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

[Sharppain]

I have one of these units coming and have an r26 dac. Can anyone tell me what is the max upsampling rate you can do via AES? Is it 192khz like coax?

Yep, the max of 768lhz you can do only via I2S

 

[kaufman]

Yep, the max of 768lhz you can do only via I2S

Thanks for clarifying

 

[Sharppain]

Thanks for clarifying

One more tip - if you use USB output none of the other ones work. But the three other may use some or full upsampling and work together.

 

[Weber]

Hello folks. I'm new here. I just got back into the can system after 10 years. I own one of the et3 CD transport spinners. It is a very nice sounding unit. Seems like there isn't much love for CD spinning around. But I like all of my cd's. I would never toss them out.

 

[DrDen]

Seems like there isn't much love for CD spinning around. But I like all of my cd's. I would never toss them out.

Exactly!
Too many people didn’t even know what kind of problem was with this “CD transport”. As a result, the manufacturer slept happily. Spinning (and reading without interruptions) the CDs appears not to be that easy task. The rest of the ET3 functionality is more successfully implemented.
It seems to me that Shanling have simply installed a CD drive into their DAP thinking they should work fine together. But they don’t so far. I wish them good luck (although I fear it could be impossible, otherwise they already made it)

 

[VinceP]

I have “regular” fingers maybe on the thin side and although I find that there not enough depth on the fingers “holes”, the main problem is that they aren’t in an oblique position (like those on my Rega Saturn) making the handling a bit unnatural… unless one loads / removes the disc from the side. Doing it through the front is difficult…
Also the lid handle is too shallow to pick it up with total confidence, especially when the thing is made of glass!…

Top loaders should be a breeze to handle and not as delicate as this is…

I totally agree with the lid issue. It’s ridiculously shallow.

 

[Weber]

I have had mine for nearly a year with no problems. I have clocked over a thousand hours on it.

 

[DrDen]

I have had mine for nearly a year with no problems. I have clocked over a thousand hours on it.

Very intriguing. Does it mean that some of us were unlucky to purchase a defective unit? Still no substantial reply from the manufacturer. For an 1.5 year they are searching for a source of this issue. Could we help them by reporting the serial numbers of our units?

 

[OneEyedHito]

Very intriguing. Does it mean that some of us were unlucky to purchase a defective unit? Still no substantial reply from the manufacturer. For an 1.5 year they are searching for a source of this issue. Could we help them by reporting the serial numbers of our units?

Do you have a few minutes to catch me up on the core issues? I’ve read much of the thread but admittedly not all of it. I’m not experiencing any problems with my ET3 at the moment, but I’ll definitely report back if I start to notice the issues you and others have mentioned.

 

[Weber]

Adding the serial number might help the manufacturer out. I believe that all manufacturers are willing to besl with 20% of their things having problems. Just look at all the vehicle recalls.

 

[DrDen]

Do you have a few minutes to catch me up on the core issues? I’ve read much of the thread but admittedly not all of it. I’m not experiencing any problems with my ET3 at the moment, but I’ll definitely report back if I start to notice the issues you and others have mentioned.

Please search for “glitch” in this thread.

 

[Weber]

I have read on other forums that there are some problems with this transport. But it could be the same folks reporting it. I have no idea if it true, but it seems that way.

 

[OneEyedHito]

Thanks for reply @DrDen, I have done a cursory overview and it appears the issues are related to Network play, USB Drive play, and I2S. I am just using the ET3 as a transport as I have a Roon server connected to my network for all of my streaming needs so I will assume I am good to go for my use case. Have a good night!

 

[Sharppain]

I have read on other forums that there are some problems with this transport. But it could be the same folks reporting it. I have no idea if it true, but it seems that way.

I got mine 3 weeks ago and set-it up for two days - I write two days since it has a bit of more complicated set-up with the mobile phone app than usual and I had to write to Shanling and they posted to me a Professional Detailed Manual, this one: "We have advanced user manual for ET3, it's linked on our website and you can find it here directly:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gG3DKF71QQFx_fCXXfFkAnpWH1Kl3PyE/view?usp=drive_link"
The device is super-upper-mega silent when spinning the CD. The replay is greatly super - it beats my Comp with HQPLayer Upscaler (to TT2). The replay signature is very balanced and natural with deep bass (like no other transport, no Eversolo, no HQPLayer,...), the mids and vocals are extremely clean and well produced (not recessed, not forward) and the treble is very detailed but not fatiguing.
The only 2 'glitch' are:
- you cannot do upscale via the USB output; you can play high-res files but not upscale; while thru IIS you can upscale up to PCM768 and DSD512 and thru AES, COAX,... up to PCM192;
- when you have connected USB (and dac with it is active) you cannot use IIS, AES, COAX,...; you may use any other together but disconnect the USB Output.
I use uDDC from LAiV like a DDC and it works great with it with any of the outputs (I have tested the IIS, AES and COAX since in the USB input od uDDC I have another transport).

 

[Weber]

Myself I have never liked what I heard through a USB port. Mine works with all out ports. I guess I got lucky with the one I got from them. I'm keeping it till it blows up. Happy camper with it.