Shanling ET3 - Dedicated Digital CD Transport, With USB Drive and Wi-Fi Support

[DrDen]

Reposted from Cayin HA-3A thread:
I have to report that my thoughts on the 300b tubes as a radical decision to eliminate the brightness seem to be true. Yesterday I turned on my HA-300mk2 for the first time (stock RCA rectifiers, Linlai Elite 6SN7, PSVANE Acme 300b — these tubes are neutral sounding). Initially I’ve listened it as a speaker amp — wasn’t impressed by the sound until it warmed up (it’s cold outside, travel took a long time).
After a half an hour I said “wow”. But speakers aside, when I switched to headphones (HE1000SE, stock 4XLR cable), I’ve noticed my familiar tracks sounded too warm for my taste. Maybe I just got used to HA-3A presentation, it’s a pentode in ultralinear mode amplifier, as far as I know. Direct Heated Triode is quite different.
Switching to another source (iDAP6, no upsampling) made things better.
My new digital source is Shanling ET3 with upsampling to 192kHz, highly recommend for the thin sounding recordings.

 

[dingogyffe]

I have tried helping my friend getting the ET3 on WiFi. WiFi and Bluetooth is connected on both ET3 and iPhone. We have tried with both 2.4 and 5ghz network. It worked fine at my place, but not at his. He has been using other streamers etc. on WiFi without problems.

What can be the issue here?

Thanks
Henrik

 

[DrDen]

I have tried helping my friend getting the ET3 on WiFi. WiFi and Bluetooth is connected on both ET3 and iPhone. We have tried with both 2.4 and 5ghz network. It worked fine at my place, but not at his. He has been using other streamers etc. on WiFi without problems.

What can be the issue here?

Thanks
Henrik

“SyncLink” at the EddictPlayer is on?

 

[gazjam]

Also,
Look into the Modding your Directstream Dac thread, a lot more sound quality to eek out your DS Dac.

I have tried helping my friend getting the ET3 on WiFi. WiFi and Bluetooth is connected on both ET3 and iPhone. We have tried with both 2.4 and 5ghz network. It worked fine at my place, but not at his. He has been using other streamers etc. on WiFi without problems.

What can be the issue here?

Thanks
Henrik

I had to set my Router to "legacy mode" to get it to connect when I was on the earlier Firmware 1.6.
1.7 solved that issue I think, but worth trying it, see if that'll get him connected.

The Wireless side of things still isn't quite there yet imo, sometimes Airplay here still kops out, and doesnt reconnect easily.

 

[sabocat]

Works different though if it’s DOP pcm.

You a member of the PS Audio forum?
Great resource for all things Directstream, the guys there are a friendly bunch will directly answer any questions you have.

You’re right. DOP sounds better. Thanks.

 

[Sphere 57]

I think you’ve mixed up two different devices. No gaps heard while playing CD on the ET3. Only a single glitch after a 65 minute (certainly fixable by firmware).

Can you describe this glitch you spoke of. Is it something that only happens occasionally? I received my ET3 earlier today and I have played two CDs that were over 70 minutes long and didn't notice anything amiss.

 

[DrDen]

Can you describe this glitch you spoke of. Is it something that only happens occasionally? I received my ET3 earlier today and I have played two CDs that were over 70 minutes long and didn't notice anything amiss.

The sound interrupts for a fraction of a second. Once I was watching the timer, it was after 67min. Maybe pressing “pause” or “skip” during playback could prevent this, but I do it very rarely. Other people also reported that issue, Shanling confirmed it. You could search “glitch” in this thread and see it all.

 

[gazjam]

yeah,
It’s worth trying DOP over Native with the DSD settings, could be system /ears dependant so worth a go.

 

[rettib2001]

Thought I'd share this, found on another forum' ET3 thread.
Another confidence booster in the quality of the Shanling, this unit gets better and better.

It uses a linear power supply with a good sized traffo and very good regulation, which speaks to attention to detail and striving for best audio quality.
I'm impressed.

The ET3 pcb.

Yes,
thats a wood block sitting atop components.
Bina has stated elsewhere its for sound quality reasons, and as somebody who has modded a lot of gear with the likes of RFI paper, vibration damping compound on individual chips and the like, this speaks to attention to detail and LISTENING and tweaking during design.

Good job I'd say.

Shame the fuses are internal,
when modding gear, especially digital kit, swapping out the fuses for something like a SR Purple can really upgrade the sound.

Would love to know the ratings of those 2 fuses I could be... "tempted"...

Perhaps Shanling can let us know on here what the ratings are? Aside from fuse rolling, it could be useful for future reference in case one of them blows…

 

[gazjam]

Opening it up would invalidate the Warranty I’d think,
So worth having a think before cracking it open.

But yeah,
Bit of a modder here, so once mine out of warranty I’d probably get curious…

Surprising improvements can come from putting a good fuse in gear, especially with a resolving system.

 

[BillHart]

I published a relatively short piece on the ET3 here. Not intended as an exhaustive review, but might be enjoyable reading. I assume this is permissible- I don't take advertising and do few gear reviews, mainly focus on LPs, especially obscure ones, and archival care.

 

[gazjam]

Great read Bill,
enjoyed reading it over a Sunday coffee.

Thanks Sir.

 

[plikestechno]

Great read, Bill! The ET3 is indeed a magical product for the price. And yes, compared to analog, it is relatively cheap to achieve a great digital front end.

Recent posts have finally convinced me to try DoP and I've noticed the same positive changes as others. I just go ET3 to Pontus II via i2s for everything. Upsampled to DSD 512 but sent via DoP has helped the sound a bit but the user experience more. And no more clicks and pops! On the Denafrips it shows up as DSD 512. Whatever magic has happened, I'll take it. I always thought DoP was converting, not transporting and unfolding.

I vascillate between CDs and streaming. This week has been a CD week. They sound so much better but streaming is still great for new releases and things I dont own.

 

[gazjam]

Apple Music airplayed to the ET3 via Airplay 16/44, sent i2s to the Dac sounds very special.
Really (really) surprised by the quality

I run the AppleTV hdmi into the hdmi input on my Oppo 203, and even to the same Dac, again over i2s, it doesn’t approach the sound quality of the ET3

 

[plikestechno]

That's what I'm doing now for streaming as well with an old Ipad as the controller. Airplay to ET3 into the Pontus.

My family already had an Apple Family plan cloud thingy and with the ET3 I've decided to ditch Qobuz (was hard) and Tidal (was easy) and just airplay and it sounds nice. I used to use those with a computer and Audirvana and now I dont need to.