[johnjazz]

I believe head-fier azertyproxy had the same soundstage impressions on his EM5 in his earlier posts on this forum.

Okay, I did another round of AB comparison the whole night since it was mentioned that the soundstage is wider on the internal app.

My comparison was based on a very simple setup.

I used the PC Tidal app connected to the EM5 USB dac input versus EM5 internal Tidal app running off two musical tracks Golden Mean and Wild Monk by Osamu Kitajima.

The internal EM5 Tidal app does give superb imaging with the instruments accurately portrayed when compared to the external USB dac input. However I still found the instruments to be placed further apart when listening from the external USB dac input.

The reason I started to do this comparison was due to my listening experience on the Shanling UP5 portable dac. I noticed that when I switched to listening on the EM5 using the internal Tidal app it sounded different. Of course the UP5 loses quite a bit of musical clarity when compared to the EM5 but it does sound wider.

My thought is probably it could be due to my aging HD800S being the weak-link compared to the newer generation of headphones. I tried listening using my Sundara headphones and soundstage gap was much less compared to the HD800S but it was still noticeable.

Mind you, I do love my EM5 as a streamer and can live with the internal music apps. I just needed to place my speakers a wee bit further apart to compensate for it but I cannot do the same with my headphones

 

[johnjazz]

Sounds like deal breaker for me. This is strange because the story goes like this: "Hi-Res certfied device featuring AGLO technology capable of playing DSD and MQA files.... Thanks to the AGLO music from all apps is processed precisely and at its full quality, without any degradation."

It is not really a deal breaker. The EM5 is good streamer and sounds pretty musical with superb imaging. You probably will not notice the soundstage difference without an AB comparison and even with that, you may need a pair of wide soundstage headphones to hear the difference.

 

[Modified]

Johnjazz so far is only person reporting such impressions.



If your setup can work with different DACs, it should also work with EM5. There is nothing special about its input.



I'm not sure where you got that quote from?

Eddict Player serves for screen mirroring or as synced remote control, it doesn't stream anything into EM5, that's all done on the unit itself.

https://blog.ear-phone-review.com/archive/category/Digital Audio Player
Among others. Player, like mConnect, is using the renderer software.

 

[Modified]

It is not really a deal breaker. The EM5 is good streamer and sounds pretty musical with superb imaging. You probably will not notice the soundstage difference without an AB comparison and even with that, you may need a pair of wide soundstage headphones to hear the difference.

I don't blame you. Hardware specs look great. I would probably buy one, but ...
I just told my experience of UPnP sound: thin and often overbright. I have revealing active speakers (Genelecs, now Cantons) which make the differenrence. Otherwise you maybe would'nt make the difference. And some people even think overbright is great sounding.
Of course this just my guess about EM5. Maybe we get more information.

 

[Modified]

A wireless projection software does not change the fundamental character of a music player though.

No, it controls, renderer plays the actual audio. I'm talking about UPnP renderer - if there is one. Some sources say so.

 

[Kiats]

No, it controls, renderer plays the actual audio. I'm talking about UPnP renderer - if there is one. Some sources say so.

So this is speculation from these sources? Anyway, go have a listen yourself and see what you think. That’s the only way.

@Shanling Your thoughts on this speculation?

 

[Shanling]

https://blog.ear-phone-review.com/archive/category/Digital Audio Player
Among others. Player, like mConnect, is using the renderer software.

So your source of info is one line in random blog, that doesn't even to seem to ever have EM5 in their hands?

I don't blame you. Hardware specs look great. I would probably buy one, but ...
I just told my experience of UPnP sound: thin and often overbright. I have revealing active speakers (Genelecs, now Cantons) which make the differenrence. Otherwise you maybe would'nt make the difference. And some people even think overbright is great sounding.
Of course this just my guess about EM5. Maybe we get more information.

The apps running on EM5 are standard Android apps. Our music player and then few streaming apps, their standard released apps for Android.
They are run through our AGLO, which is there to avoid forced resampling of the Android.
They do not run through UPnP.

 

[Modified]

So this is speculation from these sources? Anyway, go have a listen yourself and see what you think. That’s the only way.

@Shanling Your thoughts on this speculation?

Yes, speculation based on more than one web sources. Unfortunately I should do blind buy to test myself. I would'nt like, 870 € is some money. That's I'm asking for impressions. Otherwise EM5 seem to have everything I could ask for network player. Including AKM chip. Anywyay, obviously it does not have native Tidal Connect - I don't see it on Tidal support pages.

 

[Modified]

So your source of info is one line in random blog, that doesn't even to seem to ever have EM5 in their hands?



The apps running on EM5 are standard Android apps. Our music player and then few streaming apps, their standard released apps for Android.
They are run through our AGLO, which is there to avoid forced resampling of the Android.
They do not run through UPnP.

Ok, thanks for the information. Unfortunate misinformation from more than one web sources.

 

[Kiats]

Yes, speculation based on more than one web sources. Unfortunately I should do blind buy to test myself. I would'nt like, 870 € is some money. That's I'm asking for impressions. Otherwise EM5 seem to have everything I could ask for network player. Including AKM chip. Anywyay, obviously it does not have native Tidal Connect - I don't see it on Tidal support pages.

Likely they just repeat one another.

Anyway, I think it reproduces the Shanling house sound nicely. For more on the Shanling house sound, have a read on the M8 thread. Or the M30 thread. Sending it back now that I had some time to listen to it. Since it was a demo unit.

There is no need for Tidal Connect here because there is a Tidal app on the music player. I think @Shanling has been pretty consistent in disabusing anyone who thinks there is Tidal Connect.

Hope you find what you are looking for.

 

[Modified]

Ok, thanks for the information. Unfortunate misinformation from more than one web sources.

May I ask what does 8*MQA mean? I have learned about two or three tier decoding process. Does it apply to Tidal streaming MQA or MQA files only?

 

[Shanling]

May I ask what does 8*MQA mean? I have learned about two or three tier decoding process. Does it apply to Tidal streaming MQA or MQA files only?

8x or 16x MQA pretty much means how many times it's unfolded from the MQA file.
With 8X MQA, you are getting 352.8 kHz playback, with 16x it's 705.6 kHz playback.

It applies to both MQA streaming and MQA files.

 

[Nidus123]

Is the USB input galvanically isolated ?

 

[Sp12er3]

basically what sony DMP Z1 should be from the get go. and cheaper. now it only needs battery so you can lug i around just as a HUGE player....

 

[hk29]

How does this compare with shanling m8 or e30 in terms of sound quality? How would it rank?