DAP Review

Shanling Q1

Sound Analysis.

I analyzed Q1 sound with U18t IEMs while playing a variety of my favorite test tracks, such as Agnes Obel “The curse”, Sandro Cavazza “So much better” (Avicii remix), C-Bool “Never go away”, Ed Sheeran “Shape of you”, Counting Crows “Big yellow taxi”, Galantis “Hunter”, Alan Walker “Darkside”, Iggy Azalea “Black widow”, Indila “Boite en argent”, Robin Schultz “Oh child”, David Elias “Vision of her”, and Michael Jackson “Dirty Diana”.  At the time of sound analysis, I had close to 100hrs between burn in and playback time.

Q1 has a neutral-balanced sound signature with a brighter more revealing tonality.  The sound is very dynamic and vibrant and has a surprisingly wide soundstage expansion (oval shaped, since it has more width than depth) with a good imaging (precise placement of instruments and vocals).  I was also pleased with layering and separation of the sounds, definitely above the average.  The background is relatively black, no hissing even with sensitive IEMs, and that leads to a faster transient response of the sound where details pop up with more clarity.

Of course, the sound will depend on a tuning of IEMs you pair up Q1 with.  But in many cases I found the pair up with Q1 to have a bass which is always articulate, fast and well pronounced, mids being more natural-revealing with good level of detail retrieval, and treble having a little more of well controlled sparkle without adding harshness.  It paired up well with IEMs of different signatures, from warm to bright, but wasn’t powerful enough to drive more demanding full size headphones, which I’m going to cover more about in Pair up section of the review.

While being entry level DAP, Q1 performance is definitely closer to mid-fi level.

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Pair up.

In the examples below, I tried a variety of different IEMs and full-size headphones to see how well they pair up with Q1.  Gain (High Gain or Low Gain) and Volume (V) level was noted as well.

Meze Empyrean (HG, V60) – it can drive Emp loud enough, though the sound was smoother, warmer, laidback, less resolving.  While Q1 can’t drive these planar headphones to their full potential, it was actually not a bad relaxing spacious more natural tonality.

Campfire Audio Solaris (LG, V24) – a wide/deep soundstage expansion, nicely balanced signature with a more natural revealing tonality, and I enjoyed a tight articulate bass slam, natural detailed vocals, and crisp and well-defined controlled treble.  Zero hissing.

Oppo PM3 (HG, V50) – similar to Emp, I was able to drive these planar cans loud enough in high gain but wasn’t able to drive it to their full potential since these planar headphones needed more juice.  The sound is smooth, very natural, laid back, but lacking some micro-details.  It’s actually not bad, but clearly Q1 is not the best source for it.

Hifiman RE2000 (LG, V54) – above average soundstage width with more out of your head expansion.  More v-shaped sound sig with a brighter tonality.  The bass has a decent texture, mids/vocals are brighter and thinner, and treble is crisp.  What I was looking in this pair up is to make sure treble is not harsh, and while it is a little more aggressive, it wasn’t fatigue to my ears.

64 Audio U18t (LG, V33) – nearly holographic soundstage in this pair up.  Nicely balanced sound sig with a more revealing tonality.  Deep sub-bass rumble with a fast punch mid-bass, clear detailed mids/vocals with a good amount of body (not thin, closer to neutral), and well defined and well controlled crisp treble.  Very good pair up.

Empire Ears Legend X (HG, V32) – very wide soundstage with a good out of your head expansion, but not too far out.  The sig is still L-shaped but in high gain the mids/vocals come up to balance nicely with the bass and the treble.  In low gain vocals were a bit lost, so definitely in this pair a good idea to switch to high gain.  Bass is full bodied, goes deep with a thunderous sub-bass rumble and mid-bass which hits hard.  Mids/vocals are detailed and closer to natural tonality, and treble is crisp, well defined, and under control.

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Page 4 – Comparison, Wired/wireless connection, and Conclusion.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

22 thoughts on “Shanling Q1”

  1. Do you think the Q1 has enough power to drive the Sennheiser HD650? The Sennheiser is not terribly demanding compared to Planars but still has a 300 ohm impedance. Thanks.

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    1. I get this question asked a lot, after many dap reviews. One of these days I might have to buy a used pair of HD650 just for review testing… I can’t answer this question without trying this pair up. But my gut feeling tells me it won’t pair up well in this case.

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      1. Thanks for your answer. I guess because many people own a pair of HD650 (or Drop HD6xx) or at least are familiar with its tuning and capabilities so its a good reference headphone that people can immediately associate with. haha

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      1. Thans . I think that could be interesting give a balanced output to Q1 with iBasso Dc01, but I know that Q1 is better than Dc01. And what do you think about Q1 + Iem Fiio f9 pro ? Thank you for your replay !

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    2. Alex, great review. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come back to it for reference.

      If I may, the D2 is higher quality in every way SQ-wise on a test bench, but of course, you must pay a lot more for it. It is also more powerful. That said, at the ear, with the right filter, I see no appreciable difference between the D2 and the Q1. The difference is 3dB at the top end, where the Q1 tops out at 118dB or 117dB and the D2 tops out over 120 for dynamic range and noise.

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  4. @ohm thanks for adding your answer. I seriously doubt between the D2 and Q1 .
    I do have M0 for now and Cowon iAudio X5. I prefer the sound of the latter, it’s more natural comparing to M0, but the X5 battery dies, I’m not that handy to fix that.

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    1. should have a good wide soundstage, and more balanced natural tonality. A little on a smoother side in mids, not the most technical, but a very pleasant tonality, similar to M0.

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  7. Hello, how would the sound quality compare to a Fiio BTR5 or BTR3 or any other Bluetooth dac you have?

    Thanks,

    Sev

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  8. Hi, very helpful review!

    This is my first time buying a DAP so I am going to get this one. Have been hearing a lot of good things about them. Can I ask a big favor? I am ordering from this website ( http://www.headphonezone.in ) because I am from India. Could you suggest me a good pair of IEM and over the ear Headphones that matches nicely with the Q1?
    I’ll be eternally grateful!💕🌌💕

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    1. There are literally hundreds of IEMs out there, and often it comes down to your sound preference and budget. A few of my favorite iems are in $2k-$3k USD price range which I use with $1k-$2k USD cables. But I have a feeling, that is not what you are looking for to use with your first dap. Another problem, you might find some you think you like but it won’t be your cup of tea when you get them and you will be stuck. So, talk to the local guys at headphone zone, I heard good things about that store. Figure out and tell them your preferred sound sig, type of music you listen to, and most importantly the budget. Narrow it down to a few choices, and if you are still stuck making the final decision – comment here again.

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