Small DAC comparison: Shanling M0 vs Sabaj Da3

[mikeysmusic]

Hey everyone!

Is the Sabaj Da3's Amp/DAC much better than the Shanling M0's?

I'm anticipating this response, "Those two aren't comparable!" I'm brand new to this wonderful world of audio, so I won't be sad if I hear that

I know the M0 has a DAC/Amp built in (in addition to its other incredible features such as it being a DAP), and I know the Da3 is purely an Amp/DAC. If the M0's power and quality compares to the Da3, I might as well invest in the M0, yes?

Thanks everyone!

 

[mikeysmusic]

Anything on this?

 

[L5730]

The reason I think folks are saying "they aren't comparable" is that the Sabaj Da3 is a portable USB DAC + Headphone amp, whilst the Shanling M0 is a portable player with a battery, bluetooth, card reader with an inbuilt DAC + headphone amp, as well as the ability to be used as a dumb USB DAC itself or be connected to a USB DAC to bypass it's own converter - an awful lot of stuff going on.

USB DAC/Headphone amp vs. Do-all music player device.

Sabaj Da3 uses a familiar XMOS U208 USB controller chip and a pair of ESS 9018Q2C DAC chips (which are also have an integrated headphone amplifier).
The Shanling M0 uses ESS 9218P DAC chip (with integrated headphone amp) and this chip seems to be a more mobile/cell phone intended chip, with features such as 'voice' mode to do quick 'n' dirty decoding for non-HiFi (voice call) use. I don't know about anything else in it.

My betting would be that I doubt there would be a massive amount of difference in audible terms between these two. I'd gather that the Da3 probably puts out a bit more volume and power into different headphones, whilst the M0 would be more suited to easier to drive earbuds.

Seems quite a cool device - the modern incarnation of what used to be a Walkman or Discman portable music player from either Cassette, Compact Disc or MiniDisc.

 

[PenguinMusic]

Hi,

This thread is old, but I'd like to second what L5730 said and add a few things since I now own the M0.

Reasons why I've taken the M0 are really simple :
- more than sufficient output power as it is rated at 80mW under 32O which is sufficient to drive my headphones. In fact, I rarely use more than 55% of outpur power ;
- super tiny and light so I can use it as a BT receiver in LDAC to turn any wired phone into wireless phone with decent sound quality ;
- can be used as a USB DAC so I can have it hooked up to my computer and output music from computer to M0 DAC and pass it over to my headphones ;
- can also be used as Bluetooth emitter (I wonder if I can couple 2 of those beasts one as emitter the other as receiver) in case I have wireless headphones or speaker ;
- can be used as DAP with integrated 512GB SD card ;
- cost : 110€ with 128GB SD card included.

I had occasion to listen to it for 2 hours yesterday. Used as USB DAC and as LDAC USB receiver.
Really : sound might not be perfect but from what I heard yesterday, it is really above decent... Was even amzed as LDCA receiver that I had such impact on bass in Pink Floyd's "Delicate sound of Thunder (Live)" on track called "Yet another movie" or "Dogs of war" and also have decent details.

And for the price and features packed, it is hard to expect this to sound as good as a top DAC + top headphone amp...