Shanling M3X Portable Lossless Digital Audio Player & USB DAC

Product Information

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. With Hifiman and Final Audio’s TWS earphones tested on the M3X for a few train rides, I am not experiencing any issues. MQA Customers are to bear the consequences and fees incurred, if the parcel was undelivered due to any of the following situation: The M3X is equipped with the new Dual ES9219C DAC chips, a chipset that is not yet widely used. Shanling has USD Sabre before, for example, the Q1, but further up, such as the M6 Pro, you will notice they use AKM chipsets so this new ESS implementation will give the M3X a different character in sound.

Its forgiving bass and adequate resolving power work well with different genres of music. It will easily impress if you are migrating from the previous-gen players or phones. Tantalum capacitors are used in the circuitry to enhance dynamics and Shanling also puts in custom coded FPGA chipsets, KDS Femto grade oscillators to lower jitter. I find the linear phase filter to sound more natural, with fuller bass and better timbral characteristics. 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. Hiby R6 2020​The bigger R6 does everything better in terms of sound quality and power under the hood. It is also super big and chunky. I found using the light M3X more enjoyable and it didn’t heat up nearly as fast as the R6 2020. While the R6 and M3X both have a warmer tuning, the R6 has a more detailed and natural sound. If battery life and portability are the main focus, I think the M3X is a better EDC device. The R6 2020 is my favorite around the house or when I need to do more critical listening.Compared to phones or entry-level DAPs this will still be a good upgrade that sounds more spacious and with instruments more separated and defined.

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. Audio-wise, Shanling used the ESS’s ES9219C DACs in dual mode, which can offer high efficiency and x16 MQA support. Shanling also used large-capacity AVX tantalum capacitors to further enhance the low-frequency performance of the M3X. Additionally, they integrated two Japanese KDS crystal-oscillators and combined them with their custom FPGA algorithm to improve the performance and decoding capabilities of the M3X. 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. FiiO JH3​I have a hard time using the JH3 due to the rather intense treble. It has a very sharp and piercing upper energy that just doesn't work well for me. I did this pairing due to the neutral treble the M3X provides. It did indeed help calm the violence down a bit in the upper treble and while it was still a little too bright up top for me, I was at least able to listen to it longer than normal. The Lows are still fairly ok with a little more fullness. The mids still have a slight grainy sound but since it’s much more tolerable, I was able to get a feel for the instruments and vocals. I thought the M3X did a good job of handling the treble and I got decent detail retrieval from the JH3. The staging was just a bit more open than I remember with other gear.

IEM pairing opinions​

Dragging down the top menu you will see several areas being customized and you can access a pure music mode that forces close other apps, tweak filter settings, and switch between single/dual DACs. In the Shanling Music app, you could access your NAS’s music files with DLNA, use Airplay, Synclink also transferring songs over 5GHz wifi. Android Global Lossless Output (AGLO) Technology Shanling M3X is a high-end DAP priced at 340 USD, with one microSD slot, Balanced output, MQA support, and up to 23 hours of battery life from a single charge. The main competition is going to include iBasso DX160, FiiO M11 PRO, Shanling M2X, and iFi xDSD. M3X is a downsized variation of M8, rather than a downgrade, so a lot of the awesome tech and advantages found on the Shanling Flagship can be found on M3X. BT/TWS: Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 pro, Liberty Air 2 pro | Soundpeats Truengine 3 SE, Sonic, H1, Capsule3 Pro | KZ SK10 | Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2 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.