[fish1050]

So I am guessing that with the upcoming release of the M7 and the soon to be released new M6 a likely choice for those looking to upgrade from the M3X we won't see much more from Shanling for the M3X. I will guess that gapless playback will not be coming to the M3X along with other fixes needed in the Shanling app. I mean why devote resources and manpower to a year old android 7 DAP when there will soon be a brand spanking new M6 I am guessing running android 10 along with the coming in May M7. I would guess that Shanling is counting on a number of M3X owners upgrading to the new M6 which should address the shortcomings of the M3X, why fix the M3X issues giving owners a reason not to upgrade. If the new M6 is priced within say $150 of the M3X then I can see alot of people selling M3X's and grabbing the new M6.

I was starting to seriously think about selling my Q1 (lots of people want it) and getting the M3X. My intention would have been to use it in prime mode to avoid android but with the Shanling app issues that my Q1 does not have and the fact they may never be fixed, not really an option to consider anymore. If you are on the fence about getting an M3X maybe wait a couple of months to see what is in store from the new M6 which I believe is based on the M9.

 

[Shanling]

Development of the Shanling Music app runs independently from players, so when we get gapless playback into our app, it will come to older players too.

Meanwhile you can of course just run one of many apps with gapless support.

 

[fish1050]

Development of the Shanling Music app runs independently from players, so when we get gapless playback into our app, it will come to older players too.

Meanwhile you can of course just run one of many apps with gapless support.

Yes I understand you can run third party apps but the whole point of a Prime mode is to bypass android which you can't do if you have to run a third party app to get something that does what the Shanling app can't. Also you have been supposedly working on adding gapless for about a year now and that is not the only issue as I understand it as track sorting is spotty and reports of tracks fading in for the first few seconds. So are you releasing the M7 and later new M6 with a Shanling Music app that still isn't fully functional? I have been following the M7 thread so I will interested to see what shape the Shanlilng Music App is in when it gets released.

I am still a Shanling fan, I still listen to my Q1 every day and I would like my next DAP to also be a Shanling but only if it is up to snuff and it seems you are still struggling somewhat on the software side. A big reason I am such a fan of the MTouch DAP's is you seem to have figured out the software for the most part and I don't find any real functional shortcomings anymore with my Q1. I would still like to see some changes to the UI but these things don't affect the usability of the Q1 overall.

 

[bachankas]

I had Q1, I have M3x now. It is a nice jump in sound and user experience quality. However, 2 years of waiting for gapless is a joke (Shanling M6 had promised gapless).

I think Shanling spends more money for marketing than for developers and engineers.

@fish1050 I can recommend buying the the used one unit. You won't support a terrible customer support with buiyng a new one unit. The hardware of M3X is nice, but software requires using third party app.

 

[Shanling]

Yes I understand you can run third party apps but the whole point of a Prime mode is to bypass android which you can't do if you have to run a third party app to get something that does what the Shanling app can't. Also you have been supposedly working on adding gapless for about a year now and that is not the only issue as I understand it as track sorting is spotty and reports of tracks fading in for the first few seconds. So are you releasing the M7 and later new M6 with a Shanling Music app that still isn't fully functional? I have been following the M7 thread so I will interested to see what shape the Shanlilng Music App is in when it gets released.

I am still a Shanling fan, I still listen to my Q1 every day and I would like my next DAP to also be a Shanling but only if it is up to snuff and it seems you are still struggling somewhat on the software side. A big reason I am such a fan of the MTouch DAP's is you seem to have figured out the software for the most part and I don't find any real functional shortcomings anymore with my Q1. I would still like to see some changes to the UI but these things don't affect the usability of the Q1 overall.

There is no real difference between running device in prime mode or just installing one app on M3X and using it. Prime mode is really designed more for cases when you have bunch of apps on the M3X and just want to simplify it for the moment, getting rid of all notifications, etc. It doesn't "bypass" android, just sets one app to work.

M7 launches with the same Shanling Music app as the M3X. The app is same for all our Android players.

I had Q1, I have M3x now. It is a nice jump in sound and user experience quality. However, 2 years of waiting for gapless is a joke (Shanling M6 had promised gapless).

I think Shanling spends more money for marketing than for developers and engineers.

@fish1050 I can recommend buying the the used one unit. You won't support a terrible customer support with buiyng a new one unit. The hardware of M3X is nice, but software requires using third party app.

As much as we can try to be helpful at customer support, it will not affect work of our software team.

And I would wish to have bigger marketing budget, but I think you can see we are quite at different level of marketing spending than some of our rivals.

 

[457139]

Really enjoying this player w my Shozy Form 1.4. Shanling really has the sound dialed on these new gen DAPs it seems.

 

[fish1050]

I had Q1, I have M3x now. It is a nice jump in sound and user experience quality. However, 2 years of waiting for gapless is a joke (Shanling M6 had promised gapless).

I think Shanling spends more money for marketing than for developers and engineers.

@fish1050 I can recommend buying the the used one unit. You won't support a terrible customer support with buiyng a new one unit. The hardware of M3X is nice, but software requires using third party app.

Yeah I am thinking about maybe during Black Friday in November I will look at it closely. Despite listing 3 Canadian dealers on their site the only one that has any Shanling DAP's is Canada Computers and they are selling the M2S and M0 only, no android DAP's anywhere. If have to import one I want to get the best price possible. What bothers me is they want you to have confidence to spend your hard earned money on their DAP's but they can't release an android DAP with a fully functional Shanling Music App.

Maybe they should license a Music app from a third party and use it as the default music player.

 

[fish1050]

There is no real difference between running device in prime mode or just installing one app on M3X and using it. Prime mode is really designed more for cases when you have bunch of apps on the M3X and just want to simplify it for the moment, getting rid of all notifications, etc. It doesn't "bypass" android, just sets one app to work.

Thank you for the clarification on Prime Mode. The only comment I heard about Prime Mode before was it was for people that want to avoid the android OS. Now I understand better so thanks for explaining it to me. I apologize if I upset you, I was just venting a little because I thought the shortcomings of the Shanling Music app made the M3X a less attractive option. I truly appreciate your honesty and candidness, not many people I deal with are as open and honest!

M7 launches with the same Shanling Music app as the M3X. The app is same for all our Android players.



As much as we can try to be helpful at customer support, it will not affect work of our software team.

And I would wish to have bigger marketing budget, but I think you can see we are quite at different level of marketing spending than some of our rivals.

I don't think marketing is an issue really, all of the excellent reviews both professional and user make a big difference. I believe reviews of actual users more than just the specs and flowery language manufacturers use to sell their products.

I worked with distributors for many years selling audio gear. I get the sense that your DAP's have smaller profit margins than say Sony and Fiio. Could it be distributors don't carry your DAP's outside of Asia because the profit margins are to small,? Perhaps you are underselling yourselves, my wife paid $125.00 CDN including all taxes and fees to import mine from China. I would have paid $175.00 or even $200.00 all in without thinking twice about it especially if I could buy it in Canada. Even at that price the Q1 blows the doors off any other DAP in that price range.

As for fixing the Shanling app maybe it would make sense to bring in someone from outside who could address the issue once and for all. I have been running my own business for many years and I do need to bring in outside help from time to time for things that I am not proficient at. I will be keeping a close eye on this thread as well as on the new M6 once it is released (any timeline yet for a release)

 

[mark88888]

So I am guessing that with the upcoming release of the M7 and the soon to be released new M6

@Shanling , hi. I was wondering, which chip will be in each of these, AKM or Sabre...? From what I can tell, it looks like the Sabre will be in the new M7. How about the new M6?

I am also curious about something. I recently got back my repaired M2X. When I compare the sound of the M2X and M3X... It seems to me that the M2X, which has an AKM, is significantly warmer and has stronger bass (sub-bass?) than the M3X, which has the Sabre... but the M3X with the Sabre resolves better. (Not sure what thew audiophile term aould be, but I mean that I hear all the sounds more distinctly with the Sabre, esp. treble). Would you say that's a correct assessment? Or, how could they be best compared, sound wise?

 

[Shanling]

@Shanling , hi. I was wondering, which chip will be in each of these, AKM or Sabre...? From what I can tell, it looks like the Sabre will be in the new M7. How about the new M6?

I am also curious about something. I recently got back my repaired M2X. When I compare the sound of the M2X and M3X... It seems to me that the M2X, which has an AKG, is significantly warmer and has stronger bass (sub-bass?) than the M3X, which has the Sabre... but the M3X with the Sabre resolves better. (Not sure what thew audiophile term aould be, but I mean that I hear all the sounds more distinctly with the Sabre, esp. treble). Would you say that's a correct assessment? Or, how could they be best compared, sound wise?

M7 comes with ESS ES9038Pro.

And yes, what you describe is the typical feedback on AKM vs ESS chips, even if bit simplified. There can be of course bigger differences depending on the chip implementation, amplifier, etc.

 

[madmonkey]

i guess ima odd duck i like my dap to have just a basic os.

 

[mark88888]

M7 comes with ESS ES9038Pro.

And yes, what you describe is the typical feedback on AKM vs ESS chips, even if bit simplified. There can be of course bigger differences depending on the chip implementation, amplifier, etc.

Thank you @Shanling . So, if there will be a new M6, might it be an AKM or Sabre?

Basically, I think I prefer the AKM, so Im exploring options to upgrade from the M2X and stay in the Shanling family. If AKMs are still available, I did read about the lack of them a couple of years ago.

 

[Shanling]

Thank you @Shanling . So, if there will be a new M6, might it be an AKG or Sabre?

Basically, I think I prefer the AKG, so Im exploring options to upgrade from the M2X and stay in the Shanling family. If AKGs are still available, I did read about the lack of them a couple of years ago.

AKM restarted production of their DAC chips with new models.

 

[mark88888]

AKM restarted production of their DAC chips with new models.

Thanks. So if I wanted to upgrade from the M2X but keep a similar warm AKM sound sig, what models should I be looking at, now or in the near future...if any?

 

[fish1050]

AKM restarted production of their DAC chips with new models.

@Shanling I recall in one of your posts not sure which thread that you prefer to use AKM chips in your more expensive DAP's. The M7 would fit that price range yet you went with an ESS chip. You discontinued the M8 in favor of the M9 (AKM to ESS I believe) so does that mean a switch to an AKM chip at some point in the M7? Also any word on which chip will be in the new M6 AKM or ESS? Personally I prefer the ESS Sabre sound to AKM and the ESS chips seem more efficient so better battery life. I am looking still at the M3X but I am assuming the X means the M3 DAP line will end at some point. I would consider the new M6 if it isn't to much more than the M3X but only if you stick with ESS Sabre DAC chips.

The original M6 basically replaced the M5S I believe and now the new M6 will replace the old M6. Is the new M6 also meant to eventually replace the M3X or will there be a cheaper model like a new M5 android 10 based model to replace the M3X at some point or better still another MTouch OS model? A roadmap of some kind to future Shanling DAP's would be helpful and appreciated. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a DAP that has a limited support lifespan (end of firmware fixes) and the M3X has been out for over a year now and running a pretty old android version.