[Ace Bee]

I'll post my impressions soon...for now, I simply cannot stop marvelling at it. The incredible separation, transparency, imaging, and stage is just exhilarating. It's been on since yesterday with MG600 playing my entire library out of it

 

[Tomm11]

I'll post my impressions soon...for now, I simply cannot stop marvelling at it. The incredible separation, transparency, imaging, and stage is just exhilarating. It's been on since yesterday with MG600 playing my entire library out of it

Need to know ... MG600 ... Bass neutral or bass boosted. Dont have to give everything away. Just some teasers if you would. Pretty please

 

[Ace Bee]

Need to know ... MG600 ... Bass neutral or bass boosted. Dont have to give everything away. Just some teasers if you would. Pretty please

I won't say neutral, but it isn't boosted either. Everything about MG600 is Balance. I haven't heard another more balanced earphone in this range. The bass is just enough not to be lean, but I would have certainly preferred a slight bit more in quantity. Quality is impeccable though. The low end won't sound unnatural at all, but a bit more juice would have made it more fun. However, that would have killed its exceptionally airy sound. That semi open back is really working to create a massively wide stage. And another plus point is - there is no uncomfortable peak anywhere, even though the highs have quite respectable amount if energy in them. It's a marvelous set. Each day I'm falling more in love, and it's just the 2nd day.

 

[Tomm11]

I won't say neutral, but it isn't boosted either. Everything about MG600 is Balance. I haven't heard another more balanced earphone in this range. The bass is just enough not to be lean, but I would have certainly preferred a slight bit more in quantity. Quality is impeccable though. The low end won't sound unnatural at all, but a bit more juice would have made it more fun. However, that would have killed its exceptionally airy sound. That semi open back is really working to create a massively wide stage. And another plus point is - there is no uncomfortable peak anywhere, even though the highs have quite respectable amount if energy in them. It's a marvelous set. Each day I'm falling more in love, and it's just the 2nd day.

Thanks. I was intrigued by the MG600 and appreciate your impressions. Hopefully they'll be some more reviews and impressions in the near future. I'm still interested.

 

[Ace Bee]

Where to start…and which one to focus on, IS the big question here.

Shanling M7 and MG600 are in the house! And damn me if I do not love them! Because I do, and they deserve every ounce of it!

Obvious disclosures first: I got them from Shanling at a reviewer’s discount. The discount was pretty lucrative to say the least. And I could not resist having my first crack at owning a kilobuck DAP.

So, coming to M7, it’s the very example of an understated look. Apart from the wavy curves on the sides, it looks nothing special. I secretly hoped being in the kilobuck category it would have a bit nicer looks, or at least, a bit more striking colour. Looks a bit dull TBH. But anyway, let’s move past that. The unit is heavy AF, and feels solid. The leather cover is nice.

Moving past the aesthetics, comes how M7 makes my iems sound. Welp, the ES9038PRO DAC is working at its best here, and made all of my iems even more GRAND than original. M3X simply sounds flat and weak now. I will go into the finer details in the full review, this is just a glimpse at the sound. M7 takes the sound of the connected iem and extends it even further in literally every aspect - that’s how I hear it. To put it objectively, M7 produces a sound that is highly transparent with a brilliant dynamic range. Everything pops into life all of a sudden. The abundant vibrancy literally took my breath away. But that’s not to tell that brightness is everything M7 focuses on. The low end is still well preserved and reaches deep. Yeah, I’d have preferred a bit more emphasis in the low end with a bit more meat on the notes, but as it is, I’m not complaining. The background is clean and black. Treble sparkles brilliantly and extends quite high. The tonality is mostly neutral with a hint of warmth.

Focusing on the functionalities, well, the OS at the beginning felt a bit sluggish, but now with everything set up, it’s quite zippy & smooth and does not lag any more. However, there is one aspect I did not like much - heating. The player heats up quite noticeably with continuous playing, and after 6 hours it gets really hot. I contacted Shanling regarding this, and they said it is normal for their high end DAP. Although, the fact that the ambient temperature here is hovering around 40 degree Celcius might amplify the heating issue further, but nevertheless, the heating does exist. It remains within control inside a temperature controlled ambience (27 deg Celcius) though.

Regarding the battery backup, in my test, it gives about 8 hour and 45 minutes of backup while continuously playing. Medium gain, volume at 20, screen mostly off, iem impedance 22 Ohm (MG600). However, when the playing starts, it shows more than 10 hours of backup in the projected battery life, which starts decreasing as the player heats up. So I am in the process of determining the battery back up through intermittent playing, 1-2 hours at most at a stretch, while in between the player stays off. Will update how it turns out.

Did I just write an almost full review?

Anyway, onto the MG600.

Regarding Form Factor, this is the smallest and lightest iem in my collection. However, regarding the sound, it is the Second Biggest in my collection! Talk about Oxymorons!

At the very first listen the first aspect that struck me was how refined the sound was. The notes are quite crisp, not somewhat crisp, and yet so delicately constructed that they never feel edgy. There is no listening discomfort even at high volumes, the notes do not become piercing or harsh at any point of time. Oh, and also, despite being crisp, the notes never feel lacking body, which brings us to the next marvelous aspect: Balance.

I feel, what Shanling has aimed with MG600 is to establish an extreme sense of balance. The balance between reproducing details and retaining musicality. The balance between all the three frequency ranges - Low, Mid, and High. None of those three ever feels more than the other, and yet none of them feels lacking presence at any point of time. However, one might feel that because of this, the macro dynamics will be negatively affected, but that is not the case either. While surely it is not as dynamic sounding as those with a bit boosted bass (Elan, Horizon - from my collection), it certainly does not feel laid back or bland. Nope, it sounds lively and engaging enough that I forgot about my chores and kept listening. This pristine sense of balance is what makes MG600 an impeccably tuned iem.

The third winning aspect of MG600 is how incredibly airy its sound is. Clearly, the semi-open back construction is at play here. The stage is massively wide for a iem, with quite respectable height and depth. The imaging is equally impressive, while of course not as impressive as multi BA or hybrid iems. For eg, from memory I can say that Campfire Audio Andromeda V3 and Audio Hekili had a more impressive three dimensional imaging.But did they have the intoxicating timbre of a Dynamic Driver? Nope, they did not.

Dang, looks like another mini review! Well, good for me, will serve as notes for the actual review.

 

[HarlanDraka]

Where to start…and which one to focus on, IS the big question here.

Shanling M7 and MG600 are in the house! And damn me if I do not love them! Because I do, and they deserve every ounce of it!

Obvious disclosures first: I got them from Shanling at a reviewer’s discount. The discount was pretty lucrative to say the least. And I could not resist having my first crack at owning a kilobuck DAP.



So, coming to M7, it’s the very example of an understated look. Apart from the wavy curves on the sides, it looks nothing special. I secretly hoped being in the kilobuck category it would have a bit nicer looks, or at least, a bit more striking colour. Looks a bit dull TBH. But anyway, let’s move past that. The unit is heavy AF, and feels solid. The leather cover is nice.

Moving past the aesthetics, comes how M7 makes my iems sound. Welp, the ES9038PRO DAC is working at its best here, and made all of my iems even more GRAND than original. M3X simply sounds flat and weak now. I will go into the finer details in the full review, this is just a glimpse at the sound. M7 takes the sound of the connected iem and extends it even further in literally every aspect - that’s how I hear it. To put it objectively, M7 produces a sound that is highly transparent with a brilliant dynamic range. Everything pops into life all of a sudden. The abundant vibrancy literally took my breath away. But that’s not to tell that brightness is everything M7 focuses on. The low end is still well preserved and reaches deep. Yeah, I’d have preferred a bit more emphasis in the low end with a bit more meat on the notes, but as it is, I’m not complaining. The background is clean and black. Treble sparkles brilliantly and extends quite high. The tonality is mostly neutral with a hint of warmth.

Focusing on the functionalities, well, the OS at the beginning felt a bit sluggish, but now with everything set up, it’s quite zippy & smooth and does not lag any more. However, there is one aspect I did not like much - heating. The player heats up quite noticeably with continuous playing, and after 6 hours it gets really hot. I contacted Shanling regarding this, and they said it is normal for their high end DAP. Although, the fact that the ambient temperature here is hovering around 40 degree Celcius might amplify the heating issue further, but nevertheless, the heating does exist. It remains within control inside a temperature controlled ambience (27 deg Celcius) though.

Regarding the battery backup, in my test, it gives about 8 hour and 45 minutes of backup while continuously playing. Medium gain, volume at 20, screen mostly off, iem impedance 22 Ohm (MG600). However, when the playing starts, it shows more than 10 hours of backup in the projected battery life, which starts decreasing as the player heats up. So I am in the process of determining the battery back up through intermittent playing, 1-2 hours at most at a stretch, while in between the player stays off. Will update how it turns out.

Did I just write an almost full review?



Anyway, onto the MG600.

Regarding Form Factor, this is the smallest and lightest iem in my collection. However, regarding the sound, it is the Second Biggest in my collection! Talk about Oxymorons!

At the very first listen the first aspect that struck me was how refined the sound was. The notes are quite crisp, not somewhat crisp, and yet so delicately constructed that they never feel edgy. There is no listening discomfort even at high volumes, the notes do not become piercing or harsh at any point of time. Oh, and also, despite being crisp, the notes never feel lacking body, which brings us to the next marvelous aspect: Balance.

I feel, what Shanling has aimed with MG600 is to establish an extreme sense of balance. The balance between reproducing details and retaining musicality. The balance between all the three frequency ranges - Low, Mid, and High. None of those three ever feels more than the other, and yet none of them feels lacking presence at any point of time. However, one might feel that because of this, the macro dynamics will be negatively affected, but that is not the case either. While surely it is not as dynamic sounding as those with a bit boosted bass (Elan, Horizon - from my collection), it certainly does not feel laid back or bland. Nope, it sounds lively and engaging enough that I forgot about my chores and kept listening. This pristine sense of balance is what makes MG600 an impeccably tuned iem.

The third winning aspect of MG600 is how incredibly airy its sound is. Clearly, the semi-open back construction is at play here. The stage is massively wide for a iem, with quite respectable height and depth. The imaging is equally impressive, while of course not as impressive as multi BA or hybrid iems. For eg, from memory I can say that Campfire Audio Andromeda V3 and Audio Hekili had a more impressive three dimensional imaging.But did they have the intoxicating timbre of a Dynamic Driver? Nope, they did not.

Dang, looks like another mini review! Well, good for me, will serve as notes for the actual review.

Nice first impressions/mini review.

I’m gonna receive the M7 and case tomorrow and after proper burn in I will be comparing the M7 with the M17 and, from memory, to the m8, dx240 amp8 mk2 and dx300 amp12. Can’t wait

@Shanling Is the screen protector already applied at the factory for M7?

 

[Xinlisupreme]

Where to start…and which one to focus on, IS the big question here.

Shanling M7 and MG600 are in the house! And damn me if I do not love them! Because I do, and they deserve every ounce of it!

Obvious disclosures first: I got them from Shanling at a reviewer’s discount. The discount was pretty lucrative to say the least. And I could not resist having my first crack at owning a kilobuck DAP.



So, coming to M7, it’s the very example of an understated look. Apart from the wavy curves on the sides, it looks nothing special. I secretly hoped being in the kilobuck category it would have a bit nicer looks, or at least, a bit more striking colour. Looks a bit dull TBH. But anyway, let’s move past that. The unit is heavy AF, and feels solid. The leather cover is nice.

Moving past the aesthetics, comes how M7 makes my iems sound. Welp, the ES9038PRO DAC is working at its best here, and made all of my iems even more GRAND than original. M3X simply sounds flat and weak now. I will go into the finer details in the full review, this is just a glimpse at the sound. M7 takes the sound of the connected iem and extends it even further in literally every aspect - that’s how I hear it. To put it objectively, M7 produces a sound that is highly transparent with a brilliant dynamic range. Everything pops into life all of a sudden. The abundant vibrancy literally took my breath away. But that’s not to tell that brightness is everything M7 focuses on. The low end is still well preserved and reaches deep. Yeah, I’d have preferred a bit more emphasis in the low end with a bit more meat on the notes, but as it is, I’m not complaining. The background is clean and black. Treble sparkles brilliantly and extends quite high. The tonality is mostly neutral with a hint of warmth.

Focusing on the functionalities, well, the OS at the beginning felt a bit sluggish, but now with everything set up, it’s quite zippy & smooth and does not lag any more. However, there is one aspect I did not like much - heating. The player heats up quite noticeably with continuous playing, and after 6 hours it gets really hot. I contacted Shanling regarding this, and they said it is normal for their high end DAP. Although, the fact that the ambient temperature here is hovering around 40 degree Celcius might amplify the heating issue further, but nevertheless, the heating does exist. It remains within control inside a temperature controlled ambience (27 deg Celcius) though.

Regarding the battery backup, in my test, it gives about 8 hour and 45 minutes of backup while continuously playing. Medium gain, volume at 20, screen mostly off, iem impedance 22 Ohm (MG600). However, when the playing starts, it shows more than 10 hours of backup in the projected battery life, which starts decreasing as the player heats up. So I am in the process of determining the battery back up through intermittent playing, 1-2 hours at most at a stretch, while in between the player stays off. Will update how it turns out.

Did I just write an almost full review?



Anyway, onto the MG600.

Regarding Form Factor, this is the smallest and lightest iem in my collection. However, regarding the sound, it is the Second Biggest in my collection! Talk about Oxymorons!

At the very first listen the first aspect that struck me was how refined the sound was. The notes are quite crisp, not somewhat crisp, and yet so delicately constructed that they never feel edgy. There is no listening discomfort even at high volumes, the notes do not become piercing or harsh at any point of time. Oh, and also, despite being crisp, the notes never feel lacking body, which brings us to the next marvelous aspect: Balance.

I feel, what Shanling has aimed with MG600 is to establish an extreme sense of balance. The balance between reproducing details and retaining musicality. The balance between all the three frequency ranges - Low, Mid, and High. None of those three ever feels more than the other, and yet none of them feels lacking presence at any point of time. However, one might feel that because of this, the macro dynamics will be negatively affected, but that is not the case either. While surely it is not as dynamic sounding as those with a bit boosted bass (Elan, Horizon - from my collection), it certainly does not feel laid back or bland. Nope, it sounds lively and engaging enough that I forgot about my chores and kept listening. This pristine sense of balance is what makes MG600 an impeccably tuned iem.

The third winning aspect of MG600 is how incredibly airy its sound is. Clearly, the semi-open back construction is at play here. The stage is massively wide for a iem, with quite respectable height and depth. The imaging is equally impressive, while of course not as impressive as multi BA or hybrid iems. For eg, from memory I can say that Campfire Audio Andromeda V3 and Audio Hekili had a more impressive three dimensional imaging.But did they have the intoxicating timbre of a Dynamic Driver? Nope, they did not.

Dang, looks like another mini review! Well, good for me, will serve as notes for the actual review.

Congrats, amazing combo!!!!

 

[Cecala]

Nice first impressions/mini review.

I’m gonna receive the M7 and case tomorrow and after proper burn in I will be comparing the M7 with the M17 and, from memory, to the m8, dx240 amp8 mk2 and dx300 amp12. Can’t wait

@Shanling Is the screen protector already applied at the factory for M7?

What I've been waiting for, a massive comparison, Thank you.

 

[HarlanDraka]

First review: https://www.headfonia.com/shanling-m7-review/3/

 

[yaps66]

Where to start…and which one to focus on, IS the big question here.

Shanling M7 and MG600 are in the house! And damn me if I do not love them! Because I do, and they deserve every ounce of it!

Obvious disclosures first: I got them from Shanling at a reviewer’s discount. The discount was pretty lucrative to say the least. And I could not resist having my first crack at owning a kilobuck DAP.



So, coming to M7, it’s the very example of an understated look. Apart from the wavy curves on the sides, it looks nothing special. I secretly hoped being in the kilobuck category it would have a bit nicer looks, or at least, a bit more striking colour. Looks a bit dull TBH. But anyway, let’s move past that. The unit is heavy AF, and feels solid. The leather cover is nice.

Moving past the aesthetics, comes how M7 makes my iems sound. Welp, the ES9038PRO DAC is working at its best here, and made all of my iems even more GRAND than original. M3X simply sounds flat and weak now. I will go into the finer details in the full review, this is just a glimpse at the sound. M7 takes the sound of the connected iem and extends it even further in literally every aspect - that’s how I hear it. To put it objectively, M7 produces a sound that is highly transparent with a brilliant dynamic range. Everything pops into life all of a sudden. The abundant vibrancy literally took my breath away. But that’s not to tell that brightness is everything M7 focuses on. The low end is still well preserved and reaches deep. Yeah, I’d have preferred a bit more emphasis in the low end with a bit more meat on the notes, but as it is, I’m not complaining. The background is clean and black. Treble sparkles brilliantly and extends quite high. The tonality is mostly neutral with a hint of warmth.

Focusing on the functionalities, well, the OS at the beginning felt a bit sluggish, but now with everything set up, it’s quite zippy & smooth and does not lag any more. However, there is one aspect I did not like much - heating. The player heats up quite noticeably with continuous playing, and after 6 hours it gets really hot. I contacted Shanling regarding this, and they said it is normal for their high end DAP. Although, the fact that the ambient temperature here is hovering around 40 degree Celcius might amplify the heating issue further, but nevertheless, the heating does exist. It remains within control inside a temperature controlled ambience (27 deg Celcius) though.

Regarding the battery backup, in my test, it gives about 8 hour and 45 minutes of backup while continuously playing. Medium gain, volume at 20, screen mostly off, iem impedance 22 Ohm (MG600). However, when the playing starts, it shows more than 10 hours of backup in the projected battery life, which starts decreasing as the player heats up. So I am in the process of determining the battery back up through intermittent playing, 1-2 hours at most at a stretch, while in between the player stays off. Will update how it turns out.

Did I just write an almost full review?



Anyway, onto the MG600.

Regarding Form Factor, this is the smallest and lightest iem in my collection. However, regarding the sound, it is the Second Biggest in my collection! Talk about Oxymorons!

At the very first listen the first aspect that struck me was how refined the sound was. The notes are quite crisp, not somewhat crisp, and yet so delicately constructed that they never feel edgy. There is no listening discomfort even at high volumes, the notes do not become piercing or harsh at any point of time. Oh, and also, despite being crisp, the notes never feel lacking body, which brings us to the next marvelous aspect: Balance.

I feel, what Shanling has aimed with MG600 is to establish an extreme sense of balance. The balance between reproducing details and retaining musicality. The balance between all the three frequency ranges - Low, Mid, and High. None of those three ever feels more than the other, and yet none of them feels lacking presence at any point of time. However, one might feel that because of this, the macro dynamics will be negatively affected, but that is not the case either. While surely it is not as dynamic sounding as those with a bit boosted bass (Elan, Horizon - from my collection), it certainly does not feel laid back or bland. Nope, it sounds lively and engaging enough that I forgot about my chores and kept listening. This pristine sense of balance is what makes MG600 an impeccably tuned iem.

The third winning aspect of MG600 is how incredibly airy its sound is. Clearly, the semi-open back construction is at play here. The stage is massively wide for a iem, with quite respectable height and depth. The imaging is equally impressive, while of course not as impressive as multi BA or hybrid iems. For eg, from memory I can say that Campfire Audio Andromeda V3 and Audio Hekili had a more impressive three dimensional imaging.But did they have the intoxicating timbre of a Dynamic Driver? Nope, they did not.

Dang, looks like another mini review! Well, good for me, will serve as notes for the actual review.

Great first impressions and pictures @Ace Bee!

 

[Ultrainferno]

Find out how the M7 sounds, performs and compares, now on Headfonia

We are also giving the M7 our recommended buy Award! Article by @Virtu Fortuna

https://www.headfonia.com/shanling-m7-review/

 

[Shanling]

@Shanling Is the screen protector already applied at the factory for M7?

Yes, screen protector is pre-installed.

 

[SibilantGoose]

@Virtu Fortuna
It will be very great if you will be able to rank m7 in your list DAP ranking list. It is so useful, probably greatest hobby product out there.

 

[German Expat in Vietnam]

You forgot iBasso DX248 mk2

 

[Ace Bee]

Checking in with the result of M7 battery backup test. So what I did is I played music for 1 hour, then turned the DAP off for a while, then again played for 1 hour, then turned off again for a while...at the very last stage I let it play past 2 hours continuously. It became moderately hot, but never got too hot. Here are the parameters and the resulting playback hours I got:

Gain: Medium
Port: 4.4 mm Balanced
Transducer: IEM with around 25-32 ohm impedance
Volume: 18 - 22

Playback Hours: 8 hours 14 minutes

So that's it. The ES9038PRO sure guzzles down the battery! And looks like the heating up has no effect on the battery consumption at all. It will be consumed the way it is meant to be irrespective of the temperature it seems. I guess if the gain was Low, I might have gotten about 9 hours of backup, but honestly, at the Low Gain the sound simply does not remain as dynamic as in Medium Gain, even if I match the volume. So Medum Gain it is for me.

Coming from M3X's 20 hours of battery backup via balanced out with low gain, this is most definitely a shock. But the improvement in sound is so much that I believe I will come to terms with it. Just have to keep it charged, like my phone, that's all.