Shanling M8 Review - DAP King

[@valgehiir]

Thank you for nice, to the point, no babble review. Most audio reviews on YT have become unwatchable, reviewers are babbling about packaging and they keep repeating every unimportant detail three times. Thanks again!

[@MrTomWjones]

Congrats on a great review. I recently purchased the M8 to replace a dying Calyx M. I, too, have wondered about the impact from the JFETs. Whatever Shanling did, they did it well.

[@tomfrank2707]

Perhaps I missed it in this great review; but I didn't see or hear anything about the battery life? You used it in balanced 4.4 (I would be using it with balanced 2.5). How long did you find the battery lasted, before you needed to recharge?

[@Soundnews]

Around ~7 hours and a half to max 8 hours with desktop headphones (at ~80 volume) and a bit more with IEMs.

[@shaunpaulwallace]

Thanks. Brilliant review 👍🏻

[@delicate_hifi]

Excellent review, Samu. Is the bass really tight and precise or more smooth and rounded? Still thinking about the Astell and Kern Kann Alpha. Did you maybe have the possibility to compare them?

[@Soundnews]

Hey mate, I've tried only a SP1000 from A&K..was not my cup of tea. M8 has that powerful transistor bass. Its powerful and meaty, but it is also smoother and rounded just a little bit. It's not super tight and precise.

[@MrTomWjones]

@@Soundnews Agreed. It is BOTH at the same time.

[@OptLab]

Hello and thank you for the thorough and agreeable review. Do you experience any latency when playing movies, calls, games in USB dac mode? (might need USB Driver 5.20) Because it's said to be one of the only daps to be usable on computers.

[@Puroplatino]

Can you tell me how you were able to download the Play Store to then add Qobuz and other apps?

[@HiFiGOAudio]

This or the latest DX300 what is your pick??

[@GuavaJuiceBane]

I think I'd go with the Ibasso DX300.

[@cyberstyle2229]

Hi. I was just wondering how this compared to the Sony WM1AM2, and if you'd recommend any more warm DAPs? Thanks so much!

[@philippesandmeier3736]

Hi, great review as usual. I truly enjoy your thoroughness reviewing all aspects of the DAPs you are looking at and the comparisons you provide to others that you've also reviewed. Have you ever had a chance to listen to Lotoo or Luxury & Precision DAPs and if yes, how would you compare the sound to the M8 or M15?

[@Soundnews]

Hi Philippe, sorry I never tried a Lotoo or a L&P DAP.

[@goodnightmoon]

review the new hiby r6 and dx300 too!

[@Guitarmon8]

Hello! Is it possible to use the EQ while listening through Tidal? Thanks!!

[@aceofspades6667]

This looks like I product id like to own at some point. I have a Holo Spring KTE R2R Dac that I love so would bypass the Dac on this when at home. Do you know if you used a coaxial line out does it disable the onboard eq functionality? I have a fiio X7 and when I use line out spdif the eq gets killed so have to used an analog option.

[@Soundnews]

It doesn't have a coaxial output, but does have a line output, let me check if EQ works with line-out

[@yogiwp_]

@@Soundnews I believe they did work on a coax out prototype as one of the exchangeable plug module. I don't know whether they end up releasing it.

[@Soundnews]

@@yogiwp_ I don't see it in the package, user manual says nothing about it, nor its user interface. Would be cool to have that

[@arrakian]

What is your opinion of the M8 compared to the Astell&Kern SP2000?

[@桓宗]

As a m8 owner and heard sp2k before. Sound: both of them are similar, smooth,mild and warm. m8 has better control with bass,suit with mdr-z1r perfectly. sp2000 has better high note and harmonic。 In general, I think sp2000 is better a bit because of tuning。 output power: m8>>>>>>sp2000，if u used to drive headphone but not earphones, dont buy sp2000. sp2000 even cannot drive jvc sw01 well, just a mid-low end headphone. I use m8 to drive final d8000, it can not say drive perfectly, but 70-80％ well. just a personal view, please dont trust it 100％. Thank u

[@petrpulpytel]

Hi Sandu, I saw the GL2000 on your table, do you prepare a review? 😀 your opinion is highly valued👍

[@Soundnews]

Hi Petr, working on that...it should be ready in about 3 days.

[@petrpulpytel]

@@Soundnews Thanks Sandu for your great work👍, im very interested for your opinion, because there is a little controversy by these hp : Z: best hp in the world, BGGAR: they are very good (I agree with him, I like these hp for my music), Headphone show: they are not good at all...

[@dougleydorite]

Do you think this would pair well with lcd-4z or would it be too warm?

[@blanchedesmas]

I already have the FiiO M11 Pro but I want to upgrade. I follow your reviews about the M8 from Shanling and the FiiO and I am confused about both of them for my purchase. What would be your configuration between those 2? I like a DAP with a good fluidity on navigation. Thank you for your time, and BRAVO fro the quality of your reviews.

[@arrakian]

Hello, What is the latest Android OS the M8 can run? I like DAPs but I don’t want it to be unsupported with 3rd-party apps several years from now.

[@CLaudiusClemensJimmy]

detailed & clear & easy to understand for me, thanks. anyway have u did a review on cayin n6ii yet?

[@yogiwp_]

Very tempted to get one of the higher end DAPs but I can't deal with how large and heavy they are. DX300 is going in the right direction but it's still too tall and not that slim. For my daily use they have to be comfortably pocketable (I never carry a bag around unless I'm travelling). For people that use these daily, how do you carry them around?

[@valgehiir]

I don't think people carry these large DAPs with them, at least not in a pocket. I like Fiio M15, for example, but it is too heavy, and I refuse to wear a bag for a player, I hate these male hand bags. If these premium players were not milled from block of Aluminum, they would be much lighter, but milled from block of metal looks nice and gives the premium feel in order to justify rather idiotic near $2000 price tags.

[@greenneon9606]

Salut, Sandu! Produsele de pe site-ul HiFIGO ajung și în italia? Si în cât timp ajunge pachetul?

[@zappakama35]

How about playing classical music in general ...? Are they good enough ? Thank you again !

[@lextr3110]

did you compare with dx300?

[@Soundnews]

nope, don't have that one

[@zappakama35]

Will you review the M6 Pro ? Congratulations for the rest of your work and for so long now ! Please ; Could you tell us if any of the DAP Shanling M8 M6 Pro and M3X and the rest of respectable DAPS like Fiio iBasso can work with Qobuz ( streaming )... I don't think I can recall from any KZbin review videos a specific video on how work the different DAP with streaming or card reading... Thanks a lot anyway !

[@RESURRECT2]

This or M9 or Fiio M17/M27?

[@dioncassius4348]

Those swapable headphone sockets are great.. Good one, Sandu! Thx

[@mariusa943]

Great review

[@ztanizlaf]

Спасибо за обзор!

[@DaKerim58]

You could also use it as a weapon :) Thanks for that nice review:)

[@Soundnews]

Of course you can ;)

[@N3ukenInD3K3uken]

0:38 my uncle Fred is big and heavy but the only kind of power he has is an extremely increased attraction to the gravity of planet earth

[@Soundnews]

You just won the internet!

[@Flavius7]

Me FIIO fanboy, me thinks FIIO nr.1. Me thinks FIIO design better, but whatever preferences a man has it's impossible not to appreciate Ibasso's work.

[@Soundnews]

iBasso's work? Pass that joint bro' :)

[@Flavius7]

@@Soundnews Shanling, Ibasso, same thing. It comes out of China and is not Fiio 😄😄 I read an article about Ibasso DX300 before this. Guess I was still hooked up😄

[@petermartin9494]

i wish I was rich when I see a video like this.

[@suntanglory]

I hope the power rating of 14 hrs single ended and 9hrs bal. is from the turbo mode as the low and high gain mode on both ended is too weak to even talk about. The amplification on this m8 is strange,why would anyone spend this much on a dap just to use less than 50mw of power is beyond me.Even a cheap dongle has more than 50mw of power.Shanling,how do you guys reason over there?

[@nir8924]

0:38 .. and that was the shortest review I've ever watched on KZbin 😢

[@ericwilestech]

Yeah, you said that this is driving headphones like a desktop amp, it's a size of one LOL!

[@garychowhm]

Good luck with the headphone socket hahaha

[@slair76116]

Doesn't it look exactly like the Sony ?

[@AF-rd2vf]

UI seems a little slow.

[@valgehiir]

I love how they shamelessly copied Sony top DAP design and ergonomics, but the swappable Headphones Out adaptor is genius.

[@datdudeinred]

Nicest looking? You should put your hands on ibasso dx300 then 😎😉. Has more power. Future upgradable w/ interchangeable amps. Better battery life still. NOT android 7.0 Cheaper than m8 Has all ports available at same moment. So Sandu pls try to get dx300 for comparison.

[@Soundnews]

I've tried two times, iBasso isn't responding to my emails. Cool looking device though

[@Soundnews]

@TheRoswellCrash You tell me. If they don't care, I don't care also.

[@datdudeinred]

@TheRoswellCrash Yeah sound wise shanling will beat it i think. Still happy with my hiby r5.

[@RyuMasterEX]

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