Shanling H7 - High-End Portable DAC/AMP/Player, Featuring new AKM AK4499EX Flagship DAC

[gylyf]

Hi guys I'm looking for a portable Amp to run my RS2 off without altering the sound signature just to bypass the RS2s on board amp. Is the amp of the H7 clean and transparent. I like the idea of the multi-tasking abilities of the H7 but wonder if it would be better to get a topping NX7 or G5 instead.
I own 5 shanling DAPS Inc the M6 ultra so love the Shanling house sound.

I may be misunderstanding your question and I apologize if that’s the case, but there’s no way to bypass the DAC on the H7 (there’s no analogue input). The iFi Gryphon has line in and is a very versatile unit (and sports a powerful amp that sounded relatively transparent to my ears, with maybe a touch of warmth that would probably complement the R2R signature of the RS2 pretty well). You could also take a look at the Astell&Kern PA10, but I have no direct experience of that one.

 

[PeacockObscura]

I may be misunderstanding your question and I apologize if that’s the case, but there’s no way to bypass the DAC on the H7 (there’s no analogue input). The iFi Gryphon has line in and is a very versatile unit (and sports a powerful amp that sounded relatively transparent to my ears, with maybe a touch of warmth that would probably complement the R2R signature of the RS2 pretty well). You could also take a look at the Astell&Kern PA10, but I have no direct experience of that one.

That's really useful I didn't realise that. Thank you.

 

[oneknockout]

If you can please let me know what exact combination of app version, H7 firmware and phone you using, we will check on it.

search function doesn't work at all
Telephone - iPhone SE 2nd generation
App - Eddict Player v2.1.2
H7 firmware - v1.5

 

[hooniebear]

If you can please let me know what exact combination of app version, H7 firmware and phone you using, we will check on it.

App ver 2.1.6 (latest)
H7 Firmware ver. 1.5
Source device Samsung Galaxy Fold 4

 

[GBCabral]

Hi guys I'm looking for a portable Amp to run my RS2 off without altering the sound signature just to bypass the RS2s on board amp. Is the amp of the H7 clean and transparent. I like the idea of the multi-tasking abilities of the H7 but wonder if it would be better to get a topping NX7 or G5 instead.
I own 5 shanling DAPS Inc the M6 ultra so love the Shanling house sound.

Portable, powerful and doesn't color the sound, I would recommend the Topping NX7 anyway. I have the G5 here, and since you're going to pair it with a DAP, I don't think the extra investment in the G5 can be worth it vs the NX7...

 

[jamesofla80]

2. We are aware of this problem. It's caused when the connection is initiated from the side of H7, iOS is not able to recognize it correctly and switches to SBC.
If you initiate connecting from side of iOS, it will connect correctly as AAC. So easiest fix for now is to reconnect from side of iOS if it ever shows as SBC.
This is something software team should be able to fix with firmware update.

3 and 4, such functions are harder to implement and can be widely affected by which playback software you are running. It's something we added to our UA3, but have no plans to be dealing with it on H7, for now at least.

Any update on any new firmware fixes in the near future?

 

[JosanSolomon]

@Shanling Hello!
I am listening to my new H7 for a couple weeks, and the sound quality is actually very poor. In fact, it's only a little bit different from the one from my Asus Zenfone 3 phone's headphone jack. I only listen via 3.5 mm.
Some reviews tend to claim that the device only reaches its potential after 50 hours of use. I honestly am sceptical about burn-in in anything besides some dynamic driver headphones and tube amplifiers.
I've tesed the H7 via usb with Fiio FA9 and Beyerdynamic 770 pro (32 ohm version) with HiBy music app and Eddict player in bit-perfect mode.
The difference is more audible with beyerdynamics, but yet not far from the phone.
I did not update the firmware as it came with V1.5 pre-installed from the factory.
Ordered from Shanling official store in Aliexpress.
Is there something I can do about the lacking sound detail via the single ended output?

 

[Johnfg465vd]

@Shanling Hello!
I am listening to my new H7 for a couple weeks, and the sound quality is actually very poor. In fact, it's only a little bit different from the one from my Asus Zenfone 3 phone's headphone jack. I only listen via 3.5 mm.
Some reviews tend to claim that the device only reaches its potential after 50 hours of use. I honestly am sceptical about burn-in in anything besides some dynamic driver headphones and tube amplifiers.
I've tesed the H7 via usb with Fiio FA9 and Beyerdynamic 770 pro (32 ohm version) with HiBy music app and Eddict player in bit-perfect mode.
The difference is more audible with beyerdynamics, but yet not far from the phone.
I did not update the firmware as it came with V1.5 pre-installed from the factory.
Ordered from Shanling official store in Aliexpress.
Is there something I can do about the lacking sound detail via the single ended output?

Use Balanced Outputs.

 

[Mllump]

Balanced outputs is definitely the way to go on the H7. Also, just noting that the Meze 109 Pro with a copper cable thru the H7 has wonderful synergy. The 109 already punches above its market price, but this combo has stretched my satisfaction with it even further. There’s just that more taming of the upper treble bump and the warmth of the H7 really fills out the rest of the FR. I don’t think it’s end-game kit, by any means, as it’s more dependent than most on the rest of your gear. My U12t’s, for instance are still wonderful with it, but the added warmth of the H7 is ALMOST too much warmth. I haven’t tried with the U4s, though I’ve had that IEM, but I believe it would be a wonderful complement to that, as I felt there was a bit more sharpness with it and the mids a bit lacking (blame in on not being able to “un-hear” the U12t), but the H7 should help that tremendously.

 

[JosanSolomon]

Use Balanced Outputs.

Not possible at the current moment. I do understand that there will be a difference but I think that even single ended performance should be at least detailed and punchy, even without soundstage and all, shouldn't it? My beyerdynamic headphones don't have a detachable cable and in order to plug into balanced, I would need to mod their stereo input into double mono, which I don't find a good idea

 

[Johnfg465vd]

Not possible at the current moment. I do understand that there will be a difference but I think that even single ended performance should be at least detailed and punchy, even without soundstage and all, shouldn't it? My beyerdynamic headphones don't have a detachable cable and in order to plug into balanced, I would need to mod their stereo input into double mono, which I don't find a good idea

I've tried/owned many DAC/Amps from budget (Sparrow, BTR7, Hip-DAC...) to higher priced ones (Gryphon, Mojo 2, H7...) and in my experience, the difference between SE & BAL Outputs is bigger than what some people say, at least to my ears. The only exception to this were Single-Ended Amps like N7, A30 Pro or micro iDSD Sig were the difference was barely audible (because they are not true Balanced Amps)

There's no way to improve the Single-Ended performance of the H7 (or any such Amp), so the only options you have are to either mod the Headphones or get another DAC/Amp that does not need Balanced to sound it's best.

You mentioned testing the FA9, have you tried it with a Balanced Cable? If not, get a budget good Cable from XINHS and see if you notice a good improvement and then decide if you want to mod the Beyers.

 

[Shanling]

@Shanling Hello!
I am listening to my new H7 for a couple weeks, and the sound quality is actually very poor. In fact, it's only a little bit different from the one from my Asus Zenfone 3 phone's headphone jack. I only listen via 3.5 mm.
Some reviews tend to claim that the device only reaches its potential after 50 hours of use. I honestly am sceptical about burn-in in anything besides some dynamic driver headphones and tube amplifiers.
I've tesed the H7 via usb with Fiio FA9 and Beyerdynamic 770 pro (32 ohm version) with HiBy music app and Eddict player in bit-perfect mode.
The difference is more audible with beyerdynamics, but yet not far from the phone.
I did not update the firmware as it came with V1.5 pre-installed from the factory.
Ordered from Shanling official store in Aliexpress.
Is there something I can do about the lacking sound detail via the single ended output?

Is this your first more advanced DAC/AMP? Do you have any other DAC to compare it? Or have you used only your phone output until now?

You can try to run it with your computer over USB input, if you will hear any improvement.

 

[JosanSolomon]

I've tried/owned many DAC/Amps from budget (Sparrow, BTR7, Hip-DAC...) to higher priced ones (Gryphon, Mojo 2, H7...) and in my experience, the difference between SE & BAL Outputs is bigger than what some people say, at least to my ears. The only exception to this were Single-Ended Amps like N7, A30 Pro or micro iDSD Sig were the difference was barely audible (because they are not true Balanced Amps)

There's no way to improve the Single-Ended performance of the H7 (or any such Amp), so the only options you have are to either mod the Headphones or get another DAC/Amp that does not need Balanced to sound it's best.

You mentioned testing the FA9, have you tried it with a Balanced Cable? If not, get a budget good Cable from XINHS and see if you notice a good improvement and then decide if you want to mod the Beyers.

Allright, I get it. I'll try to get a balanced cable for the Fiio, thanks for the explanation about the true balanced amp. Never thought the sound can be that much worse via SE

 

[JosanSolomon]

Is this your first more advanced DAC/AMP? Do you have any other DAC to compare it? Or have you used only your phone output until now?

You can try to run it with your computer over USB input, if you will hear any improvement.

Yes, this is my first high-end dac/amp. Chose the H7 for its local playback feature, the little screen and two knobs design and I believed I could get a flagship grade sound for as little as USD 800.

Difference with the computer sound is an improvement, of course. But the low-budget hiby fc3 was also an improvement as my laptop has a very poor sound output not designed for music.

A guy in the previous post mentioned that it's OK that the single ended performance is that bad and the device is only designed for balaced usage. Is it possible that the difference between balaced and SE output in the H7 will be that big?

I still do believe that the current performance is far not at its best because there is no audible difference between BT (even SBC) and USB. Can't find time to buy a micro SD card and compare that one too.

I believe that if the single ended output was performing at its best, the BT's bottleneck would be noticeable compared to USB.

 

[Shanling]

Yes, this is my first high-end dac/amp. Chose the H7 for its local playback feature, the little screen and two knobs design and I believed I could get a flagship grade sound for as little as USD 800.

Difference with the computer sound is an improvement, of course. But the low-budget hiby fc3 was also an improvement as my laptop has a very poor sound output not designed for music.

A guy in the previous post mentioned that it's OK that the single ended performance is that bad and the device is only designed for balaced usage. Is it possible that the difference between balaced and SE output in the H7 will be that big?

I still do believe that the current performance is far not at its best because there is no audible difference between BT (even SBC) and USB. Can't find time to buy a micro SD card and compare that one too.

I believe that if the single ended output was performing at its best, the BT's bottleneck would be noticeable compared to USB.

Balanced output is bit better than SE, but we definitely wouldn't call the SE performance "that bad". It definitely wasn't designed only for balanced output.

For the comment on computer, I meant to test H7 with a computer, in comparison with using your smartphone as a source.