Shanling M1s - Compact Portable Player (Discontinued)

[cheznous]

So a recent review has this to say about the sound signature:

The M1s has quite a different signature—tonally a bit bright, with lean, crisp notes and a conspicuously forward midrange which highlights horns/male voices. Bass is tight and controlled but not especially deep or visceral; high end is very well-extended and presents a lot of microdetail.

Perhaps because of the midrange emphasis, I hear the soundstage as fairly narrow and low-ceilinged, although performers remain well-separated and imaging is accurate if somewhat two-dimensional.

If this is an accurate review then this sound signature does not fit my tastes. I love the warm detailed sound of my A55 with custom firmware. Can those who have the M1S chime in if they feel this is an accurate description of the sound signature?

I would say it’s a fair description regarding brightness. It’s certainly not “warm” unless you play it via a Cayin C9 or something similar.

 

[searchingtom]

I just picked one of these up on a whim and I am quite surprised on how well it sounds and how multifunctional it is (for the money especially).

I use it for an hour or so streaming through bluetooth from Qobuz on my laptop and then I switch to the N8ii and it allows me to appreciate the N8ii more.

Kind of like having a peanut butter sandwhich before going out to eat a gourmet meal

Anyway for the money I think it is very useful (don't have to worry about damaging it at all) and sounds pretty good. A great value DAP.

At first I thought it looked like an M3 Ultra cut in half. But it is so easy to use that it has grown on me.

 

[lycos]

So a recent review has this to say about the sound signature:

The M1s has quite a different signature—tonally a bit bright, with lean, crisp notes and a conspicuously forward midrange which highlights horns/male voices. Bass is tight and controlled but not especially deep or visceral; high end is very well-extended and presents a lot of microdetail.

Perhaps because of the midrange emphasis, I hear the soundstage as fairly narrow and low-ceilinged, although performers remain well-separated and imaging is accurate if somewhat two-dimensional.

If this is an accurate review then this sound signature does not fit my tastes. I love the warm detailed sound of my A55 with custom firmware. Can those who have the M1S chime in if they feel this is an accurate description of the sound signature?

Which dap that the reviewer used as the benchmark ?

If you like sony warm sound, M1s is not for you imo. Sony possibly has the warmest sound signature among all daps.
M1s is neutral with slight hint of brightness. Treble can sound quite harsh in few tracks. The bass doesnt goes as deep as well.

However, you’ll get cleaner sound which may give impression of being more resolving, nice vocal, more open, wider soundstage but maybe lack of depth.

 

[abitdeef]

So a recent review has this to say about the sound signature:

The M1s has quite a different signature—tonally a bit bright, with lean, crisp notes and a conspicuously forward midrange which highlights horns/male voices. Bass is tight and controlled but not especially deep or visceral; high end is very well-extended and presents a lot of microdetail.

Perhaps because of the midrange emphasis, I hear the soundstage as fairly narrow and low-ceilinged, although performers remain well-separated and imaging is accurate if somewhat two-dimensional.

If this is an accurate review then this sound signature does not fit my tastes. I love the warm detailed sound of my A55 with custom firmware. Can those who have the M1S chime in if they feel this is an accurate description of the sound signature?

Glad I went with the a306, even though more $$$. I love the sound and design and battery life. Been trying out dongles for fun, or if I want different sound sig. So far Sony is my favorite sig, but I like the r2r dongles.

Still curious about this and it's very cheap on Ali express but I got less excited with the delays.

 

[LinstantX]

Hello. Do not tell me, people who know, but does m1s shanling support sound output to external usb dacs? I think to make friends with cayin ru6.

 

[cheznous]

Hello. Do not tell me, people who know, but does m1s shanling support sound output to external usb dacs? I think to make friends with cayin ru6.

Yes. I use it to my denafrips dac when I want to play vis main system and its fine. Also works with Chord Mojo.

 

[Daniel Johnston]

Hello. Do not tell me, people who know, but does m1s shanling support sound output to external usb dacs? I think to make friends with cayin ru6.

Yes. Using it with Woo WA8.

 

[ma151]

Hello,

I just received mine on Friday and would like to ask about some things.

1. How does the MTouch sort system work for files with .cue files? I have a bunch of files that are not being properly displayed, dispite being displayed correctly on other softwares like the Usb Audio Player Pro and Foobar2000. Couple of examples (with and without cue (both I can only find it on the "Folder" menu on the M1s)):

2. Some files enter the Album section correctly, but the songs aren't splitted accourdenly to the .cue file (again, the .cue is correct, because it works flawless on both Foobar2000 and UAPP):

3. The lyrics are being cutted in some songs. Is there a setting where a can remove the cover on the side maybe ?

I know none of these are major issues, but I really liked the sound quality of this device, and I think if the sorting system is improved this could really be an amazing portable device for my day-to-day use on the gym.

Thanks in advance.

 

[fish1050]

Which dap that the reviewer used as the benchmark ?

If you like sony warm sound, M1s is not for you imo. Sony possibly has the warmest sound signature among all daps.
M1s is neutral with slight hint of brightness. Treble can sound quite harsh in few tracks. The bass doesnt goes as deep as well.

However, you’ll get cleaner sound which may give impression of being more resolving, nice vocal, more open, wider soundstage but maybe lack of depth.

Might sound cleaner than A55 with stock firmware but not with the custom firmware and soundstage with custom is plenty wide and deep. I guess my closest Shanling comparison would be with the Q1. It is neutral but I never had any tracks that sounded harsh in the treble region. I have alot of older classic rock which isn't the best produced music for sure so harshness would not be good for my musical taste. Brighter sounding DAP's are not a good match for lower resolution music. Looks like I will be taking a pass on the M1S.

 

[Shanling]

Hello,

I just received mine on Friday and would like to ask about some things.

1. How does the MTouch sort system work for files with .cue files? I have a bunch of files that are not being properly displayed, dispite being displayed correctly on other softwares like the Usb Audio Player Pro and Foobar2000. Couple of examples (with and without cue (both I can only find it on the "Folder" menu on the M1s)):


2. Some files enter the Album section correctly, but the songs aren't splitted accourdenly to the .cue file (again, the .cue is correct, because it works flawless on both Foobar2000 and UAPP):

3. The lyrics are being cutted in some songs. Is there a setting where a can remove the cover on the side maybe ?


I know none of these are major issues, but I really liked the sound quality of this device, and I think if the sorting system is improved this could really be an amazing portable device for my day-to-day use on the gym.

Thanks in advance.

Hi, for Cue files it would be best if you can reach out to us directly and send us the files to test. You can do over PM here or at info@shanling.com

 

[cheznous]

Just experimenting I tried the M1s through my Cayin C9 via balanced connection . Works well and gives a bit of warmth to the M1s sound.
I appreciate it’s not a likely combination but still very enjoyable.

 

[fish1050]

Which dap that the reviewer used as the benchmark ?

If you like sony warm sound, M1s is not for you imo. Sony possibly has the warmest sound signature among all daps.
M1s is neutral with slight hint of brightness. Treble can sound quite harsh in few tracks. The bass doesnt goes as deep as well.

However, you’ll get cleaner sound which may give impression of being more resolving, nice vocal, more open, wider soundstage but maybe lack of depth.

There was not benchmark referenced just a straight up description of what he heard during the review of the M1S.

 

[anadin]

Is there any date confirmed for tidal streaming.

 

[cheznous]

I note the 3.5mm is line out, headphone out and also coaxial spdif out. Yet despite switching to digital output this digital doesn’t seem to work for me. What cable is this?

 

[ma151]

One question: does the MQA decoding works on DAC/USB mode ?
If so, I think it would be better to put a little MQA icon indicating that's decoding a MQA stream on the screen of the device