Introducing Shanling M8T - New Flagship Portable Android Player with Tubes

[aaf evo]

The only caveat I have with the iBasso DAPs is the option to have separate batteries for digital and analog when the digital battery runs out way faster than the analog battery.

On the DX340 it only displays the lowest battery percentage so it basically reads like a normal DAP and you can just pretend it is one now haha. But yeah that could be annoying.

 

[Shanling]

Hi @Shanling , I have noticed a bug (?) when toggling between PO / LO and how the gain is affected.

If I am on PO with low gain and I swap to LO it automatically puts the DAP into high gain, and when I swap back to PO the gain stays on high.

Can confirm the issue, reported to software team.

 

[mt877]

I received my M8T yesterday and spent the evening listening to some tunes with one of the hardest to properly drive flat head earbuds I have.

Shanling M8T with Yinman 600Ω earbuds. Tube mode Ultra-linear and High gain.

An excellent sounding combo!

Even @Shanling agrees that the Yinman 600Ω earbuds need some decent power to drive them properly.

Spoiler: What Shanling said about the Yinman 600Ω earbuds

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/earbuds-round-up.441400/post-18493163

To join the ongoing Yinman 600 discussion, I will share my experience:

I have been using earbuds in Shanling's office for some time now, a fairly well-regarded model from one of our competitors. But it was missing a bit on technical performance, so I spent way too much time in this thread and finally two weeks ago I ordered the Yinman 600. Directly from their Taobao, it seems they are just on the opposite end of the city from us

They are great! A massive upgrade from my previous earbuds.


For source matching, at first I tried it with a few of our UA and H models, and settled on Shanling H5 (5.6V @ 300 Ohm / 840mW @ 32 Ohm), which seemed like the first device when they felt properly powered. Later I upgraded to the Onix XP1 with external power ( 12V @ 300 Ohm / 2400mW @ 32 Ohm), it might be an overkill for these simple earbuds, but they sound simply lovely with it and it's now my main office rig.

I might later give it a go with our T35, which pumps like 7W into 32Ohm

Thanks to all of you in this thread for keeping this small niche of Hi-Fi going and sharing all the hard-to-find info.

​

To continue on my path of properly powering Yinman 600 Ohm, I now switched to the Shanling EH2 - 4.4 W @ 32 Ohm / 710 mW@ 300 Ohm (Sadly don't have specs to 600 Ohm)



- Frankie Shanling

 

[max1903]

If M8T tube is somehow not work then is it still usable in Transistor mode?

 

[Shanling]

If M8T tube is somehow not work then is it still usable in Transistor mode?

Tube is optional, you can use it always without tubes.

 

[max1903]

Tube is optional, you can use it always without tubes.

Thanks for quick response

 

[Kiats]

Enjoying some Friday afternoon listening off the MDR-R10 with the Shanling M8T, on tube, triode mode.

 

[dragolds]

Can someone compare the m8t's sound with the ibasso dx340.

 

[aaf evo]

Can someone compare the m8t's sound with the ibasso dx340.

In a nutshell you’ll get a warmer sound from M8T , DX340 is more neutral with lighter bass and more clarity focused mids.

I prefer the sound of the M8T as I think it strikes a really good balance between being natural in timbre and excellent dynamics whereas for me the DX340 is a little lighter sounding overall but still has great timbre and dynamics too. It’ll depend if you just want a slightly warmer sound or not.

Both are great DAPs, the DAC in DX340 is damn good though and it makes a great source as a LO.

 

[dragolds]

In a nutshell you’ll get a warmer sound from M8T , DX340 is more neutral with lighter bass and more clarity focused mids.

I prefer the sound of the M8T as I think it strikes a really good balance between being natural in timbre and excellent dynamics whereas for me the DX340 is a little lighter sounding overall but still has great timbre and dynamics too. It’ll depend if you just want a slightly warmer sound or not.

Both are great DAPs, the DAC in DX340 is damn good though and it makes a great source as a LO.

In a nutshell you’ll get a warmer sound from M8T , DX340 is more neutral with lighter bass and more clarity focused mids.

I prefer the sound of the M8T as I think it strikes a really good balance between being natural in timbre and excellent dynamics whereas for me the DX340 is a little lighter sounding overall but still has great timbre and dynamics too. It’ll depend if you just want a slightly warmer sound or not.

Both are great DAPs, the DAC in DX340 is damn good though and it makes a great source as a LO.

Yes. Probably will end up with the Shanling. My current dap is Astell and kern kann max and although decent sound I remember I much preferred my previous Shanling m6pro.

 

[leylandi]

Shanling Daps have a unique sound signature. Magical sound like ZMF headphones. I currently own the original M8. It's a very nice sound. I'm very curious about the M8T.

 

[Kiats]

Shanling Daps have a unique sound signature. Magical sound like ZMF headphones. I currently own the original M8. It's a very nice sound. I'm very curious about the M8T.

Agree. I still have the M8 myself.

 

[leylandi]

Agree. I still have the M8 myself.

Can you compare? Does the same warm and smooth sound continue?

 

[aaf evo]

@Shanling I put my player on the charger and when I got home and removed it the display backlight was on and so was the red LED light but the DAP isn’t powered on and is in a frozen state. How do I force reboot it?

 

[McCol]

@Shanling I put my player on the charger and when I got home and removed it the display backlight was on and so was the red LED light but the DAP isn’t powered on and is in a frozen state. How do I force reboot it?

On my first start up I had a similar issue, i reinserted the charger then removed and then held power button for around 20 seconds, restarted and no issues since