[yaps66]

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.

Looks like the battery life and similar to the M6Pro(AK) but that was with dual DAC mode. The M3X even has a smaller battery!

I guess the the improvement in sound does consume a considerable amount of power!

Thanks for updating us on this!

 

[HarlanDraka]

Received yesterday the M7. First impressions, it looks much better in person than in pictures. The build quality is very good, it is made by a piece of shiny aluminum with slightly raised screen, very classy I must say. The screen is colorful and sharp with good viewing angles.

The weight inspires confidence and there’s the feeling of good materials used. It looks and feel much more premium than the dx240. On the downside, I’m not really a fan of the volume wheel which feels a bit light and it’s not as precise and reactive (read below) as the previous M8 one. It is also smaller than than the volume wheel of the dx240. Sometimes (rarely) it momentarily fails to register (at least on the screen volume bar indicator) a small change of the volume but this seems to me from my testing a software related issue and not an hardware one as it happens more often when an app is running (even own shanling app). Not a biggie as it happens randomly and very rarely and I think a firmware update can solve it pretty easily.

OS: fast and reactive (beside the volume change random and rare issue). Scrolling through albums in Shanling app and Apple music felt very smooth. The 6gb ram make a real difference here. An abyss compared to m8 and even better than dx240.

It gets moderately warm after an hour of streaming but much less than M8 and less than M17. Nothing too bad or unexpected on that side. Case is nice, shanling leather cases are still the classier and best looking leather cases for daps in the market. Ah, and thanks @Shanling for applying the screen protector at the factory. You saved me struggle and pain

I had a very fast listening to test everything was OK before starting the burn in. Let’s first say the best thing: the noise floor is VERY low. With Solaris SE which are hiss monsters plugged to 3.5 low gain, the background is VERY black and the hiss is kept to a bare minimum. The only way I could spot some hissing was to start a song, put the volume at 0 and plug/unplug the jack of the Solaris to spot the difference. And even so, I had to really concentrate to hear (mostly feel..) some noise. Really nice and even better than most TOTL Daps on the market. And the mantra is: if it doesn’t hiss with a Solaris, it will not hiss with anything

I will not say much yet on the sound before giving the m7 some run time, at least 100hrs of burn in to give it a bit of time to warm up. But I must say the first sound impressions are positive. Very clear sparkly sound with punchy bass. Impressive sub bass. Soundstage OK but I’m confident it will open up with burn in.

Here’s a picture with a size comparison with M17. Not fair since the two daps are clearly in two different categories and use scenarios but, yeah, of course the M17 is much bigger (and heavier). Now let’s wait for the burn in.

 

[Cecala]

I'm already disappointed with the volume wheel on the M7 as you describe it, it's the only reason I returned the DX240. It did not inspire confidence going forward. The rest of the case was very well made though. I also like yourself on your new M7 found the wheel much to small on the DX240 especially with the leather case attached, to fiddly to operate.
Can you compare (from memory I know) any difference in screen quality between the two. Looking to your sound impressions, the DX240 was very delightful here.

 

[HarlanDraka]

I'm already disappointed with the volume wheel on the M7 as you describe it, it's the only reason I returned the DX240. It did not inspire confidence going forward. The rest of the case was very well made though. I also like yourself on your new M7 found the wheel much to small on the DX240 especially with the leather case attached, to fiddly to operate.
Can you compare (from memory I know) any difference in screen quality between the two. Looking to your sound impressions, the DX240 was very delightful here.

Build quality and materials of the M7 are definitely better than dx240. The aluminum of the M7 inspires much more more premium than the dx240 which was on the thin and light side. And it must be said that a dx240 plus amp8 mkii cost is almost the cost of a M7 so there is a good price/quality ratio for the M7.

Screens comparable. They both have same resolution and size. The M7 is even more responsive thanks to the extra 2gb of ram.

One thing to note is quality control which seems to be excellent with Shanling Daps. I often had issues with iBassos and AKs Daps out of the box (dead pixels, batteries detached, loud pops when chsnging tracks, interferences when streaming, weak wifi antennas and so on). All the Shanling Daps I had were perfect out of the box. This is to say that while Shanling indeed changed the volume wheels of their daps (it seems that some reviewers noted the same ‘light feeling” of the volume wheel of the M9), I would not consider this a deal breaker.

Also, on the internal amp and shielding side, the M7 (and the m6 and m8 before) have an insane low noise floor which is pretty unique in nowadays daps. And the same black background when streaming with 0 interferences. All the iBassos I had (basically I had all of them since the dx90 beside the Maxs) and also the AKs I had did not have such a black background with sensitive iems.

 

[Cecala]

......loud pops when changing tracks......

You brought up a topic I forgot to ask about, does the M7 make any noises when changing tracks, i.e. when pressing forward or previous? The DX240 made this funny noise when doing so.

 

[HarlanDraka]

You bought up a topic I forgot to ask about, does the M7 make any noises when changing tracks, i.e. when pressing forward or previous? The DX240 made this funny noise when doing so.

Just retested this to be sure. Low gain, prime mode, 3.5 with ie8. Absolutely silent. No pops, no crackings, deep black noiseless background when starting, stopping or skipping tracks.

Btw as I was testing this I took the chance for another listening with around 30 hrs burn in. Previous only listening was out of the box before starting the burn in.
The soundstage is opening a lot in all directions and the bass is bigger and hits harder.

 

[Cecala]

Just retested this to be sure. Low gain, prime mode, 3.5 with ie8. Absolutely silent. No pops, no crackings, deep black noiseless background when starting, stopping or skipping tracks.

Btw as I was testing this I took the chance for another listening with around 30 hrs burn in. Previous only listening was out of the box before starting the burn in.
The soundstage is opening a lot in all directions and the bass is bigger and hits harder.

Looks like all is good, very good.......except that damn wheel.

 

[Cecala]

How many burn-in hours are up now, should be close or done....

 

[HarlanDraka]

How many burn-in hours are up now, should be close or done....

I’m barely at 60hrs as I’m not burning in for more than 12-14 hrs a day. I aim for at least 100hrs for most of my daps before critical listening.

 

[Cecala]

I’m barely at 60hrs as I’m not burning in for more than 12-14 hrs a day. I aim for at least 100hrs for most of my daps before critical listening.

Good idea, give the capacitors time to expand and contract burn-in wise to mimic real world usage.

 

[alwass89]

I purchased the @Shanling M7 in store from @Audio46 here in New York City. I noticed some weird things when I started the player up, that I want to see if they are normal for this player. This is my first DAP over $1,000.

1. The box was wrapped in plastic when I got it, so it seemed brand new, but when I turned on the player for the first time, it went right to the home screen and everything was in Chinese, it didn’t give me the option to choose a language at start up. Is this normal?

2. I then played around with some settings and scanned my SD card. The battery went down from 50% to 43%. I then turned off the player overnight. When I turned on the player this morning, the battery life went UP to 47%? Is the battery reader not accurate, or is there something wrong with the battery/DAP?

3. I listened in Prime mode, single ended, medium gain, 48 volume for only 20 minutes during my commute this morning. The player was at 45% when I started listening but went down a full 6% in that 20min span. That would be only 5.5 hours of battery life which is about half of what the battery should be in single ended mode. Does it seem like there is a problem with the DAP?

 

[HarlanDraka]

I purchased the M7 in store from Audio46 here in New York City. I noticed some weird things when I started the player up, that I want to see if they are normal for this player. This is my first DAP over $1,000.

• The box was wrapped in plastic when I got it, so it seemed brand new, but when I turned on the player for the first time, it went right to the home screen and everything was in Chinese, it didn’t give me the option to choose a language at start up. Is this normal?
• I then played around with some settings and scanned my SD card. The battery went down from 50% to 43%. I then turned off the player overnight. When I turned on the player this morning, the battery life went UP to 47%? Is the battery reader not accurate, or is there something wrong with the battery/DAP?
• I listened in Prime mode, single ended, medium gain, 48 volume for only 20 minutes during my commute this morning. The player was at 45% when I started listening but went down a full 6% in that 20min span. That would be only 5.5 hours of battery life which is about half of what the battery should be in single ended mode. Does it seem like there is a problem with the DAP?

- It gave me the option to choose the language and then setup the dap when I switched it on for the first time

- My m7 battery indicator seems accurate and does not jump up and down

- It depends what you were listening to (dsd, mp3 etc.) From my testing during burn in I get a bit more of 8hrs from balanced 4.4, medium gain volume 60,prime mode, screen mostly off, mix of flac and mp3. Still need to test SE but I expect around 10hrs. I don’t think that SE will use more battery than balanced.

Maybe the battery of your M7 needs some charge/discarge circles to calibrate.

 

[HarlanDraka]

100hrs burn in done. Some short impressions and comparisons as I aim to 200hrs burn in - my dx240 was burned in 200hrs + when I sold it, m8 300hrs and m17 which I still have 300hrs+.

I already wrote about build quality which is excellent (beside the volume wheel I’m not a fan of). A step above the iBassos dx240 and dx300.

I decided to test the m7 with my denon d9200 with stock cable from SE. This because I have read a couple of reviews online in which the sound profile of the m7 has been characterized by an extended treble and it was suggested to be careful with pairing with neutral/bright gear. The denon d9200 are linear headphones with very extended treble. Many people suggest to swap the stock cable as it can make them overly bright so I thought it could be a good test for the m7 sound signature. I must say that I have never found the d9200 treble overly extended neither peaky. I have also found that swapping the stock cable to a pure copper one would make them overly warm and bassy (to my ears). As a disclaimer, my preferences in sound go to a balanced warmish sound with hard hitting full bass and good separation of the sounds.

After 100hrs with denon d9200 stock cable from SE I would characterize the m7 sound profile as balanced, clear, sparkly (not dry or overly bright) with extended hard hitting sub bass and treble. Mid bass hits strong and fast, mids have a tinge of warmth and treble is extended and airy. Instrument are not smoothed out or rounded like in M8.
The soundstage (and bass on another note) improved a lot with burn in from out of the box. It’s definitely wide, with holographic placement of instruments and quite a bit of air. This is helped by the very black hiss and noise free background. Vocals are not placed overly forward and this helps greatly with possible sibilance which is absent. To really put the treble to test I listened to a couple of songs from guns and roses as axel rose vocals are notoriously peaky. Tbh I found the whole experience pretty smooth and not harsh or peaky.
The m7 is a very clear and balanced dap. I must also say the different filters make a noticeable difference with sound. The stock one is sharper than the minimum slow roll off which is more laid back so you can select filter depending on your taste.

Comparisons

Vs dx240 amp 8 mk2 (from memory): Tbh I was never a fan of dx240 amp 8 mk2. The fact I bought it almost at the same time as the m17 didn’t help as I found the m17 sound 10 steps above in sound quality. Build quality is better with m7. Sound quality - To my ears the M7 is clearer, cleaner, airier with wider soundstage and much blacker background. The dx240 had much more forward high mids which I found at time fatiguing. Not the m7 which is more balanced. Even though the dx240 amp8 mk2 was slightly more “analogue” sounding with warmer (and slower) bass, I must say I vastly prefer the m7 sound. Some people may find the m7 too clear and linear for their preferences but I think this quality makes it more universal in terms of pairings.

Vs M8 (from memory): The M8 is a completely different dap compared to m7. The M8 was smooth, lush and v shape. It had super strong full bass which made it a bit difficult to pair as some of my gear sounded sublime (ier-z1r), others sounded way too bassy or smoothed out (u12t, d9200, duo). It was mostly my sit down and relax dap but it somehow lacked a bit of transparency and air. The m7 is way more linear with way less warmth and strong bass. Airier, wider more holographic soundstage (to my ears) with faster bass. M8 was more “analogue”, m7 is clearer and more sparkly. I find m7 more universal with pairings. Not even a comparison from a speed point of view. M7 OS is way faster and snappier if you are streaming. It also has both 4.4 and 3.5 which I find more convenient than the m8 and m9 replaceable sockets. In fact, that was the reason why I went for m7 instead if m9.

Vs m17: Not a fair comparison considering the use scenarios which are quite different between the 2 daps. The M17 is double the weight and the size, has desktop components, m7 gets warm but m17 gets warmer. Soundwise, M17 is the best dap I have ever had or tried (and I was not even a fiio daps fan before trying the m17) but I can see the size and weight to be quite a problem for many users. The m17 is impressively quiet considering how much power it has but still the m7 has a blacker background. Tbh the m17 is noise free with all my gear. However when testing the m17 low gain SE with the notoriously hiss monsters solaris se I hear noise while m7 is very quiet.

Soundwise, I find the m17 slightly warmer and more euphonic than m7. Bass impact is fuller and stronger, Dynamics are more highlighted, soundstage is bigger in all directions and more holographic . Instruments are slightly more smoothed out and rounded in m17 while M7 is more linear and sparkly. If the m17 is mostly a neutral warmish powerful dap, the m7 is a neutral linear sparkly dap.

Soundwise, for my preferences, I prefer the m17 but, As I wrote, comparison between the 2 is not fair and it would also not make much sense if you are looking for a portable dap. The m17 is mostly an at home dap. Or a brick if you need a weapon for self defence when out. The m7 is perfectly portable. I’m happy to have both and I’m curious to see where the m7 will stand after another 100hrs+ of burn in.

All in all I like the m7 and I vastly prefer it to his main competitor dx240. I also prefer it to m8 which was less airy, more vshape hence more tricky with pairings.
I will be waiting for more impressions and reviews from other users/reviewers with different gear.

 

[Pearl Lizard]

Thank you very much for such a cool review!) My M7 is on the way, I will share my listening impressions a bit later.

 

[Cecala]

All in all I like the m7 and I vastly prefer it to his main competitor dx240. I also prefer it to m8 which was less airy, more vshape hence more tricky with pairings.
I will be waiting for more impressions and reviews from other users/reviewers with different gear.

Thanks for the effort. It would seem from your observations that the M7 is one clear step above the DX240. I'm intrigued.