[Shanling]

Hi all.
Getting seriously PO'd with these small DAPs running proprietary OS, claiming they support Tidal etc. in offline mode. So far the Hiby R3 and Fiio m6 are utter junk, full of so many bugs they're unusable. Neither output anything more that 44kbps to my Mojo even though they claim to support MQA via their Tidal app. They are Beta products at best and really require months of firmware updates before being anywhere near useful.

1) So, is the M5s running a full copy of Android to enable installation of official steaming apps?? (can't find any OS info online)
2) How's the UI? (Speed, Album art lag, Digital PCM Transport performance etc)

(btw @Shanling , your m0 is a portable masterpiece!! Amazing kit, no lag, great UI and great Bluetooth performance!)

Shanling M5s is running our in house developed system, MTouch. It's stated in its specifications on our website.
Currently we are running one streaming app, which is unfortunately only for Mainland China.

But we are working with Tidal on bringing it to M5s. No ETA or final list of features available at this time.

I intend to output DSD / 24 bit music from the USB C outputto my DAC.
My DAC is a music fidelity v90 with USB - (type B input), coax in, optical in.. Would this work (preference is USB C > USB - B and what cable would i need? Obviously can fall back on coax, but would like to know if USB is possible too?

Compatibility with DACs depends on power DAC demands from USB out and if it asks for some special drivers or communication from computer.
Unfortunately without personal testing, we can't assure that your DAC will work with M5s. My advice would be to buy from place with good return policy.

M5s has no coaxial or optical output.

Thanks for the reply! So, if it possible to use a 2.5mm balanced to 3.5mm SE adapter to get the best LO possible with the M5s. Good to know.

As far as the rest of my comments, you make some good points. I was only speaking of the future possibilities, as technology changes or advances. I see a lot of DAPs where the design favors balanced over SE or vice versa. Same with a lot of dedicated home gear, so I don't want to sound like i'm picking on Shanling or anyone specific. I understand why that's often the case; that you have to make trade-offs with real world designs to hit a target sale price and still make a profit. For the record, I obviously approve of the choices your engineering and design teams have made. Still loving my M5s. Looking forward to the US firmware update!

NEVER use 2.5 balanced to 3.5 SE adapter! Balanced output is only to be used with balanced headphones or amplifier, otherwise you are risking damage to components.

The FW 2.1 has just been realeased in Shanling Chinese website. The "Recent Add" menu is added!
http://shanling.com/article/907

download https://pan.baidu.com/s/1iXDaH-E5DbQr5t1ddDoSvg#list/path=/山灵固件大全/M5s&page=1

Seems my Chinese colleagues were too happy with our new website and post it all before planned. I will upload it during today.

 

[vodanhkhack]

@Shanling still a bug in FW 2.1: after pausing the M5s for a while ( longer than 5 minutes), then pressing power to turn the device on, pressing play : there is a very low sound from SE output. Turning up volume doesn't help!

It hapens already 3 times. Always very low volume output

 

[Shanling]

Shanling M5s firmware 2.1

Changes and fixes：

1. Added “Recently Added” playlist

2. Added “USB Audio output” setting. Choose between fixed and variable volume when using USB output.

3. Fixed problem causing lowered volume of balanced output while using Airplay.

4. Fixed lag when using SBC in Bluetooth receiver mode.

5. Improved compatibility when connecting to Sony Bluetooth headphones.

6. Fixed problem causing crash of system when trying to play corrupted audio files.

Please visit download page of Shanling M5s to download latest firmware update

Alternative Google Drive download (.zip)

 

[kr0mka]

@Shanling still a bug in FW 2.1: after pausing the M5s for a while ( longer than 5 minutes), then pressing power to turn the device on, pressing play : there is a very low sound from SE output. Turning up volume doesn't help!

It hapens already 3 times. Always very low volume output

I can confirm that, it happens when auto standby isn't on. Quite annoying.
Also, polish translation is still very bad. Even the new features added have very random Google-translate-like translation.

 

[vodanhkhack]

I can confirm that, it happens when auto standby isn't on. Quite annoying.
Also, polish translation is still very bad. Even the new features added have very random Google-translate-like translation.

Change the langue to English, friend

 

[pororom]

Does the sound have delays in dac / usb mode connected to a mac watching a concert or movie on you tube?

 

[kr0mka]

Change the langue to English, friend

Yeah I know, I have no problem using English. Just reporting about the translation since Polish is my native language

 

[kr0mka]

Does the sound have delays in dac / usb mode connected to a mac watching a concert or movie on you tube?

This is supposedly a known issue and Shanling is trying to fix it

 

[se7en7]

@Shanling are you saying that a Fiio BL35 3.5mm male to 2.5mm female balanced adapter is bad to use??

As sometimes I may use my 2.5mm cable trrs into the above adapter then into 3.5mm on daps.

 

[kr0mka]

@Shanling are you saying that a Fiio BL35 3.5mm male to 2.5mm female balanced adapter is bad to use??

As sometimes I may use my 2.5mm cable trrs into the above adapter then into 3.5mm on daps.

3.5 male to 2.5 female is ok, 2.5 male to 3.5 female will essentially short out your player.

 

[se7en7]

3.5 male to 2.5 female is ok, 2.5 male to 3.5 female will essentially short out your player.

Got you I thought that,
I think it was shanlings wording then that confused me.
cheers that's put my mind at ease.

 

[CactusPete23]

Sometimes when folks talk about adapters, they are not very clear on which way they are "adapting". Some folks talk about (or assume) adapters are "Going from DAP/Source to headphone" and Others talk about/assume "Going from headphone to DAP/Source" and some just say Adapter, not being clear which way they are adapting, just mention 3.5mm and 2.5mm.

- What you are saying is perfectly OK. That is, It is OK to use a properly wired adapter from 3.5mm Single Ended (Unbalanced) DAP Output to go to 2.5mm Balanced Cables.
(Usually these adapters have a 3.5mm Male unbalanced connection to a 2.5mm Female Balanced. Can also find be 3.5mm male unbalanced to 4.4mm Female Balanced)

- What is NOT OK is to take 2.5mm (or 4.4mm) Balanced out put from a DAP to an adapter to headphone with Unbalanced 3.5mm cables. (Can damage the DAP)
It is also not OK to use an adapter to take 2.5 (or 4.4mm) Balanced output to an Unbalanced Amp. This is what Shanling was specifically refering to was the question from the OP that wanted to take the 4.4mm balanced output to an unbalanced external Amp to get "better quality sound". And Shanling was explaining that you should never go from a Balanced output to an Un-Balanced Amp (or headphone).
(These adapters would usually have a 2.5mm (or 4.4mm) Balanced Male connection to a 3.5mm Unbalanced Female connection. One should never use these)

Hopefully, I explained it better for all of the novice listeners like myself. Maybe someone else can explain better; But this same question appears almost weekly somewhere on Head-fi.

 

[se7en7]

Sometimes when folks talk about adapters, they are not very clear on which way they are "adapting". Some folks talk about (or assume) adapters are "Going from DAP/Source to headphone" and Others talk about/assume "Going from headphone to DAP/Source" and some just say Adapter, not being clear which way they are adapting, just mention 3.5mm and 2.5mm.

- What you are saying is perfectly OK. That is, It is OK to use a properly wired adapter from 3.5mm Single Ended (Unbalanced) DAP Output to go to 2.5mm Balanced Cables.
(Usually these adapters have a 3.5mm Male unbalanced connection to a 2.5mm Female Balanced. Can also find be 3.5mm male unbalanced to 4.4mm Female Balanced)

- What is NOT OK is to take 2.5mm (or 4.4mm) Balanced out put from a DAP to an adapter to headphone with Unbalanced 3.5mm cables. (Can damage the DAP)
It is also not OK to use an adapter to take 2.5 (or 4.4mm) Balanced output to an Unbalanced Amp. This is what Joe was specifically refering to was the question from the OP that wanted to take the 4.4mm balanced output to an unbalanced external Amp to get "better quality sound". And Joe was explaining that you should never go from a Balanced output to an Un-Balanced Amp (or headphone).
(These adapters would usually have a 2.5mm (or 4.4mm) Balanced Male connection to a 3.5mm Unbalanced Female connection. One should never use these)

Hopefully, I explained it better for all of the novice listeners like myself. Maybe someone else can explain better; But this same question appears almost weekly somewhere on Head-fi.

In a nutshell perfect answer much appreciated last thing I want to do is cause issue to expensive daps headphones etc.
Learnt something new today so thank you

 

[Luke Thomas]

Is the m5 and the ibasso 150 the 2 best under $500

 

[PopZeus]

NEVER use 2.5 balanced to 3.5 SE adapter! Balanced output is only to be used with balanced headphones or amplifier, otherwise you are risking damage to components.

For the record, this was the adapter I was referring to. Seems like it was specifically designed to go allow SE headphones to use a balanced out... But I take your word of caution seriously in terms of potential damage to the rest of my gear.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M9HK243/