Shanling EM5

[poxymoron]

EM5_Shenzhen Shanling Digital Techno

Nice looking DAC/headphone amp/streamer combo from Shanling. The Schiit Modius with the same AKM AK4493 DAC faired well with @amirm although I know that doesn't suggest this one will score just as well. I don't know anything about the manufacturer, a couple of Shanling reviews by @amirm one of which was aborted and the other given an approval ableit the DAC scored terribly. Not as whole lot on t'internet to suggest it might be worth a punt just yet.
Any thoughts?

 

[Wunderphones]

My experience with a Shanling DAP (M6 2021) was that the sound was very transparent, but the wifi performance was very poor. And my experience with first the vendor and then Shanling trying to get warranty service for the wifi suggests to me that they knew they shipped a streaming DAP that couldn't stream well. (That is, the product was defective, not my unit. I know this because the replacement that I eventually threatened out of them had the problem, too.)

I won't be buying Shanling again, although the sound was pretty great. And honestly, no matter how good the engineering is on some of these Chi-fi products is, whether Shanling or other, I won't ever buy one used again. Ever. Only new, from a vendor that I regarded as having no-hassle returns. The experience of going through two layers of companies that just wanted me to accept that I had paid $500 for something that didn't work in its advertised role was highly traumatic.