[Ernest]

I’ve had a demo of this player for 3 weeks and would like to share my thoughts on it.  

First I have to say, and I can’t stress this enough – this player is BEAUTIFUL!!!  Let me say it again:  it is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!  It’s hard not to just stand next to it and stare at it.  Everyone who sees it falls in love with it.  I’ve never felt this way about a CD player before.  More on this later…

It has several options:  tube and solid state output, HDCD decoding, and upsampling.  It also comes with a very nice, heavy, thick, power cord.

Overall, this player is very nice sounding.  The only real fault I can find in it (to me anyway) is that it lacks a bit in the area of pace and rhythm.  Music just seems a bit slow and dull, but only a bit.  But high-frequency extension, bass control and tone, soundstage size, imaging, etc., are all very good.  In comparison to my neighbor Ron’s highly modded Philips CD-80 (which is phenomenal), the CD-80 has better bass control, much greater transparency and detail resolution, and nearly perfect pace and rhythm.  But the Shanling is no slouch; the CD-80 is just incredibly good.

In comparing the two types of output, I prefer the tube output.  The tube output is more natural sounding when real instruments are being played, and there is a greater three dimensional feeling to the imaging, which I really, really like (and which is even better than the CD-80 - the only thing it does better than the CD-80).  The tube output also has a rounder, warmer bass, which I like very much.  It isn’t flabby or muddy; it just has a wonderful tone to it.

The solid state output has tighter bass, which on Rock recordings is very nice, but on Jazz it is a bit thin sounding.  It also sounds less natural when real instruments are being played, and lacks the three dimensional feeling of the tube output.  In the end I preferred the tube output for all music.

One HDCD disk came with the player but I didn’t think it sounded very good.  It sounded thin and harsh.  I don’t know if that is a result of a poor recording or a problem with the HDCD decoding.  It wasn’t important to me so I didn’t explore that any further.

The display on the Shanling is quite small.  From my listening position 12 feet away I can only barely read it.  The remote is very nice looking and has a nice feel to it, but the player often responds slowly to commands from the remote.

I like the upsampling feature.  After doing a comparison of it on and off, I leave it on all of the time.  With upsampling on the music feels more open and alive, and has more detail.  It’s not a huge change though.

In the end I’ve decided to return it.  Although it sounds very good, it is not as good as I am looking for.  I want the pace and rhythm that is missing, but also something else.  I don’t know what it is but hopefully I’ll know it when I hear it.  Honestly, though, I could live happily with this player.

My wife wants me to keep it even though I don’t want it in my main audio system.  She loves the look of it so much that she wants me to set up a system in our bedroom with the Shanling.  She doesn’t know how much it cost though and so I am returning it.

[doug s.]

yust keep it, & get a modded di/o to hide behind it.  no one will have to know the truth!    

doug s.

[Ernest]

I think the Shanling sounds better than the smART D/IO.  I did consider using it as a transport for my Analog Research Seque DAC, but my modded Pioneer DV-525 works well enough as a transport.  The Shanling just costs too much to keep for its looks, as much as I would like to!

[nathanm]

Did you ever have any CDs slip around in the mechanism with yours Ernest?  My Shanling seems to have issues with some CDs, the disc slips and the thing makes an obnoxious rubbing noise.  Not sure what's causing it exactly.  Perhaps the fact that everyone who's ever used it has accidentally slammed the lid down on the poor thing has something to do with it.     There should be a label on there that says "Not hydraulically suspended! Lower lid by hand!" heh!

[nathanm]

I think the Shanling sounds better than the smART D/IO.

Ah-HA! See folks, that's why we didn't hear any change with the Tube-O-Lator crap, the Shanling is just so good that it was masking the differences of the DIOs! (kidding)

[Ernest]

I never had any trouble with disks sliding around, though I did have people drop the CD lid, after which I never let anyone else touch it.  I have the unit packed up and return to return, but I already miss the way it would glow yellow and blue.  Oh well.

[nathanm]

It looks extra lovely in the dark too!

[ABEX]

Hey I have a Phillips CD-80 also.WHat Mods did he do to improve it's ability as a transport?

[ABEX]

You might want to see the review at the Bolder BB about the Shanling in a  system.

[doug s.]

ernest - ya thought the shanling sounded better than the modded di/o, but still not good enuff?  hmmm...  even tho ya seem to be in the minority re: di/o vs shanling, if it were me, & i had the $$$, i tink i'd have kept the shanling...  it *is* so cool looking!

i hope ya have a hefty budget, cuz i tink it will take *lotsa* $$$ to get something appreciably better than this level of redbook cd performance...

doug s.

[Ernest]

I already have a DAC that is better than the smART D/IO - an Analog Research Segue.  It's better than the smART D/IO in every way.  It's even better than the Shanling in every way but lacks the Shanling's ability to make instruments have a 3D aspect.  I want something that is at least as good as the Segue and has that 3D quality.  Maybe I'll never find it for a price I can afford...

[doug s.]

i get good 3-d resolution w/my modded di/o - mebbe you should be investigating a new preamp?

doug s.

[Ernest]

Actually, I just recently did get a new preamp, an Acoustic Reality FronT-eAR, and it is simply amazing.  I'll post more on that soon I hope.  But I never tried the modded D/IO with it.  My brother has the D/IO and he is coming over this week so I'll have to ask him to bring it with him.

When I talk about a 3D effect though I'm talking about more than just a sense of space in the soundstage.  With the Shanling's tube output hooked up to my FronT-eAR preamp, my eAR One monoblocks, and my Tetra Living 3 speakers, something magical happened with the 3D effect.  There was a sense of presence so real it amazed me.  There is a 3D effect with my Segue DAC, the best I had heard when I got it, but this was something else entirely.  Although the Shanling sounds inferior to the Segue in all other ways, in this one aspect it was startlingly good.  I haven't heard anyone else say this about the Shanling though so maybe it's just a particular synergy type of thing with my equipment.

[Ernest]

ABEX,

My neighbor's CD-80 was modded by a friend of his, who was also the owner of Analog Research, and the person who designed and built the Segue DAC that I have.  The mod he did is a complete replacement of the circuitry in the CD-80 combined with an external (very hefty) power supply.  He's going to do more of these mods later this year.  If you are interested, send me your email address and I'll pass it on to him.

[doug s.]

i definitely understand the synergy thing...     which is why there always isn't universal agrement on audio stuff.  besides, different tastes in different aspects of a recorded/played-back performance.  personally, i like tubes.  w/a highly resolving system like that offered by the av-reality stuff, it seems you would wanna get a tube or two into the system somewhere, especially w/redbook cd.  yust my opinion, of course!  

re: info on other digital hardware, i am wery happy w/my modded di/o & modded aiwa xm37-c used as transport.  until the next generation of digital software is the dominant media at the local tower records, borders books, etc., i am done upgrading that part of my rig...  i can now enjoy redbook cd in much the same manner i enjoy winyl - something i *never* thought i'd be able to say!  so, i am content...

regards,

doug s.