[991 Carrera 4S]

I received my Shanling UA4 yesterday and am very disappointed.
Because in UA4, basic things are badly implemented, so that the sound itself doesn't even matter.
I personally do not recommend buying it, until the following issues are fixed:

1) UA4 noise floor is bad. Clearly audible even with my quite un-sensitive ER4SR. This is no issue with iBasso DC04 Pro.
[Update] Noise floor for 3.5mm is fine. Noise floor for 4.4mm is bad.

2) UA4 auto-mute regularly cuts off the first beat of certain tracks. This is also no issue with iBasso DC04 Pro.

To mask/hide the bad noise floor, UA4 has some kind of auto-mute, that automatically mutes output if there is no audio playing. Unfortunately, the response time is too slow and it regularly cuts off the first beat of certain tracks. When changing tracks, it first mutes between the two tracks, but then at the start of the next track un-mutes too slowly and cuts off maybe the first 0.1s of the track. If a track immediately starts e.g. with a kickdrum within the first 0.1s of the track, then the kickdrum (or whatever else is in these first 0.1s) gets cut off.

3) UA4 volume control is annoying, even with the latest firmware update. Again, this is no issue with iBasso DC04 Pro.

Let's say you want to change volume by 5 volume steps.

UA4 with original firmware:
Press volume button, wait for display animation, volume didn't change, press volume button again, wait for display animation, volume changed +1, press volume button again, wait for display animation, volume changed +1, press volume button again, wait for display animation, volume changed +1, press volume button again, wait for display animation, volume changed +1, press volume button again, wait for display animation, volume changed +1. Done.

UA4 with latest firmware (V1.0.2):
Press volume button, wait for display animation, volume didn't change, press volume button 5 times in quick succession, wait for display animation, volume changed +5. Done.

iBasso DC04 Pro:
Press volume button 5 times in quick succession. Done.

This issues need to be fixed as soon as possible and UA4 should never have been sold in this unfinished state.

1) Are you talking about hiss? Or some distortion or anything else?
What device and cable are you using for UA4?

2) Can you please try to adjust the "Idle Time" on your UA4 to Off? It should help in this situation, but it will have impact on power demand.

3) I'm personally also quite unhappy with it, we will discuss it further if it can be made more reactive (like on our UA5)

First of all, thank you very much for your reply and for trying to solve the issues with UA4.

1) When very quiet music is playing (4.4mm output), there is bad noise floor / background noise / signal noise / static.

I checked 3.5mm output, and noise floor for 3.5mm is fine.
Whereas noise floor for 4.4mm is really bad.

What is going on here?

2) Idle time is set to off, but issue still persists.

Please check "automute" in ES9069 datasheet.
(See attached pictures.)

Deactivation of automute is too slow and cuts off ~0.1s at the beginning of a track.
Please configure it faster (not possible?), or disable it completely.

3) Volume control has to be instant, with no delay at all.
Also please give us firmware option to remove the display animation for volume control.

 

[Shanling]

First of all, thank you very much for your reply and for trying to solve the issues with UA4.

1) When very quiet music is playing (4.4mm output), there is bad noise floor / background noise / signal noise / static.

I checked 3.5mm output, and noise floor for 3.5mm is fine.
Whereas noise floor for 4.4mm is really bad.

What is going on here?

2) Idle time is set to off, but issue still persists.

Please check "automute" in ES9069 datasheet.
(See attached pictures.)

Deactivation of automute is too slow and cuts off ~0.1s at the beginning of a track.
Please configure it faster (not possible?), or disable it completely.

3) Volume control has to be instant, with no delay at all.
Also please give us firmware option to remove the display animation for volume control.

1. Which earphones you run on balanced out? Will keep an eye on any reports from other users.

2. Discussed with engineers, they said not possible to adjust.

3. As mentioned before, will try to adjust this.

 

[991 Carrera 4S]

1. Which earphones you run on balanced out? Will keep an eye on any reports from other users.

2. Discussed with engineers, they said not possible to adjust.

3. As mentioned before, will try to adjust this.

1) Etymotic ER4SR.

iBasso DC04Pro – 3.5mm – noise floor good
iBasso DC04Pro – 4.4mm – noise floor good
Shanling UA4 – 3.5 mm – noise floor good
Shanling UA4 – 4.4mm – noise floor bad

Same IEM, same cable, same everything.

2) Then your engineers are wrong. Because the official datasheet of ES9069 clearly states that it is possible to configure automute, as well as disable automute.

 

[991 Carrera 4S]

@Shanling
Any updates regarding the bad noise floor on 4.4mm output?

Easy way to reproduce it:

Connect IEM to 4.4mm output.
Make sure that any audio is actually playing. Else automute will hide the noise floor.
While audio is playing, reduce volume of UA4 to 1.
Bad noise floor is clearly audible.

Doesn't happen for 3.5mm output.

 

[ywheng89]

@991 Carrera 4S ,mate, just to check with you, the volume control, is it independent volume control? like how the volume control behaves on Colorfly's M1P as well as Fosi Audio's DS1.. (i max out the volume on my mac, and just control the volume on the dongle itself similar to how i would do for my desktop's setup)
Thanks in advance!

 

[KamioDream]

How much energy does it consume?

 

[HifiFrog]

@ywheng89 Yes you can do so. You can control the volume on the dongle and your source independently. E.g. 100% on your source + desired volume on the dongle. Or the other way around, or everything in between.
@KamioDream Power consumption is around 0.5W = 100mA @ 5V (Source: youtube.com/watch?v=hRQPkEUqPnE)

 

[ywheng89]

@ywheng89 Yes you can do so. You can control the volume on the dongle and your source independently. E.g. 100% on your source + desired volume on the dongle. Or the other way around, or everything in between.
@KamioDream Power consumption is around 0.5W = 100mA @ 5V (Source: youtube.com/watch?v=hRQPkEUqPnE)

Got it! Many thanks!

 

[Shanling]

@Shanling
Any updates regarding the bad noise floor on 4.4mm output?

Easy way to reproduce it:

Connect IEM to 4.4mm output.
Make sure that any audio is actually playing. Else automute will hide the noise floor.
While audio is playing, reduce volume of UA4 to 1.
Bad noise floor is clearly audible.

Doesn't happen for 3.5mm output.

There can be some background hiss audible, depending on used earphones and listener's sensitivity to this. And it will be more prominent on the balanced output than on the 3.5mm.

We are not seeing complaints from other users about noise floor on UA4.

If you believe your UA4 is not working correctly, please contact your seller for warranty check on it.

 

[bavlf]

How much energy does it

Really very little!
To give an idea, connected to a powerbank with a splitter, the powerbank goes into standby position after a few seconds...(i.e. TempoTec Sonata BHDpro)
For example an iBasso dc04pro or E1DA #9038 SG3 does not do it.

 

[HifiFrog]

I can confirm the problem with the increased noise floor on the 4.4mm output on my device.

Using the test from @991 Carrera 4S (play music with volume set to 1):
When I use the 3.5mm output I can hardly hear any noise.
After switching to 4.4mm, the noise is clearly audible.
(I used audio-technica ATH E70 IEMs for testing.)

The noise is also audible while listening to music that has quieter parts or is generally quieter.

To be honest, I really like the UA4.
You can tell that Shanling has done a lot of things right and put in a lot of effort while developing the device.
What I like:

• otherwise very good sound quality
• good looking and high quality case
• the fluid and responsive display (settings menu and animations)
• easy to read screen design
• changeable display font
• the recessed buttons that don't stick out
• independent volume control
• usable for IEMs (lowest volume not too loud, fine volume steps)
• access to digital filters (it's fun to play with them, as they make quiet a difference)
• high quality connectors (no plactic 3.5mm port)

It is a pity that the 4.4mm port is noisy. I have just converted all the remaining headphone cables to 4.4mm. And now I ordered a 3.5mm to 4.4mm adapter yesterday, to "improve" sound quality

Personally, I am not yet sure what I will do now. I ordered my device from China, and don't know how difficult a return would be.

 

[laleeee]

I can confirm the problem with the increased noise floor on the 4.4mm output on my device.

Using the test from @991 Carrera 4S (play music with volume set to 1):
When I use the 3.5mm output I can hardly hear any noise.
After switching to 4.4mm, the noise is clearly audible.
(I used audio-technica ATH E70 IEMs for testing.)

The noise is also audible while listening to music that has quieter parts or is generally quieter.

To be honest, I really like the UA4.
You can tell that Shanling has done a lot of things right and put in a lot of effort while developing the device.
What I like:

• otherwise very good sound quality
• good looking and high quality case
• the fluid and responsive display (settings menu and animations)
• easy to read screen design
• changeable display font
• the recessed buttons that don't stick out
• independent volume control
• usable for IEMs (lowest volume not too loud, fine volume steps)
• access to digital filters (it's fun to play with them, as they make quiet a difference)
• high quality connectors (no plactic 3.5mm port)

It is a pity that the 4.4mm port is noisy. I have just converted all the remaining headphone cables to 4.4mm. And now I ordered a 3.5mm to 4.4mm adapter yesterday, to "improve" sound quality

Personally, I am not yet sure what I will do now. I ordered my device from China, and don't know how difficult a return would be.

I also ordered this from Shenzen Audio, but it hasn't been delivered yet, so I'll probably cancel the order because of this noise
This noise is also present on your other earphones too ?

 

[Shanling]

@Shanling
Any updates regarding the bad noise floor on 4.4mm output?

Easy way to reproduce it:

Connect IEM to 4.4mm output.
Make sure that any audio is actually playing. Else automute will hide the noise floor.
While audio is playing, reduce volume of UA4 to 1.
Bad noise floor is clearly audible.

Doesn't happen for 3.5mm output.

I can confirm the problem with the increased noise floor on the 4.4mm output on my device.

Using the test from @991 Carrera 4S (play music with volume set to 1):
When I use the 3.5mm output I can hardly hear any noise.
After switching to 4.4mm, the noise is clearly audible.
(I used audio-technica ATH E70 IEMs for testing.)

The noise is also audible while listening to music that has quieter parts or is generally quieter.

One thing for you two, can you please tell me which device you using as a source and what file format?

I spent more time on it this morning and while I hear no noise on standard red book files, I sometimes get a bit more on DSD, so we will look more into it.

 

[HifiFrog]

@Shanling I use an iPhone 14 with the latest OS as my playback source. The source format is PCM (ALAC/FLAC via Apple Music and Qobuz).
The problem exists with various USB-C to Lightning adapters (Fiio, ddHifi, Cayin and I can also test others if desired). Maybe someone can also test USB-C directly, but I don't think that will make any difference.

@laleeee I can confirm that the noise can also be heard on other IEMs. I don't have any "big" headphones with which I could currently compare. My adapter will arrive in a few days, then I can compare both ports with bigger headphones and also compare IEMs with exactly the same cable.

 

[laleeee]

@Shanling I use an iPhone 14 with the latest OS as my playback source. The source format is PCM (ALAC/FLAC via Apple Music and Qobuz).
The problem exists with various USB-C to Lightning adapters (Fiio, ddHifi, Cayin and I can also test others if desired). Maybe someone can also test USB-C directly, but I don't think that will make any difference.

@laleeee I can confirm that the noise can also be heard on other IEMs. I don't have any "big" headphones with which I could currently compare. My adapter will arrive in a few days, then I can compare both ports with bigger headphones and also compare IEMs with exactly the same cable.

Maybe it's just your iphone issue