[davidcotton]

I have gone back and forth with my opinions of apple over the years depending on what they were doing. In the past 5 years I've primarily been in the negative about them for many reasons... but my point is that many people seem to simultaneously want to "defeat apple" while ignoring the very qualities and features that keep apple in their current market position. Defeating apple on sound quality isn't all that hard. It's everything else that's difficult. The best example I can think off offhand is the Sony DAPs. As far as I can tell they have everything a would-be apple customer could want except that stupid proprietary cable. (Granted apple has their own stupid proprietary cable but at least its ubiquitous enough to get one almost anywhere.) I am most excited about these new DAPs with Hibylink though. I don't like being dependant on my smartphone to have those deeper functions but its still far better than having to use something like mediamonkey or foobar. But I don't like the android DAPs either because of the horrible battery life and slow startup. I've been watching the DAP market for about ten years casually... waiting for them to "mature" into something I consider usable.

Absolutely. Sound wise apple players "may" leave a bit to be desired, but everything else "just works" (to coin a phrase). No waiting for firmware updates out of the box, decent ergonomic design and so on and so forth. That said, Shanling threads seem largely positive with very few moans about the firmware etc.

 

[Malevolent]

Ok, you convinced me. I'm officially a thought leader and taste maker

Well, at the very least, you're the flag bearer for the entire Shanling movement on Head-Fi. We're a small bunch, but we'll get our voices heard.

I've been wondering... where does someone go to audition DAPs anyway?

Well, thankfully, there are stores here in Singapore that offer customers a wide range of products to audition. You could try hunting for a similar store in your area.

 

[Malevolent]

I just don't understand the lack of Playlist functionality on many DAP's. Creating Playlists is as old as the cassette. Back in the 70's & 80's it was very popular to select tracks off LP's (placing the stylus very carefully) and putting a whole bunch of them on a C90 cassette. The technology has changed but the need remains the same: how to play the songs you want to listen to, in the order you want, & at the best possible quality. Smart Playlists are just a case of using Tags too. With android devices at least you can add apps like Media Monkey Gold but I think a DAP maker could take the market lead with some clever yet simple firmware.

For me, I'm not one to decide the songs I want to play in order at any given time. I just pick and play when the moment hits. In fact, when I'm in the mood for dance music, for example, I almost always play tracks/songs of the same genre during that listening session.

I can see why people would prefer having curated playlists, though.

 

[dantesan]

For me, I'm not one to decide the songs I want to play in order at any given time. I just pick and play when the moment hits. In fact, when I'm in the mood for dance music, for example, I almost always play tracks/songs of the same genre during that listening session.

I can see why people would prefer having curated playlists, though.

I don't do that. What I like doing is taking a bunch of albums of the kind of thing I want to hear... throw those into a playlist and shuffle them. I still know basically what I want to hear. I just want to hear them in random order. And later I might want to save that playlist if it turns out I really like the ordering. Sometimes I just want to shuffle my entire music catalog.

What I don't want to do is constantly be reaching into my pocket to select songs while Im out walking or acting like a touchscreen zombie not looking where I'm going. But still have ability to skip a few with a wheel or buttons. Often I only even want to hear one or two songs off an album anyway.

I've often seen this sort of thing referred to as on-the-fly playlists. The problem is I've yet to find anything that would let me do on-the-fly playlists AND also save/name them. (Except Hiby Music Player) I'd like it on the actual device though (and not android for many reasons)

If they would just put Hiby Music Player as a ROM on a System-on-Chip (without android or iOS) that would be FANTASTIC. (And with a few Shanling style hardware controls. Like with a wheel selector)

(Allowing naming of playlists with a wheel would be awesome too.)

 

[sjb57]

I don't do that. What I like doing is taking a bunch of albums of the kind of thing I want to hear... throw those into a playlist and shuffle them. I still know basically what I want to hear. I just want to hear them in random order. And later I might want to save that playlist if it turns out I really like the ordering. Sometimes I just want to shuffle my entire music catalog.

What I don't want to do is constantly be reaching into my pocket to select songs while Im out walking or acting like a touchscreen zombie not looking where I'm going. But still have ability to skip a few with a wheel or buttons. Often I only even want to hear one or two songs off an album anyway.

I've often seen this sort of thing referred to as on-the-fly playlists. The problem is I've yet to find anything that would let me do on-the-fly playlists AND also save/name them. (Except Hiby Music Player) I'd like it on the actual device though (and not android for many reasons)

I think any DAP maker that uses firmware & creates a music library by scanning the imported songs could go some way to providing extra functionality very easily. Basically, they might add (say) 7 tag fields to every song scanned. Let the user put anything they like in these Tag fields via a basic text editor. The DAP then automatically create a Playlist for each entry in each Tag. For example, I might put * / ** / *** in Tag1 to create 3 Playlists that reflect my Rating of those songs. Or, I might put Party / Relax/ Rock / Dance / Folk / Classic in Tag2 to create 6 Playlists based on the genre or mood of those songs. Or, I might put Male / Female in Tag3. And so you get the idea. Ideally, the user could edit the name of the playlist. If it was this basic the user just needs to be careful & consistent with the typing of their Tag content. And, it might take a quick partial rescan to create or edit the lists

 

[dantesan]

I think any DAP maker that uses firmware & creates a music library by scanning the imported songs could go some way to providing extra functionality very easily. Basically, they might add (say) 7 tag fields to every song scanned. Let the user put anything they like in these Tag fields via a basic text editor. The DAP then automatically create a Playlist for each entry in each Tag. For example, I might put * / ** / *** in Tag1 to create 3 Playlists that reflect my Rating of those songs. Or, I might put Party / Relax/ Rock / Dance / Folk / Classic in Tag2 to create 6 Playlists based on the genre or mood of those songs. Or, I might put Male / Female in Tag3. And so you get the idea. Ideally, the user could edit the name of the playlist. If it was this basic the user just needs to be careful & consistent with the typing of their Tag content. And, it might take a quick partial rescan to create or edit the lists

Quite often I want to hear a shuffle of 5 different genres. That would be difficult. Better I think would just having the device assign every stored file a numerical internal address. (Like a social security number for that particular filename/format combination) And simply do the same every time you update the library. Basically the same thing iTunes (or Apple Music) app does.

You could use a tag field to do the numbering though. (Although by genre would be too limiting for me.) The important thing is that the player could tell one file from another for purposes of grouping into playlists. (Instead of just being a dumb "file loader." It needs at least a simple flat file database.

 

[Ivan TT]

Dynamic playlist would be wonderful, similar to how GoldenEar IOS app does it: for every file (or folder) you have an option to add to the queue, play next or flush the queue and create new one.

 

[dantesan]

Dynamic playlist would be wonderful, similar to how GoldenEar IOS app does it: for every file (or folder) you have an option to add to the queue, play next or flush the queue and create new one.

Yeah. Denon Audio Player for iOS (and maybe android? I dunno.) lets me do that but unfortunately it's trapped in my phone. The built in EQ in it seems to be an EQ/Compressor even though they don't advertise the compressor part. Sounds awesome though. It's like having a kiddie version of a mastering suite.

Something kind of dissapointing about DAP EQ's (even in Hiby) is the inability to draw in your own points. (frequencies)

 

[sjb57]

Quite often I want to hear a shuffle of 5 different genres. That would be difficult. Better I think would just having the device assign every stored file a numerical internal address. (Like a social security number for that particular filename/format combination) And simply do the same every time you update the library. Basically the same thing iTunes (or Apple Music) app does.

I still use my old Ipod but I don't know how the s/w behind it creates its Smart Playlists, but my guess is it must be very simple as the Ipod is not an intelligent device albeit the Smart Lists are created on a computer. On my Ipod my songs rated with /*****/ cut across all genres as my 5* songs range from acoustic / classical/ pop/ rock/ etc. But, by whatever means, I'm sure a DAP maker could easily satisfy our needs (I'm only a retired accountant, not a young S/w engineer).

 

[Raketen]

Dynamic playlist would be wonderful, similar to how GoldenEar IOS app does it: for every file (or folder) you have an option to add to the queue, play next or flush the queue and create new one.

Yes, "enqueue" or whatever, this is one of my favorite features in foobar and other programs, IIRC you can do it in rockbox, but it has been a long time since I had a player that worked with rockbox.

 

[originalsnuffy]

Must control twitchy fingers. Must not order another DAP......

 

[nmatheis]

Well, at the very least, you're the flag bearer for the entire Shanling movement on Head-Fi. We're a small bunch, but we'll get our voices heard.

I'm the O.S.G. - Original Shanling Gangsta

Must control twitchy fingers. Must not order another DAP......

Don't fight the urge, bro!

 

[dissembled]

I've decided to return my Fiio X3 III and get this (or the Fiio X5 II) instead due it being incredibly buggy. I have a 64 GB micro SD card already filled with songs. I plan to format it though once I obtain this player to ensure fully that I could update the M3s's firmware as needed.

Please, please tell me that I could format the card in the player itself...Was that a feature in previous Shanling DAPs?

Also, is there a search function on Shanling players that allows you to search via first letter of said song, artist, album, etc? I certainly hope so as I use that feature frequently on my DAPs.

Lastly, I see that the MSRP in USD is $279. For Shanling DAPs, is that (their MSRPs) usually an accurate gauge of what the actual final price will be on Amazon?

Thanks in advance, folks!

 

[crabdog]

I've decided to return my Fiio X3 III and get this (or the Fiio X5 II) instead due it being incredibly buggy. I have a 64 GB micro SD card already filled with songs. I plan to format it though once I obtain this player to ensure fully that I could update the M3s's firmware as needed.

Please, please tell me that I could format the card in the player itself...Was that a feature in previous Shanling DAPs?

Also, is there a search function on Shanling players that allows you to search via first letter of said song, artist, album, etc? I certainly hope so as I use that feature frequently on my DAPs.

Lastly, I see that the MSRP in USD is $279. For Shanling DAPs, is that (their MSRPs) usually an accurate gauge of what the actual final price will be on Amazon?

Thanks in advance, folks!

I don't see why it couldn't format cards. Even most ultra budget DAPs have that function.

 

[Ferdi91]

And I was waiting, quietly, for the new Sony A40 to buy it without a doubt ... and Shanling comes out with this beauty. Shame on You, Shanling !!!
According to your expert opinion, are the two players comparable?

ferdi

 

[Howlin Fester]

Must control twitchy fingers. Must not order another DAP......

I'm the O.S.G. - Original Shanling Gangsta

Don't fight the urge, bro!

I am very interested in this DAP I would love to try it with my Unison Research SH tube amp.
@Shanling . Do you have a review tour scheduled for this DAP? I would love to be a part of it. (FYI. Last review tour I was involved with forced me to buy one for myself before I even had to send the review unit on.)