Shanling M3X Portable Lossless Digital Audio Player & USB DAC

Product Information

Exciting News is the SDM430 has QC 3.0 and can be topped up in around 1hour 40 mins with a 15w charger. Using a 10w charger will take around 2 hours and 30 mins. There is more and more software and hardware supporting this licensed codec and the M3X is considered one of the more advanced MQA streaming players in the market right now. Gear used​Lotoo PAW S1, iFi GO Blu, Shanling M3X, IKKO OH10, THIEAUDIO Clairvoyance, UM MEXT, Moondrop Variations and Sennheiser HD560S. Part 1 - Non-Audio Opinions​As mentioned above, if you’re not interested in the following, you can skip straight to Part 2 for my sound impressions. However, I'll keep this part very short as I'll only cover things that matter. There is a hint of warmth in the mids that adds to the lushness of the vocal and paints the whole picture softer. This works well with expressive music and balances out the tighter clean treble.

Shanling M3X vs FiiO M11 PRO (340 USD vs 650 USD) – This may seem like an unfair comparison, as M3X is far cheaper than M11 PRO, but being cheaper in price does not necessarily mean that it is cheaper in build or features. From the start, the battery life is better on M3X, and driving power is much better on M11 PRO on Single Ended. In fact, M11 PRO has on single ended as much as M3X has on balanced, and the balanced of M11 PRO is far better than even that. M11 PRO is still a killer DAP in general, but if you need a downsized version of that, there is nothing from FiiO to fill in the gaps, so I would like to nominate M3X as the best option there if you loved M11 PRO, and wanted to get something for half the price, and for about half the driving power. M3X is sweeter in the midrange, has a similar bass presentation to M11 PRO, and a deeper presentation, with a more rounded presentation, where M11 PRO is wider than it is deep. M11 PRO has better detailing and overall clarity, but not twice as good, so for budget-limited folks, M3X may be able to give that better price / performance ratio if M11 PRO doesn’t cut it. The overall treble is a bit more sparkly on M11 PRO, with M3X having a smoother and more refined treble, being more forgiving. Now moving on the audio specs it uses dual ES9219C DAC chip which gets help from KDS crystal oscillators. In single ended mode the separation has improved from 65db with M5s to 75db and balanced crosstalk goes super high to 115DB. Apple Music 3.7.2 on another Android 10 device (from Google Play, albeit) works great, suggesting it's not something intrinsic in Apple Music. The shrunken size is 25% smaller and lighter than the M6 or M6 Pro players and is perfectly portable for those who want to sacrifice some decoding and amping power for portability. As explained by Shanling, the M3X was designed to be a scaled-down version of the flagship model M8, to be as functional and smaller in size, measuring only 109*72*15.9mm. The design resembles the flagship M8 yet it is so much lighter and compact to carry.DAC&s: DragonFly Cobalt, FiiO Q5s, Hiby FC3, iFi audio ZEN CAN Signature 6XX / ZEN DAC Signature, Schiit Vali 2 / Modi Multibit, INTRODUCTION: I wrote the review after 150/200 hours of listening (more or less). The curiosity of listening to a Dac Saber (ES9219C) mounted on a Shanling was remarkable. I had listened to the Shanling M6 Pro (loaned by my friend Xinlisupreme) and I must say I enjoyed it greatly. M6 Pro is equipped with the AKM AK4497EQ Dac and therefore with M3X I was able to have a term of comparison from the point of view of the converter, because otherwise M6 Pro stands at a price range higher than M3X. Although M3X. For all these reasons, the Shanling M3X is a true value for money proposition and certainly earns a place in our highly recommended DAPs list. Shanling M3X Specifications Testing on the various app the MQA unfolding technology you will hear more resolution and better separation, also slightly higher dynamics, this is definitely a hearable difference that adds to the musicality.

Ultrasone PRO900i) Fiio FH9 w/Fiio LC RE Pro 2022) Single DAC mode is smoother and more relaxing sounding. It isn't as resolving nor is it as detailed as dual DAC mode, but I can see myself using Single DAC mode on days when I want better battery life or a smoother sounding experience.

With Dual DAC on, you get better detail retrieval, better separation, more resolution, crispier notes. INSIDE: System: Open Android 7.1.1, with AGLO, very fluid, smooth. Excellent brightness and visibility even in sunlight. CPU: 8-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Part 3 - Sound Configuration Settings​Here is where I describe the sound differences between different outputs, lowpass filters, gain modes, and DAC modes. The M3X uses Shanling’s proprietary AGLO (Android Global Lossless Output) technology to bypass Android limitations and not degrade or downsample data, supporting up to 32/384 kHz sampling.

In some ways, Shanling became a much better company after splitting from Hiby, but not because Hiby wasn’t great, but because Hiby offers a more limited support to their partners, compared to the support they can offer for their own DAPs.

At the end of the day, it is an all-rounder, so if you need a high-quality DAP that can sound really amazing on Balanced, have tons of power, also on balanced, and which has a warm, beautiful display, and a refined, musical sound, Shanling M3X would be more than happy to oblige and make you happy for years to come. The place you’ll wanna go is the Audio settings, as that’s the only really interesting place in M3X’s settings menu. The Headphone output can be configured to work as a Line Out, there are multiple filter modes, and M3X can work in Dual or Single DAC mode. It is possible to select the Boot and Max Volume, and what codec Bluetooth will be trying to use. M3X also has Airplay and a Vehicle mode. Before the detailed sound breakdown, I want to tell you that the difference between the bal. and unbal. output is bigger than I thought it would be. I am using the same cable with the same earphones and hearing much better layering and a wider, deeper soundstage from the balanced output. The single-end sounds somewhat linear, somewhat compressed compared to the balanced and the difference is not negligible.The heat in question does not invade and does not invalidate either the clarity of the sound or its three-dimensionality which is not very large but far more than sufficient. M3X combined with very easy to drive IEMs (like the Faerless S8P) amplify this factor even more. But this obviously happens a little with all the IEMs I've tried, and logically with different results. Whether they like it or not becomes a subjective factor.