Introducing Shanling M8T - New Flagship Portable Android Player with Tubes

[mekap]

I saw these new leather cases on Twitter, they look great and expose the top grill to see the tubes.

I am not sure when they'll be released.

Hey
Which one do you like better in terms of sound, Shanling M8T or iBasso DX340?

 

[aaf evo]

Hey
Which one do you like better in terms of sound, Shanling M8T or iBasso DX340?

Overall the M8T, but they’re both excellent and IEM synergy is key.

 

[mt877]

I used a 100w charger this morning and charged it from 25 to 95 in about 3 hours. Not sure how much of the 100 watts it can use.

It's not the fastest charging but about the same as my RS8.

One issue I'm having though, is after about 2 hours listening, the music scrambles and sounds like it's being played at 2x speed. Doesn't matter what app I'm using. I have to pause and wait 20 seconds and then it resumes fine. Did a factory reset which I thought solved it but it has returned. It seems like the longer I listen the more it happens. Odd one.

Maybe that 2x play speed is caused by internal temperature / thermal run away of one of the chips. I noticed the DAP does get pretty warm after a while, so I installed "Device info HW" app which can display the temperature monitoring points. I've seen up to 48° C (118° F) at some of the monitoring points. Just a thought, if that 2x speed thing happens again, you can quickly run Device info HW and check the temps for some above average high readings.

Does anyone know if the display used for the M8T is used on any cellphones? I'm asking because I want to try finding an anti-glare / anti-fingerprint screen protector for the M8T and if there's a specific cellphone which uses the same exact display, then I might find what I'm looking for.

 

[Leonarfd]

I saw these new leather cases on Twitter, they look great and expose the top grill to see the tubes.

I am not sure when they'll be released.

While I like the red case the new ones look better, don't understand why they hid the cut-out/tubes. Just wish they had made a brown leather one in the new ones, yeah I am boring

 

[mt877]

I experienced my first system hang up yesterday. I switched from local playback to Amazon streaming and after a couple of tunes I watched my screen fade from a normal display to a light white screen, the music stopped, the M8T became unresponsive. I pushed in the power / volume button for about 15 to 20 seconds until the unit restarted. Afterwards I immediately launched Amazon music and started streaming to stress test the player, but didn't experience anything unusual. @Shanling I hope you are gathering these reported issues for your engineering team to resolve.

Edit: Tube mode was off when this occurred.

 

[armstrj2]

Maybe that 2x play speed is caused by internal temperature / thermal run away of one of the chips. I noticed the DAP does get pretty warm after a while, so I installed "Device info HW" app which can display the temperature monitoring points. I've seen up to 48° C (118° F) at some of the monitoring points. Just a thought, if that 2x speed thing happens again, you can quickly run Device info HW and check the temps for some above average high readings.

I installed the app as you suggested. When the music skipping happens, all the CPU cores are up over 60 degrees C, and one of them is hitting 68. The device feels warm to the touch but nothing too out of the ordinary for a DAP. Not sure what range they are supposed to be operating in though.
When I pause for 10 or 15 seconds, it is fine again, but the temps don't drop all that much in that space of time.

 

[mt877]

I installed the app as you suggested. When the music skipping happens, all the CPU cores are up over 60 degrees C, and one of them is hitting 68. The device feels warm to the touch but nothing too out of the ordinary for a DAP. Not sure what range they are supposed to be operating in though.
When I pause for 10 or 15 seconds, it is fine again, but the temps don't drop all that much in that space of time.

I just did a search on the Snapdragon 665 normal operating temp. Average is between 40° C and 60° C with some possible spikes, so the 68° C might not be unreasonable. I've been checking the temps on my M8T as well and it seems to run around 38° C to 46° C. I did have the one system hang, but haven't had another occurrence so far. I believe Shanling is supposed to be using some very good heat sinking tech to spread the internal heat to the body of the DAP. I wonder what their official spec is for internal operating temps is.

 

[timeslip]

I saw these new leather cases on Twitter, they look great and expose the top grill to see the tubes.

I am not sure when they'll be released.

Ooo! Going to get purple if the charging issues don’t frustrate me enough to sell the thing!

 

[leylandi]

The M8T arrived today and I did A/B with the original M8. The iem I use is Sony IER-Z1R. I tried many modes. All in all, I prefer its predecessor. The transparency, naturalness and timbre in the mids are still unique. After switching to M8T, I felt like the curtain had been drawn. In the new model, the stage is more straight lined and distanced. The feeling of being inside the music is more evident in the original model. Vocals are more forward and transparent in the previous model. Detail performance is at a similar level, but since the M8T does this over a slightly larger area, the distinction is a little clearer. Tube mode softens the sound a little more, but transistor mode is closer to the original M8. In conclusion, I liked the sound, but the first one that broke the game was the M8.

 

[Ben86]

The M8T arrived today and I did A/B with the original M8. The iem I use is Sony IER-Z1R. I tried many modes. All in all, I prefer its predecessor. The transparency, naturalness and timbre in the mids are still unique. After switching to M8T, I felt like the curtain had been drawn. In the new model, the stage is more straight lined and distanced. The feeling of being inside the music is more evident in the original model. Vocals are more forward and transparent in the previous model. Detail performance is at a similar level, but since the M8T does this over a slightly larger area, the distinction is a little clearer. Tube mode softens the sound a little more, but transistor mode is closer to the original M8. In conclusion, I liked the sound, but the first one that broke the game was the M8.

is there any newer generation DAP that would sound similar or outperform M8 in sound quality - musicality? I would buy M8 based on the sound signature, but its operating system and performance seems very outdated

 

[Leonarfd]

The M8T arrived today and I did A/B with the original M8. The iem I use is Sony IER-Z1R. I tried many modes. All in all, I prefer its predecessor. The transparency, naturalness and timbre in the mids are still unique. After switching to M8T, I felt like the curtain had been drawn. In the new model, the stage is more straight lined and distanced. The feeling of being inside the music is more evident in the original model. Vocals are more forward and transparent in the previous model. Detail performance is at a similar level, but since the M8T does this over a slightly larger area, the distinction is a little clearer. Tube mode softens the sound a little more, but transistor mode is closer to the original M8. In conclusion, I liked the sound, but the first one that broke the game was the M8.

Never tried the original M8, nice to hear how they compare.

I find the sound in tube mode to be close to something like the WM1AM2 (warm, euphonic, far from sterile) but more technical and more power, so a beefed up version perhaps. The stage and power is more similar to something like R8 II, as the WM1AM2 is quite intimate and weak.. Will continue and use it for some good time before any deep thoughts, but I really enjoy it and I'm selling my WM1AM2(actually quite a SONY fanboy)

 

[leylandi]

I made a comparison with wm1am2. I chose the M8 again with the Z1R.

 

[Stu Paddasso]

I made a comparison with wm1am2. I chose the M8 again with the Z1R.

You have put a smile on this M8 owner.

 

[Leonarfd]

The Hisenior Mega5EST BASS+ is quite different when I tried it on both WM1AM2 and M8T(tube), I would not rate it good with WM1AM2 as the bass got floppy and uncontrolled and the rest of the sound lack some clarity. Bass is more defined and have more impact on M8T, together with more clarity overall. This is a pretty warm set, thats also already a little soft, and matches even better with the transistor mode.

But something like DITA Audio Mecha that have a more energetic sound is nice on both DAPs, just a little more transparent and spacious on M8T. Mecha is quite fatuiging on the iBasso DX180 or DCE, and never tiresome on M8T or the WM1AM2.

 

[Dron86]

Received mine today. Have 2 questions:
1-is there any double tap screen wake up available in m8t?
2- how many hours burn-in is needed? What changes will I notice? What mode do I need to use?