When we released our flagship M9 portable player at the end of last year, it represented a big step forward for our Android DAPs, comes with a significantly more powerful CPU, allowing us to upgrade to the Android 10, offering more memory and all packed into an aluminum body featuring a new “Wave” design.

Now we are going to squeeze these new features into a smaller body with the Shanling M7!

It features the same 5-inch Full-HD screen as our older M8, but in a sleeker “Wave” design body, measuring 129 x 78 x 20 mm at 312g. On the inside, it adopts advancements from the M9, including the single-piece aluminum inner body and the single-board integrated acoustic design.

The audio circuit of the M7 is based around ESS Sabre ES9038PRO DAC. The flagship model of the ESS line, power-hungry 8-channel beast, and DAC that we started to really like last year when we implemented it into our top-of-the-line CD Player CD3.2 (21). All the experience of adapting it into a classic Hi-Fi machine helped us optimize its performance for the M7.

The ES9038 PRO is run in its current-mode operation, combined with a matching ESS ES9311 voltage regulator, a power circuit adapted from the M9, and our in-house developed I/V conversion stage. When paired with our OP + BUF amplifier architecture, which was further optimized for the M7, we are actually getting our best measuring portable player so far.

Dimensions – 129 x 78 x 20 mm

Weight – 312g

Display – 5-Inch 1920 * 1080

Operating System – Open Android 10

CPU – Qualcomm Snapdragon 665

Memory – Ram 6GB, ROM 128GB + single Micro SD card slot

Hi-Res support – 32/768 & DSD512 & MQA 16X

Bluetooth – Bluetooth 5.0, two-way, LDAC, LHDC, aptX HD, aptX, SBC Support

Wi-Fi – 2.4G/5G, supporting DLNA, Airplay

DAC – ESS ES9038PRO

Amplifier – ADA4896-2 + MUSES8920 + OPA2211 + BUF634

Output Power – Single-ended 400 mW@32Ohm  // 900mW@32Ohm Balanced

Output – 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced

Output impedance – Less than 1 Ohm

Battery – 7000 mAh, supporting 18W quick charging

Battery life – Up to 10 hours in single-ended and 8.5 hours in balanced

Single-Ended Output：

 1. Output Power

         Low Gain：   0.73 V@32 Ohm  (17 mW)

         Medium Gain：   1.88 V@32 Ohm  (110 mW)

         High gain：   3.61 V@32 Ohm  (406 mW)

2. Frequency Response：20 Hz – 40 KHz (0.2 dB)

3. THD+N：0.0007%

4. Channel separation：75 dB @ 32 Ohm

5. Dynamic Range：126 dB

6. Signal-To-Noise：126 dB

7. Noise：>116 dB(<1.6 uV)（Low Gain）

8. Output Impedance：<1 Ohm

Balanced Output：

 1. Output Power

         Low Gain：   1.46 V@32 Ohm (66 mW)

         Medium Gain：   3.35 V@32 Ohm (350 mW)

         High gain：   5.43 V@32 Ohm (920 mW)

2. Frequency Response：20 Hz – 40 KHz (0.2 dB)

3. THD+N：0.0007%

4. Channel separation：115 dB @ 32 Ohm

5. Dynamic Range：128 dB

6. Signal-To-Noise：128 dB

7. Noise：>113 dB(<2.2 uV)（Low Gain）

8. Output Impedance：<1 Ohm