Hello folks,
I have been reading the various opinions expressed regarding the Shanling M2 and having seen the photo's, I was rather taken with this DAP. In the past I have looked at the wonderful CD and DVD players this company has made and I always fancied buying one but never really got around to it.
Anyway, after reading what was available and seeing what looked like a sexy DAP, I bit the bullet and bought one from Eglobal in the UK for a pretty good price that pleased me no end!
A bit of background on me, I have worked in industry all my life and so my hearing is rather limited at the top end, I tend to need either a bright top end DAP or the headphones need to have a clear treble. Hi-Fi has been part of my whole life from about 12 years old onwards, a lot of which has been valve amplification and vinyl until the dreaded CD came along and I made the big mistake of selling all my L P’s for Cd's, unforgivable! Portable music listening has taken over for me for the last five or so years, more so when I found out that serious headphone were now being made, ones that actually sounded good but didn't cost the earth.
My gear; DAP's; Ibasso DX50, Hifiman HM601, Colorfly CK4+, Xduoo X2, Sansa Clip.
Headphones; Trinity Delta's, Rockjaw Kommand, Shure SE215, Sennhieser HD598 and other assorted cheap and cheerful units.
Amplifiers; Fiio E17, Cayon C5, Minibox-E and a Little Bear valve unit.
To my meager review: I ordered this device and it was due for delivery on a Saturday, only I was out, you know how frustrating that can be but luckily due to the Christmas madness, the unit was delivered on the Sunday, wonderful! In some ways when I got the box out of the packaging, I was a little bit disappointed but I bought the DAP to listen to, not the box, so that is really irrelevant.
The unit was fully charged on arrival and was ready to run, so in went a new 64gb card with a combination of MP3, OGG, WAV and FLAC files to try, and I must say my initial impressions were not good, this thing sounded bland and lifeless!
My first listen was with the Rockjaw Kommands, there was no bass to talk of, the treble was weak and nothing seemed to gel at all, this was one of those moments where you think, looks like I need to box this back up and move it on, I was heart broken, especially as so many seemed to like this unit so much!
Anyway, I left it until bed time, (that's when I get some peace to listen to my music, at least for a while,) and first tried the Trinity Delta headphones, all of a sudden something seemed to be working, this was good, I normally have a few songs I like to test things on, like “Camel”, A Nod and a Wink, the album was recorded in HDCD and personally this type of recording seems to have disappeared but what a loss, it just seemed to improve Cd's no end. In this instance though, I had opened ELP, In The Hot Seat, an album I know very well but to my amazement, the extra detail being delivered was astonishing. Not only was there more information being extracted but the music that was there was being cleared, the mush was being separated into individual notes and phrases, sounds that I had grown up with were totally different, some extra keys on the keyboard, a cymbal that was being hit repeatedly and not a long hit like it was originally. It's not very often I listen to this album, in the past maybe but not nowadays, that has changed, I can tell you. As an example, cymbals went from being “tussh, tussh, to tiissh, tiissh! Like a right loony, I am hearing voices now, voices I never heard before, they were a sound in the background but now they are backing singers, the clouds have parted.
The next session, I tried the Sennheiser HD598's, it usually takes me a few minutes to dial into these over-the-ear devices but this time it just didn't work at all, I added the Cayon amplifier but still the “Emotion” was missing, I think I have found that I now prefer in-ear headphones rather than over-the-ear unit's but it is a personal preference, and unless I can find a good set of over-the-ear headphones, I will stick with the IEM's.
The following night I went back to the Kommad's and this time they sounded much better, I like the bass drive of these headphones, the treble is clear and detailed but the bass kicks nicely for me. All that detail that was present with the Delta's was also there with the Kommand's as well, what happened the first time around, I have no idea, maybe it needs a bit of burn in to get running properly? Some different music, Ozric Tentagle this time, again, the detail retrieval was amazing, the drummer with Ozric is something else, that man is rhythmical!
I seem to be jumping about a bit but most of this is how I find things, so please bear with me.
The operation of the M2 is good but not brilliant, this again is a personal thing and I am not slating off this unit but for me I find it a bit difficult! As the unit came, it was strange to use, hard to put my finger on it and I have forgotten what the initial problems were, when I finally got it to update, things did improve but I still find it funny to use. The rotary wheel is a good idea, I find it a bit too small, one problem for me is that when trying to push the centre button, I tend to push the whole wheel and end up going back or changing track. As the wheel is quite small, scrolling up and down can be difficult, I know it is in proportion to the size of the DAP but I personally would have liked it a bit bigger. Another dislike is the default volume setting, it is in 20% increments and 40% is too low while 60% is too high, I prefer it to default to the previous volume setting and glad to see, this is an option on the settings.
Another niggle is when trying to select artists or tracks, the wheel either goes too far up or too far back, saying that, I had a similar problem with the review sample of the Fiio X3 vii I had, so it may well just be me that is the problem. I am old fashioned, I prefer buttons to press rather than all this touch screen malarkey or scroll wheel selection, that will be the problem!
Nearly all of my music listening life, I have refrained from using sound enhancements, and I still tend to steer away from it these days but I have given the various EQ settings a try and personally, I don't like any of them, I even tried to use the EQ custom but again I think the standard setting is just fabulous! So my listening is with no EQ changes from the standard.
The battery life may not be to every ones joy, I managed to use it for a week but only in the evenings when I go to bed, this equates to approximately 8 to 9 hours for the very first charge, I have fully charged it now and we will see how long it last this time, I find that new batteries gradually last longer after they have been exercised a few times anyway.
When I had the Fiio X3vii, I compared it to my then current set-up, which was an Ibasso DX 50, the coax output went to a Fiio E17 as the DAC, this then fed from the headphone output into the Minibox-E+, the X3 replaced all three of these units with one that did the same job in one unit! But this M2 has a much better detailed output directly to the headphones without the need for an external DAC! Apart from adding more power, connecting the Cayon C5 amplifier to the line output has made very little difference, it has maybe even coloured the sound ever-so slightly and as long as the M2 can drive the headphones, I wouldn't even bother to make any changes. Unfortunately I have never had the option to try some of the high end DA P's like the Astell and Kern's but if this is what they sound like, I now understand why so many people believe in them and are willing to spend so much money on this sort of sound, it's fab-U-lous! With a headphone connection and a second connector that can be changed from “line out,” to “coax” and a nice neat little plug that you can move from one plug to the other depending on which connection you use, this opens up extra options for this as a transport but so far in my opinion this is a stand alone unit that needs nothing else unless you need to drive some difficult headphones. In my box I have a set of UE TF10's that I have not used in a while as I find them lacking in bass with a soft treble, connect these up to the M2 and bass is well controlled and digs deep, the treble is still slightly rolled off but now these headphones do the business, they are even a match for my favorite Kommands
For me, though it may well be new toy syndrome, I think this device is superb, the extra detail retrieval is way beyond anything the DX50 is capable of, the expression and clarity that comes through gives you goosebumps at times and apart from one or two problems, like a short battery life and the scroll wheel that “I” personally find slightly difficult, this is a cracking unit. I was once told not to waste money on a source, get the best headphones (or speakers), you can afford as most source components sound the same but with this DAP, it has the ability to make some of my El-cheapo headphones sound wonderful!
My biggest gripe, they have just announced that they are building them in Gray and Gold, I want a gold one!!!
I have been reading the various opinions expressed regarding the Shanling M2 and having seen the photo's, I was rather taken with this DAP. In the past I have looked at the wonderful CD and DVD players this company has made and I always fancied buying one but never really got around to it.
Anyway, after reading what was available and seeing what looked like a sexy DAP, I bit the bullet and bought one from Eglobal in the UK for a pretty good price that pleased me no end!
A bit of background on me, I have worked in industry all my life and so my hearing is rather limited at the top end, I tend to need either a bright top end DAP or the headphones need to have a clear treble. Hi-Fi has been part of my whole life from about 12 years old onwards, a lot of which has been valve amplification and vinyl until the dreaded CD came along and I made the big mistake of selling all my L P’s for Cd's, unforgivable! Portable music listening has taken over for me for the last five or so years, more so when I found out that serious headphone were now being made, ones that actually sounded good but didn't cost the earth.
My gear; DAP's; Ibasso DX50, Hifiman HM601, Colorfly CK4+, Xduoo X2, Sansa Clip.
Headphones; Trinity Delta's, Rockjaw Kommand, Shure SE215, Sennhieser HD598 and other assorted cheap and cheerful units.
Amplifiers; Fiio E17, Cayon C5, Minibox-E and a Little Bear valve unit.
To my meager review: I ordered this device and it was due for delivery on a Saturday, only I was out, you know how frustrating that can be but luckily due to the Christmas madness, the unit was delivered on the Sunday, wonderful! In some ways when I got the box out of the packaging, I was a little bit disappointed but I bought the DAP to listen to, not the box, so that is really irrelevant.
The unit was fully charged on arrival and was ready to run, so in went a new 64gb card with a combination of MP3, OGG, WAV and FLAC files to try, and I must say my initial impressions were not good, this thing sounded bland and lifeless!
My first listen was with the Rockjaw Kommands, there was no bass to talk of, the treble was weak and nothing seemed to gel at all, this was one of those moments where you think, looks like I need to box this back up and move it on, I was heart broken, especially as so many seemed to like this unit so much!
Anyway, I left it until bed time, (that's when I get some peace to listen to my music, at least for a while,) and first tried the Trinity Delta headphones, all of a sudden something seemed to be working, this was good, I normally have a few songs I like to test things on, like “Camel”, A Nod and a Wink, the album was recorded in HDCD and personally this type of recording seems to have disappeared but what a loss, it just seemed to improve Cd's no end. In this instance though, I had opened ELP, In The Hot Seat, an album I know very well but to my amazement, the extra detail being delivered was astonishing. Not only was there more information being extracted but the music that was there was being cleared, the mush was being separated into individual notes and phrases, sounds that I had grown up with were totally different, some extra keys on the keyboard, a cymbal that was being hit repeatedly and not a long hit like it was originally. It's not very often I listen to this album, in the past maybe but not nowadays, that has changed, I can tell you. As an example, cymbals went from being “tussh, tussh, to tiissh, tiissh! Like a right loony, I am hearing voices now, voices I never heard before, they were a sound in the background but now they are backing singers, the clouds have parted.
The next session, I tried the Sennheiser HD598's, it usually takes me a few minutes to dial into these over-the-ear devices but this time it just didn't work at all, I added the Cayon amplifier but still the “Emotion” was missing, I think I have found that I now prefer in-ear headphones rather than over-the-ear unit's but it is a personal preference, and unless I can find a good set of over-the-ear headphones, I will stick with the IEM's.
The following night I went back to the Kommad's and this time they sounded much better, I like the bass drive of these headphones, the treble is clear and detailed but the bass kicks nicely for me. All that detail that was present with the Delta's was also there with the Kommand's as well, what happened the first time around, I have no idea, maybe it needs a bit of burn in to get running properly? Some different music, Ozric Tentagle this time, again, the detail retrieval was amazing, the drummer with Ozric is something else, that man is rhythmical!
I seem to be jumping about a bit but most of this is how I find things, so please bear with me.
The operation of the M2 is good but not brilliant, this again is a personal thing and I am not slating off this unit but for me I find it a bit difficult! As the unit came, it was strange to use, hard to put my finger on it and I have forgotten what the initial problems were, when I finally got it to update, things did improve but I still find it funny to use. The rotary wheel is a good idea, I find it a bit too small, one problem for me is that when trying to push the centre button, I tend to push the whole wheel and end up going back or changing track. As the wheel is quite small, scrolling up and down can be difficult, I know it is in proportion to the size of the DAP but I personally would have liked it a bit bigger. Another dislike is the default volume setting, it is in 20% increments and 40% is too low while 60% is too high, I prefer it to default to the previous volume setting and glad to see, this is an option on the settings.
Another niggle is when trying to select artists or tracks, the wheel either goes too far up or too far back, saying that, I had a similar problem with the review sample of the Fiio X3 vii I had, so it may well just be me that is the problem. I am old fashioned, I prefer buttons to press rather than all this touch screen malarkey or scroll wheel selection, that will be the problem!
Nearly all of my music listening life, I have refrained from using sound enhancements, and I still tend to steer away from it these days but I have given the various EQ settings a try and personally, I don't like any of them, I even tried to use the EQ custom but again I think the standard setting is just fabulous! So my listening is with no EQ changes from the standard.
The battery life may not be to every ones joy, I managed to use it for a week but only in the evenings when I go to bed, this equates to approximately 8 to 9 hours for the very first charge, I have fully charged it now and we will see how long it last this time, I find that new batteries gradually last longer after they have been exercised a few times anyway.
When I had the Fiio X3vii, I compared it to my then current set-up, which was an Ibasso DX 50, the coax output went to a Fiio E17 as the DAC, this then fed from the headphone output into the Minibox-E+, the X3 replaced all three of these units with one that did the same job in one unit! But this M2 has a much better detailed output directly to the headphones without the need for an external DAC! Apart from adding more power, connecting the Cayon C5 amplifier to the line output has made very little difference, it has maybe even coloured the sound ever-so slightly and as long as the M2 can drive the headphones, I wouldn't even bother to make any changes. Unfortunately I have never had the option to try some of the high end DA P's like the Astell and Kern's but if this is what they sound like, I now understand why so many people believe in them and are willing to spend so much money on this sort of sound, it's fab-U-lous! With a headphone connection and a second connector that can be changed from “line out,” to “coax” and a nice neat little plug that you can move from one plug to the other depending on which connection you use, this opens up extra options for this as a transport but so far in my opinion this is a stand alone unit that needs nothing else unless you need to drive some difficult headphones. In my box I have a set of UE TF10's that I have not used in a while as I find them lacking in bass with a soft treble, connect these up to the M2 and bass is well controlled and digs deep, the treble is still slightly rolled off but now these headphones do the business, they are even a match for my favorite Kommands
For me, though it may well be new toy syndrome, I think this device is superb, the extra detail retrieval is way beyond anything the DX50 is capable of, the expression and clarity that comes through gives you goosebumps at times and apart from one or two problems, like a short battery life and the scroll wheel that “I” personally find slightly difficult, this is a cracking unit. I was once told not to waste money on a source, get the best headphones (or speakers), you can afford as most source components sound the same but with this DAP, it has the ability to make some of my El-cheapo headphones sound wonderful!
My biggest gripe, they have just announced that they are building them in Gray and Gold, I want a gold one!!!