[Indrikis]

PART 4 : USING THE EH-3 AS A USB DRIVE READER

The EH-3 is advertised to be a fully standalone device that you can use with a USB drive.
Is this true ?

Well it is, as soon as you are ready to use the in-house "Eddict" app.

So how does it work.

1°) How does it work ?
Simple, you install the Eddict app on your phone or other device.
You open the App, go to the Menu and choose "SyncLink". The EH-3 will show up as an available device.
Then you will be able to go back to "Local music".
It can then index your music library and you can go with tags.

2°) Suggestions to improve Eddict player when it is used to browse files
There are two features missing in the Eddict software to make browsing with tags a nice option.
The first one is that you can not sort your albums other than alphabetically.
The second one is that you can not display cover art while browsing. It will only show up when you start playing an album.

Given those two limitations in the Eddict software, I prefer to browse through folders.
If you're a little organized, that is sufficient if you are like me and listen to a full album at the time and not tracks...
There is also a playlist tab, but as I don't use playlists, I will not comment on this.

3°) Good things about using the EH-3 as a standalone USB reader/player
The nice thing is, when you play a song from the USB stick, the display at the front will give info on the track.
And it will also display the cover art.
Really nice and pictures do not show that so that was a plesant surprise as I like that.

I would also like to point out that there is an option in Settings to enable gapless playback.
And if that is enabled you indeed have gapless playback, at least with the playback from USB Drive.
So that is nice. Especially if like me you listen to classical music.

Also nice is the ability to update the library (index the files on the USB stick) directly from the player.
That is nice because for some reason that I can't explain, I was not able to use that feature from Eddict player on my smartphone
Also, as Eddict requires localization services to be enabled, I could not find the EH-3 from my tablet. Probaly because it has no GPS
I could use that feature from my Shanling M8 DAP... no problems there
Once that is done, you can browse through your files by Artist/Album/Genre.
Updating the library is quite fast.
Of course the result will depend on how your files were tagged But that is a story where Shanling plays no role...

4°) Things not so nice when using the EH-3 as standalone USB reader/player
But there are 3 things that are a little irritating.
If you're listening to the device as a USB Disk reader and then switch to another input source, going back to the USB standalone reader will automatically start playing track 1 of the folder you were in when you switched the source.
Maybe there is a way to disable this "feature" but if there is, I did not find it Maybe Shanling can tell here...

Another thing is that if you browse your tracks by folder, and start to play the tracks in Folder 1, once those tracks ahave all been played, the device automatically jumps to next folder and starts playing those tracks. There might be a way to disable this function, but if it exists, I have not seen it. I would like to say that in Eddict "Play list" is enabled. No "Repeat" function whatsoever...

A third thing is, if you browse the library by folder, of course Eddict does not separate tracks by CD. So track 1 of CD2 is played after Track 1 of CD1 followed by track 2 of CD1... Expected but it is a little difficult to use Of course, Eddict CAN NOT be blamed for that... What is to blame is the difference between apps In some apps, if tracks are separated into 2 folders, they will show up as 2 albums. But if you put everything under the same folder, they are displayed as the same album but with CD1 and CD2. Others will display the same album with CD1 and CD2 even if you have it under different folders...

Finally, there is a really nice option : that is to use the Shanling EH-3 as a NAS.
In other words, here is what you can do.
You can attach a USB Stick to the EH-3 and index it.
Then in your favourite DLNA app (or Eddict) you can select a NAS and then you will see the EH-3 pop up as a server.
The idea is brilliant.
Unfortunately, do not expect to be able to use that feature other than with "Browsing by folder".
Why ?
Simple. If you want to browse by artist, select the choosen artist. And what would you expect ? To be given a list of Albums by that artist is that right ? At least that is what I would expect... And that is what you get if you use Eddict with SyncLink.
But not so with the EH-3 used as a NAS. Here you are taken to a new page with ALL TRACKS by that artist... but at least they appear sorted by album.
OK, so we will stick to "Browse by folder" there too. It is already quite nice to have that feature so let's not be too sceptic on this

Of course, the small limitations of the Eddict player and this thing about resuming playback are just details.
But we probably all know, especially in Hi-Fi, where the devil stands...
The really annoying thing is that there are some free apps that can do it.
So I assume it should be feasible in Eddict with minimal work on source code to get a really nice app..
But I am no developper, so that is only an assumption.
Maybe it is much more difficult than I imagine...
Shanling should you need beta testers, count me in

Greetings. After time has passed, what is the final opinion about EH3? Are you satisfied or not, is the device worth the money?

 

[stormwrx]

@Shanling, is there a recommended filter setting for the EH3? Mine came set at linear slow, but not sure if that is the default or not. Thank you.

 

[PenguinHeadphoner]

Greetings. After time has passed, what is the final opinion about EH3? Are you satisfied or not, is the device worth the money?

Hi,

Well, there are several ways to answer that question :

1°) If you are looking for a device that can be used as a stand alone player and if you do not need EQ, yes, worth every penny : sound, build quality and features are steller
2°) If you are looking for a device to stream files to from a NAS, it gets a little awkward. There is no EQ ; Eddict is not super reliable when playing files from a NAS ; Bubble UPnP does not go to next track ; neither does Symfonium ; neither does UAPP ; so you will have to use Neutron... but then, if you enable EQ you may have sound problems popping up from time to time. Si I'd say it's worth 80% of it's price ;

3°) if you can use it as a USB DAC hooked to a renderer with EQ like UAPP or Neutron : stellar, reliable and totally usable with third party software. And then again, worth every penny

So I'd say, for me, it is worth every single penny. For the following reason : yes I need EQ for my Sony MDR-Z1R headphones. But when I am at home it can be used as a USB DAC from the tablet with UAPP and it works flawlessly ; that EQ is not that mandatory when I am on the way and take the EH-3 with me. So I can then use it as a totally standalone solution with Eddict, even if Eddict is not as nice to use as third party software.

Hope that helps.

Regards.

 

[Shanling]

@Shanling, is there a recommended filter setting for the EH3? Mine came set at linear slow, but not sure if that is the default or not. Thank you.

Up to personal preference.

 

[BlueA]

After some times with the devices I can say I appreciate the sound quality but the whole experience is still clunky.

It's not plug and play, always something to dig. As an exemple EF400 is plug and play.
I just connect my dap using USB-C and it's working. But using the same setup with EH3 no sound.

Also the second point, not sure if possible, but it's EQ. You'll go through a lot of hoops just to EQ your headphones.
The best implementation I know is sony. Using their app the EQ is saved with a profile as key on the device.
Whatever the app you connect to, it's EQ to the selected profile and it change the whole experience.

 

[PenguinHeadphoner]

After sometimes with the devices I can say I appreciate the sound quality but the whole experience is still clunky.

It's not plug and play, always something to dig. As an exemple EF400 is plug and play.
I just connect my dap using USB-C and it's working. But using the same setup with EH3 no sound.

Also the second point, not sure if possible, but it's EQ. You'll go through a lot of hoops just to EQ your headphones.
The best implementation I know is sony. Using their app the EQ is saved with a profile as key on the device.
Whatever the app you connect to, it's EQ to the selected profile and it change the whole experience.

Hi,

Well, it seems my experience with the EH-3 is better than yours.

First, I would like to mention that, here, the EH-3 works FLAWLESSLY with Eddict. Of course, that is if you can live with what I consider as software limitations on Eddict AND live without EQ.

Second, I would like to mention that if you use it as a DAC, it also works flawlessly AND with EQ and third-party software.
That is the way I am using the EH-3 now...

Third, I can't deny having problems to use the EH-3 as a single stand-alone unit (getting the files from the USB stick attached to it with thid-party software to get EQ).
But that is not so bad : I'll simply use it with no EQ when I am on vacation, and use it as a USB DAC when I am at home.

Unless some miracle occurs (not an Onix one) and Shanling suddenly considers sticking closely to DLNA/UPnP protocol...
Which would probably solve about ALL problems and would also allow Shanling to make good savings on software development

For now, I'll enjoy the gorgeaous sound of this device...

Regards.

 

[BlueA]

Well we're talking about different use cases.

My question for @Shanling :
Would you be able to have different profils EQ that can be configured using Eddict
but stored and applied by the EH3?

This would resolve a lot of contortions as for exemple you'll make full use of USB as NAS
or whatever software you use to feed music into the device.
Sony does that for their devices and all is transparent.

Also I'm not sure why plugins a DAP to an EF400 by USBC works but not
from DAP to EH3 by USBC-RCA. Maybe I've done something in the player setup
but there's no message on the display.

Appreciate also the dimming on the remote.

 

[PenguinHeadphoner]

Hi,

I would also like to report that Eddict is totally unrealiable... Which makes the efforts of Shanling to FORCE you to stick to their app even more questionable.

From the Eddict Player app, I can use the Shanling EH-3 as a NAS to read the files from it.
I select the track, start to play it and once it starts, I hit the 3 dots.
This shows me a "menu" where I can select "DLNA".
I can then select the EH-3 as DLNA renderer.

Well, files are streamed to the EH-3.
But after first track, I have no access to the playlist anymore.
The cover art displayed is just the Vinyl needle standart cover.
I also have no indication on what is currently played.
And of course I can not select to stop or start anything...

What to do about his Shanling ?

 

[BlueA]

User experience should be on top of the list for you Shanling

If battle tested Headfiers got troubles and need to comes here
to share some feedback what does it means for casual customers
that just want plug and play?

Hope we get there to truly benefits from this fully integrated hardware

 

[Shanling]

Well we're talking about different use cases.

My question for @Shanling :
Would you be able to have different profils EQ that can be configured using Eddict
but stored and applied by the EH3?

This would resolve a lot of contortions as for exemple you'll make full use of USB as NAS
or whatever software you use to feed music into the device.
Sony does that for their devices and all is transparent.

Also I'm not sure why plugins a DAP to an EF400 by USBC works but not
from DAP to EH3 by USBC-RCA. Maybe I've done something in the player setup
but there's no message on the display.

Appreciate also the dimming on the remote.

We have no plans for any advanced EQ implementation.

What DAP are you connecting? And not sure what you mean by USB to RCA?

Hi,

I would also like to report that Eddict is totally unrealiable... Which makes the efforts of Shanling to FORCE you to stick to their app even more questionable.

From the Eddict Player app, I can use the Shanling EH-3 as a NAS to read the files from it.
I select the track, start to play it and once it starts, I hit the 3 dots.
This shows me a "menu" where I can select "DLNA".
I can then select the EH-3 as DLNA renderer.

Well, files are streamed to the EH-3.
But after first track, I have no access to the playlist anymore.
The cover art displayed is just the Vinyl needle standart cover.
I also have no indication on what is currently played.
And of course I can not select to stop or start anything...

What to do about his Shanling ?

Strange, that's not correct behaviour. On my Android app it stays on the playing file, with full access to playback control and the NAS.
Have you experienced this on iOS or Android app and which version?

 

[BlueA]

What DAP are you connecting? And not sure what you mean by USB to RCA?

Thanks Shanling

Cayin N8II with USBC-AUX(RCA), I was expecting an USB-C because it's much convenient in 2023 to be able to connect ipad, iphone or android.
That's what I do with the EF400 but now I've been shopping for an iis lvds cable.

FIIO and Sony are already on a very convenient implementation of EQ.
The small portable FIIO BTR 15 does it without trouble so maybe we'll see a response from Shanling in the future on a deskop amp.

Got also a bug on using EH3 as a renderer like another user explained there seems to be problems with buffer so
sound is blended and the functionality is not useable but only when using Neutron. It's OK when streaming from iOS.

 

[Shanling]

Thanks Shanling

Cayin N8II with USBC-AUX(RCA), I was expecting an USB-C because it's much convenient in 2023 to be able to connect ipad, iphone or android.
That's what I do with the EF400 but now I've been shopping for an iis lvds cable.

FIIO and Sony are already on a very convenient implementation of EQ.
The small portable FIIO BTR 15 does it without trouble so maybe we'll see a response from Shanling in the future on a deskop amp.

Got also a bug on using EH3 as a renderer like another user explained there seems to be problems with buffer so
sound is blended and the functionality is not useable but only when using Neutron. It's OK when streaming from iOS.

The Cayin cable USB to RCA is coaxial SPDIF, that should work with coaxial input mode on EH3 without issue. Not sure if Cayin has any special setting to enable Coaxial output.

If you want to have USB cable connection, you can pick any USB-C to USB-B cable online, they are normal for connecting printers for example.

 

[PenguinHeadphoner]

We have no plans for any advanced EQ implementation.

What DAP are you connecting? And not sure what you mean by USB to RCA?



Strange, that's not correct behaviour. On my Android app it stays on the playing file, with full access to playback control and the NAS.
Have you experienced this on iOS or Android app and which version?

Hi,

Too bad about EQ implementation. That would have been THE functionnality that would have made me not fuzzle with third party software.

About my problems I am using the latest Eddict app version for Android. It's 2.1.10.

I have to say that for some days I am really trying to use the EH-3 with Eddict only.
And each day brings new frustration. Even with SyncLink.
No time to list all incredible BUGS in Eddict with SyncLink, but there are quite a few !

Regards.

 

[Vazzee]

Hello, just an update on the op-amp swap: fail, the op-amps are tiny compared to the size of the Burson V6 or anything else I've ever seen. The footprint of those amps are miniscule.

Adding all the pictures I took.

Burson V6 Vivid Dual X2 op-amps are available.) €60/each.)

Cheers!

 

[PenguinHeadphoner]

Hi,

Back home here is a first thing I would like to mention about Eddict.
I think I already mentioned it, but since you seem to think that Eddict is not work in progress anymore and would like us to use it, here is a first thing that I do not consider as "normal" or "correct".

I am using Eddict 2.1.10 on Android.
I launch it and connect it to the EH-3 with SyncLink.
I go to the folder where the album that I would like to listen is located.
I open that folder and I hit the first track.
Playback starts and all folders are added to the playlist.
I can check the playlist and all tracks in folder have been added.
That is normal and works as I expect (even though I think you should add the ability to play just one track).
The playlist reaches last track...
What would you expect ?

The playback to stop as there is nothing more in the playlist...

Mmmeeeepppp.... You got it all wrong
Nope, the playback jumps to the next folder.
Maybe I have overseen the ability to disable that and have the playback stopping at the end of the last track.
But if there is no possibility to disable that, I do consider this as a MAJOR FLAW in Eddict...

Can you give Shanling's position on this "feature" please ?

Regards.