Shanling - UA1

If you're a budding audiophile this should be your first dac. These drastically boost sound and let you hear sounds which you never heard before in your favourite track. Ofcourse it should be paired with a good iem for best sound possible for this budget.

This is my first experience with a portable DAC AMP and I chose Shangling ua-1 for its affordable price. I bought the Moondrop SSR along with it and for the best experience I burned in my earphones overnight and in the morning I plugged the earphone naked first and it was mind-blowing, enter Shangling UA 1 and the game changes by miles, the bass becomes tighter, the already airy and good soundstage expanded like I was in a live concert. The highs and uneven peaks mellowed down, as someone who enjoys the genre of Jazz and RnB it was love at first sight, or should should I say love at first sound :). Last but not least, as always Headphonezone delivered the package in 3 days. Kudos you guys. One suggestion tho please provide one iem case like KZ and it takes the user experience to the next level. :) CHEERS

Before going all guns blazing I want to let you know that till today I thought that Flac and WAV were the biggest audio file types... And yes I prefer them over MP3s.

Now coming to Shanling I am surprised to see negative reviews ...I am amazed at the sound reproduction and the healthy boost to sound. I have very little idea of the science behind it...but what the heck I am loving it.
Of the price yes it is on the higher side...I have been an LG phone fan and now I had to switch to Oppo and all major fones do not consider audio their priority ....so I am happy to invest this on my Fiio and Shanling UA1.
But a WOW product nonetheless.

Shanling - UA1

Shanling - UA1

Bearing in mind that this was a budget buy as I only had around 4-5k allowance, this beautiful DAC is serving my purpose.
I had to get something for my iPhone to pair with, obviously as apple lossless is coming soon.
The best way to listen to hi res under 4k.
Also to mention here if any iPhone users please do make sure you have an apple lightening camera adapter as well which will cost around 3k otherwise the dac will not work with iPhone. So keeping in mind total will cost you around 7k.
Now the DAC performs well. Everything I expect from an ess sabre es9218p chip.
The soundstage is not that wide but good enough to make an immersive experience.
I found that bass is bleeding into the mids but that's reasonable as price is a factor.
Mids have their presence known but still found bit recessed specifically the vocals.
The highs are okayish I think, It is true that sibilance is there but not that harsh to my ears.
So to conclude nothing matters unless it sounds good and performs as the product promises.

I don't consider myself as an "audiophile" but how does my music sounds also matter, so you may not get all the technical details, but it's about my experience. This review will be in many parts. It's based on Google pixel 3a xl, one plus 7t and my laptop Asus ROG zeyphrus G 14, blon 03 and Marshall major 3BT(with wire).

1. Why did I buy Shanking UA1- there are many reasons one of the reason is about the lossless music option by apple. It's being said that it will also be available for Android users and also another MAJOR reason is that I was using blon 03 with pixel 3a xl and it sounded good until I plugged it to my laptop and there was a lot of difference in the sound, it sounded so much better than my smartphone. So I decided that in order to get it's proper sound I will need a DAC and it was the most affordable one and with pretty neat reviews.
2. Headphone zone experience - as usual it was shipped on time and delivered on time, actually before time. So that's excellent and those lil cards and the thank you note is pretty awesome. Btw, you guys should also make new playlists for those cards 😋, I always get those same cards.
3. issues with Shanking UA1- it's a plug n Play kinda device, but I had some trouble with pixel 3a xl(Shanling has made it clear that it will work with most devices). Pixel 3a xl has an audio jack, and it worked absolutely fine with poweramp player, YouTube, Amazon music, but it didn't work with Spotify. When I used Spotify the audio kept coming from phone speakers, I tried all the solutions on YouTube and reddit but I still had that issue, fortunately I had a spare OnePlus 7t and I had no issues with it. I used it with my laptop and it's was smooth. No hiccups, it worked as promised.
4. All the good things about Shanling UA1- this is the best part guys. It is just AWESOME. It works as advertised, and it's so smol and light, you won't even feel it's connected to your IEMs or headphones. It s well built, nice metallic casing and the wire should last long as well. It really changed the way blon 03 sounded with my phone. I felt that it improved the soundstage of the blon 03, or maybe that's how it's supposed to really sound and I just discovered that after using UA1. If you have an IEM and if you have heard great reviews about and it hasn't lived up to that expectation, then please get UA1-, it could just change the way your IEMs sound. Another good thing is that it's not really power hungry thing. It won't eat up a lot of battery if your phone. I have tried it with MP3, FLAC, Spotify at very high and it will enhance your music listening experience. With blon 03 I had to just keep the volume at around 30-40% to get acceptable volume, but when used with Marshall major 3bt(with wire) I had to push the volume to around 60%, but maybe that's because it's overear headphone. I am so in love witj Shanling, it's such an affordable DAC and it works brilliantly. If you can't afford the costly DACs then just go for it you won't regret.

Also Headphone zone team, please do something about getting in touch with your headphonezone guru, no one ever answers that number. But you guys are great, and would again use your service. Cheers.

And if you are still reading, if you buy Shanling or not, just enjoy your music after all that's what really matters.

I wanted to start my beginner audiophile journey, wats better than a usb c dac within budget. Shanlong -UA1 doens't disappoint you in the budget line which it offers a great clear and crisp 16 Bit 44khz sound. I am using Power amp and Tidal music subscription for the loseless audio. Only the thing with this I doubt about is durability, Just need some more time of using it to comment further on durability. Overall the quality music this DAC gives in the budget it's worth it.