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

[Polky74]

what kind of cable & tips are you using just for my own understanding? I don't know what sort of sound signature the fiio FD5 has, but I obviously know what the H7 has.
I'm using a silver cable currently, but have a nice copper cable on order. If you see the review I linked above, he found the best results with the H7 using a copper cable & foam tips. I am not using foam tips because they're uncomfortable in my ear, but I did notice they do sound very good with the H7. The whole goal is to smooth out the 2Khz pinna gain.

The FiiO FD5 are known for the peaks they have on the treble which could bother some and I bought them before buying the IER-Z1R and in fact they share many characteristics with them. Now they sell them on Aliexpress at almost half the price (180 euros) compared to when they came out (349 euros) but obviously they still sound the same. They are IEMs with an incredible bass, a stellar performance and a recovery of details and an unimaginable soundstage.
The cable I listen to them with is this:

https://www.linsoul.com/products/linsoul-lsc08

and the tips are the very famous Final E (which I also use on the IER-Z1R). With these two measures (copper cable and narrow bore tips) the FD5 completely lose their treble peaks and the H7 does the rest. If you like, try them, they are truly stellar IEMs and not only compared to the price which has halved due to the release of the new FD7 which I don't think are much better but which cost 700 euros. The accompanying equipment is simply jaw-dropping, if you want to give your new H7 a gift, get them and you'll see that the gift will be for you.

https://it.aliexpress.com/item/1005...eDWWVC9e&utparam-url=scene:search|query_from:

P.S. Just read some reviews around the web to immediately understand the level of the FD5

 

[Bryanq]

Tempting to get one !!!

 

[Hisma]

The FiiO FD5 are known for the peaks they have on the treble which could bother some and I bought them before buying the IER-Z1R and in fact they share many characteristics with them. Now they sell them on Aliexpress at almost half the price (180 euros) compared to when they came out (349 euros) but obviously they still sound the same. They are IEMs with an incredible bass, a stellar performance and a recovery of details and an unimaginable soundstage.
The cable I listen to them with is this:

https://www.linsoul.com/products/linsoul-lsc08

and the tips are the very famous Final E (which I also use on the IER-Z1R). With these two measures (copper cable and narrow bore tips) the FD5 completely lose their treble peaks and the H7 does the rest. If you like, try them, they are truly stellar IEMs and not only compared to the price which has halved due to the release of the new FD7 which I don't think are much better but which cost 700 euros. The accompanying equipment is simply jaw-dropping, if you want to give your new H7 a gift, get them and you'll see that the gift will be for you.

https://it.aliexpress.com/item/1005...eDWWVC9e&utparam-url=scene:search|query_from:

P.S. Just read some reviews around the web to immediately understand the level of the FD5

perfect, thanks for the tips (literally & figuratively)! Yep, I use narrow bore silicon tips but they aren't the best fit in my big ears. I'll try out the final e's. Glad I have a copper cable on the way too, because it re-inforces that I had the right idea . The detail is amazing but the 2khz peak is too sharp w/ the silver cable.

 

[Hisma]

also man it's tempting to grab those FD5s too bc they're so cheap. I would almost want to cry if they sound better than my AMT-16s I paid $1300 for. But it wouldn't surprise me either as the gap between true hi-fi and mid-fi (and even budget-fi) has narrowed so much in the last couple of years, as no new tech has really emerged, just refinements of existing tech which has brought prices down.
AMT-16 is the only real true "new tech" that's unlike anything else in the IEM scene, hence why I wanted to listen to them so bad. Tri-brids & DD drivers are all so common now it just comes down to tuning preference and build quality. Funny that you own a IER-Z1R & you're using the FD5s which are much cheaper as your go-to. All the more proves my point.

 

[PenguinHeadphoner]

Wow... 1300 dollars for a pair of IEM's...
I would not be brave enough to spend so much money on those things.
I do not doubt those would sound marvelously, but as far as I am concerned, I have never got accustomed to any earphone
So I would probably not enjoy them !

Each time I have listened to IEM I found that they did not give me the same "feeling" that I get with headphones.
So I'll stick to headphones I think...
But would be really interested in giving the AMT-16 a listen if I get a chance !

Concerning cables, not sure I'll have ears that are still good enough to tell an OCC cable from a silver plated one apart

 

[Hisma]

Wow... 1300 dollars for a pair of IEM's...
I would not be brave enough to spend so much money on those things.
I do not doubt those would sound marvelously, but as far as I am concerned, I have never got accustomed to any earphone
So I would probably not enjoy them !

Each time I have listened to IEM I found that they did not give me the same "feeling" that I get with headphones.
So I'll stick to headphones I think...
But would be really interested in giving the AMT-16 a listen if I get a chance !

Concerning cables, not sure I'll have ears that are still good enough to tell an OCC cable from a silver plated one apart

I 100% can tell the difference, whether folks tell me its placebo or not. And there's enough people out there like me that can also report the same thing that I will happily cable roll to find the right synergy between dac/amp & IEM. That said, I do think it's ridiculous to spend $500 on a cable too. A $100 cable that's well made, hell even a $50 cable is probably not going to sound any different than the $500 cable. But material difference is audibly noticeable to me, and its not subtle "confirmation bias" (though I wouldn't call it dramatic either).

 

[Polky74]

I wouldn't talk about whether it sounds better or worse... for me every IEM like every headphone has its own sound... and also for this reason I own many of them and I never sell the older one to get the newer one. Each has its own character, each can express a particular synergy with a specific DAC / amp / dongle and each has the right to make us happy when we listen to them.

@PenguinHeadphoner then don't check the price of an Aroma Audio Jewel or even worse the PWAudio First Times cable... lol

 

[Polky74]

I 100% can tell the difference, whether folks tell me its placebo or not. And there's enough people out there like me that can also report the same thing that I will happily cable roll to find the right synergy between dac/amp & IEM. That said, I do think it's ridiculous to spend $500 on a cable too. A $100 cable that's well made, hell even a $50 cable is probably not going to sound any different than the $500 cable. But material difference is audibly noticeable to me, and its not subtle "confirmation bias" (though I wouldn't call it dramatic either).

If you listen to the FD5 with their standard cable (silver-plated copper) and then switch to a copper cable... perhaps nothing will change in terms of measurement, but trust me by listening to them you will understand that everything has changed.

 

[PenguinHeadphoner]

Hi,

I have myself been in the cable business for a short time.
And I thought I could indeed hear a difference between the cables we were selling and other cables and ours sounded better.

But now I have grown "older" and I am not sure my audition would allow me to hear the difference anymore

Right now I use Austrian Audio Hi-X60 headphones and I find them to my liking... without EQ.
Now that I have listend to them for quite some time I'll switch back to Snoy MDR-Z1R/MDR-Z7 and Oppo PM-1 and see if I hear a real difference.

I have owned the H7 for a short time and decided to go for the EH-3 instead.
If you haven't so far, i'd recommend listen to it as the ESS9039Pro is astonishing... even for me who have been a long time AKM DAC fan !

 

[PenguinHeadphoner]

I wouldn't talk about whether it sounds better or worse... for me every IEM like every headphone has its own sound... and also for this reason I own many of them and I never sell the older one to get the newer one. Each has its own character, each can express a particular synergy with a specific DAC / amp / dongle and each has the right to make us happy when we listen to them.



@PenguinHeadphoner then don't check the price of an Aroma Audio Jewel or even worse the PWAudio First Times cable... lol

I looked.
I should not have...

2.4k for a cable is just insae to me...
But who am I to judge how you spend your hard earned money ?
It's your call and each one has it's own nevroses

 

[Polky74]

I looked.
I should not have...

2.4k for a cable is just insae to me...
But who am I to judge how you spend your hard earned money ?
It's your call and each one has it's own nevroses

Honestly, I wouldn't have spent that amount on a cable either, but when I bought the Jewel there was an offer that with a difference of 400 euros they would also give you the cable... and then the temptation was stronger than reason. In addition to this, in my opinion the Jewels are supplied with a cable which doesn't do them any credit, so in the end I would have had to get a cable anyway.

 

[PenguinHeadphoner]

Wow... Got back to the Oppo pm1 headphone...
I cannot be compared to Austrian audio !
Indeed totally different headphone...

 

[Polky74]

Wow... Got back to the Oppo pm1 headphone...
I cannot be compared to Austrian audio !
Indeed totally different headphone...

An object like the H7 always makes you want to try headphones/IEMs that have been resting in a drawer for a long time... and every time you do, they will have something new to tell you. Synergies never heard, skills you didn't remember, forgotten sounds... but emotion always comes first in all of this. Emotion that only quality objects like H7 are able to make you feel.

 

[Polky74]

@Shanling

1) It seems that the Eddict Player connection only works when the H7 is in a certain left knob mode, is this correct? (the one with the different writing)
2) Do I have to turn on the GPRS antenna on the phone every time I launch Eddict Player or just the first time?
3) Does the microSD card inside the H7 have to be scanned every time I launch the application?
4) Is the most updated version of the Eddict Player 2.2.0?
5) Is it correct not to connect the H7 via the Bluetooth toggle on the phone but to do it directly from Synclink?

 

[Shanling]

@Shanling

1) It seems that the Eddict Player connection only works when the H7 is in a certain left knob mode, is this correct? (the one with the different writing)
2) Do I have to turn on the GPRS antenna on the phone every time I launch Eddict Player or just the first time?
3) Does the microSD card inside the H7 have to be scanned every time I launch the application?
4) Is the most updated version of the Eddict Player 2.2.0?
5) Is it correct not to connect the H7 via the Bluetooth toggle on the phone but to do it directly from Synclink?

1. SyncLink control is designed for MicroSD/TF card Playback mode. It also keeps connection in USB/coaxial/optical mode, but there of course the functions are limited.
SyncLink can't be connected if H7 is set to Bluetooth receiver function.

2. GPRS as in phone/data services? Shouldn't be needed.
But the app asks for location services to be on, as on Android they are partly needed for Bluetooth scan/connection option.

3. If you using it with just the H7 and not jumping between different Shanling models, it should remember the scanned library, no need to rescan.

4. V2.2.1 should be coming next week.

5. For SyncLink you need to use Eddict Player menu.
Phone's Bluetooth menu should be used when you want to use H5 as Bluetooth Receiver.