Chinese manufacturer Shanling is hardly a new player in the High Fidelity market, already making themselves known before the explosion in digital audio that brought along a whole host of new manufacturers.
Shanling offer a large range of products, and the brand, known mostly for their tube electronics, sell DACs, CD players, media streamers and more, all with pleasing presentation and very attractive specs.
We also spotted (even if it's not something we normally look into) a nice-looking multichannel processor preamp (the AV1.2) which could potentially work very well with Qobuz's Hi-Res 5.1 files.
But for now it's the H3 portable DAC which is the subject of our test bench. This device is compatible with files up to 24-bit/384 kHz and DSD at 64 and 128 MHz, and also has Bluetooth aptX technology allowing audio files to be sent from a smartphone and be picked up with near-CD quality.
It also has a headphone amp which can amplify signals from an external analogue source, thanks to its jack input.
Presentation
It's appearance is serious and robust but nice overall, with its casing made of block aluminium alloy with satin finish.
On the facade is the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, the volume dial, on/off switch, and a three-position selector for choosing the device's function (as amp with external source from the jack on the reverse (Line), via USB, or from the integrated Bluetooth (BT)). The Bluetooth antenna is mounted on a transparent black plaque, shown in the photo.
The USB port, located on one of the side panels, is a standard micro USB compatible with OTG smartphones and which also connects to the charger. To its left is a small switch, which can select a low (L) or high (H) gain for the headphone amp.
On the top of the casing, three small LEDs show the remaining battery, the use aptX connection or reading of a DSD file, and finally, the power, which blinks in the case of a technical problem.
The battery has a capacity of 2100 mAh at 3.8 V, and comes from Samsung's smartphones. Its life is between 8 and 10 hours.
There are no unsightly screws on the Shanling H3, the two halves being held together instead by internal hooks at the back and, at the front, by a round fixing which is blocked by the nut of the dial.
The USB interface is located on the upper face of the printed circuit and uses a XMOS 8U6C5 USB processor, compatible with PCM signals at 32-bit/384 kHz and DSD signals.
Just below is the power supply where you can see two Micrel KB50 (+5V) and KB33 (+3.3V) regulators integrated in micro SOT23-5 packages (U504, U505) and a Texas Instruments TPS72301 negative regulator (U506). The negative voltage is generated by a MAX1846 chip by Maxim (U503, on the other side of the circuit, pictured below). The voltage is then regulated by the TPS72301.
This provides symmetrical voltages for powering operational amplifiers and the headphone amplifier, thus avoiding the use of coupling capacitors. Two electrochemical capacitors of 100 μF/25 V are used a reserves for the power supplies, and are located nearby to the front of the circuit.
The other side of the circuit has a lot of components and also houses the Bluetooth aptX module by CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio, inventor of the aptX codec), which has a CSR8670 integrated circuit.
You can also see the ES9018K2M digital-to-analogue conversion chip by ESS, compatible with 32-bit/384 kHz and DSD, using Hyperstream sampling rate conversion technology.
Two OPA2134 high-performance operational amplifiers by Burr Brown provide voltage conversion of differential signals running from the ES9018M2K chip while a third OPA2134 is at the heart of the active filtering responsible for cleaning the voltage signals obtained.
Next to these is a NJW1194 integrated circuit by JRC (New Japan Radio Company), handling the switching of inputs and the volume control, that most likely only serves as input selector and changes the gain, volume control function being conventionally provided by a potentiometer.
Next along is the headphone amp, a TPA6120A2 integrated model by Texas Instrumentswith excellent qualities, which can work with headphones with 16 Ω impedance.
On the left of the TPA6120A2 is the micro electronic controller, which is a 16LF1828 Microchi model.
Listening
There is great sound restitution of
Te Deum by Charpentier recorded by Le Poème Harmonique and the Capella Cracoviensis directed by Vincent Dumestre (a superb Hi-Res 24-bit/88.2 kHz version). It's expressively clear with space and lightness, which suits this slightly pompous nature of this music but meant that the volume needed to be quite high to fully appreciate the full restitution. The dissonant brass chords sound really great, though!
Listening to extracts from
Vespri per l'Assunzione di Maria Vergine by Vivaldi, recorded by the Concerto Italiano led by Rinaldo Alessandrini, is just as enjoyable, with an ample and precise restitution of the voices and clean stabs in the strings.
To switch genres, we moved on to
Chaleur Humaine from Christine and the Queens. No problems here are it delivered the music with its full potential, with deep bass holding everything together. Would recommend!
My Sweet Lord from George Harrison's
Let It Roll played over the Bluetooth aptX connection confirms the good results you'd expect, the restitution having plenty of finesse, precision, warmth and glowing guitar chords.
To finish, the Shanling H3 DAC is a great little device with the capacity for high-level decoding, as well as a Bluetooth aptX connection allowing wireless CD-quality listening and the function of headphone amp - all with great sound quality.
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