[Kiats]

ET3 offers OTA update over Wi-Fi, just some USB drive needs to be connected, as ET3 doesn't have internal memory big enough for the firmware file.
On our Android DAPs and M30, they have internal memory for this file to be downloaded.

We are sorry for any confusion and will adjust it in the instructions.

(Also, Manual update is always faster and my personal recommendation for updating the device)

No worries at all. Yeah.. I have been spoilt by the easy user experience for OTA updates with your other devices. Your explanation makes perfect sense.

The ET3 is a boost for my long neglected massive CD collection. By the way, you will recall we had the discussion on the I2S connection from the ET3 to Holo Spring 3 KTE: you are absolutely right - the default setting on the DAC works nicely with the ET3.

 

[Kiats]

Had a discussion about this with our head software engineer this morning.

He recommends, if you want to use DLNA, you should use the Eddict Player app. But he promised the software team will have a look at the other DLNA apps in the future and will see if it can be adjusted further.

@Shanling No rush to respond. Hope you and your team have a good rest over the Golden Week holidays!

Before I forget, the CD player aspect and SRC is excellent! I have always enjoyed the Shanling implementation of SRC from the time I first had the M30. Good that you have it here too.

As a matter of context, I tend to use my Shanling M9 as the controller for LDAC streaming and QPlay (DLNA in QQ Music).

1. For BT streaming, I notice that I have to place my M9 within 2 feet of the ET3. If not, connection will be patchy and there is interference. I have tried pairing with iBasso DX300 and DX320. They will pair but will only stay connected if I have the iBasso DAPs on top of the ET3 or within half a feet. Once I bring the DAPs further than that, the connection breaks. I know it cannot be that the iBasso DAPs are faulty because I use them to stream LDAC to the FiiO BTA30 Pro which is connected to another DAC and my desktop rig. I suspect it is something that can be fixed via firmware.

2. For DLNA streaming, I am experiencing what someone else earlier the thread had mentioned with DLNA streaming. When I select the ET3 as output in QPlay in QQ Music, it will play the first track in the playlist. And then it stops. I will then have to unselect and reselect the ET3 again in the menu under QPlsy to get it to play again. Sometimes manually skipping to the next track works; other times it does not. For example, QQ Music will show it playing but no sound will come out from the ET3. I do know that QPlay should work perfectly fine because I also use the M9 and my iPhone (as well as the iBasso DAPs) to use QPlay to stream to the M30, and to other DLNA capable streamers.

I do think that the ET3 has great potential, not least because of the upsampling via I2S. I am really enjoying the sound quality when connected to my Holo Spring 3 KTE. What will advance the user experience is to resolve the current issues with LDAC streaming and DLNA streaming.

Thanks @Shanling

 

[Shanling]

@Shanling No rush to respond. Hope you and your team have a good rest over the Golden Week holidays!

Before I forget, the CD player aspect and SRC is excellent! I have always enjoyed the Shanling implementation of SRC from the time I first had the M30. Good that you have it here too.

As a matter of context, I tend to use my Shanling M9 as the controller for LDAC streaming and QPlay (DLNA in QQ Music).

1. For BT streaming, I notice that I have to place my M9 within 2 feet of the ET3. If not, connection will be patchy and there is interference. I have tried pairing with iBasso DX300 and DX320. They will pair but will only stay connected if I have the iBasso DAPs on top of the ET3 or within half a feet. Once I bring the DAPs further than that, the connection breaks. I know it cannot be that the iBasso DAPs are faulty because I use them to stream LDAC to the FiiO BTA30 Pro which is connected to another DAC and my desktop rig. I suspect it is something that can be fixed via firmware.

2. For DLNA streaming, I am experiencing what someone else earlier the thread had mentioned with DLNA streaming. When I select the ET3 as output in QPlay in QQ Music, it will play the first track in the playlist. And then it stops. I will then have to unselect and reselect the ET3 again in the menu under QPlsy to get it to play again. Sometimes manually skipping to the next track works; other times it does not. For example, QQ Music will show it playing but no sound will come out from the ET3. I do know that QPlay should work perfectly fine because I also use the M9 and my iPhone (as well as the iBasso DAPs) to use QPlay to stream to the M30, and to other DLNA capable streamers.

I do think that the ET3 has great potential, not least because of the upsampling via I2S. I am really enjoying the sound quality when connected to my Holo Spring 3 KTE. What will advance the user experience is to resolve the current issues with LDAC streaming and DLNA streaming.

Thanks @Shanling

1. On M9 the Bluetooth performance is a bit weaker, as its more optimized for its own audio circuit (Similar to M8 before).
Have you tested it with any modern smartphone, which are the devices that most users will be running with ET3?

Can't comment on BT performance of iBasso devices.

2. We are awaiting any further improvements to the DLNA by our software team. For now, their only recommendation is to use Eddict Player for DLNA.

 

[Kiats]

1. On M9 the Bluetooth performance is a bit weaker, as its more optimized for its own audio circuit (Similar to M8 before).
Have you tested it with any modern smartphone, which are the devices that most users will be running with ET3?

Can't comment on BT performance of iBasso devices.

2. We are awaiting any further improvements to the DLNA by our software team. For now, their only recommendation is to use Eddict Player for DLNA.

Thanks @Shanling. Interestingly, since I wrote the above, I tested the M9+ as controller. It is excellent both for QPlay (QQ Music) as well as BT (no issues with distance vs M9).

As for the M9, it is a very reliable controller for BT signals that I send to the Shanling M30 as well as the FiiO BTA30 Pro. Hence, my surprise that it has issues with the ET3, being another Shanling device.

I use an iPhone. I seem to get a connection on BT. However, no sound is coming out from the desktop rig even though my iPhone shows that the music app is playing. Perhaps it is not optimised for iPhones. In any event, I would usually not use iPhone for BT since, unlike Android devices they only have AAC and not LDAC. Which is why I use my android DAPs as controllers.

As for DLNA, I am enjoying the Eddict Player, even if the music scanning could be improved, for the attached USB drive. However, for QPlay for QQ Music, it has to be controlled from QQ Music app.

One question I have, @Shanling: I can see the NAS drives I have on my network on Eddict Player. Is there any way to have direct playback from my NAS via the ET3 using the Eddict Player? That would be most useful.

Thanks! I hope you had a restful Golden Week.

 

[Kiats]

On a related note, I thought I‘d try out the Sony 1AM2 and 1ZM2 as controllers for the ET3. Well, they work like a dream. Including BT connection for LDAC streaming.

 

[Kiats]

One question I have, @Shanling: I can see the NAS drives I have on my network on Eddict Player. Is there any way to have direct playback from my NAS via the ET3 using the Eddict Player? That would be most useful.

Have the answer to this question @Shanling as I was experimenting based on what the Eddict Player should be able to do with NAS (playback) and the BT LDAC output to the ET3. So I am able to use the Eddict Player to play the songs in my NAS and then use BT to output LDAC to the ET3. Works nicely.

 

[Shanling]

Glad to see the NAS playback is working as you like.

I use an iPhone. I seem to get a connection on BT. However, no sound is coming out from the desktop rig even though my iPhone shows that the music app is playing. Perhaps it is not optimised for iPhones. In any event, I would usually not use iPhone for BT since, unlike Android devices they only have AAC and not LDAC. Which is why I use my android DAPs as controllers.

For this part, can you please tell me what exact iPhone and iOS version are you running? And playing from which app?
I just tested it with two different iPhones and ET3 works as BT receiver fine with both of them.

 

[Kiats]

Glad to see the NAS playback is working as you like.


For this part, can you please tell me what exact iPhone and iOS version are you running? And playing from which app?
I just tested it with two different iPhones and ET3 works as BT receiver fine with both of them.

Thanks @Shanling . I am using iPhone 14 Pro Max on iOS17.0.3. I was using Apple Music. I will try again later with the iPhone. It is not my first choice for BT streaming because of the limitations that Apple has for bit rate for BT.

This morning, an interesting thing happened to me. My M9 and M9+ seem to be stuck on AptxHD for BT streaming to the ET3. I had also selected LDAC for BT on the ET3 itself. When I forced the DAPs to go LDAC, all I get is static. I tried with the Sony 1AM2 and it connected with LDAC with no issues. LDAC chosen as default BT codec for both M9 and M9+. Been trying for a while to get the M9 and M9+ to work on LDAC streaming. I have now switched off the ET3 and will try later. So I don’t get frustrated with it. No issues with QPlay on the M9 and M9+ and the ET3 though.

As a matter of contrast, when I connect the M9 and M9+ to the FiiO BTA30 Pro, LDAC comes on automatically and there is no issue streaming music. Hence, I am puzzled.

Will move to my other streamers until I feel up to trying out the LDAC BT streaming on the ET3 again.

 

[Kiats]

Managed to get the iPhone to connect and play out of the ET3. But it is AAC BT streaming.

I was using the Eddict Player for the NAS, off the Sony 1AM2. Nice thing about it is if you have Minimserver organising your NAS, the Eddict Player will recognise everything including the album artwork. Which is nice.

 

[Kiats]

This morning, an interesting thing happened to me. My M9 and M9+ seem to be stuck on AptxHD for BT streaming to the ET3. I had also selected LDAC for BT on the ET3 itself. When I forced the DAPs to go LDAC, all I get is static. I tried with the Sony 1AM2 and it connected with LDAC with no issues. LDAC chosen as default BT codec for both M9 and M9+. Been trying for a while to get the M9 and M9+ to work on LDAC streaming. I have now switched off the ET3 and will try later. So I don’t get frustrated with it. No issues with QPlay on the M9 and M9+ and the ET3 though.

As a matter of contrast, when I connect the M9 and M9+ to the FiiO BTA30 Pro, LDAC comes on automatically and there is no issue streaming music. Hence, I am puzzled.

Will move to my other streamers until I feel up to trying out the LDAC BT streaming on the ET3 again.

Anyway, there is closure on this issue @Shanling .

I reset all settings on the ET3 and set up everything from scratch. That did not help the BT issue.

Later, I went into the reset option in the M9 and found, in addition to the usual reset all settings and factory reset, an option to reset network connections which includes BT. That seems to have done the trick. LDAC is back again. A test play of Apple Music shows up as LDAC on the M9 as well as the ET3.

Thank goodness!

[UPDATE: sadly, the respite was brief. Once I switched on BT again on M9, it has reverted to Aptx HD. Really not sure what will help. I am trying to avoid doing a factory reset and lose all my data and saved songs on the various music apps. That would be painful indeed! ]

 

[Kiats]

I have been playing around with the Eddict Player in the past few days. It has more functionality that perhaps meets the eye. The official manual (in English) just covers superficially what each function does. I would recommend being patient and explore it. It will surprise you and reap great benefits. Especially if you are using it with the ET3 as output via BT. With the upsampling (i upsample to DSD512 on the Holo Spring 3 KTE via the I2S connection), you will find your music on USB drive and your NAS drives elevated to another level. The Shanling house sound and the upsampling by Shanling work well together to present an almost vinyl like sound.

What I discovered today was something else. I recall @Shanling had advised that the external USB drive should not be more than 2TB. Because there may not be enough power otherwise. I decided to try with an external 10TB USB drive but which has its own power. It seems to work thus far. Only issue i had is that the music scanning stops well before the entire contents were scanned. Which is fine cos i just use directory browse. Seem to work nice so far.

 

[Kiats]

Well, after a couple of weeks of demoing the ET3, courtesy of Wilson of Jaben Singapore, I have pulled the trigger and the ET3 is not going back and has found a home here.

I will say that I appreciate that it breathes new life into my CD collection. Nothing like having them upsampled via I2S connection to my Holo Spring 3 KTE to DSD 512. That with the distinctive Shanling house sound that is organic and vinyl like. Having the ability to play apps from my DAPs via BT is another great bonus. Upsampled to DSD 512 no less. Ditto for QPlay for QQ Music.

The surprise is the exploration of the functionality of the Eddict Player and being able to access my Melco NAS and playing through the ET3 via BT streaming and upsampled again. The USB drive playback is also a great bonus, especially since my powered 10 TB HDD can be read and played at upsampled rate.

While there may some niggles, as @Shanling suggests, the software team will continue to improve the functionality by way of FW updates. But as it is, I think it adds great value to my audio chain at such a great price point!

Kudos to the Shanling team and @Shanling for a great innovative product!

And of course a big shout out to Wilson and Jaben Singapore for being in this great product!

 

[chesebert]

Is there something wrong with my unit because I get "Device Distribution Failed" message when I tried to connect to my wifi? I also tried the Synclink and try to put in the wifi information and that doesn't work either.

Edit: I had to turn the power off and then back on and it connected. That was frustrating.

 

[comradem4rx]

Does this have a switch mode power supply if I move from a 110/120v region to a 220/230v region?
Thanks

 

[Shanling]

[UPDATE: sadly, the respite was brief. Once I switched on BT again on M9, it has reverted to Aptx HD. Really not sure what will help. I am trying to avoid doing a factory reset and lose all my data and saved songs on the various music apps. That would be painful indeed! ]

Reported to software team to check on this mismatch.

Is there something wrong with my unit because I get "Device Distribution Failed" message when I tried to connect to my wifi? I also tried the Synclink and try to put in the wifi information and that doesn't work either.

Edit: I had to turn the power off and then back on and it connected. That was frustrating.

Ok, so all working now? Was it happening just for the first time you were trying to pair to new Wi-Fi or just reconnecting after some time?

Does this have a switch mode power supply if I move from a 110/120v region to a 220/230v region?
Thanks

No, there is no switch for this. You would have to take apart the device and adjust some components inside. Not something we recommend.