Shanling M3X Portable Player - Our smallest Android Player

[Kyle P]

Anyone knows how to remove the frequency indicator on the status bar? Via adb maybe? It's kinda annoying after awhile. A toggle in the settings would be nice.

 

[bachankas]

@Shanling

.com.shanling.MusicApp breaks saving of custom home app

i want to use the nova launcer on my m3x. sadly, the home app is not stored on the m3x, every time i reboot the system it will change to the default home3 launcher.
using adb to remove launcher3 did not fix this behaviour. instead of accepting nova launcher as my default saved home application, after removal of launcher3, the device would ask me after every restart if i wanted the nova launcher or the shanling music app as my default launcher (setting did not get stored).
i tried to grat the launcer more permissions but nothing worked.
nova launcher finally stuck as launcher after removal of com.shanling.MusicApp.
now, i did not use this application. still, it was nice if your software team could fix this. changin the launcher is a customisation option i simply expect from an android device. using the adb to hide pre installed packages is a barrier not everybody is willing to take; removal of the music app also is a step many would not want to take.

You can always pin other app to have "Prime" mode

 

[Ferdze]

Anyone knows how to remove the frequency indicator on the status bar? Via adb maybe? It's kinda annoying after awhile. A toggle in the settings would be nice.

I don't think it can be removed. But yes it's nice if we can disable that too

 

[alwass89]

Shangling posted more info on the M3 Ultra on Weibo page.

Snapdragon 665 SoC
Android 10
3GB RAM
32GB Rom
2x ES9219C DAC
2x RT6863 AMP

Almost the exact same specs as the FiiO M11s, in a much smaller package with the FiiO having the very slightly lower Snapdragon 660 SoC

125.2x74x18.5mm - FiiO
109x70.5x18mm - Shanling

 

[Rauschkind]

just remove the stock launcher and shanling music app via adb using a pc. prime mode will be lost as it's just the shanling music player on foreground. you're better off with other music players

You can always pin other app to have "Prime" mode

please do not get me wrong. that was not a request for support but feedback. i was perfectly able to remove the offending programs and customize the player to my liking. the only thing on its screen after booting is a fullscreen neutron widget and the status bar.

just: i do not think i could justify to myself to write a 4 star review for a player that 1: is shipped with an inacceptably broken music player app (no gapless imo has to be considered a defect on a device of this class).
in my oppinion this is a serious issue, and it is strongly compounded by the situation where despite the player running android, there are some rather high barriers when it comes to fully customize the m3x user experience.
at the very least play store has to be manually installed, which is something now everybody can (and i think even less would WANT to) do.

at this point, it is very hard for me to understand when the reason for additional barriers is that custom launchers could hinder the dysfunktional preinstalled music player to start fullscreen.
instead of the useless pure mode i would strongly prefer if the player would add a funktion in its place to auto start ANY (player) app.

perfect would be if a good third party player (like neutron) would be bundled with the player - maybe a special custom version with build in tuned settings to match the m3x hardware.

aaanyhow. i have a lot of fun with my player. i just cant recommend it without restrictions - which is a shame as i feel the player only is held back by some wierd software decissions (and an unexcuseable lazyness to fix the default players basic funktionallity like gapless playback).

 

[bachankas]

I totally understand and agree. I bought M3X second-hand, but I would not like to support a manufacturer who is unable to provide gapless since 2019. It is a joke.
Additional barriers are additional jokes.
Unless they fix these I cannot support them buying a brand new unit.

 

[Kyle P]

I totally understand and agree. I bought M3X second-hand, but I would not like to support a manufacturer who is unable to provide gapless since 2019. It is a joke.
Additional barriers are additional jokes.
Unless they fix these I cannot support them buying a brand new unit.

At this point, it's a love/hate thing for me. I may still buy the new model once it's available. The size and battery life is just perfect for my needs.. But yeah.. The software development man, it needs to improve.. Like how is it possible that even obscure music players in the playstore can offer gapless and have no issues with special characters but not with the built-in app on this thing? It's ridiculous. I'm glad I have options like Neutron, UAPP, Poweramp, etc., but the stock player should be up to par.

 

[corgifall]

I don't even test the stock player apps in depth anymore outside of making sure that they pick up files on the memory card and play. I run Poweramp on all the DAPs I either review or keep since it's extremely quick and it's the best $5 I feel someone can spend for a extremely good quality music player. I didn't know about the gapless thing though. Interesting/bummer for sure. I don't think anything from the DAP manufactures has been close in anyway to Poweramp for me to attempt real long term usage. Shanling music app, Ibasso Mango Player, FiiO music app and finally the Hiby music all had unique and weird issues with each of the players vs the other player apps that have devs dedicated to their development.

 

[Rauschkind]

Shangling posted more info on the M3 Ultra on Weibo page.

Snapdragon 665 SoC
Android 10
3GB RAM
32GB Rom
2x ES9219C DAC
2x RT6863 AMP

Almost the exact same specs as the FiiO M11s, in a much smaller package with the FiiO having the very slightly lower Snapdragon 660 SoC

125.2x74x18.5mm - FiiO
109x70.5x18mm - Shanling

interesting, but tbh beside size only battery time was interesting to me.
this device class has but one purpose for me and only ever run one program.
i considered if i would return my just bought m3x and wait for the successor, but i feel beside battery time, haptic and music player app there is very little what matters to me as long as decent audioharware is present.

 

[Rauschkind]

i was getting annoyed by the boot time of the m3x, so i was experimenting with power saving options.
i learned:
1: android 7 does limit options in this regard
2: stand by time of the m3x is crazy good.

with bt and wlan both on and connected, battery manager shows 18 days of battery left after 12h inactivity from full charge.
with bt and wlan off, idle discharge is almost unmeasurable. battery manager will just draw a flat line, 0% discharge after 12h inactivity.

test was done with running neutron in background ("run as service" off, battery optimization on), nova launcher, no other applications active.

bottom line is: there seems to be absolutely no reason to use the idle power down function.

 

[Ferdze]

i was getting annoyed by the boot time of the m3x, so i was experimenting with power saving options.
i learned:
1: android 7 does limit options in this regard
2: stand by time of the m3x is crazy good.

with bt and wlan both on and connected, battery manager shows 18 days of battery left after 12h inactivity from full charge.
with bt and wlan off, idle discharge is almost unmeasurable. battery manager will just draw a flat line, 0% discharge after 12h inactivity.

test was done with running neutron in background ("run as service" off, battery optimization on), nova launcher, no other applications active.

bottom line is: there seems to be absolutely no reason to use the idle power down function.

Yup, found that out a long time ago. I just added Naptime+ for more stable power-saving functions at it puts the M3X to deep sleep mode 5 seconds after the screen locked

 

[Rauschkind]

Naptime+ ... it puts the M3X to deep sleep mode 5 seconds after the screen locked

do i want this tho? i use the player with locked screen all the time.
anyway: there seems very little room for optimization.

 

[Ferdze]

do i want this tho? i use the player with locked screen all the time.
anyway: there seems very little room for optimization.

just check out what is deep sleep and see if it can benefit you. i use my m3x for fb and messenger as well as for viewing telegram which has background processes

 

[Kyle P]

M3 Ultra - 479 USD. I'll probably just stick with the M3X and just upgrade my IEM. lol

 

[LakeOfTheWyles]

M3 Ultra - 479 USD. I'll probably just stick with the M3X and just upgrade my IEM. lol

Yeah, the upgrade to android 10/snapdragon 665 and another gb of ram is great, but we’ll see about actual SQ changes/improvements. They both use the same DAC chips, and have similar power output specs. I assume op amps are better. Battery life dropped a few hours, but 20 hrs is plenty. For those looking at similarly priced daps, I think the 3gb of ram gives it an advantage over the dx170