dB (averaged between the two channels). In case you are thinking about using it as a stand-alone DAC, its anemic output of just 0.8 volts will not do with most amplifiers.The SMSL idea though, has no problem in that department:It has a solid 2 volt output which is what we get out of desktop DACs. Unfortunately with the higher output power comes much higher distortion compared to ZuperDAC-S, putting its SINAD at just 90 dB. Here is how they would rank in list of DACs tested:ZuperDAC-S lives in the second tier performance while the SMSL Idea lands at the bottom of tier 3. SO really, neither is a great fit as a desktop DAC.Both units perform well in jitter tests:While we like to see nothing but noise at the bottom of the graph, the spikes are below 120 dB passing the audio transparency criteria so I am not bothered by the especially given the class of products we are testing.In dynamic range test, the higher output of SMSL Idea comes to its defense, providing better results:The shocker was linearity test:Are you kidding me? The SMSL Idea produces better results than most DACs I have tested regardless of price! The ZuperDAC-S also does exceptionally well, falling just a hair worse than SMSL Idea and still beating countless DACs. Next time a manufacturer wants to make excuses for not being able to get good linearity, show them this!Intermodulation test shows these two portable DACs being well designed yet again:Both have the lowest noise level in their class. The SMSL Idea shows fair bit of distortion though as levels go up. The ZuperDAC is essentially distortion-free but with less output voltage as our dashboard had already shown.So far we have not stressed the output amplifiers so let's put some loads on them and see how they perform. First, 300 Ohm:Sorry for the clutter but I promised a comparison against previously tested DACs so there they are in dashed lines. As we see once again, the ZuperDAC-S takes the crown for quietness and lack of distortion to the end. But the "end" comes early in the form of just 2.3 milliwatts of power.The SMSL Idea pushes ahead of all except DACPort HD in power. And it does this while easily beating it in noise and distortion until its limit.Switching to 33 ohm ups the requirement for current and both devices start hurting at the limit of their output:The two channels deviate under load for each device making the graph more cluttered still. Stepping back though, the ZuperDAC-S continues to have lower noise level but again, with pretty low power levels of just 19 milliwatts.SMSL Idea shows its power to the tune of 45 milliwatts until it suddenly clips hard. It manages to produce more power with less distortion and noise (at least in one channel) than either Dragonfly Red or Black. As before, the DACPort HD flys away with much more power but at elevated noise and distortion.Output impedance story is good:Both should be good at just about every headphone you throw at them although at 0.9 ohm, the SMSL is definitely better than ZuperDAC-S at 1.9 ohm.Enough numbers. Let's play some music through them.Starting with Sennheiser HD-650, it was a non-starter with ZuperDAC-S. It just doesn't have enough power. Bass is like and the whole thing just doesn't get loud enough. SMSL Idea on the other hand, took a hold of these headphones and produced excellent power and bass. Mind you, it was not to the level of desktop amps but definitely useful with these high impedance headphones.Switching to Hifiman HE-400i, performance improved some with the ZuperDAC-S but it is still not satisfying. There is no detail due to low volume and simply not enough "oomph." On the other hand, using the same headphones with SMSL Idea was revelation. Yes, at max volume it distorted but dial it down one notch in volume for bass heavy content and you are in business. On less demanding content, you would be running it at max volume but with no hint of distortion and lots of detail and dynamic range.I must say I was nervous re-measuring the SMSL Idea and putting it against newer arrivals but that went away after the measurements and listening tests. The SMSL Idea is a very well engineered portable DAC and headphone amp with very low noise floor and ample power to drive what normally would require desktop amplifiers. As I type this I am listening to my Blues tracks and enjoying every bit in them. Given the low price of SMSL Idea, I don't see any reason to spend more money on the likes of Audioquest Dragonfly Black or Red.The ZorLoo ZuperDAC-S has a funny name with a funnier still spelling. It is however well engineered. The issue with it is that it just doesn't have enough power. Seeing how it actually costs more than SMSL Idea, I don't see a reason to purchase it. If for some reason you still want to get it, make sure to pair it with sensitive headphones/IEMs. There, it should have lower noise than competing products.The ultimate king of power in portable DACs remains the DACPort HD. See my review here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...rements-of-dacport-hd-and-dragonfly-red.5977/ ------------As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.Please considerfunds using: https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview ), or https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054 ).