[Rockwell75]

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

I'm liking it so far. I need to keep my impressions measured-- it's clearly a step down from my M8 in terms of timbre, muscularity of sound and technical chops...but there's definitely some Shanling magic in the mix. I needed a nice lite portable player with great battery life to compliment the M8 and I think it will fit the bill nicely.

 

[Toddy]

We had some reports with Spotify and Tidal, that when MicroSD card is used for saving offline files, it sometimes doesn't work properly. We didn't test Amazon Music for this yet. Our software team is working on fix for this, but for now we recommend to use only internal memory for such use.

Might not be a device specific problem: I've had Spotify losing my downloads on several mobile phones over the years (all stored on microSD cards, internal memory is always to small.) Each time it makes me want to cancel their service.

 

[walkman666]

I got mail!

Noice, kinda like that blue case. I got the black one. Still enjoying the sound upgrade for what I would consider to be quite a modest price.

 

[Rockwell75]

Noice, kinda like that blue case. I got the black one. Still enjoying the sound upgrade for what I would consider to be quite a modest price.

I love it. The case is pretty much my favourite shade of my favourite color and if I'm honest what put me over the line to purchase the player.

 

[walkman666]

I love it. The case is pretty much my favourite shade of my favourite color and if I'm honest what put me over the line to purchase the player.

That is the strongest endorsement of a case I have seen on these forums.

 

[holsen]

Noice, kinda like that blue case. I got the black one. Still enjoying the sound upgrade for what I would consider to be quite a modest price.

Just curious, what did you upgrade from? I'd also love to hear your impressions regarding the output power.
@Rockwell75 it's pretty clear the M3X can't be on the level of the M8 but how do you find the detail it produces and in your opinion, does it produce enough power for most IEMs from High Gain

 

[Ferdze]

@Shanling why does my M3X auto shutdown if I am not using it? how do I prevent that?

 

[slex]

@Shanling why does my M3X auto shutdown if I am not using it? how do I prevent that?

Go setting>Schedule power-off>Idle Power-off and Sleep Power-off both switch to OFF.

 

[Ferdze]

Go setting>Schedule power-off>Idle Power-off and Sleep Power-off both switch to OFF.

Thanks! I've been wondering about that for a month but didn't actually took time to look in the settings haha I kinda like it that it would turn off after not using it for 10 minutes but made me worry about the power button being used frequently

 

[egokun]

So, the M3X is here.

It's quite hefty for its size, but also looks robust enough. It's a far cry from the paper-thin iTouch, that's for sure!

I need explanations for some functions, namely:
- what technical difference does it make between selecting "single" or "dual" in the DAC option? It sounds quite different, but I'm not sure which one I should use.
- what is Lowpass filter mode?
- what does Vehicle Mode do?

Also, I'm having a couple of issues:
- WiFi transfer is quick, but doesn't work too well. I've tried transfering 15 files, only 11 made the transfer. Guess I'll stick to loading folders to the SD from my PC.
- Why aren't track numbers appearing when using the Album sorting? This is quite a bummer for me, I'm used to referring to track numbers all the time and it seems you have to sort through the file browser if you want to see them.

 

[macaddicted]

So, the M3X is here.

I need explanations for some functions, namely:
- what technical difference does it make between selecting "single" or "dual" in the DAC option? It sounds quite different, but I'm not sure which one I should use.
- what is Lowpass filter mode?
- what does Vehicle Mode do?

Also, I'm having a couple of issues:
- WiFi transfer is quick, but doesn't work too well. I've tried transfering 15 files, only 11 made the transfer. Guess I'll stick to loading folders to the SD from my PC.
- Why aren't track numbers appearing when using the Album sorting? This is quite a bummer for me, I'm used to referring to track numbers all the time and it seems you have to sort through the file browser if you want to see them.

I shall try.
-if you’re using a single post connector you have the option of using one or both DACs. Using both is, IIRC, the default mode for balanced connectors. Using both DACs uses more power, so less battery time.

-beyond me too…

-I assume it’s coming through from Android. It’s illegal to use electronic devices while operating a moving vehicle. Here in California picking up an android device to interact with it can get you a ticket.

I transferred one huge amalgamation playlist and lost 3 of 1000 so YMMV.

 

[holsen]

So, the M3X is here.

It's quite hefty for its size, but also looks robust enough. It's a far cry from the paper-thin iTouch, that's for sure!

I need explanations for some functions, namely:
- what technical difference does it make between selecting "single" or "dual" in the DAC option? It sounds quite different, but I'm not sure which one I should use.
- what is Lowpass filter mode?
- what does Vehicle Mode do?

Also, I'm having a couple of issues:
- WiFi transfer is quick, but doesn't work too well. I've tried transfering 15 files, only 11 made the transfer. Guess I'll stick to loading folders to the SD from my PC.
- Why aren't track numbers appearing when using the Album sorting? This is quite a bummer for me, I'm used to referring to track numbers all the time and it seems you have to sort through the file browser if you want to see them.

Let me see if I can help a bit
1. There are 2 DAC chips inside the m3x, one for each channel and each with its own Amp (opamp). But on a single ended output (Unbalanced / SE / 3.5mm), the 2 channels share a common ground and the signal will pass through only one amplification circuit. The default setting for the 3.5mm jack (Unbalanced / Single Ended) is single DAC mode. With the M3X and other recent players you can choose via software toggle to enable both DACs, but you'll still only get the benefit of a single Amp. Through the 4.4 jack (Balanced) both DACS And both Amps are always used with one DAC and one Amp for each of the lefft and right channels. If you look at the spec sheet, you'll see 3 levels of output power and 3 levels of battery life. SE 1 DAC / SE 2 DAC / BAL. That's because with each of these settings you'll be using different levels of output power and thus battery. Actually there are 6 levels of power and battery because for each of those modes, you can also select between high gain and low gain. All of the power output specs are showing Max Output Potential which means it's based on high gain. All of the battery life specs would be based on low gain (low gain = less power output = less battery consumption). I don't know what kind of earphones and cable you are using but I'll assume you have a single ended 3.5 cable. If that's the case you are not getting the full benefit of the dual dacs, amplification circuits and channel separation. On M5s, I used the balanced output 90% of the time, but if I want to extend battery life, I'll plug into the the 3.5 jack and it's still a perfectly satisfying experience BUT balanced is fuller, and more detailed. I also the 3.5 out to plug into external speakers, my car aux in, etc..... You will definitely hear a difference between single DAC and dual DAC, because your channel separation will increase along with a moderate amount of output power - though you are still restricted to the single Amp. If you want to hear and even bigger difference in sound, swap cables to a 4.4 (or a 2.5 with a 4.4 adapter) and you'll get both DACs and amps and double the amount of power along with much better channel separation and presumably wider stage.

2. A low pass filter allows all frequencies below a certain set threshold to "pass through" while blocking frequencies above that threshold. So a low pass filter will attenuate some of the high frequencies depending on what the threshold is. If you hear sibilance, enable it.

3. Vehicle mode, when enabled, tells the unit to look for power from the USB port and automatically turn on the unit when detected. I have this on both my BTR3 and UP4 which I have permanently installed in my vehicles. I turn on the car, aux power flows and the unit turns on. I turn off the car, aux power stops and the unit turns off. I start my car, the BTR3 automatically powers on because accessory power starts flowing to in and my phone then autoconnects to it and I'm ready to stream to my car audio without having to fiddle with buttons or switches..... That's Car / Vehicle mode.

Hope this helps.

 

[egokun]

3. Vehicle mode, when enabled, tells the unit to look for power from the USB port and automatically turn on the unit when detected. I have this on both my BTR3 and UP4 which I have permanently installed in my vehicles. I turn on the car, aux power flows and the unit turns on. I turn off the car, aux power stops and the unit turns off. I start my car, the BTR3 automatically powers on because accessory power starts flowing to in and my phone then autoconnects to it and I'm ready to stream to my car audio without having to fiddle with buttons or switches..... That's Car / Vehicle mode.

Maybe my car system isn’t compatible with this then. It works automatically with my iPod Touch as soon as I plug in the USB cable, but with the M3X I tried selecting Line Out first and no results, then Vehicle Mod and nope, still not working. Have to connect through the 3.5mm jack, which requires higher volume and forces me to control the M3X directly through the screen or buttons. Not really ideal.

One other issue I have besides the track number not showing in Album sorting, is that there should be a quick access to the brightness settings. On the iPod setting the brightness is a matter of sliding up from the bottom of the screen and using a slider to set the brightness level you want. On the M3X, it’s embedded in the Settings>Display menu.

It was also very interesting to wake up this morning and find out the M3X was showing China time even if connected to my WiFi, lol. Had to set the timezone manually.

 

[holsen]

For car mode, it literally is just to power it up and power it off. Android Auto works with cell phones to control navigation and music apps etc but you cant expect the same functionality from a DAP. My vehicle also has a direct interface with iPods but it wont work with my DAP or BT Receiver. I sometimes use my M5s in the Car, but then I just set it to Line Out or Crank the volume to 100% which is same thing. I then use the M5 to play files on it but need to control the songs, play pause etc from the M5. Or I stream to the M5s and output to the car the same way. Car mode is not designed to enable playback controls from your steering wheel or in vehicle interface. It really is just for power on and power off which makes it convenient if the device is semi permanently installed for streaming to it and then out through Aux Cable to the audio input on your deck. Theoretically, you could bluetooth stream to your audio system off the M3X but why would you want to? Most in car systems are AAC or SBC, so I'd much rather go wired into the deck and get the best sound possible out of the DAP. Thats why I stream to the M5 or BTR3 in LDAC off my phone and send that via wire to the kick ass sound system in my car.

As for track numbers, It could be the way they are tagged .... I cant say any further, I dont have the M3x yet. Track number work just fine on my M5s

 

[powergeek]

My M3X just arrived