Fixed, thanks it was a setting in the tablet's audio settings that forced the keys to work for volume and not for other uses.
Introducing Shanling UA3 - Our first Portable USB DAC/AMP with brand new generation of AKM DAC!
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Shanling UA3: the return of AKM's Velvet Sound
I recently purchased this dongle also because I have always been in love with the sound of Shanlings with AKM chips which were off the market for a while due to the fire that hit AKM in Japan. My old Shanling M6 OG, equipped with double AKM 4495SEQ, still has a truly special sound today, for those like me, who prefer the musicality and warmth of an analogue sound as opposed to a more detailed but inevitably colder and drier one. I had been looking for a while on the Shanling site for something that could come close to the sound of my beloved M6 when my eye fell on this little dongle. The price was inviting (100 euros) and the features were even more so... finally the return of the AKM chips in the expert hands of Shanling engineers who know very well how to use them. Let's talk a bit about its characteristics before getting into the meat of the matter and that is how it sounds... equipped as we were saying, with an AKM 4493SEQ chip capable of decoding up to 32bit/768kz and DSD 512 and with a double Ricore RT6863 amplification module (the same as its big brother UA5) which allows it to generate 211 mw with 32 ohm loads in balanced mode. Its characteristics are well above its price range with a signal to noise ratio of less than 0.0003 and a very low output impedance (0.3 ohm in unbalanced and just 0.8 in balanced) allowing it to amplify IEMs from very low impedance with zero background noise. All these features combined with a high level voltage for such a small dongle (2volts SE / 2.8volts BA) make it perfect for being connected upstream of an amplifier as for use in pure DAC mode. Also equipped with buttons for adjusting the volume and changing tracks, it concludes with the classic final cherry... one of the lowest electricity consumptions of all dongles. Now let's get to how it sounds... let's say right away that right out of the box it won't make a great impression on you... but anyone who knows a little about the DACs from the renowned Asahi Kasei Microdevices also knows well that they need significant running-in. I first became acquainted with their chips when I purchased the Questyle QP2R... still today considered one of the daps with a truly "magical" sound and not just for the time in which it came out. But let's go back to the UA3, we were saying it needs several hours of sound to express what it has to express... and that is a sound without edges, warm but not too much, forgiving with the less successful recordings, but no less revealing and rich in detail, with incredibly natural and sweet mids at the same time and with fairly extended highs but always well within the limits of timbral correctness and far from excessive brightness that distracts the listener and annoys him. The word that best represents the sound of the UA3 is naturalness, even if the tone is slightly warmer than neutrality this is much less so than the first implementations made with these chips... now the sound is more natural, more balanced, less colored. Its soul however remains that of a very analogue chip for a delta/sigma but this time everything is less muffled, less tending towards softness, less permissive on the quality of the recording, but not excessively revealing and analysing. The details are there, the nuances are there, the pure nuances, but unlike other DACs, here they are not so "in your face". It's all there... but it's a whole without any excess even when the excess is there he doesn't let it shine through and even less does it amplify it... the result is a soft but not artificial sound, without excess but also without defects, without particular predilection for a specific range but not widespread and scattered, compact but no less extensive, dense but no less fluid. Listening to the UA3 for hours will not cause you the slightest effort, but this does not mean you will be tempted to change it for something more aggressive and with greater resolution. All the features are there at your disposal but without excesses of any kind, neither in one sense nor in the other. This is the new direction of the AKM chips tuned by Shanling... they keep their soul called Velvet Sound but this time in version 2.0 and it is truly a privilege to listen to this sound re-emerge from the ashes like a phoenix... immutable after its death. .. renewed in its return to life. Well done Shanling and well done AKM!!!
I recently purchased this dongle also because I have always been in love with the sound of Shanlings with AKM chips which were off the market for a while due to the fire that hit AKM in Japan. My old Shanling M6 OG, equipped with double AKM 4495SEQ, still has a truly special sound today, for those like me, who prefer the musicality and warmth of an analogue sound as opposed to a more detailed but inevitably colder and drier one. I had been looking for a while on the Shanling site for something that could come close to the sound of my beloved M6 when my eye fell on this little dongle. The price was inviting (100 euros) and the features were even more so... finally the return of the AKM chips in the expert hands of Shanling engineers who know very well how to use them. Let's talk a bit about its characteristics before getting into the meat of the matter and that is how it sounds... equipped as we were saying, with an AKM 4493SEQ chip capable of decoding up to 32bit/768kz and DSD 512 and with a double Ricore RT6863 amplification module (the same as its big brother UA5) which allows it to generate 211 mw with 32 ohm loads in balanced mode. Its characteristics are well above its price range with a signal to noise ratio of less than 0.0003 and a very low output impedance (0.3 ohm in unbalanced and just 0.8 in balanced) allowing it to amplify IEMs from very low impedance with zero background noise. All these features combined with a high level voltage for such a small dongle (2volts SE / 2.8volts BA) make it perfect for being connected upstream of an amplifier as for use in pure DAC mode. Also equipped with buttons for adjusting the volume and changing tracks, it concludes with the classic final cherry... one of the lowest electricity consumptions of all dongles. Now let's get to how it sounds... let's say right away that right out of the box it won't make a great impression on you... but anyone who knows a little about the DACs from the renowned Asahi Kasei Microdevices also knows well that they need significant running-in. I first became acquainted with their chips when I purchased the Questyle QP2R... still today considered one of the daps with a truly "magical" sound and not just for the time in which it came out. But let's go back to the UA3, we were saying it needs several hours of sound to express what it has to express... and that is a sound without edges, warm but not too much, forgiving with the less successful recordings, but no less revealing and rich in detail, with incredibly natural and sweet mids at the same time and with fairly extended highs but always well within the limits of timbral correctness and far from excessive brightness that distracts the listener and annoys him. The word that best represents the sound of the UA3 is naturalness, even if the tone is slightly warmer than neutrality this is much less so than the first implementations made with these chips... now the sound is more natural, more balanced, less colored. Its soul however remains that of a very analogue chip for a delta/sigma but this time everything is less muffled, less tending towards softness, less permissive on the quality of the recording, but not excessively revealing and analysing. The details are there, the nuances are there, the pure nuances, but unlike other DACs, here they are not so "in your face". It's all there... but it's a whole without any excess even when the excess is there he doesn't let it shine through and even less does it amplify it... the result is a soft but not artificial sound, without excess but also without defects, without particular predilection for a specific range but not widespread and scattered, compact but no less extensive, dense but no less fluid. Listening to the UA3 for hours will not cause you the slightest effort, but this does not mean you will be tempted to change it for something more aggressive and with greater resolution. All the features are there at your disposal but without excesses of any kind, neither in one sense nor in the other. This is the new direction of the AKM chips tuned by Shanling... they keep their soul called Velvet Sound but this time in version 2.0 and it is truly a privilege to listen to this sound re-emerge from the ashes like a phoenix... immutable after its death. .. renewed in its return to life. Well done Shanling and well done AKM!!!
lambdastorm
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2016
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Nice review Polky! Mirrors my feelings when I first got them. I've had them for 9 months now. They are the first dongle to feature the 4493S, and what's funny is that it wouldn't be a year and a half later until another 4493S dongle hit the market. Actually two dongles not one. both colorfly and AK released their 4493S dongle last month. I took delivery of Colorfly's M1Pro 3 days ago and imho compared to UA3 it is the better dongle. Will also be trying out the AK HC4 when I got the chance. There's just some magic about the AK chip that neither ESS nor Cirrus can replicate.
I took the Moondrop Starfield OG out of the drawer, which I hadn't used for a while, and of all the dongles I chose to listen to them again with the UA3. Truly a fantastic pairing... the softness of the Starfield sound combined with the magic of the UA3 sound. Really worth trying. 
How can I upgrade the firmware if I only have Mac OSX or iOS? The download appears to be for Windows pc only
Osikiri
New Head-Fier
Is it safe to roll back to the old firmware 01.01.07, using the writing tools included in the zip file of 01.01.07?
I updated my UA3 to the latest version 01.01.09 but after that I am experiencing some problem.
So I'd like to try the old firmware if writing the old .hex file doesn't break my UA3.
I updated my UA3 to the latest version 01.01.09 but after that I am experiencing some problem.
So I'd like to try the old firmware if writing the old .hex file doesn't break my UA3.
Available here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dP45MuiQf2XuqsA3x3RuGoXstVW29alc/view?usp=drive_link
Please be aware that any firmware downgrade is done at your own risk.
superuser1
Headphoneus Supremus
I faced the same issue but after a few connections and disconnections it seems to be working as it was earlier.
Osikiri
New Head-Fier
Actually, my issue with the version 09 is random small tick noise during playback, connected to Pixel 8 Pro. I understand there are so many different Android phones so its very hard to satisfy all those different OS modifications! I concluded that I would just be happy with the older ver 07 firmware.
superuser1
Headphoneus Supremus
Do you have the moondrop link app installed?Actually, my issue with the version 09 is random small tick noise during playback, connected to Pixel 8 Pro. I understand there are so many different Android phones so its very hard to satisfy all those different OS modifications! I concluded that I would just be happy with the older ver 07 firmware.
Osikiri
New Head-Fier
I installed the 'Eddict Player' app for Shanling devices on my Pixel 8 Pro, and until yesterday I have tweaked the low/high gain options and low-pass filter options but could not eliminate the tick noise I'm experiencing. So I decided to try rewriting the original ver 07 firmware on my UA3 later today..
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