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

[Khumbaba]

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Yeah my first impressions out of the box was good but after some burn in , I honestly feel the player opened up in the stage and resolution. In fact I felt the iBasso DX180 fell slightly short in those metrics in comparison and that was not expected.

I like this player's sound signature a great amalgamation of technical chops and old school Shanling House Sound.

 

[Khumbaba]

Yeah my first impressions out of the box was good but after some burn in , I honestly feel the player opened up in the stage and resolution. In fact I felt the iBasso DX180 fell slightly short in those metrics in comparison and that was not expected.

I like this player's sound signature a great amalgamation of technical chops and old school Shanling House Sound.

Monk, when you talked about the battery at the end, I'm not sure if I understood what you said. The battery last 4 hours? On the official website I read 11 hours in balanced.

English is not my main language, sorry.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Monk, when you talked about the battery at the end, I'm not sure if I understood what you said. The battery last 4 hours? On the official website I read 11 hours in balanced.

It lasted 3-4 times for 3 hours each time so I got about 10 to 12 hours before needed to be recharging required.

 

[Khumbaba]

It lasted 3-4 times for 3 hours each time so I got about 10 to 12 hours before needed to be recharging required.

Perfect thanks! At this point the only missing thing (for someone) is the desktop mode to bypass the battery.

 

[Rockcoon]

Yeah my first impressions out of the box was good but after some burn in , I honestly feel the player opened up in the stage and resolution. In fact I felt the iBasso DX180 fell slightly short in those metrics in comparison and that was not expected.

I like this player's sound signature a great amalgamation of technical chops and old school Shanling House Sound.

Thank you very much for N3 Ultra comparison, Shanling is clearly winer. I’m currently bought used hiby rs2 it’s on the way, and i think I’ll going to try M3+ as well.

 

[Ali Hasan Hamim]

I have a question. Does the M3 plus have system wide source bypass for native dsd playback on players like uapp?

 

[fish1050]

You barely mentioned the M21 except to mention neutral with enhanced bass, can you expand on the comparison more? I have to say I like your description of the sound tuning and it sounds like it would be to my liking. Just not sure it would be enough for me take it over the M21 when you consider price difference and availability.

You made an excellent point about listening to alot of different gear over the last 30 years. I am the same but mostly with home audio gear. If you are someone who collects DAP's and spends time and money chasing a specific sound tuning then of course you will pickup differences between DAP's sound wise. As someone that chooses to only own one DAP at a time and who sells previous DAP's to fund new ones it is simply not as noticeable for me. I generally know from reviews how a DAP will sound before I buy it and again by the time it is burned in and I get use to it I forget how my previous DAP sounded. I will say this keeps me from spending to much money on this hobby and it keeps the wife happy as she hates it when I accumulate stuff.

If the M21 was not available and the M3 Plus was available locally and I could demo one having owned and demoed previous Shanling DAP's I might stretch my budget and get one. Especially now that I am retired and spend more time listening to my music. But the M21 will be available locally so I can try it out and walk out of the store with one in hand which is a great feeling, holding the box in your hand vs ordering online and waiting for it do be delivered. Something I have not been able to do since I bought my A17 over a decade ago.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

You barely mentioned the M21 except to mention neutral with enhanced bass, can you expand on the comparison more? I have to say I like your description of the sound tuning and it sounds like it would be to my liking. Just not sure it would be enough for me take it over the M21 when you consider price difference and availability.

You made an excellent point about listening to alot of different gear over the last 30 years. I am the same but mostly with home audio gear. If you are someone who collects DAP's and spends time and money chasing a specific sound tuning then of course you will pickup differences between DAP's sound wise. As someone that chooses to only own one DAP at a time and who sells previous DAP's to fund new ones it is simply not as noticeable for me. I generally know from reviews how a DAP will sound before I buy it and again by the time it is burned in and I get use to it I forget how my previous DAP sounded. I will say this keeps me from spending to much money on this hobby and it keeps the wife happy as she hates it when I accumulate stuff.

If the M21 was not available and the M3 Plus was available locally and I could demo one having owned and demoed previous Shanling DAP's I might stretch my budget and get one. Especially now that I am retired and spend more time listening to my music. But the M21 will be available locally so I can try it out and walk out of the store with one in hand which is a great feeling, holding the box in your hand vs ordering online and waiting for it do be delivered. Something I have not been able to do since I bought my A17 over a decade ago.

My friend has the M21 and in Canada we are going to have a Country wide postal strike don't think I will be getting it soon to compare but when I do then I can post a/b comparisons.

 

[fish1050]

My friend has the M21 and in Canada we are going to have a Country wide postal strike don't think I will be getting it soon to compare but when I do then I can post a/b comparisons.

Yeah that pending strike and the state of the Canada Post makes me glad I sold my business and retired. I perfectly understand the situation but thanks for looking into it.