Shanling - UA1

Bought this in Jan 2021 to play music from phone which has USB type C output. It does serve the purpose on the phone as I can use my normal 3.5mm jack cans. However, after having used this product for around a week, I don't see much difference in sound signature or the sound stage. The audio quality does not improve that I could register it.

To validate this I connected the UA1 to a Macbook pro and a HP Elite laptop respectively. Cans used for listening: AKG 245 (32Ohm), Grado SR60 (32 Ohms), and few in-ear headphones.
Songs played: Few hits from MJ, Daft Punk - Get lucky, Gloria Gaynor, Some albums from AR Rahman (Swades, Bombay, etc), Album from Adele.
I have listened to songs using Spotify (Hi Res), Tidal (HiRes), some Flacs / CD’s that I have of the above songs.

Now I would like to say that I’m no audiophile or close to it, but I do understand music.

To me frankly, UA1 only makes sure that you can use the output the audio of a laptop/phone from a USB type C/A and therefore you are not relying on the hardware of that laptop/phone. And it does that job pretty well. However, the DAC, at least for me does not make any considerable change to the audio quality (and I am referring to the soundstage mostly).

I have used other DACs (Dragon Fly Red, Cambridge Dac Magic) and I pretty well know the difference that a DAC brings to the plate.

For a price tag of INR 4K, I was expecting at least some sort of improvement, but it doesn’t do that. I guess for a good improvement to sound, one has to invest in quite more amount. My advice: Dac Magic rocks.

So to summarise:
If I was looking for a device that provides USB connectivity with no consideration to sound quality improvement, I would buy UA1. However, if I was looking for a device that provides USB connectivity with a decent DAC, I would look elsewhere.
At this stage I so wish that stores in India offered a return option. This is the best thing about stores in US, where one can try the product and if not found useful, has the option to return it. I know the cons to the business with this, but yes it’s a wish.

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.

Using it on soundmagic e11c performance slightly increase not by big margin, volume level does increse a lot.

After using the Shaling UA-1 for a few days, I can say, I made a correct decision to get this DAC. I've been a bit sceptical about the 3rd party DACs, but an active DAC is such a great thing for a smartphone with or without the 3.5mm jack.
The Shanling UA1 shines like bright sunlight. It's a pure treat for the ears. Once you get addicted to an active DAC, it's very difficult to get back to the old way. The sound is loud, crisp, clear, and using equalizers, it can be tuned for our liking. If you can tune the equaliser well enough, you can get the sound the way you wish. It supports most of the music playback and streaming apps without any issue. Equaliser of any app is supported, alongside system wide equalizers, like Dolby atmos, Dirac HD, DTS headphone X, Histen Audio (Huawei), etc. It provides excellent sound quality, that is pure, free of any distortion, and if you have lossless audio files, your phone can turn into a good hi res digital audio player. It does get warm after using it for more than a couple of minutes, but it should remain alright, as it is suggested on the user manual. Even though it's a solid audio equipment, it's not your typical phone accessory as it doesn't support microphone. You cannot use it for calling purpose. So that's something worth keeping in mind while buying this DAC.

The sound is clear, I have a BTR5 and this thing has more power than that even thought it is like 1/5th of the size and 1/3rd of BTR5's price.

Clear, clean audio. The cable feels a bit flimsy at first due to the light weight but it has proven sturdy and it is braided for the piece of mind.

I am seriously impressed by the capabilities of this thing which is basically the smallest Dongle DAC out there(maybe excapet ddHifi and Hidizs might have smaller one but 😛).

Delivery was quick and on point but I am seriously sad that the next week after I bought this, they had the UA2 in store which is even more impressive spec wise and also has a balanced output with the same minimal size and best part being the detachae cable for improved lifetime. Will be buying that soon, but till then I am happy with my purchase