Shanling M0
Portable Music Player

Hello Beastie

Shanling M0

We finally take a look at Shanling’s most popular toy recently, the Shanling M0. Check out how this little monster performs.

Intro

Shanling has been making very impressive and sexy looking DAPs recently, yet this tiny monster is something else. We reviewed the Shanling M2s and M3s before, and the latter made it to our Portable Player Recommendations. They certainly know how a DAP should perform, but the M0 definitely is another thing of beauty.

An extremely popular device at the moment, the Shanling M0 is the company’s answer to those who look for an ultraportable audiophile solution. We would’ve liked to publish this review earlier, but we’re very full with all kinds of gear all the time, so it’s not easy to make a publishing plan in a short period.

By now I think everyone has an idea about Shanling already, about what they do and what they’re all about. They’re also going to release their new high end M5s DAP soon, with the additions of 2 In Ear Monitors, which might be a surprise for some. We will get these new toys from Shanling eventually and you’ll find their reviews on Headfonia as well.

THE BEASTIE

This is an extremely small, lightweight and super pocketable device. It shares the same design characteristics of the previous models, yet it has an additional touchscreen feature. I suggested Shanling to go with touchscreens in my review of the M3S, and I guess they were already thinking about it beforehand. The wheel operation wasn’t the most ideal solution, because the wheels are somewhat prone to fail over time, especially if you use your device very often.

That’s not it though. The Shanling M0 also has great features for its tiny size: It plays DSD (even native for 64!) and all type of files you put into it. You can use it as a USB DAC. You can also use it almost like a “bluetooth module” as I prefer to call it because of its size. What I mean is that you can connect your smartphone wirelessly to use your streaming applications. Speaking of bluetooth, it has LDAC and aptX as well. So it’s a very very feature packed device for its size & price level.

DESIGN

The DAPs I reviewed recently from Shanling have good build quality levels, especially for the price. This is not much different from previous ones, but has important improvements nonetheless. First of all this is a refreshing design with a 1.54 inch touch screen. That means you no longer need to worry about the volume wheel’s lifetime.

Another difference is that it doesn’t have a glass back, which I think is better from the reliability standpoint. The screen itself is very nice and has good color range, more than enough for this kind of a player.

I must say the player also is very eye catching with its design and small form factor. I received some questions from my colleagues in the office and people at home, questions like “what’s this thing? It looks cool”. I said it was a DAP and they were quite surprised how small it was.

BUILD

The device has a robust, monoblock chassis that is made from aluminum, which is great. It also doesn’t get scratched easily. The volume pot is thinner now and that makes it less vulnerable to knocks & blows. It also serves as a power button, which makes the DAP easy to use. The screen has curved glass on the sides, so it feels very smooth and beautiful in hand. Looks-wise I think it’s stellar and sweet. The purple one that I received is very hot looking. Even though I didn’t ask for any specific color, I really like it.

To be honest, I’m not sure I can ask for more in terms of overall build and design.

SOFTWARE

Small screens usually aren’t good for simple usage, but Shanling has managed to load a beautiful software to this device. The user interface is well thought of, very compatible with the size limitation of the screen. Swipe left & right for easily navigating between menus, touch the big icons in the main menu, swipe right for going back in any screen. You can also tap and hold anywhere on the screen to go back to main menu. Very simple, easy and smooth. I also noticed that the device boots and shuts down pretty fast.

Speaking of smoothness, you need to update your device to the newest version of software. Right now it’s 2.1, but the biggest difference was with the 2.0 update. With 2.0 software the device is much faster and smoother in terms of UI animations and overall navigation. 2.1 version fixed some small bugs after the essential 2.0 version. Updating the device is quite easy as well. Just put the file on your SD Card (FAT32) and go to update, inside the settings.

USAGE

If you have big hands this is not the easiest device to work with, since it’s very small. To be honest it took some time for me to adjust as well. Nevertheless, I’m sure after some time of getting used to it, you’re going to be just fine. Especially if you do sports or go to the gym and listen to music during those kind of activities, this is the perfect device. I did some walking in the park with it, and I have to say, using this device is a joyful experience.

One thing which is really nice is the double tap feature on the wheel. You can assign three modes to it, which are next, previous and play/pause. So if you want to skip a song, just press the power/volume button two times and you’re good. You don’t have to take your device out of your pocket.

Overall the experience is quite nice, but it takes some time to adjust. The size of the device makes the whole package very attractive, but at the same time things are not so straightforward. You need to spend time with the player to be comfortable with its UI and physical shape. Tapping on a small screen, using a very thin volume knob and etc., all requires some getting used to. The bigger your hands are, the more difficulty you’ll have. Yet I think this is quite normal.

SETTINGS & BATTERY

Settings-wise you have channel balance, gain setting, max & default volume settings, gapless playback, skipping between folders, playing modes like shuffle and several filter options for sound. There’s no manual EQ, which is understandable since it would be very hard to set with a tiny screen. There are some presets instead.

Battery life is pretty good too, even though I didn’t measure it in detail. It’s very efficient on stand by as well. I mistakenly left the device open for a week, and when I got back to it, there wasn’t a significant battery drain. That means it preserves the battery on stand by quite well.

SOUND

While the Shanling M2S is an organic and warm sounding DAP, the M3s is pretty much neutral and close to flat sounding with much better technicalities. The M3S is one of my favorites for the price range, and it made it to our recommended list successfully at the start of this year. Let’s see how the M0 performs regarding the sound.

First of all this technically is a strong device for its size. The power output is pretty good for most portable gear out there. Additionally, the output impedance is very low. It has an ESS 9218p DAC chip as well, and the noise floor is superb for its competition level. OK there’s some really low amount of hiss with very sensitive IEMs, but you probably won’t notice it most of the time.

The M0 is a linear and clean sounding DAP with an easy-to-like sound presentation. It has good quality bass and mids, and slightly laid back thick trebles. The overall presentation is on the warmer side just a notch, which gives the DAP good musicality. It’s surprisingly good for the price and performs very good pound for the money. To be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect from this tiny thing, but now I have a good idea of its sound. Let’s begin with the lows.

BASS

The Shanling M0 doesn’t have a bass quantity that will please the people who love deep, hard hitting lows. It instead is on the leaner side, sounding moderate with a small presence. It’s not very impactful but it’s there and it’s not hard to track. On the upper parts of the bass it’s not very bold as well, but midbass is still good enough to give the DAP a nice body, although not being present too much.

Lows don’t go very deep but it’s not bad either. There’s no full EQ to have more oomph, but I think more bass quantity and harder hits could made this player sound very busy and congested, and that type of bass could blend into the lower mid range. So I think Shanling did a nice job to give this DAP a pretty nice bass but not too much to control.

The layering and texture is not like what you would expect from DAPs that costs over 500$, but I don’t have complaints for this price. The overall quantity I think is ideal for this kind of a player, not a fun type of bass, yet realistic. The control on the mid bass part is very nice and that way the separation from the mids is good. The whole resolution of the bass is lacking compared to the more advanced DAPs, but it wasn’t a surprise to me in the first place.

MIDS

To begin with, the M0 has very good mids, especially for the tonality side. This is the most impressive side of this player in my opinion. Tonality is very nice and it has good timbre, recreating very nice notes and the note size is pretty good. The mids overall sound natural and realistic, not very clear but not bloated or muddy either.

I wouldn’t say it’s neutral in mids, I would say slightly warm instead but that’s perfectly fine for me. It can also give you some fine details on instruments and transparency is very good for the price. Quantity wise they are not forward or elevated, but they don’t feel recessed to me either. Mids have good positioning and a realistic distance in the stage, which makes this DAP easy to listen to.

TREBLES

I found the highs of the M0 quite thick and I think this is not the most natural treble presentation. The sparkle and fine detail is missing on some occasions, making the DAP sound undetailed. The positive side is that there’s no harshness or peaks, just like the rest of the spectrum. But if you love your highs this device won’t give you the best of times.

Of course I don’t expect a high end presentation here, but just a bit more detail and extension would make this DAP even more amazing for its size. Is this a deal breaker? No, this DAP already has good qualities for its very small price, but I just wanted a little bit more in this part. Still the highs sound clean thanks to its good background blackness, and they sound separated from the mids. The articulation though is not great.

TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE The M0 has an excellent black background. The player has good separation and transparency for that matter, and good positioning. Sound stage is of course not wide, it is pretty close and intimate instead. Also the layers between frequencies are not distinct and that’s why everything feels like just left & right. The stage depth is not on a high level because of that.

There are no noticeable hiccups or dents in its frequency presentation, although I wanted to hear a little more detail and extension up on top. I think it is still an almost flawless presentation for this price, and I don’t have much complaints for its overall performance. Resolution, transparency and tonal balance are all very good and strong. The dynamism is quite good as well, but it’s easily noticeable that better sources put a big margin in there.

Power wise it’s all good for almost any portable device, although not the same can be said for full size, demanding headphones, so be aware.

COMPARISONS

vs Shanling M2S: M2s is a very nice player but I think it became a little bit irrelevant when we have the M0. The M2s has an even warmer sound, with the same qualities at a higher price and a bigger body. It also doesn’t have a touch screen, so I think M0 is a no-brainer.

vs Shanling M3S: The M3s is one of our recommendations for DAPs. It has a neutral presentation, better staging and layering, balanced output and a bigger screen and body. This will depend on your choice of use, either an active type of use or a more audiophile-like use. The sure thing is the M3s is better in terms of pure sound performance.

vs Cayin N3

: I love the Cayin N3 for its flat sound. The M0 sounds warmer and slightly fuller in the mid range. It sounds a little bit darker as well, but with a smaller staging performance. The N3 has a better treble response, with more detail and extension. I also think that the N3 has a notch better separation. But software and usage wise the M0 puts up a big difference I think.

CONCLUSION

For its very small price and footprint, very good usage and sound performance altogether, the M0 has made it to our Portable Player Recommendations. It sounds good, performs good and the amount of features were just enough to convince me to make this decision. I can’t think of an extremely small player like this which has these features in an all in one package. Maybe the upcoming Hidisz AP80 will also be impressive, but that’s Lieven’s job to analyse.

I recommend the M0 to everyone who has an active lifestyle, who has good IEMs for sport and etc. and wants to have a good sound quality from their sources.