Today, Marcelo reviews the Shanling M3 Plus, a new Android 13 flagship M3 series DAP with a quad CS43198 DAC and up to 800mW of output power. It is currently priced at $499.
Disclaimer: This sample was sent to me in exchange for my honest opinion. Headfonics is an independent website with no affiliate links or status. I thank Shanling for their support.
Click here to learn more about Shanling products previously reviewed on Headfonics.
This article follows our current scoring guidelines, which you can read in more detail here.
This is the third time a Shanling M3 digital audio player (DAP) has been reviewed here at Headfonics; the first was the original M3, the second was the M3X, which I own, and the third was the M3 Ultra, reviewed more than two years ago.
This one in particular is the M3 Plus, which sells for $499, and should sit above the M3 Ultra, the M3, and M3X in the product hierarchy.
Being the latest, it also has the newest features and specs. It uses the Snapdragon 665 for CPU, which is not the fastest for cellphones, but should be fast enough for this purpose.
The most notable spec is the power output of 800mW into 32Ω balanced, which is much more powerful than any of its older siblings.
Newer technology doesn’t guarantee better sound, so how does this compare to its older sibling, the M3X? I found out in my full review below.
Features
The Shanling M3 Plus utilizes the same main processor, the Snapdragon 665, as the older M3 Ultra, but this time with more memory and built-in storage twice as large as the older one, with 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of built-in storage, on the Android 13 operating system.
The M3 Plus can also transmit wirelessly up to LDAC and aptX HD using Bluetooth 5.0. Though Shanling has not mentioned the BT chip they use, it is easy to assume it is a 5th-generation chip, which shouldn’t cause too much latency or signal drop.
A 4.7-inch touch screen is a welcome improvement from the older M3X model; however, the resolution of 1280 × 720 is only roughly equal to the older model. The screen looks bright and clear, though.
One of its least important features is the MQA decoding, but if it doesn’t add too much to the price, then it’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
DAC
The M3 Plus incorporates Shanling’s AGLO, which stands for Android Global Lossless Output. This is a Shanling technology designed to improve audio performance on Android by bypassing some of the system’s limitations and ensuring lossless audio output.
A group of 4 x Cirrus Logic CS43198 digital-to-analog converter chips handles the signal conversion, followed by the dual SGM8262 amplifiers.
The M3 Plus can decode up to 32-bit/768 kHz PCM and native DSD512, which is consistent with the latest offerings from competing models.
Amplification
More effort was made by Shanling to ensure good sound quality by using a quad OPA1612 configuration for analog output.
These have a very low measured distortion and noise, and are used in many expensive desktop and full-sized digital-to-analog converters to buffer the output signal from the DAC chips.
Two SGM8262 amplifier chips were used, with a power rating of 800 mW into 32Ω balanced and 200 mW single-ended, which is more than enough to drive any in-ear monitors and plenty of headphones.
Design
I love the faceted curved sides of the new M3 Plus aesthetic. Complete with a knurled volume knob and the mocha color of this review unit, its a great looking DAP.
The back is covered with a body-colored tempered glass panel, with some logo prints, which I find nicely done. However, I am not a fan of the sharp corners as they call attention to themselves when touched.
Its medium-sized body and weight are in the sweet spot for DAPs, featuring a good balance of output power, controls, functions, and battery life. It measures 115 x 70 x 18mm and weighs only 205g, which is perfect for daily use.
The SHARP-branded 4.7-inch touch screen has excellent brightness, color, contrast, and viewing angles. I couldn’t ask for more at this price point.
I/O
I love how the 4.4mm and 3.5mm connectors are located on top, because I can place the M3 Plus on top of my lap while lying in bed with the screen facing my face, without the cable getting in the way.
At the bottom is the USB-C connection, serving as a charging and data transfer port. On its side, the Micro SD card slot, which, unlike its predecessors, does not have the flimsy plastic cover.
Controls
Three control buttons reside on left side of the M3 Plus, namely the backward, play/pause, and forward button, while a single knurled knob is located at the right side, which also functions as on/off switch and screen on/off control.
These physical controls also control the music when connected as a Bluetooth receiver in the Bluetooth Amp mode.
The touch control is responsive, but can feel slow at times due to the slow processor not keeping up with the commands, especially with heavy third-party apps.
Battery Life
The M3 Plus is rated to last 14 hours in its 3.5mm output with 2 DACs engaged, 11 hours in its 4.4mm balanced output with 4 DACs engaged, and a whopping 61 hours as a Bluetooth source.
I cannot verify the 61-hour rating using Bluetooth, but I can attest that the 11-hour cycle for the balanced output is accurate
It supports QC3.0 with 18W, and PD or power delivery charging. Though I never fully drained it to protect the battery longevity, I can estimate that it can fully charge a fully drained battery in less than 2 hours, based on how fast the battery percentage rises while charging.
Packaging & Accessories
The M3 Plus box itself is elegant yet practical in design; it includes the user’s manual, a long and a short USB cable, the M3 Plus itself, and a screen protector.
I would love it if the screen protector were factory-installed, because I had to install it myself. Of course, I butchered it, leaving some dust and bubbles underneath.
The packaging also included a perfectly fitting, magnetized door and purple leather case; unfortunately, it doesn’t match the mocha color on the M3 Plus body. It would be nice if it were available in dark brown or black.
Software Performance
The M3 Plus sample I have came with firmware version V1.13, APK Pure, and the Google Play Store app pre-installed. I then updated the firmware to V1.18, whose download time can vary depending on which region you are located in.
The Google Play Apps are already installed by default. With Google Play installed, I can install any available App, which is nice as long as the aging processor can handle them.
I used APK Pure to install the AnTuTu benchmark, which is unavailable in the Google Play Store. The M3 Plus achieved a score of 214801, which is higher than its predecessors, the M3X and M3 Ultra, both of which were lower at 80139 and 173420, respectively.
Navigation is where the Snapdragon 665 processor shows its age, as some Apps feel slow and laggy, which I will discuss below.
Music Players
Shanling Music
As the native music player, it works flawlessly without any noticeable user interface or UI lag. Unfortunately, it does not play some music formats in my library, particularly MP4 video played as music. Therefore, I have to install third-party Apps, which will be discussed below.
PowerAmp
It wouldn’t work at first. I then went to PowerAmp’s forum on their website and asked about it.
Luckily, someone answered that I needed to select another output in PowerAmp due to an incompatibility issue with the default output. I changed to a 24-bit/192 kHz rate, and it worked flawlessly.
The UI is quick and everything works as it should, including the physical buttons; long pressing the forward and backward buttons would fast forward and backward the song, and skip forward and backward with a short press.
UAPP
USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) music player App works, but with the minor inconvenience of not being able to fast forward or backward with a long press on the physical forward and back buttons.
And there is noticeable lag in response when using its UI. I’m not an expert in using UAPP, and I don’t know how to fix this. But I hope they release an update for the UAPP App to make it work with the M3 Plus and new DAPs.
It is completely usable, though. I prefer it over the stock Shanling Music player because it can play more music formats.
Streaming Apps
Spotify works, but not without flaws; it is laggy, the physical forward/back buttons won’t fast forward and backward the music, plus the music progress bar in the UI doesn’t work.
I deem this unusable, but it is not wholly Shanling’s fault, so I hope Spotify fixes this issue with an update.
YouTube Music works flawlessly. All the physical buttons work as they should, and the UI is perfectly functional and without lag.
Wireless Connectivity
Bluetooth Transmission
It connected to my Focal Bathys noise-cancelling wireless headphones, Sony WF-1000XM5 noise-cancelling TWS, and KZ Xtra noise-cancelling TWS, fast, and the latency is minimal when watching videos.
It has great signal strength, whether in my pocket or the next room with a concrete wall, there were no signal interruptions, the signal would only cut off if I were far away, like 30 feet.
Bluetooth Receiver
I have experienced similar performance as a receiver after activating the Bluetooth Amp mode and connecting with my phone.
LDAC was automatically activated after the connection, and I received excellent sound quality without dropouts at roughly the same distance as the transmitter section above.
It has limited controls, including volume, play/pause, and skip forward/backward, and physical and screen controls, which are good enough, but cannot fast forward or backward with the long press on the control buttons.
WiFi
There are no annoying delays with the WiFi speed when using music streaming Apps. However, due to its slow processor and presumably unoptimized OS, it is very slow to load YouTube compared to my phone and PC using the same WiFi. It is usable, though.
Wired Connectivity
It works flawlessly as a transport or digital music source for all my small dongles and battery-powered DAC/amplifiers, without noise and unusual behavior.
However, I had an issue at first with my PC and laptop connection, but later discovered that I had to follow a specific sequence of steps to make it work with them.
First, I have to connect the USB cable to the PC or Laptop, then activate the USB DAC mode in the M3 Plus. Then connect to the other end of the USB cable. This method works with or without installing the Shanling USB driver.
My second issue is with my Samsung S21 Ultra phone, as I was only using it with the PowerAmp music player App, it didn’t work. It turned out that Samsung phones have weak USB output. I tried my neighbor’s Xiaomi phone, and it worked perfectly without requiring any software installation.
I did, however, manage to get to work with my phone a little later, after installing the HiBy Music player App in USB exclusive mode and the UAPP player App in default mode, as long as I followed the connection sequence that I had used with my PC and Laptop mentioned above.
Click on page 2 below for my sound impressions and selected comparisons.
