Shanling M3 Plus - New Midrange Android Portable Player at $469

[fish1050]

I have run large factories, I know that things cost less in volume. The capacitors have a lot to do with the sound signature. Those particular ones are about as good as it gets on Earth. They are not there to be looked at, obviously. It's a Shanling. You are comparing Toyota with Jaguar or whatever. And the Fiio is the Toyota. The Toyota costs less, and is more agile. The Jaguar is more comfortable and luxurious. Referring to sound sig, here. Depends what you like. I am attracted to the Fiio based on features, but not at all convinced it will sound as good as a Shanling. . Maybe find someone with a Shanling player, and try it. The M3 Ultra is also extremely nice, if you like excellent bass and a well textured and layered, organic mid section, and a gentle trebel section that also gives detail, and will be friendly to various qualities of files. With Fiio, you better have top notch music files, or it will be unpleasant. But if you like a highly digital and precise hifi experience, and are not a fan of analog sound, the Fiio would be better for you.

I don't need to find someone who has I Shanling DAP as I owned 2 so far and my nephew has the M1 Plus so very familiar with that as well. I have demoed the M3 Ultra as well and the unit I tried sounded good but was slightly buggy and froze once during demo. Toyota vs Jaguar, seriously, more like Toyota vs Honda, how can an M3 Plus with an older SOC than the M21 and the same amount of RAM be more agile? Not to mention software is Shanling's biggest weakness, still no gapless playback in Shanling app I presume!

As for sound as good, purely user preference, and I will wait for reviews on that front and hopefully a demo. I have also owned 4 Fiio DAP's and demoed the JM21 recently so I am more than qualified to judge for myself how Shanling DAP's sound vs Fiio DAP's. As for the M21 Fiio is opting for a new amp configuration with SGM8262x2 and OPA1692x2 so again I will wait and see how the M21 is tuned. You still can't ignore (or can you?) the better specs, larger battery, newer SOC and better screen, desktop mode, coaxial output, on the M21 for $169.00 less (over $230 less in CAN$). I for one would gladly trade minor differences in tuning (with the same DAC's and two of the same amps that is what it will likely be) for a much better bang for the buck DAP with the M21. I demoed the JM21 and I quite like how it sounds with my headphones and the M21 will be a step up from that. I really don't care how previous Shanling and Fiio DAP's sounded. I care about how the M3 Plus and M21 sound, manufacturers can always change the tuning from DAP to DAP so lets stick with these two and see how they compare with real world comparisons and not speculation based on how previous DAP's did or didn't sound.

For some people there is alot more to consider than just sound tuning. The M21 is a better option price wise and in pretty much every other area (except maybe, possibly tuning? and perhaps looks if that matters to you). By all means get the M3 Plus if tickles your fancy, I will go with the better all around M21 instead. Just remember alot of the price difference between the M3 Plus and the M21 is higher profit in Shanling's pocket. Nothing wrong with Shanling making as much profit as they can, but I will worry about the hard earned money coming out of my pocket.

 

[mrcmaj7]

@Shanling will the M3 plus sound better than ibasso nunchuku? Can the M3 plus run Poweramp EQ?

 

[zeissiez]

Purely on sound quality, M5 Ultra will be the better performing.



It's similar tuning to ONIX XI1 / Shanling EH1.
The original M6 Pro was fairly neutral tuned, not that much comparable to our current production,
M6 Ultra would be warmer and smoother than M3 Plus.

“Similar tuning to ONIX Xl1”….. that’s very promising, I love the ONIX Xl1 sound

 

[Waqar]

“Similar tuning to ONIX Xl1”….. that’s very promising, I love the ONIX Xl1 sound

Exactly why i bought it because i heard alot of good things about it

 

[Wahid]

I don't need to find someone who has I Shanling DAP as I owned 2 so far and my nephew has the M1 Plus so very familiar with that as well. I have demoed the M3 Ultra as well and the unit I tried sounded good but was slightly buggy and froze once during demo. Toyota vs Jaguar, seriously, more like Toyota vs Honda, how can an M3 Plus with an older SOC than the M21 and the same amount of RAM be more agile? Not to mention software is Shanling's biggest weakness, still no gapless playback in Shanling app I presume!

As for sound as good, purely user preference, and I will wait for reviews on that front and hopefully a demo. I have also owned 4 Fiio DAP's and demoed the JM21 recently so I am more than qualified to judge for myself how Shanling DAP's sound vs Fiio DAP's. As for the M21 Fiio is opting for a new amp configuration with SGM8262x2 and OPA1692x2 so again I will wait and see how the M21 is tuned. You still can't ignore (or can you?) the better specs, larger battery, newer SOC and better screen, desktop mode, coaxial output, on the M21 for $169.00 less (over $230 less in CAN$). I for one would gladly trade minor differences in tuning (with the same DAC's and two of the same amps that is what it will likely be) for a much better bang for the buck DAP with the M21. I demoed the JM21 and I quite like how it sounds with my headphones and the M21 will be a step up from that. I really don't care how previous Shanling and Fiio DAP's sounded. I care about how the M3 Plus and M21 sound, manufacturers can always change the tuning from DAP to DAP so lets stick with these two and see how they compare with real world comparisons and not speculation based on how previous DAP's did or didn't sound.

For some people there is alot more to consider than just sound tuning. The M21 is a better option price wise and in pretty much every other area (except maybe, possibly tuning? and perhaps looks if that matters to you). By all means get the M3 Plus if tickles your fancy, I will go with the better all around M21 instead. Just remember alot of the price difference between the M3 Plus and the M21 is higher profit in Shanling's pocket. Nothing wrong with Shanling making as much profit as they can, but I will worry about the hard earned money coming out of my pocket.

I didn't say the m3 was more agile, I said the fiio would be more agile. Up to you. For me it's all about sound and only about sound. Tuning is everything. We are listening to music. PEQ is unneeded on a properly tuned machine. The rest doesn't matter. I push play and hear music.

 

[fish1050]

I didn't say the m3 was more agile, I said the fiio would be more agile. Up to you. For me it's all about sound and only about sound. Tuning is everything. We are listening to music. PEQ is unneeded on a properly tuned machine. The rest doesn't matter. I push play and hear music.

No tuning is not everything for everyone for alot of people including me. I have owned alot of DAP's over the years and the differences in tuning are minor in every case for DAP's in the same price range. Tuning doesn't matter if the DAP doesn't have enough power to drive my headphones. If battery life is terrible or it is missing features I want like gapless playback then I won't buy it. If the DAP is laggy and the performance is poor then I won't buy it regardless of the tuning. There are so many other factors that determine if a DAP is worth buying outside of just the tuning especially price to performance ratio.

I have yet to sell any of my DAP's because of the tuning. I own one DAP at a time and once it is burnt in and I get use to the sound I am usually fine with it. I also tend to buy my DAP's and headphones at the same time for best synergy. If I pair them then I can adjust DAP tuning with different headphones. As always it is the DAP and headphone pairing that determines what you hear, not just the DAP alone.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Mail call

 

[Rockcoon]

Mail call

Comparison vs DX180 would be nice.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Comparison vs DX180 would be nice.

Yup will do that and the M1 Plus

 

[fish1050]

Comparison vs DX180 would be nice.

Definitely a nice looking DAP, I know you don't do many if any Fiio DAP reviews but a comparison to the Fiio M21 would be great if you can swing it.

 

[alwass89]

@Shanling , there is a seller on Amazon called SHANLING Agent that is selling the M3 Plus for $479.00. It Ships & Sold by SHANLING Agent so it seems that it will ship from China. Is this a legit seller that I should have confidence ordering from?

 

[fish1050]

@Shanling , there is a seller on Amazon called SHANLING Agent that is selling the M3 Plus for $479.00. It Ships & Sold by SHANLING Agent so it seems that it will ship from China. Is this a legit seller that I should have confidence ordering from?

If you go to Shanling's site https://store.shanling.com/and click on amazon.com under amazon shop it takes you to this page so it should be Shanling's official amazon.com store. They also have it listed for pre-sale on the Shanling site store but the pre-sale price is $499.00

 

[Wahid]

No tuning is not everything for everyone for alot of people including me. I have owned alot of DAP's over the years and the differences in tuning are minor in every case for DAP's in the same price range. Tuning doesn't matter if the DAP doesn't have enough power to drive my headphones. If battery life is terrible or it is missing features I want like gapless playback then I won't buy it. If the DAP is laggy and the performance is poor then I won't buy it regardless of the tuning. There are so many other factors that determine if a DAP is worth buying outside of just the tuning especially price to performance ratio.

I have yet to sell any of my DAP's because of the tuning. I own one DAP at a time and once it is burnt in and I get use to the sound I am usually fine with it. I also tend to buy my DAP's and headphones at the same time for best synergy. If I pair them then I can adjust DAP tuning with different headphones. As always it is the DAP and headphone pairing that determines what you hear, not just the DAP alone.

That's you, for me the differences in tuning are large. I appreciate you are not me, and your preferences are different. But blanket statements like 'differences in tuning between DAPs are minor' come across as you telling me how it is, so my experience is somehow wrong. I advise using language like, 'for my ears, the difference in tuning is not large'. Yes, the entire signal chain is important. I also buy iem's suited to the rest of the signal chain. For me, the other stuff doesn't matter, if it's a little laggy, but sounds better then the next one in the price range, I am fine with that. I only use the gear for music. If I had to turn a crank to get the thing going, and the sound was better at the price, I would buy it. Again, we are all different.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Definitely a nice looking DAP, I know you don't do many if any Fiio DAP reviews but a comparison to the Fiio M21 would be great if you can swing it.

A M21 I can borrow from a friend or mabye I will ask him to do the comparison as I trust his ears.

 

[fish1050]

A M21 I can borrow from a friend or mabye I will ask him to do the comparison as I trust his ears.

That would be greatly appreciated!

Regarding wording in my posts, my statements are always based on my own opinions and I wouldn't speak for anyone else. I assume that is always implied and this is why I don't generally use social media, wording can be misunderstood and it is hard to express context in a post. I usually jump on these threads for a few minutes during the day, post and then do something else so I don't spend alot of time proof reading posts as they are quick responses. In the future if I say things like "not everyone" I am referring to myself and people I know. I never want to offend anyone so please understand that what I post is based on my experience and knowledge and not anyone else.