[Rockwell75]

My current favorite combo.



Out of all my IEMs and gear the M8 is possibly the last thing I'd be willing to part with right now. Plenty of IEMs give me roughly the same degree of satisfaction...but I'm never came across a player that ticks as many of my sonic preferences as the M8.

 

[RTodd]

Not a gamer, so it would be the music horn of that dilemma. The sarcasms is OK - no apology needed.

I have subscriptions to Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon music and Roon. So those are really more the provenance of Androd, rather than miinimalist Linux or the like. I am curious about two specific considerations in this specific context:
1. Can a DAP employ full-bore play-store Android and still offer world-class sonics? and
2. How are the current crop of expensive, but not top-of-the-heap priced DAPs.
1 & 2 together form the core of the more generalized question as to whether one can 'have it all', I've been an audiophile since the days when a remote control was a sign of inferior sonic performance, let alone having tone controls, or not having to tweek on a moment to moment basis. I have a L&P P6Pro that sounds wonderful, but is something of a PITA to use.

Portable audio is still largely the 'wild west', 2-pin vs mmcx, at one end, and at the other end, 2.5, 3.5, 3.5 bal, 4.4, (the Ray Samuels 4-pin has mostly disapeared..... In the two-channel speaker-based world, you've just got rca vs xlr, and/or spade vs banana (and most gear accomodates both anyway....
Then there's metadata and tagging, gapless, and various playback 'logic' issues - e.g., when you select the dap to play all of the music by a specific artist, should it be in random order, alpha order, or album by album, in the order the artist intended the tracks to be heard... What hoops do you have to jump through to get the dap to do what you want, etc. etc...

So it is somewhat borne of philosophical curiosity, partially out of frustration, and possiby some indecisieness on my part, or maybe not, who can tell, really?

Yes all great points.

Especially the hoops part. I like zero hoops, no internet connection required, no finicky tag issues, easy search and play in correct order, automatically update library.

For me if someone could take the Lotoo software and physical size and design of the P6K, with the sound quality of the P6P, with the warmth of the M8, and battery life of 14-15 hours, streaming other than from Bluetooth would be a bonus for sure but not if it gets in the way.

 

[gazzington]

My current favorite combo.



Out of all my IEMs and gear the M8 is possibly the last thing I'd be willing to part with right now. Plenty of IEMs give me roughly the same degree of satisfaction...but I'm never came across a player that ticks as many of my sonic preferences as the M8.

Which iem have you found it to pair with best?

 

[Rockwell75]

Which iem have you found it to pair with best?

Everything I've tried it with honestly. I love it with everything I currently own and it's the best source I've ever tried with Solaris, Elysium & Z1R.

 

[MatW]

Just joined this thread because I'm interested in this player. I'll do the catchup reading, but does anyone feel like giving me the highlights/lowlights in a few sentences?

 

[Rockwell75]

Just joined this thread because I'm interested in this player. I'll do the catchup reading, but does anyone feel like giving me the highlights/lowlights in a few sentences?

+ Pitch black background...like the quietest I've ever heard, more so than even the Cowon players (my previous benchmark)
+ Every note and nuance occupies its own space yet the whole sound is unmistakably unified
+ The low end is absolutely perfect. For IEMs with a flat as well as elevated bass response the M8 presents the lows as though carved out of solid jade (beautiful, weighty, sooth, seductive), as the marketing implies

Clarity, unity, power, warmth are 4 words that come to mind to describe the experience.

Here's a great video review which goes into some of the unique qualities of the M8 from an audio engineering perspective:

 

[MatW]

+ Pitch black background...like the quietest I've ever heard, more so than even the Cowon players (my previous benchmark)
+ Every note and nuance occupies its own space yet the whole sound is unmistakably unified
+ The low end is absolutely perfect. For IEMs with a flat as well as elevated bass response the M8 presents the lows as though carved out of solid jade (beautiful, weighty, sooth, seductive), as the marketing implies

Clarity, unity, power, warmth are 4 words that come to mind to describe the experience.

Here's a great video review which goes into some of the unique qualities of the M8 from an audio engineering perspective:

Thanks! What about the lowlights? Operating system slightly old? Other issues? I'm also considering the R8. Or waiting for a new Fiio flagship.

 

[Rockwell75]

Thanks! What about the lowlights? Operating system slightly old? Other issues? I'm also considering the R8. Or waiting for a new Fiio flagship.

I don't stream or anything like that so I'm not as concerned with which version of Android is present (by comparison the Sony ZX2 which uses a version of Android from 2014 still works fine as a player). That said, I know the M8 is not as snappy from an OS perspective as the R8 or (likely) the DX300 are...but it's snappy enough. I find the Shanling player too laggy so I use UAPP, which works well enough. For me, with music players, as long as they're sufficiently functional that I can do my thing on them without becoming frustrated then I'll deal with it. For me SQ is the most important thing and this is where the M8 shines against snappier players with more CPU and more current versions of Android.

 

[szore]

Just joined this thread because I'm interested in this player. I'll do the catchup reading, but does anyone feel like giving me the highlights/lowlights in a few sentences?

It rocks.
The M8 kills it.

Questions?

 

[rantng]

Just joined this thread because I'm interested in this player. I'll do the catchup reading, but does anyone feel like giving me the highlights/lowlights in a few sentences?

I sold mine then bought it back & haven't looked back. It offers a different flavor than other TOTL DAPs. It has a rich tonal flavor without sacrificing clarity & resolution. It may help to know what you're looking for in a DAP.

 

[MatW]

I sold mine then bought it back & haven't looked back. It offers a different flavor than other TOTL DAPs. It has a rich tonal flavor without sacrificing clarity & resolution. It may help to know what you're looking for in a DAP.

Thanks. I owned the sp2000 and I currently have the fiio M11 pro. I'm looking for the middle ground:
- TOTL performance, but not as crazy as the sp2000 pricewise
- Fast and easy to use, like the fiio. Play store for easy updating of apps. I use it mostly for streaming.
- Ideally both 4.4 and 2.5 mm
- Not too bulky

 

[Audiosolace]

Our review of the Shanling M8 - thoroughly impressed, a DAP which competes with the top tiers with it's own unique rich sound

 

[Trunkmonkey44]

Thanks. I owned the sp2000 and I currently have the fiio M11 pro. I'm looking for the middle ground:
- TOTL performance, but not as crazy as the sp2000 pricewise
- Fast and easy to use, like the fiio. Play store for easy updating of apps. I use it mostly for streaming.
- Ideally both 4.4 and 2.5 mm
- Not too bulky

So I bought the M8 from @rantng. Sold it to another person who sold it back to him. Small world, lol.

It sounded amazing and is built like a tank. No complaints there. However, I’m a big streamer, especially Roon, and thought the AGLO architecture would bypass Android’s downsampling in Roon. It did not, so I had to let it go. Wish I could have kept it, but happy it’s back with its rightful owner.

You said you had the sp2000, right? I just got one a few weeks ago and couldn’t be happier. Awesome sound and build, plus now is Roon Ready. From your signature it looks like you are a big Roon user. I’d highly recommend going back to the sp2000, or grab an sp1000 for way less (also Roon Ready now)

 

[MatW]

So I bought the M8 from @rantng. Sold it to another person who sold it back to him. Small world, lol.

It sounded amazing and is built like a tank. No complaints there. However, I’m a big streamer, especially Roon, and thought the AGLO architecture would bypass Android’s downsampling in Roon. It did not, so I had to let it go. Wish I could have kept it, but happy it’s back with its rightful owner.

You said you had the sp2000, right? I just got one a few weeks ago and couldn’t be happier. Awesome sound and build, plus now is Roon Ready. From your signature it looks like you are a big Roon user. I’d highly recommend going back to the sp2000, or grab an sp1000 for way less (also Roon Ready now)

Funny story about the M8. I recently sold a Legend X back to a previous owner, after it had made a tour of Europe with 3-4 owners in between...

Yes Roon is a big plus for those two players but there are other aspects, mainly around user friendliness, that keep me from going back... Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[Ojisan]

I had issues with my M8 but thanks to @Shanling and Andrew @MusicTeck I'm back in heaven listening to M8! I really missed it for 2.5 weeks!

This combo is excellent! Slightly warm natural timbre and it does both vocals and instrumentals really well. Fast enough to handle Arch Echo, Megadeath, Periphery, etc, rocks to all my 90's hard rock and country favorites (did I say outstanding vocals?), and my favorite fingerstyle guitars, strings quartets, classical piano, and some jpop sprinkled in between. Can't stop rediscovering my library!