Shanling M8 Android Portable player

[RTodd]

Y'all listen pretty loud or Ely must be really hard to drive!

I'm always on high gain and even with IER-Z1R (40ohm, 103dB/mW sensitivity), I have not gotten above 30. MEST and Oriolus are more sensitive at around 115dB/mW so I generally stay 10-25

Not having any problem driving Ely from P6K P6P or M8.
The three I have. About 10% more volume. Using all three on high gain.
Switching from Traillii to Ely the Ely needed more to volume match. Interesting because they both have estats up top. Maybe it is the dynamic driver in the Ely mids.

 

[Rockwell75]

Y'all listen pretty loud or Ely must be really hard to drive!

I'm always on high gain and even with IER-Z1R (40ohm, 103dB/mW sensitivity), I have not gotten above 30. MEST and Oriolus are more sensitive at around 115dB/mW so I generally stay 10-25

Both...I listen loud and Ely is hard to drive.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Y'all listen pretty loud or Ely must be really hard to drive!

I'm always on high gain and even with IER-Z1R (40ohm, 103dB/mW sensitivity), I have not gotten above 30. MEST and Oriolus are more sensitive at around 115dB/mW so I generally stay 10-25

On my VE Meisters (if you ever have the opportunity buy it), I'm at 56 on low, listening to Richard Thompson.

 

[Whitigir]

With IEMs, you shouldn’t listen too loud, it damages the hearings fast

 

[ScubaDrunk]

Hi everyone

I’m a current iBasso DX300 owner and thinking of swapping for a Shanling M8

I listen to mostly EDM via Tidal streaming but also have local music as hi bit flac on the player.

The reason I want to change is due to the DX300 volume knob as it shuts down the player when in jeans pocket due to poor design.

Are there any things I will miss or gain by changing to the M8?

@Vitaly2017 If I’m not mistaken you have had a dx300, a hiby R8 and the Shanling M8. Which one did you prefer and for what reasons over the others?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ojisan]

On my VE Meisters (if you ever have the opportunity buy it), I'm at 56 on low, listening to Richard Thompson.

Nice! I hear the Meisters are vocal meisters RT's cool. We share the love for Lowden guitars!

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Hi everyone

I’m a current iBasso DX300 owner and thinking of swapping for a Shanling M8

I listen to mostly EDM via Tidal streaming but also have local music as hi but flac on the player.

The reason I want to change is due to the DX300 volume knob as it shuts down the player when in jeans pocket due to poor design.

Are there any things I will miss or gain by changing to the M8?

@Vitaly2017 If I’m not mistaken you have had a dx300, a hiby R8 and the Shanling M8. Which one did you prefer and for what reasons over the others?

Thanks in advance.

Whoa, now you've opened up can of worms

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Nice! I hear the Meisters are vocal meisters RT's cool. We share the love for Lowden guitars!

I knew you had excellent taste! Going back through Richard Thompson Live, 94’ with the Tia Trió, it was so spot on, Ghost in the Wind gave me goosebumps!

 

[1TrickPony]

Elysium lol

I want to thank you all in this thread for sharing your experience, I shipped the Ely off today, just a five-minute listen, but I was also in turbo, 70, the Ely’s hard to drive. I was at 90, amp 8 on high during my week+ with it, she's a beauty!

 

[Ojisan]

Hi everyone

I’m a current iBasso DX300 owner and thinking of swapping for a Shanling M8

I listen to mostly EDM via Tidal streaming but also have local music as hi but flac on the player.

The reason I want to change is due to the DX300 volume knob as it shuts down the player when in jeans pocket due to poor design.

Are there any things I will miss or gain by changing to the M8?

@Vitaly2017 If I’m not mistaken you have had a dx300, a hiby R8 and the Shanling M8. Which one did you prefer and for what reasons over the others?

Thanks in advance.

I had M8 and DX300 together and choose M8. I don't pocket my DAP much so take it with a grain of salt...

M8 is probably less likely to press the volume/power and play/fwd/back. I remember frequently pressing the volume/play/fwd/back button by accident on DX300 with the leather case. M8 is heavier, slightly thicker, and runs hotter, so I hope you have a vented jeans pocket.

Sound-wise, DX300 has the iBasso signature spacious treble sparkle, flatter bass, and overall more neutral than M8. If you are in-tune with that signature, you might find M8 warmer depending on your choice of IEM/HP. However, if you give it some time, I think M8 has a pitch-black background and a very deep detail within a warmish analog sound. There's an exceptional clarity around 60-120Hz bass region that gives you nice clarity for double bass/bass guitar lines. This has been the easiest DAP to pick up the pitch of the bass notes. Subbass probably doesn't come across as much as DX300. I had fatigue with DX300's lower treble. I listen to M8 day and night, no problem.

You will lose simultaneous access to 2.5/3.5/4.4. Also, don't expect DX300 level UI experience. That is the most phone-like experience.

My $0.02

 

[ScubaDrunk]

I had M8 and DX300 together and choose M8. I don't pocket my DAP much so take it with a grain of salt...

M8 is probably less likely to press the volume/power and play/fwd/back. I remember frequently pressing the volume/play/fwd/back button by accident on DX300 with the leather case. M8 is heavier, slightly thicker, and runs hotter, so I hope you have a vented jeans pocket.

Sound-wise, DX300 has the iBasso signature spacious treble sparkle, flatter bass, and overall more neutral than M8. If you are in-tune with that signature, you might find M8 warmer depending on your choice of IEM/HP. However, if you give it some time, I think M8 has a pitch-black background and a very deep detail within a warmish analog sound. There's an exceptional clarity around 60-120Hz bass region that gives you nice clarity for double bass/bass guitar lines. This has been the easiest DAP to pick up the pitch of the bass notes. Subbass probably doesn't come across as much as DX300. I had fatigue with DX300's lower treble. I listen to M8 day and night, no problem.

You will lose simultaneous access to 2.5/3.5/4.4. Also, don't expect DX300 level UI experience. That is the most phone-like experience.

My $0.02

Awesome. Thanks for your feedback. Much appreciated.

Im not to bothered about phone like experiance but I do like Mango OS a lot. It just a shame that iBasso do not allow locking of buttons when screen is off when running in Mango OS otherwise this would be perfect.

 

[Giraku]

For those with the Elysium or with other estat iems what gain setting do you use?
I tend to listen at night at lower volumes and so I use low gain and hover around 30 on the volume most of the time. There is the odd album that needs more but mostly this is fine.. I know its said that the estats like power though. Are others using high gain but lower volume or higher volume on lower gain. Excuse my technical ignorance but is there a difference? I'll try to figure it out empirically but I wondered as to others' experiences...

I use my Elysium on M8 with high gain. Volume is usually hovering from 35 to 45.

 

[Ojisan]

Awesome. Thanks for your feedback. Much appreciated.

Im not to bothered about phone like experiance but I do like Mango OS a lot. It just a shame that iBasso do not allow locking of buttons when screen is off when running in Mango OS otherwise this would be perfect.

Yeah Mango OS is nice. It's my default for DX228. I actually thought Mango OS worked fine in DX228 but it was too fast in DX300, lol I'd flick a folder list and you are done in a flash in DX300... too fast for my eyes...

With M8, Wifi performance has been steady, no noise from it, and Bluetooth streaming from iPhone works steadily too. I haven't seen many complaints about it here either.

 

[ScubaDrunk]

Yeah Mango OS is nice. It's my default for DX228. I actually thought Mango OS worked fine in DX228 but it was too fast in DX300, lol I'd flick a folder list and you are done in a flash in DX300... too fast for my eyes...

With M8, Wifi performance has been steady, no noise from it, and Bluetooth streaming from iPhone works steadily too. I haven't seen many complaints about it here either.

@Shanling Please could you answer the following before I buy your lovely player?

I just noticed on the Shanling website about the last firmware. Its dated November 2020??? Is that really the last time the player was updated???

It states that the player is a full decoder for MQA BUT does not support MQA whilst using the Tidal app streaming just yet. Is this still the case???

If the website is out dated and If the player is a MQA decoder and not just a renderer and supports Tidal full MQA decoding whilst streaming IM SOLD !!!!!!!

 

[Ojisan]

I knew you had excellent taste! Going back through Richard Thompson Live, 94’ with the Tia Trió, it was so spot on, Ghost in the Wind gave me goosebumps!

Cool, you too What do you make of the Trio? More or less V than MEST? Meister better for Richard's voice?