Introducing Shanling M1 Plus - New Generation of Compact MTouch Players at just $209

Aug 18, 2024 at 1:38 PM Post #181 of 739
It would be interesting to see how it compares to the same Hiby R3 II. It would be especially interesting to see if there is a difference in performance, since the Hiby R3 II has an X1000 processor and it freezes very often, while the M1 plus has an X2000. Portables is one of my main requirements for a player, so I'm not considering huge heavy bricks with 660 Snapdragon.
I think for user experience, they do not have a big difference, also for the size, weight and resolution. One significant difference will be the speed when scrolling the Playlist (M1 plus faster).
Also, the sound for M1 plus is more powerful and bazzy than R3 II with no EQ setting. Both of them have a warm sound signature. But M1 plus need to pair brighter IEMs to obtain a more balanced sound.
 
Aug 18, 2024 at 5:03 PM Post #183 of 739
I think for user experience, they do not have a big difference, also for the size, weight and resolution. One significant difference will be the speed when scrolling the Playlist (M1 plus faster).
Also, the sound for M1 plus is more powerful and bazzy than R3 II with no EQ setting. Both of them have a warm sound signature. But M1 plus need to pair brighter IEMs to obtain a more balanced sound.
It's a shame to hear that they're both warm, because I liked the more neutral presentation of the old Hiby R3 Pro better. Hiby R3 II freezes very often and doesn't respond to buttons or the touch screen. Really VERY often. I wonder how things are with M1 Plus. There were no such problems with Hiby R3 Pro, Shanling M1 and Xduoo X20, but this problem also exists on Fiio M3 Pro and Hidisz AP80 Pro-X. I suspect because they had older versions of Hiby OS, which is less power hungry.
 
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Aug 18, 2024 at 11:05 PM Post #184 of 739
It's a shame to hear that they're both warm, because I liked the more neutral presentation of the old Hiby R3 Pro better. Hiby R3 II freezes very often and doesn't respond to buttons or the touch screen. Really VERY often. I wonder how things are with M1 Plus. There were no such problems with Hiby R3 Pro, Shanling M1 and Xduoo X20, but this problem also exists on Fiio M3 Pro and Hidisz AP80 Pro-X. I suspect because they had older versions of Hiby OS, which is less power hungry.
I also expect M1 plus to have a relatively neutral sound (using ESS chip), but when it comes out, the sound is warmer than expected.
Thats why I now pair it with Technics TZ700, which turns out a quite balanced and powerful sound.
I think for the response, M1 plus can provide a smooth using experience, but only a bit lag when scrolling Songs and Playlist.
 

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Aug 19, 2024 at 2:39 AM Post #187 of 739
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Aug 19, 2024 at 12:13 PM Post #189 of 739
I have just got my M1 plus and here are some comparisons on the size with other DAPs. ( M5U / M1s / R3II )

Here are just my own thoughts.

For me the price difference between R4 and M1 plus is not so much, but I will choose M1 plus because it better feed my needs.

1. Size (Just as tiny as R3II, rectangular shape much more appreciated)
2. Simple (No android OS, For me ok as I have my own music files)
3. Sound (Similar Style with M5U but I think a bit more warmer. High gain will be more neutral. Better to pair with brighter iems)
4. Power (Enough to drive most of the iems. Can drive but not so recommend to drive headphones)
5. Easy to Control (Eddict Player can be used)

One complaint will be the resolution of the screen. If it remains the same as M1s will be perfect.

But I still love this tiny power DAP. Just based on what you need to choose your own right DAP.

Thanks for the pictures and observations!

This DAP seems very intriguing: surprising amount of power out of balanced 4.4mm, DSD 512 and Tidal (online only) streaming capability. Lots of good stuff in a small, very reasonably priced package. I've had my Shanling M6 Pro 21 for a few years now and love the Shanling sound, and especially their ergonomic (for me) placement of the volume wheel on the right upper and track controls on the left. The M1 Plus is very tempting!

I'm just curious re DSD 512:

The specs (looking at MusicTeck's website) seem to indicate that the unit can play up to DSD 512 internally, although if DAP utilized as a USB DAC it will play up to DSD 256. No problem, just was wondering if you have a DSD 512 track that you could test it with. Thanks again!
 
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Aug 19, 2024 at 4:23 PM Post #190 of 739
Hello everyone,

What can you say about the approximate battery life?
I have the m3u and it barely reaches 10 hours of battery life with the 3.5 mm output.
Also the percentage of power remaining doesn't seem very reliable.

Thanks!
 
Aug 19, 2024 at 6:20 PM Post #191 of 739
I'll open with a dumb question, since I just received mine today: does it come with a screen protector already on? I went to put on the one that came with it, then realized there already seems to be some slightly raised surface on the screen that might be a protector, with some very slight bubbling around the edges, but I don't want to pick at it to find out for sure.

Coming from Tempotec Sonata HD V DAC hooked up to an iPhone, I made the switch to a DAP due to it draining my battery a bit too much (not to mention that thing gets so hot it actually hurts sometimes, which makes me a little nervous). I went with this one in part because Shanling products generally review solidly, but also because the international support has received good marks. Finally, the excellent Shanling representative in this forum always being so open and candid about their products' features and limitations is what sealed the deal. Well done, Shanling rep - show this post to your boss during your next salary review. ;)

This thing sounds great to me with Sennheiser HD 660S2 headphones (I'll primarily be using this inside, while it seems most people are using IEMs and taking this outside, so I realize I'm maybe a bit of an outlier). I have to crank it up pretty high at low gain, but you can still drive it just past the point of discomfort so it works for me (especially when using a balanced cable, which gives it a bit more "oomph.") Like people are saying, the sound seems to have a slightly warm signature, but I tend to prefer how that sounds. Most of my "serious" music listening was more in the vinyl world, so I'm still very much a beginner here, and not fully comfortable giving a particularly detailed audio description yet (especially since a lot of the qualities of the sound, like the wide stage, can obviously be attributed to the headphones). I'll leave that to the pros.

I saw some recent blather on reddit about how Shanling devices have a bad noise floor when using a balanced cable (which I think might've actually just been the UA4 after doing my own research), but I believe Shanling confirmed this was resolved in their later products. I'm using this with a balanced cable and can confirm the noise floor is dead silent to my ears on quiet songs (I even tried the completely silent Magic Window from Boards of Canada) - all I hear is my tinnitus.

The software is mostly simple and functional, which is all I wanted in a music player. Just music copied off my PC, no distractions. It's cool that Tidal's included, and even cooler that I can hide it from the menu and not have to see if I don't want to use it.

A more detailed manual would be nice for people like me new to DAPs - some of the menu options aren't immediately clear.

Minor software issues:

The "Hi-Res Audio" section just lists the songs on the device which, correct me if I'm wrong, only seems to check for sample rates higher than 96khz, with bit depth being irrelevant. There's no way to sort by artist or album, so it's not very useful in its current form.

The equalizer doesn't work on 96khz and higher tracks, but the user can still control the toggle (it just has no impact). Ideally this should be grayed out if it doesn't work, or a message should appear, since it's a bit confusing (that said, I generally keep the EQ flat anyway).

While this player obviously wasn't designed specifically for english and that's totally cool by me, smaller font size options would be a little nicer aesthetically so that single words aren't divided across two lines (for example, in the drop-down menu, "System" shows as "Syste" with "m" on a second line). The constant (very fast) horizontal scrolling for long file names when scrolling down a list is also a bit dizzying and I wish there was a way to tone that down a bit.

Wireless connectivity, something I never really cared for when transferring files to my phones, works really surprisingly well and is very fast - you can upload files via the upload tool or by simply clicking and dragging - but there's unfortunately no way to preserve the existing folder structure from your PC. If you try to drag a folder to the device, it will simply just copy the audio files to the root. You can manually create and name folders on the device via the wireless interface and copy files to there, which is something, but it's still a bit more trouble than it's worth in its current form, unless you don't really need a folder structure. Cable connection's still the way to go for now.

Again, I'm nowhere near as DAP/DAC experienced as most people here, so take my opinions on the sound with a grain of salt, but outside of the minor little things, I'm really happy with this thing so far. It's going to be getting a lot of play over the coming weeks, so I'll report back with any issues.
 
Aug 19, 2024 at 10:05 PM Post #192 of 739
Thanks for the pictures and observations!

This DAP seems very intriguing: surprising amount of power out of balanced 4.4mm, DSD 512 and Tidal (online only) streaming capability. Lots of good stuff in a small, very reasonably priced package. I've had my Shanling M6 Pro 21 for a few years now and love the Shanling sound, and especially their ergonomic (for me) placement of the volume wheel on the right upper and track controls on the left. The M1 Plus is very tempting!

I'm just curious re DSD 512:

The specs (looking at MusicTeck's website) seem to indicate that the unit can play up to DSD 512 internally, although if DAP utilized as a USB DAC it will play up to DSD 256. No problem, just was wondering if you have a DSD 512 track that you could test it with. Thanks again!
Sorry, I haven't got any DSD files, so can't help testing🙏.
 
Aug 19, 2024 at 10:27 PM Post #193 of 739
Thanks for the pictures and observations!

This DAP seems very intriguing: surprising amount of power out of balanced 4.4mm, DSD 512 and Tidal (online only) streaming capability. Lots of good stuff in a small, very reasonably priced package. I've had my Shanling M6 Pro 21 for a few years now and love the Shanling sound, and especially their ergonomic (for me) placement of the volume wheel on the right upper and track controls on the left. The M1 Plus is very tempting!

I'm just curious re DSD 512:

The specs (looking at MusicTeck's website) seem to indicate that the unit can play up to DSD 512 internally, although if DAP utilized as a USB DAC it will play up to DSD 256. No problem, just was wondering if you have a DSD 512 track that you could test it with. Thanks again!

This difference between internal and USB playback is due to limits of the USB chip used.

We have DSD512 testing files and can confirm they work just fine for internal playback from MicroSD card (Basic Sandisk Ultra card)

I'll open with a dumb question, since I just received mine today: does it come with a screen protector already on? I went to put on the one that came with it, then realized there already seems to be some slightly raised surface on the screen that might be a protector, with some very slight bubbling around the edges, but I don't want to pick at it to find out for sure.

A more detailed manual would be nice for people like me new to DAPs - some of the menu options aren't immediately clear.

Minor software issues:


The "Hi-Res Audio" section just lists the songs on the device which, correct me if I'm wrong, only seems to check for sample rates higher than 96khz, with bit depth being irrelevant. There's no way to sort by artist or album, so it's not very useful in its current form.

The equalizer doesn't work on 96khz and higher tracks, but the user can still control the toggle (it just has no impact). Ideally this should be grayed out if it doesn't work, or a message should appear, since it's a bit confusing (that said, I generally keep the EQ flat anyway).


While this player obviously wasn't designed specifically for english and that's totally cool by me, smaller font size options would be a little nicer aesthetically so that single words aren't divided across two lines (for example, in the drop-down menu, "System" shows as "Syste" with "m" on a second line). The constant (very fast) horizontal scrolling for long file names when scrolling down a list is also a bit dizzying and I wish there was a way to tone that down a bit.

Wireless connectivity, something I never really cared for when transferring files to my phones, works really surprisingly well and is very fast - you can upload files via the upload tool or by simply clicking and dragging - but there's unfortunately no way to preserve the existing folder structure from your PC. If you try to drag a folder to the device, it will simply just copy the audio files to the root. You can manually create and name folders on the device via the wireless interface and copy files to there, which is something, but it's still a bit more trouble than it's worth in its current form, unless you don't really need a folder structure. Cable connection's still the way to go for now.

Again, I'm nowhere near as DAP/DAC experienced as most people here, so take my opinions on the sound with a grain of salt, but outside of the minor little things, I'm really happy with this thing so far. It's going to be getting a lot of play over the coming weeks, so I'll report back with any issues.

- It has Screen protector pre-applied

- Thanks for feedback on the Hi-Res and EQ, these been long standing state of our system.

- Honestly, the Wi-Fi transfer is there mostly for people that want to simply drop in a few songs and don't wanna deal with cable. For any bigger folder manipulation, it will be always more comfortable to do it directly with file transfer to card.
 
Shanling Have any question about our players? Just PM me or send me email. Stay updated on Shanling at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
https://www.facebook.com/Shanling-Audio-603230783166845/ https://twitter.com/ShanlingAudio https://www.instagram.com/shanlingaudio/ http://en.shanling.com/ frankie@shanling.com
Aug 19, 2024 at 10:40 PM Post #194 of 739
This difference between internal and USB playback is due to limits of the USB chip used.

We have DSD512 testing files and can confirm they work just fine for internal playback from MicroSD card (Basic Sandisk Ultra card)



- It has Screen protector pre-applied

- Thanks for feedback on the Hi-Res and EQ, these been long standing state of our system.

- Honestly, the Wi-Fi transfer is there mostly for people that want to simply drop in a few songs and don't wanna deal with cable. For any bigger folder manipulation, it will be always more comfortable to do it directly with file transfer to card.

Thanks for clarifying! The wi-fi thing is no big deal since like you say, it’s mainly a nice extra; I was mostly surprised at how painless and fast it worked. The mTouch OS is good where it counts (sorting and listening to music) and I definitely prefer it to HiBy’s app.
 

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