This is routine in EM5 since it has launched, shanling any update on this?
Hi all
I've been guest reading through this whole thread, and finally got round to posting my first post. Thanks to everyone who have contributed! And I must say that I am quite impressed by who frequent Shanling have followed up in this forum.
Here are some bullet points a couple of weeks into my ownership of the Shanling EM5. Disclaimer: This is my first streamer/server. I've only used a mac through dac and amp previously.
- As sooo many already have commented: The interface is at best mediocre. Messy, a bit slow. I do however like the way local files are shown, with album art etc. I don't use this much, so don't take my word if you're a pro.
- Whyyyyy can't the opening screen be the source selector, rather than local music scan?!
- The Eddict app feels cheap and extremely B-grade.
- Several places there are typos and dodgy translation. Would have thought this was fixed by now.
- As a Hifiman Sundara user, I prefer a little EQ tweeking to lift the bass slightly, especially for pop, rock, triphop, hiphop. So the EQ was one of the reasons I got the Shanling. My disappointment was huge when I opened Tidal from the streaming source menu on the EM5 and noticed that the EQ didn't affect the sound at all. I later found the comment from Shanling in this thread stating that the EQ doesn't apply to the streaming apps. More on this in the next bullet.
- I did some testing that really baffles me. You can open Tidal from the unit itself, through pull-down menu -> streaming services, and from Cloud service on the Eddict app. The strange thing is that using Tidal from Eddict on my iphone by using Cloud service, the EQ actually works! Sounds like the sound quality is unaffected. The interface on the unit is also different when using the two different methods. Does anyone know if there's any difference between these two sources?
- And then there is the EQ itself. Something is very strange with it. It seems as if 0 on the -12 to 12 scale - which should be neutral - is not neutral. I put all the sliders to 5, which actually sounds more neutral. I tested by switching the EQ on and off, and couldn't hear a difference. So I believe the EQ levels are programmed wrongly.
- The EQ presets are probably the worst piece of craft I've ever seen/heard. This might also be due to the wrong base programming. Then again, once finding out about the base level being so off, I managed to tweek a good profile.
- The first couple of days I had an annoying issue when using Tidal. Loading new songs, or jumping within a song was very slow. There was also an underlying digital sound when loading. Digital hissing and clicking. I played around with the network settings, changing to music quality first, which seemed to help on some occations. But it was still present other times. I finally tried changing my wireless source to a different (and quicker) router. This solved the issue. A HUGE relief!
- And a final minor issue. When running Eddict from my android Galaxy tab, Tidal is not available in the Cloud service menu. Only Spotify. Both are available in the iphone app. Is this expected or a local bug?
After two days use, I was quite underwhelmed to be honest. But by figuring out the mentioned kinks, I am enjoying it a lot! The build is very good, and the hardware seems good. But the app and interface are really second rate and weigh down the overall experience. All in all I am happy though.
This turned in to a looong post, but hopefully this might be of assistance to anyone with similar struggles to mine. And hopefully Shanling can look at the EQ issues, elaborate on whether there are any differences between running Tidal from the app and via the streaming service on the unit, and regarding the android app not being able to run Tidal from cloud service.
Thanks!
Hi all
I've been guest reading through this whole thread, and finally got round to posting my first post. Thanks to everyone who have contributed! And I must say that I am quite impressed by who frequent Shanling have followed up in this forum.
Here are some bullet points a couple of weeks into my ownership of the Shanling EM5. Disclaimer: This is my first streamer/server. I've only used a mac through dac and amp previously.
- As sooo many already have commented: The interface is at best mediocre. Messy, a bit slow. I do however like the way local files are shown, with album art etc. I don't use this much, so don't take my word if you're a pro.
- Whyyyyy can't the opening screen be the source selector, rather than local music scan?!
- The Eddict app feels cheap and extremely B-grade.
- Several places there are typos and dodgy translation. Would have thought this was fixed by now.
- As a Hifiman Sundara user, I prefer a little EQ tweeking to lift the bass slightly, especially for pop, rock, triphop, hiphop. So the EQ was one of the reasons I got the Shanling. My disappointment was huge when I opened Tidal from the streaming source menu on the EM5 and noticed that the EQ didn't affect the sound at all. I later found the comment from Shanling in this thread stating that the EQ doesn't apply to the streaming apps. More on this in the next bullet.
- I did some testing that really baffles me. You can open Tidal from the unit itself, through pull-down menu -> streaming services, and from Cloud service on the Eddict app. The strange thing is that using Tidal from Eddict on my iphone by using Cloud service, the EQ actually works! Sounds like the sound quality is unaffected. The interface on the unit is also different when using the two different methods. Does anyone know if there's any difference between these two sources?
- And then there is the EQ itself. Something is very strange with it. It seems as if 0 on the -12 to 12 scale - which should be neutral - is not neutral. I put all the sliders to 5, which actually sounds more neutral. I tested by switching the EQ on and off, and couldn't hear a difference. So I believe the EQ levels are programmed wrongly.
- The EQ presets are probably the worst piece of craft I've ever seen/heard. This might also be due to the wrong base programming. Then again, once finding out about the base level being so off, I managed to tweek a good profile.
- The first couple of days I had an annoying issue when using Tidal. Loading new songs, or jumping within a song was very slow. There was also an underlying digital sound when loading. Digital hissing and clicking. I played around with the network settings, changing to music quality first, which seemed to help on some occations. But it was still present other times. I finally tried changing my wireless source to a different (and quicker) router. This solved the issue. A HUGE relief!
- And a final minor issue. When running Eddict from my android Galaxy tab, Tidal is not available in the Cloud service menu. Only Spotify. Both are available in the iphone app. Is this expected or a local bug?
After two days use, I was quite underwhelmed to be honest. But by figuring out the mentioned kinks, I am enjoying it a lot! The build is very good, and the hardware seems good. But the app and interface are really second rate and weigh down the overall experience. All in all I am happy though.
This turned in to a looong post, but hopefully this might be of assistance to anyone with similar struggles to mine. And hopefully Shanling can look at the EQ issues, elaborate on whether there are any differences between running Tidal from the app and via the streaming service on the unit, and regarding the android app not being able to run Tidal from cloud service.
Thanks!
Thanks for your reply.
"Catch 22" Situation: Reset to default not working app or not having the app at all? Hmm, what is better?
Software team was planning one for end of October, but it got delayed due to dealing some issues with Tidal MQA playback. It should be coming out soon.
