[Lu88]

Shanling M8 spec sheet
https://weibo.com/2714034801/JlZYdjpOL

 

[Liberatus]

I'm confused. This is very very close to identical even hardware of M15. For $350 more .... With less box packaging.

Is there something special here I'm missing..? Why the jump in price. I know Hiby did it but they gave enough reason in the R8 to justify the jump. This.. with how close to M15. Doesn't seem to justify the jump.

Is this just to try to recover money due to covid stress?

 

[eaglesgift]

I'm confused. This is very very close to identical even hardware of M15. For $350 more .... With less box packaging.

Is there something special here I'm missing..? Why the jump in price. I know Hiby did it but they gave enough reason in the R8 to justify the jump. This.. with how close to M15. Doesn't seem to justify the jump.

Is this just to try to recover money due to covid stress?

There's no need to make wild accusations.

 

[Liberatus]

There's no need to make wild accusations.

Not a single accusation. There were ? Because I was asking actual questions to see what I'm not understanding.

 

[MarkParity]

Not a single accusation. There were ? Because I was asking actual questions to see what I'm not understanding.

I think the Covid part of your post was unnecessary and probably a bit of a wild accusation.
I agree the price is a bit high and will certainly put me off getting the M8 but I expect Shanling has a marketing department who's job is to advise on price and features etc.
If the marketing department got it right and did their job well then the M8 will make Shanling some happy customers and the company some money, if not, well who knows.

 

[eaglesgift]

Not a single accusation. There were ? Because I was asking actual questions to see what I'm not understanding.

Yeah, as MarkParity said really. Nothing wrong with asking what you're getting for your money but accusing them of overpricing a DAP to compensate for lost business during the COVID pandemic was completely unnecessary I think.

 

[Liberatus]

Yeah, as MarkParity said really. Nothing wrong with asking what you're getting for your money but accusing them of overpricing a DAP to compensate for lost business during the COVID pandemic was completely unnecessary I think.

Again. It's not an accusation. If it was an accusation I would have stated this is what they were doing. Not asking if that's what they were doing.

Also, you're misinterpreting my perspective. I'm a multibusiness owner. I do not think there's anything wrong with the fact that they may have price hiked because of covid. It's business and to stay afloat if that is what's necessary I would do the same. Otherwise you get no more products from that company if they go out of business. So it's not an accusation because I do not think it's a problem. I was merely asking if this is what they were doing so I would understand, because what I see spec and design wise is an M15, so closely matched that I wonder if they just off label from fiio or both fiio and the M8 are off labeled from the same manufacturer. But doing so for $350 and not much different.

So the covid thing is a fair guess and then question is how I framed it. I don't see it as a problem I was just speculating and asking. If you still think that's an accusation I'm sorry, I don't see why defensiveness is needed

 

[Shanling]

I'm confused. This is very very close to identical even hardware of M15. For $350 more .... With less box packaging.

Is there something special here I'm missing..? Why the jump in price. I know Hiby did it but they gave enough reason in the R8 to justify the jump. This.. with how close to M15. Doesn't seem to justify the jump.

It's mainly due to difference in sales channels for international market. In China, Shanling and Fiio prices are comparable on most models, in international market Shanling ends up little bit more expensive. Good examples for this are Shanling M6 and M6 Pro. Shanling M8 is 10% more expensive than M15 in China, on international market it gets more accentuated.

And at the end of the day, we are in the High-End audio market, where things are mostly judged by their sound, not the hardware specs. So we will see after first reviews, how M8 stands against M15.

I was merely asking if this is what they were doing so I would understand, because what I see spec and design wise is an M15, so closely matched that I wonder if they just off label from fiio or both fiio and the M8 are off labeled from the same manufacturer. But doing so for $350 and not much different.

So the covid thing is a fair guess and then question is how I framed it. I don't see it as a problem I was just speculating and asking. If you still think that's an accusation I'm sorry, I don't see why defensiveness is needed

We have been designing and manufacturing our own players since 2014 (and Hi-Fi since 1988), in 2018 we added our own software team, to have complete control even over software part of the player. There is no business connection between Shanling and Fiio.

Why the M15 and M8 are matching so closely? In audio part, both of these devices are trying to offer maximum what current portable audio can do, so they end up using similar parts(best current AKM DAC, best USB chip, etc). In rest of hardware, it's mostly dictated by availability of parts. Shanling and Fiio are both smaller manufacturers compared to phone market, so it can be limiting.

 

[artpiggo]

Does anyone know where to buy 3.5 PRO upgrade plug for modification to the cable?

 

[eaglesgift]

Again. It's not an accusation. If it was an accusation I would have stated this is what they were doing. Not asking if that's what they were doing.

Also, you're misinterpreting my perspective. I'm a multibusiness owner. I do not think there's anything wrong with the fact that they may have price hiked because of covid. It's business and to stay afloat if that is what's necessary I would do the same. Otherwise you get no more products from that company if they go out of business. So it's not an accusation because I do not think it's a problem. I was merely asking if this is what they were doing so I would understand, because what I see spec and design wise is an M15, so closely matched that I wonder if they just off label from fiio or both fiio and the M8 are off labeled from the same manufacturer. But doing so for $350 and not much different.

So the covid thing is a fair guess and then question is how I framed it. I don't see it as a problem I was just speculating and asking. If you still think that's an accusation I'm sorry, I don't see why defensiveness is needed

We have a very different perspective on that then - if you think companies have a right to expect their customers to bail them out by paying artificially inflated prices that is - but here isn't the place to carry on debating it. Cheers (And as for asking vs stating - that's just the difference between insinuation and statement in my opinion)

 

[gto88]

a&k Uses to have higher price dap, and now kann alpha only priced $1099, much lower than Chinese dap

 

[awayeah]

Does anyone know where to buy 3.5 PRO upgrade plug for modification to the cable?

And why would you do that? There's no impact on sound - 2.5 is more compact and lighter while 4.4 is way more robust. I guess 3.5 is kind of a compromise between size and robustness but it's not an upgrade.
Another standard only adds some confusion and nothing else. And a dead one at that - 3.5 balance was first and present on old hifiman players but it first lost the battle with ak 2.5mm standard and now it seems 4.4 is getting ahead. Shanling is circling back now to 3.5... pointless other than to seemingly add "new" possibilities.

 

[artpiggo]

And why would you do that? There's no impact on sound - 2.5 is more compact and lighter while 4.4 is way more robust. I guess 3.5 is kind of a compromise between size and robustness but it's not an upgrade.
Another standard only adds some confusion and nothing else. And a dead one at that - 3.5 balance was first and present on old hifiman players but it first lost the battle with ak 2.5mm standard and now it seems 4.4 is getting ahead. Shanling is circling back now to 3.5... pointless other than to seemingly add "new" possibilities.

3.5 pro can use both dap and smartphone. That is the pro and I am the type who wanna try all kind of new things in the world.

 

[awayeah]

3.5 pro can use both dap and smartphone. That is the pro and I am the type who wanna try all kind of new things in the world.

No it can't be - it's a balanced plug, there's different combination of pins. You can actually damage your phone or headphones with it, though I don't know how likely it is.

 

[artpiggo]

No it can't be - it's a balanced plug, there's different combination of pins. You can actually damage your phone or headphones with it, though I don't know how likely it is.

They claimed... I read in chinese forum when there first launched.

Excellent compatibility:
For headphones with a 3.5PRO balanced plug, the contact definition standard follows the original HIFIMAN 3.5mm balanced head standard. It is not only compatible with the existing HIFIMAN standard 3.5mm balanced jack players on the market (including QA361, Xiangsheng MR1 and HIFIMAN full series players, etc.). In addition, it can also be used directly on the 3.5mm single port of most players. The user only needs a 3.5PRO balanced port earphone to take into account both the balanced port and the single port, and no adapter cable is needed.

http://www.erji.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=2116088