Shanling UA2 Aborted Review (DAC & Amp)

[GaryH]

@amirm that you aborted the review because of this is totally understandable.
That you returned the package before posting the review, making the others' attempts at saving this review futile, is a bit disappointing.
It looks like this could've been fixed with their companion App, in probably less than two minutes.

Audio Rash Review

 

[Tks]

I think that is the reason.

That's actually pretty cool to see. I thought Schiit was the only one content with serving that portion of the market (seeing as how Sony has no shortage of stupidity in production).

 

[Nango]

@amirm that you aborted the review because of this is totally understandable.
That you returned the package before posting the review, making the others' attempts at saving this review futile, is a bit disappointing.
It looks like this could've been fixed with their companion App, in probably less than two minutes.

Such a plain vanilla device should do fine without special or proprietary software.

 

[staticV3]

Such a plain vanilla device should do fine without special or proprietary software.

Android doesn't support UAC2 hardware volume control natively and many ROMs have just 16 volume steps.
Do you have both a somewhat challenging headphone and an IEM and you want reasonably fine volume control with both of them?
Then you'll need an App to change the maximum volume of your dongle on a hardware level.

 

[Bullwinkle J Moose]

If it performs like this because the gain was set low in the app for usage with IEM I think you should just remove this review. This is unfair to the manufacturer.

Not really
This review was COMPLETELY fair to the manufacturer

Unless you think it is fair to force all buyers to buy an android device just to use it
(Hint: Not Gonna Happen)

New Rules for 2021

1. Your dongle MUST work without a need for Android or IOS software

2. If you state that it is "Driverless" then it must work without drivers

The truly driverless Fiio BTR-3K even works as a USB DAC with Windows XP-SP2 without a driver (Does YOURS?)

3. It should not require a firmware update to fix it after sale (Hidizs)

Any other Rules needed?

 

[Jimbob54]

Not really
This review was COMPLETELY fair to the manufacturer

Unless you think it is fair to force all buyers to buy an android device just to use it
(Hint: Not Gonna Happen)

New Rules for 2021

1. Your dongle MUST work without a need for Android or IOS software

2. If you state that it is "Driverless" then it must work without drivers

The truly driverless Fiio BTR-3K even works as a USB DAC with Windows XP-SP2 without a driver (Does YOURS?)

3. It should not require a firmware update to fix it after sale (Hidizs)

Any other Rules needed?

You miss the point. The owner who sent it in HAD used the app to limit the output. Amir did not know this and the device correctly keeps output limits between connected devices, app or not. Had the owner set it back to full output prior to sending in, this would not have been an issue. See @staticV3 recent post.

 

[Koeitje]

Not really
This review was COMPLETELY fair to the manufacturer

Unless you think it is fair to force all buyers to buy an android device just to use it
(Hint: Not Gonna Happen)

New Rules for 2021

1. Your dongle MUST work without a need for Android or IOS software

2. If you state that it is "Driverless" then it must work without drivers

The truly driverless Fiio BTR-3K even works as a USB DAC with Windows XP-SP2 without a driver (Does YOURS?)

3. It should not require a firmware update to fix it after sale (Hidizs)

Any other Rules needed?

What if the user who send it in adjusts these settings before shipping it to Amir, so Amir doesn't test a product as it performs out of the box? What then?

 

[drplinker]

Thanks for sending it back. Results should be interesting.

I would love to see this guy tested:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=29512

Could be the portable DAC to slay most or all others. They can often be purchased on sale for $60.

I tried this one(SA922), returned it, as it was no different from my laptop's DAC and went with Shanling UA2 (over HIDISZ S8).

Edit:
Above is my subjective opinion, goes with a grain of salt. No data/measurements to back it up.

 

[Nango]

Android doesn't support UAC2 hardware volume control natively and many ROMs have just 16 volume steps.
Do you have both a somewhat challenging headphone and an IEM and you want reasonably fine volume control with both of them?
Then you'll need an App to change the maximum volume of your dongle on a hardware level.

I already use an app obviously but I dont see the need to use their prop app instead of any common music playing app aka NeutronMP, etc. No way!

 

[Jimbob54]

I already use an app obviously but I dont see the need to use their prop app instead of any common music playing app aka NeutronMP, etc.

You don't have to. You can use any player. But if you want to adjust parameters like output limits, you need to use their app to control them.

Have you even read the thread?

 

[Nango]

You don't have to. You can use any player. But if you want to adjust parameters like output limits, you need to use their app to control them.

Have you even read the thread?

Do you really think anyone on this site does use the stock music player provided with the OS?

 

[Jimbob54]

Do you really think anyone on this site does use the stock music player provided with the OS?

I'm beginning to wonder about your sincerity and /or ability to comprehend simple statements.

 

[thunderchicken]

Do you really think anyone on this site does use the stock music player provided with the OS?

Uh... I do for portable or work listening.

 

[stalepie2]

You shouldn't review the device if it's malfunctioning or you don't even know if you're the reason for why it's not working. This shows up high in the search results and hurts the company.

 

[Ismapics]

I hear you. I have been having really bad luck with stuff that doesn't work the last few months. I go through all the effort but nothing to show for it....

We miss the videos.

 

[Dana reed]

Man, I logged in here, hoping for a death metal branded DAC review

 

[vinnik]

I was going to buy this tomorrow! Thank God this was posted!

 

[amirm]

You shouldn't review the device if it's malfunctioning or you don't even know if you're the reason for why it's not working. This shows up high in the search results and hurts the company.

I don't review products that I "know" are malfunctioning. I plugged the dongle in like I have done with 50 other ones and it did what it did. I read the manual and searched the internet but could not find any information or FAQ indicating there was an app that could have screwed with the volume. I rebooted my machine, changed apps, changed sources, it all produced the same result.

In the past I have found some dongles producing low volume out of the box incorrectly. But that as soon as you adjust the volume control in windows, they start to work correctly. This did not work this time but led me to think it could be a bug as such.

The review is clearly titled as "aborted" and the short text explains the situation. Now if someone buys one of these used and finds the volume low, they know what could be causing it.

There are plenty of reviews you never see because I do find devices to be broken, not being a working design, etc. In those cases I have proof of the device being broken. Here, it just seemed like a firmware bug of sorts so I reported on that.

If you are advocating that I should never let you all see such things, that is good data point to have.

 

[suttondesign]

You can only abort after the first triode, so be careful with your dongle.

 

[sam_adams]

If you are advocating that I should never let you all see such things, that is good data point to have.

You should show us the bad along with the good. You could call it "The ASR Hall of Shame". I should have sent this POS to you for testing. The antenna mounting was so close to the mini-USB connector that you couldn't plug it in to power it on!