The history preceding this review is already within the standard layout. Once upon a time there was a famous Chinese company Shanling, which makes many, many good HiEnd-technology for serious audiophiles. And one day this company decided to try its hand at the portable player market. Thinking properly, the engineers of the company released an interesting portable player M3, which recently came to me for review, and now I will tell everything about it.
This player was built on the basis of the well-proven CS4398 DAC from Cirrus Logic. The device has the function of upsampling data up to 192 kHz, it uses the chip CS8422. The low-pass filter is the OPA2604. The amplifier is built on the basis of AD8610 and BUF634; it is used one chip per channel.
The price of the player is about $ 320 on TaoBao, it has not yet arrived on sale in Russia and Ukraine, although resellers are already collecting pre-orders, so I think Shanling M3 will soon be available for purchase from us.
Specifications
- Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 KHz
- Total harmonic distortion: <0.004%
- Output power: 300 mW @ 32Ω, 16 mW @ 300Ω
- Recommended load impedance: 16Ω - 300Ω
- Screen: 2.4 ″ TFT
- Built-in memory: 8 GB
- External memory: Micro SD up to 64 GB
- Inputs: Micro USB, linear, optical
- Outputs: headphones, linear, optical
- Battery: 3600 mA / h
- Play time: up to 9 hours
- Dimensions: 69 mm x 21 mm x 125.5 mm
- Weight: 220 g
- Colors: black, silver
Package and Delivery
The trend of the season among Chinese audio equipment manufacturers is a box made of thick black cardboard with an outer “dust cover” of the same black cardboard. All inscriptions are traditionally made of silver paint. There is a player in the box, under it is a box with accessories, more precisely, with a single accessory - a Micro USB cable.
In general, here Shanling demonstrates healthy minimalism, of course, I would like to be bundled with films and little cases, but this is clearly not the most critical problem.
Design and management
The appearance of the player was a success to the manufacturer. Despite the rather large size, in the hand M3 is well and conveniently controlled. The body is entirely aluminum, very solidly assembled and monolithic. Silver and black versions of the case are now available, it is possible that a golden one will appear. On the Internet, I saw a remark that when creating this player, the source of inspiration was a lighter, and this is not unreasonable, the shape of the device is, in fact, somewhat similar.
Player controls exactly two. The first is a switch combined with a LED indicator, a long press on it turns the player on and off, a short one is responsible for blocking. The second control is a wheel combined with a joystick. A metal disc with a grooved edge placed in the upper right corner of the player can not only be rotated, but also deflected in four directions and pressed in the center. All operations are recorded with a clear click, false presses are almost impossible. This management solution is a very, very good choice that allows you to do everything with your right thumb.
Rotation of the wheel regardless of the current mode provides volume control, it is very convenient. The rest of the navigation is quite typical for Chinese players, including even the use of "up-down" to move around the track and between tracks.
The wheel of control of such a complex structure, of course, inspires concerns about its mechanical reliability, but this can be judged only after prolonged use and on a large sample of players. So far, in two weeks of use, I have no reason to doubt this control. In addition, I think that Shanling, with their experience in building hi-fi technology, has taken care of the reliability of the M3 control.
The remaining external organs of the player are very simple. On the top there is a headphone jack and a reset hole, on the bottom are Micro SD sockets, USB for charging and connecting to a computer, a 3.5 mm line-in connector combined with an optical one, and the same line-out connector also combined with an optical one. A nice addition is that the player can work with a computer as a USB DAC (up to 192 KHz / 24 bit signal is supported), this makes it an incredibly versatile device, especially surprising considering the price.
The screen is quite good. He, of course, does not reach the LCD, installed in modern smartphones, but for the player - very good. The menu is organized simply and logically. The main problem for me was switching the language: by default, the player activates the Chinese interface and does not offer a choice when it is first turned on. By trial, I picked up the correct sequence of actions. After switching on, push the joystick wheel down twice - you will be taken to the settings menu. Press two more times down to select the gear icon, then to the right to enter the submenu, and there the sixth item at the top will be the language selection menu. The selected language is saved and you don’t have to go back to it.
Player settings are very logical. From the main screen, you can either get to the screen of playing the song, or view your library: by album, by artist, by genre, all songs at once, or the list of favorites.
On the menu screen, you can browse the player’s memory and maps by folders, adjust the sound (high, low, balance, gain) and customize the player itself. Of the interesting options, I can note the possibility of including upsampling up to 192 kHz, which sometimes really helps.
If on the playback screen you press the joystick wheel to the left and hold, a context menu appears that allows you to add a track to your favorites, remove it from it, and adjust the playback settings: gain, treble and bass, balance, resampling, playback order and so on.
The operating time is close to the stated one and it was 9 hours 26 minutes on one charge. Charging from the iPad charger took a little over 3 hours.
Sound
The following headphones were used to listen to the player:
- HiFiMan Re600
- VSonic Gr01
- Philips Fidelio X1
- Dunu DN-2000
- Lear LUF-4F
- MyST Nails four models
Evaluating many recent products, I more and more come to the conclusion that CS4398 has all the possibilities to take the position of a leading DAC for players, since most of the solutions using it are very good in sound. Is no exception, and Shanling M3.
The sound of the player is close to neutral (although it hasn’t been otherwise otherwise), it’s good in detailing and pleasing with energetic presentation. If you look at the price, there are no complaints at all to the sound of Shanling M3, some drawbacks can be found only with respect to more expensive solutions.
Low frequencies are well developed. Energetic presentation of the player is very conducive to their proper perception, providing the necessary stress and power. Detailing and texture do not cause complaints even on complex material. Of the quibbles, I liked the bass M3 more with rebar headphones, since some dynamic models lose control over the lowest frequency range, but this is typical of all low-cost players.
Midrange is also good. The good microdynamics of the player allows them to convey all the emotions and nuances of the recording, laid down by the sound engineer. The virtual scene is built well, recordings with a lot of spatial effects sound fascinating.
The high frequency range is also developed. The correct balance of their quantity is selected, they do not tire and do not lead to excessive brightness and sibilants. On some tracks, there is a slight lack of separation in this range, but this is also more likely an exception.
I do not quite understand why the player has made the option of upsampling to 192 KHz, it makes the sound softer and seems to be slower, but maybe someone will like it.
The power reserve of the player is quite good, it is enough for most headphones, with the exception of the tightest models, which clearly shows the amplifier. The player has no pronounced genre preferences, he is equally well at work in most genres, including complex brutal compositions.
findings
Shanling's debut in the portable audio market is incredibly interesting. Functionally rich with a maximum number of inputs and outputs, the player, pleasing sound, very affordable price and convenient control, is clearly worthy of the attention of connoisseurs of high-quality sound.
The article is based on materials .
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