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

[arijitroy2]

Got mine too a while back, I have no sdcards to test that out just yet. But the synergy with mentor is pretty good!!

 

[justsomesonyfan]

Dac chips same, expected to be in a way.
What is it comparable with then?
Centrance HiFi M8V2? (btw great device! Made by pros for pros)

only that the sp3k has 4 of them

 

[arijitroy2]

A level below M9 I would say on initial impressions but I need to spend a lot more time with this for brain/device burn-in. It is reasonably detailed. It is making things sound more v-shaped at present. A definite emphasis on mid and sub-bass with more treble energy. I haven't heard M7 but from the impressions I've read, I would say H7 is closer to that. This is with an hour of use though and I never like sharing very early impressions as they can change quite a bit with more time. Still haven't managed to get the app working with it yet. Not sure if it is something I am not doing or if there is something up with it.

Dont use BT mode to pair it. Use Opti, go to Synclink and enable controller and then connect to H7 from the list.

After connection, then change it to TF mode and then scan the card.

 

[arijitroy2]

It's in Chinese but you'll get the idea:

https://weibo.com/2714034801/MhSAc3E1Q

 

[armstrj2]

Got mine too a while back, I have no sdcards to test that out just yet. But the synergy with mentor is pretty good!!

Agreed. Always reluctant to share early impressions as they can come off as negative and that's not the case here. Just need a bit more time with it.

 

[armstrj2]

Dont use BT mode to pair it. Use Opti, go to Synclink and enable controller and then connect to H7 from the list.

After connection, then change it to TF mode and then scan the card.

Thanks, will try that when I get home

 

[armstrj2]

It's in Chinese but you'll get the idea:

https://weibo.com/2714034801/MhSAc3E1Q

I ended up having to uninstall the app from my phone, reboot everything and start fresh and now it is working fine. Thanks for sharing the link.

I assumed efficacy would be totally dependent on the iOS/Android app for control and playback. I appreciate early adopters always (I used to be one back in the day, hahaha). Imma wait to see how the iOS/Android app is developed to make this a seamless operation before I jump. If it doesn't work in the way I envision, it's basically a paper weight in my hands. YMMV as always.

Thanks to @arijitroy2, I have it working with no issues now. Different experience altogether now! Once I could connect, the app quickly scanned a 1TB card and you can navigate through the different albums/ artists etc through the app then, same as any standard music player app. It seems to be handling the various hi-res formats without any issues too.

 

[Shanling]

@Shanling Will the H7eventually be available on your Amazon US store? If so, do you have any idea of the timeframe? Thank you.

Not likely. I would recommend buying from Musicteck.

Does H7 use only one AK4499EX?

Yes, one AK4499EX.

Interesting, I have q7, and h7 has similar spec, not as powerful, but I am curious how it’s AKM dac sound vs q7’s ess dac.
probably some reviewers have the luxury to compare these two.

We sent H7 to few reviewers that covered Q7, so we hope it will eb covered.

For H7 users, I have here a advanced user guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o4PKGMMxWXECCRSGUBLlkoQsixJF0zIO/view?usp=share_link
it's still in works, so let me know if there is anything to add/adjust.

 

[floydfan33]

I just picked up an H7.

@Shanling I have a question on using Synclink with Eddict. With a 1TB card with 30,000 tracks, using IOS 16.2, the scan stops at 20,000 songs. If it is capped is this going to be updated in the app? Also, randomly playing songs tracks will stutter and stop completely using Eddict. Playing tracks and skipping by folder on the H7 itself does not do this.

I know units are just arriving, but anyone else having issues?

 

[Shanling]

I just picked up an H7.

@Shanling I have a question on using Synclink with Eddict. With a 1TB card with 30,000 tracks, using IOS 16.2, the scan stops at 20,000 songs. If it is capped is this going to be updated in the app? Also, randomly playing songs tracks will stutter and stop completely using Eddict. Playing tracks and skipping by folder on the H7 itself does not do this.

I know units are just arriving, but anyone else having issues?

Checked with engineers, this is a hardware limitation of H7. Due to its limited onboard system memory, it can't store data on more than 20k files.

If you have over 20k files, we can only recommend to use folder browsing through the app.

When the playback stops, does the app keep running or it crashes/freezes? Does it happen with any particular files?

 

[floydfan33]

Checked with engineers, this is a hardware limitation of H7. Due to its limited onboard system memory, it can't store data on more than 20k files.

If you have over 20k files, we can only recommend to use folder browsing through the app.

When the playback stops, does the app keep running or it crashes/freezes? Does it happen with any particular files?

The audio stutters and sometimes stops completely. The app does not crash. Files are flac rips so no high bitrate or dsd files.

Thanks for the tip on folder browsing.

 

[gto88]

Checked with engineers, this is a hardware limitation of H7. Due to its limited onboard system memory, it can't store data on more than 20k files.

it is a programming decision, it should scan and write to sd card during scanning, instead of put them all in memory.

 

[Shanling]

it is a programming decision, it should scan and write to sd card during scanning, instead of put them all in memory.

The above is a statement from our software team, I can't comment on it any further.

 

[floydfan33]

The above is a statement from our software team, I can't comment on it any further.

On the software side. Is it possible to add the option via firmware to keep the playback point in memory when you power off the unit? It seems to default back to the first folder when you restart?

 

[gto88]

On the software side. Is it possible to add the option via firmware to keep the playback point in memory when you power off the unit? It seems to default back to the first folder when you restart?

It will require a non-valotile memory unit, I doubt H7 will have one, maybe on the firmware unit?
save on sd card would be reasonable.