[dlayman]

The M3 was waiting at my door when I got home. Fortunately you can sign for the package on line. Really impressive build quality and not quite as large as I thought it might be. Very manageable. That's about as far as I'll get with it this evening. Hopefully tomorrow, I can charge it up and get it configured, and maybe do a little burn in / listening. The finish is so nice, I don't want to mess it up before my (slow) brown case arrives☺

 

[nmatheis]

The M3 was waiting at my door when I got home. Fortunately you can sign for the package on line. Really impressive build quality and not quite as large as I thought it might be. Very manageable. That's about as far as I'll get with it this evening. Hopefully tomorrow, I can charge it up and get it configured, and maybe do a little burn in / listening. The finish is so nice, I don't want to mess it up before my (slow) brown case arrives☺

 
Make sure to check and see if there are any firmware updates available on Shanling's M3 page, and happy listening!

 

[dlayman]

Yep, the firmware is 2.1, a couple updates ago.  Looks like 4.0 is current.  Although ongoing support is a great thing, I hate updating firmware, always afraid I'm going to brick something.  Have to research updating process, there aren't instructions other than the download on shanling's site.  I wonder if I have to go through 3.1 also or if I can go directly to 4.0.

 

[dlayman]

Can anyone tell me if any of the firmware updates added a conventional band equalizer or if only the "high pitch" and "low pitch options" are available.  I was under the impression an equalizer had been added, but now I'm not so sure.  Won't be able to update the firmware until later this week to find out for myself.

 

[nmatheis]

Yup. There's a regular EQ now

 

[dlayman]

Yup. There's a regular EQ now

Awesome, thanks.  I won't have much free time to work with it until the weekend,  but the firmware update seems straightforward enough.  That 3600 milliamp battery sure takes a long time to charge, that's a bigger battery than I have in my smartphone.  I don't want to mess with it too much until its fully charged.   I'm finding the wheel / joystick much easier to work with than I thought, although some of the directions you need to press the joystick to do things seem unintuitive, but I should adapt easily enough.

 

[nmatheis]

Yes, the clicks are Asian-oriented, so Up is skip back and Down is skip forward. This has been changed in their newer DAPs based on user feedback, so with M1, M2, and M5 Left click is skip back and Right click is skip forward.

 

[dlayman]

The one I find really weird is the click right to enter/select, seems like it should be push the center.  That M1 looks like quite a nifty player for the price.  Of course I got the M3 for only a little bit more.  At full price, I think the M1 would be the better buy, at least on paper.  Haven't heard either one yet, lol.  This thing is REALLY making me want to take some vacation time to get it all set up and updated and running.  Echobox Explorer, whats that??

 

[theMUKe]

Yep, the firmware is 2.1, a couple updates ago.  Looks like 4.0 is current.  Although ongoing support is a great thing, I hate updating firmware, always afraid I'm going to brick something.  Have to research updating process, there aren't instructions other than the download on shanling's site.  I wonder if I have to go through 3.1 also or if I can go directly to 4.0.

You can directly upgrade (or downgrade) to whichever version you want. There are no dependencies.
Just make sure that you use a card that's formatted with FAT32 and place the m3.fw file in the root directory of the card. Start the update from settings menu.
Once finished the language will be Chinese but it's easy to change back to English.

 

[nmatheis]

M1 is no slouch, but M3 sounds clearly better than M1. It was awhile back, but I clearly preferred M3 with high-end IEM over several other DAPs I was using at the time.

 

[dlayman]

The firmware update went well, once I found  a program that could unzip the .RAR file.  I'm not a computer or software guy, but I'd never encountered that extension before.  I just put a little music on the card and first impression is very very good.   For lack of a better term, the music sounds more "alive".  Almost like a layer of dynamic compression was removed.  Of course this is 30 minutes of listening, so very preliminary.  If it improves with break-in, its going to be fantastic.

 

[nmatheis]

Good point!

Shanling: Can we please get the update files in .zip format?

 

[Shanling]

Good point!

@Shanling: Can we please get the update files in .zip format?

Good point, sure! We will have this in mind when doing new upload. *.zip is more widely use, it seems so. 

 

[nmatheis]

Good point, sure! We will have this in mind when doing new upload. *.zip is more widely use, it seems so. 

That would be really helpful, since zip decompression is built into modern operating systems.

 

[dlayman]

With a little more use now, I have to say I am very impressed with the M3. Scanning the 32 GB card I'm using was almost instantaneous upon its first use. Boot up speed is very quick. Battery life is decent, I'm getting about 15 hours before I recharge with a bit of battery life yet. That includes a good bit of screen use due to learning how to use and optimize the unit. The screen is good, not great. It's reasonably but not exceptionally sharp, and readability and brightness is again good but not great. Battery charging is very slow, 6 hours minimum from a low battery percentage. Those are the weakest aspects of the player, and none of them are severe or deal breakers.

Navigation is really quite easy once you use it a bit. I'm left handed but don't mind the right handed placement of the wheel. A couple of the interesting options are the slope of the digital filter and upsampling. I do notice some difference with the filter setting, finding the gradual setting to sound a little better and fuller. I haven't been able to detect any change with upsampling. Hardware and software equalizers and channel balance control are also available.

The unit is powerful and quiet. It drives Sennheiser 600 easily and well, not making the 600 sound anemic like it can when it's being driven by something that is struggling to do so. No hiss with sensitive low impedance IEM's like the FLC8S. Sound is neutral and dynamic with good extension at both ends. Bass digs deep and has good impact with natural decay. Treble is delicate and refined. Midrange is natural with outstanding resolution. Soundstage is excellent, particularly width and depth. Instrument separation is also outstanding.

I have mostly played high bit rate MP3 and WMA with some 16 bit FLAC. It handles each format well, and even high quality lossy formats are very enjoyable. In all, I'm more than satisfied with the purchase. In sure better players are out there but for the USD 200 Black Friday price, I think it's hard to beat. At full price, I think it could still be competitive but wouldn't be the clear choice, as some players have more features and capabilities. It's worth keeping in mind that this product is nearing the end of its life cycle but Shanling has continued to support and update the firmware. The firmware is very stable and mature, making the experience enjoyable and easy, something that can't always be said of DAP's.

Thanks to @nmatheis for his encouragement to buy the player. Glad I did.