[rlw6534]

I don't really like that one, doesn't seem to be as powerful as the M3X.

Definitely not as powerful as M3X (with no balanced circuit) although, depending on your headphones/IEMs, it might not matter. When on sale, it is the least expensive full android DAP that I am aware of... And it's a Sony. The dongle suggestion is also a good one for less $$$. What phone and headphone do you have now?

 

[exile1973]

Definitely not as powerful as M3X (with no balanced circuit) although, depending on your headphones/IEMs, it might not matter. When on sale, it is the least expensive full android DAP that I am aware of... The dongle suggestion is also a good one for less $$$. What phone and headphone do you have now?

They had them at £150 in prime day sale here in UK and still wasn't tempted due to EU volume limit and it being android no easy cool to remove that like I did on my 45. Also battery life is shocking, even worse than my dx160

 

[rlw6534]

They had them at £150 in prime day sale here in UK and still wasn't tempted due to EU volume limit and it being android no easy cool to remove that like I did on my 45. Also battery life is shocking, even worse than my dx160

Yeah, the EU volume limit would be a deal-breaker for me as well. Mine is a JDM model so no issue. The battery life is indeed pretty bad but at least it charges fast...

 

[exile1973]

Yeah, the EU volume limit would be a deal-breaker for me as well. Mine is a JDM model so no issue. The battery life is indeed pretty bad but at least it charges fast...

Good point, my phone is shot for battery but charges in an hour or so so can live with it. But the volume limit on the 105 would make it useless with a lot of my phones

 

[vikibeats]

Yeah, the EU volume limit would be a deal-breaker for me as well. Mine is a JDM model so no issue. The battery life is indeed pretty bad but at least it charges fast...

but if we talk about the nw-zx500 model, how can it be better than the m3x model?

 

[Aramaki]

@Shanling Not sure if this has been asked before but when the screen is off on my M3X, the control buttons don't work, does not matter which app I use (Hiby Music, Neutron, UAPP or Poweramp), not the case on my DX160, is this normal or is there a setting I can enable?

 

[holsen]

@Shanling Not sure if this has been asked before but when the screen is off on my M3X, the control buttons don't work, does not matter which app I use (Hiby Music, Neutron, UAPP or Poweramp), not the case on my DX160, is this normal or is there a setting I can enable?

Yes, its a setting. Go to Settings > General > Key Lock Enable All (make sure they are green)

 

[zikarus]

So it wouldn't be worth it for me?

I'd say it depends. I once had a few DAPs and worked myself up to an A+K SE100, almost a totl device. Great sounding it was indeed but after I had later bought a good dongle for my phone and realised that I could not perceive a very large difference in sound quality I sold the A+K and quit with DAPs. Used my phone having the smoother UI and all the apps already on board.

Now, another year or so later I changed my mind again and lately bought an M3X. Why? Not because of sound but because of two things: 1) I really missed dedicated buttons on my phone since I mainly have listening sessions at night and hated to lighten up my phone screen in bed (after having to fumble around to unlock the phone first) just to be able to jump to the next track of an album or back to a former track. And 2) I did not like the impossibility to listen to music and load the battery at the same time (since the dongle blocks the USB C port).

 

[rlw6534]

but if we talk about the nw-zx500 model, how can it be better than the m3x model?

That's a tough one, they are very different in that the Sony is all in-house proprietary hardware with no off-the-shelf DACs, etc. Some people really like the Sony sound and others, maybe not. For me, the ZX507 paired with the IER-M9 is my preferred higher-end setup but that comes at a $$$ cost. There is no doubt that the M3X is competitive in it's own way (chi-fi) and represents an outstanding value. That's why I own one. And the battery life is great...

 

[vikibeats]

That's a tough one, they are very different in that the Sony is all in-house proprietary hardware with no off-the-shelf DACs, etc. Some people really like the Sony sound and others, maybe not. For me, the ZX507 paired with the IER-M9 is my preferred higher-end setup but that comes at a $$$ cost. There is no doubt that the M3X is competitive in it's own way (chi-fi) and represents an outstanding value. That's why I own one. And the battery life is great...

I really love sony, I have nw-a45 and xba-n1ap headphones, sony wh-1000xm4 and wf 1000xm3. I want to update, it is unclear whether there will be something new from sony this year. and I have the opportunity to take a new m3x shanling for 270 dollars. Sony nw-zx507, in turn, is almost three times more expensive and with poor autonomy, so I can't make a decision. I think that shanling m3x + headphones from sony will be a good bundle.
what do you think ?

 

[Aramaki]

Yes, its a setting. Go to Settings > General > Key Lock Enable All (make sure they are green)

Thanks a lot, btw can you flip the direction of the ff and rew buttons?, also noticed you have the Lotoo P6K, same output power as M3X on balanced from what I've read, worth 4x more in sound quality?

 

[Aramaki]

I really love sony, I have nw-a45 and xba-n1ap headphones, sony wh-1000xm4 and wf 1000xm3. I want to update, it is unclear whether there will be something new from sony this year. and I have the opportunity to take a new m3x shanling for 270 dollars. Sony nw-zx507, in turn, is almost three times more expensive and with poor autonomy, so I can't make a decision. I think that shanling m3x + headphones from sony will be a good bundle.
what do you think ?

Based on the headphones/earphones you have, the NW-A45 should be good enough (I have the NW-A55 which is my portable stack with the Fiio Q3) unless you want streaming capabilities.

 

[makarushka]

Hi @Shanling -- just got the M3X a week ago, and generally am incredibly happy and impressed with the unit all-around; good job on this one!

I do have one concern, and that is the fairly slow start up time. Without an mSD card, the boot up slowish but it's bearable. After I added a 400G MicroSD Card (genuine SanDisk Ultra) mostly filled with lossless files, the unit takes an additional minute or so after the main boot, sitting on the screen saying "android is starting up...". After this completes, it operates fine without any noticeable delays. Several questions in relation to this, if you'd be so kind as to answer:

1) which filesystem is recommend by Shanling for large capacity cards? FAT32 or exFAT? If exFAT, what sector size -- 32K?
2) anything at all can be done by the user on the system level to speed up/optimize the boot time -- especially that portion after main boot where it says "android is starting"? what is it doing -- some sort of indexing? is it possible to turn it off?
3) is there some sort of a standby/sleep mode that isn't full shutdown, so the unit would wake up quicker -- at the cost of battery life, obviously? I am not finding anything like that in the settings -- only screen sleep and full off...
4) can any of this be improved with future firmware updates?

Thank you for any and all information!

 

[vikibeats]

Based on the headphones/earphones you have, the NW-A45 should be good enough (I have the NW-A55 which is my portable stack with the Fiio Q3) unless you want streaming capabilities.

i think i can buy a 4.4 cable for my xba-n1ap and get balanced sound. I've never listened like this before. Plus, I will be able to listen to my entire iTunes library in Apple Music at the best quality, so yeah, streaming is important.
P.S. Fiio Q3, good choice my friend!

 

[rlw6534]

I really love sony, I have nw-a45 and xba-n1ap headphones, sony wh-1000xm4 and wf 1000xm3. I want to update, it is unclear whether there will be something new from sony this year. and I have the opportunity to take a new m3x shanling for 270 dollars. Sony nw-zx507, in turn, is almost three times more expensive and with poor autonomy, so I can't make a decision. I think that shanling m3x + headphones from sony will be a good bundle.
what do you think ?

I'm using my M3X with XBA-N3BP on a regular basis and I am quite satisfied overall. It's my main "outside the house" setup with long battery life and non over-the-ear IEM. My ZX507 and M9 pairing is mostly used at home (battery life is not very good and fiddly over-the-ear IEM)...

As far as making decisions on DAPs, I'm the wrong guy to ask... that's why I have too many.