[ngoshawk]

Hey, hey. Nice review ngoshawk. A big thumbs UP, lol

And yes, I just had to

Lol, what's UP, Nik?...

The UP is a really nice DAC/Amp. I really like the synergy provided with the 6+.

 

[TSFHfan]

Nice review! I might just get the shanling up on massdrop for $120... Cus the dragonflies cost like 80 to ship from amazon or ebay.... Especially when i'll be using the flc8s with it.

 

[Jimster480]

  Review is "UP" @Septimus, this is for you.

 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/shanling-up-portable-dac-headphone-amplifier-amp-es9018k2m-max97-support-native-dsd-decoding/reviews/18078

Thanks for the review.
I think I will skip it as I was considering picking it up on Massdrop but your review kind of tells me that it won't be worth it to "upgrade" for its price.

I'll stick with my K1 and now the Schiit Fulla 2 that I have in the mail.

 

[ngoshawk]

Thanks for the review.

I think I will skip it as I was considering picking it up on Massdrop but your review kind of tells me that it won't be worth it to "upgrade" for its price.


I'll stick with my K1 and now the Schiit Fulla 2 that I have in the mail.

Hey, no problem. It is a good product, but not for everyone. I really did enjoy the sound from it. Good luck with your gear!

 

[originalsnuffy]

So I have this unit on loan.   A few quick questions.
 
First, I have started testing it on a Windows 10 notebook.  I downloaded the USB driver from the Shanling site, but the driver for this unit gave me an error when I went to install it.
 
However, it looks like this is actually the same driver Shanling provides for the M1 and M2.  Can anybody confirm?
 
Second, using the proper twiddles with JRiver, I was able to get the SACD ISO playback to work as actual DSD files.  Interestingly, I was never able to get the M2 to natively decode DSD using the same settings in JRiver with the same driver.
 
Is the M2 not capable of natively decoding SACD / DSD files in DAC mode?  Or is this some kind of issue with M2 firmware?
 
Third, as an iPhone DAC, it seems to fire up just fine.   It could play play whatever the iPhone plays not problem.    But the HiBy app is failry non-intuitive.  I wonder what other apps people like for this kind of usage?   I have a number of apps that can play FLACs or DSD files from the iphone, but I really do not love any of them.  In particular, I have never been able to figure out a way to create folders in these apps and order songs within these folders the way I like.  Any thoughts or comments there?    Unlike my DAP players, I do create "Playlists" on the iphone but that is only because you kind of have to do that on the iphone.  However, anything that does not fit into the itunes world like FLAC is a whole different animal.  So some thoughts there would be great.
 
Thanks all.

 

[nmatheis]

Hey originalsnuffy. For non-native file support plus better fine-gained volume control on iOS, I use KaiserTone. It's not free, but it is a very good third-party player with gobs of features and the post-volume gain control lets you really dial-in the volume for sensitive IEM.

 

[wwyjoe]

Just to chip in, i'm using the UP/ iPhone 7+ with iAudiogate and Onkyo HF Player without any issues.

 

[originalsnuffy]

Do any of those IOS apps have a mechanism to create files folders and sort files into some kind of preferred playing order?
 
No doubt I can play music through any number of apps.  But none that I have found allow any kind of useful file manipulation within IOS.

 

[Jimster480]

The drop for this ends soon on Massdrop for those interested, they just emailed me about it because I had saved it since I was considering springing for it.

 

[Zuetsu]

Just got this and it sounds very good. Very musical and fun and it complements my other DAC/Amp, the xDuoo XD-05, very well because the XD-05 has a bass roll off, while the Shanling Up has a full punchy bass which extends very deep.

 

[originalsnuffy]

So I have started fiddling with this unit a bit more.   I decided to try out DSD files on the PC.
 
With JRiver I can output DSD as bitstream.  The software lights up to show it is outputting DSD, and I do get sound from the UP.
 
What I have discovered is that, at least with JRiver,  volume controls are disabled when playing DSD bitstream files.   Now on a player like the FIIO X3 II that is not an issue.  Because that unit has a volume control.   But the UP does not.  So that renders the DSD capability less useful than expected.
 
Any ideas?  It almost seems like the unit requires amplification for DSD, which defeats the purpose of having one small device.
 
By the way, anybody figure out how to bitstream DSD to the Shanling M2?  I never have been able to get that to work.  Same driver for Windows for the UP and the M2 by the way.

 

[nmatheis]

Just got this and it sounds very good. Very musical and fun and it complements my other DAC/Amp, the xDuoo XD-05, very well because the XD-05 has a bass roll off, while the Shanling Up has a full punchy bass which extends very deep.

Yes, UP has nice, punchy bass. Good for people who enjoy a full, rich sound

So I have started fiddling with this unit a bit more.   I decided to try out DSD files on the PC.

With JRiver I can output DSD as bitstream.  The software lights up to show it is outputting DSD, and I do get sound from the UP.

What I have discovered is that, at least with JRiver,  volume controls are disabled when playing DSD bitstream files.   Now on a player like the FIIO X3 II that is not an issue.  Because that unit has a volume control.   But the UP does not.  So that renders the DSD capability less useful than expected.

Any ideas?  It almost seems like the unit requires amplification for DSD, which defeats the purpose of having one small device.

By the way, anybody figure out how to bitstream DSD to the Shanling M2?  I never have been able to get that to work.  Same driver for Windows for the UP and the M2 by the way.

Say wha? Like you have absolutely no volume control at all? If so, that's really weird. I don't do DSD, so I haven't tested it. I use Vox music player on my MacBook Pro and haven't run into any issues besides the one already mentioned where if I pause music, the volume drops until I toggle the volume button. I am running BETA Mac OS, though. So it could just be a bug...

 

[originalsnuffy]

Nik,
 
Actually I think the lack of volume with DSD (at least on a  PC) is not a bug but a "design feature".  DSD files are most likely much harder to modify in software on the fly for volume adjustments than PCM files.  But perhaps some others can step in and give their experience. 
 
DSD is a funny animal, that is for darn sure.  As I understand it, the DSD waveform almost "looks" like an analog signal when fed through the proper spectrum analyzers even without going through a D/A conversion process.
 
UPDATE:  As noted in my review, I moved from WASAPI to ASIO drivers and was able to get DSD volume working in both FOOBAR and JRiver on Windows 10.

 

[Jimster480]

  Nik,
 
Actually I think the lack of volume with DSD (at least on a  PC) is not a bug but a "design feature".  DSD files are most likely much harder to modify in software on the fly for volume adjustments than PCM files.  But perhaps some others can step in and give their experience. 
 
DSD is a funny animal, that is for darn sure.  As I understand it, the DSD waveform almost "looks" like an analog signal when fed through the proper spectrum analyzers even without going through a D/A conversion process.

yes because its just the sampled output of a 1-bit DAC.

 

[Silent Xaxal]

How does this sound compared to the Dragonfly Red and/or Black?