Shanling ET-3 CD Transport Review - Golden Schlong Worthy

Don't get me wrong, I wished SACD was the shit where it was legitimacy good and worth it to invest in the format. On the DRM restrictions of the SACD format, why DSD, and Sony/Phillips just not reading the room of what the market wanted (market wanted cheap/free music single downloads and don't care for surround sound music albums), the format was just doom to fail. Exception was the OAFAS buyers who needed to pick up every single audiophile release (including rebuying Brothers in Arms for the 20th time) and get every single classical and jazz multichannel release.

The Oppo Memes (Does anyone remember the Lexicon Oppo drama, that was fun) of the 2010s also drew me away from SACDs on top of people investing in DVD-A formats....I was like huh?

The only plus I'll give to Shanling upcoming SACD deck is the freedom of choice. Want to output SACD DSD to an external DAC? i2s is populalish enough to be in different units for your wish. Have good SACDs but don't give a shit about DSD? Having the deck output in higher end PCM is nice for those who care about it. Price and the size doesn't appear to be in OAFAS land.

It's 2024, all of my CDs are in boxes in my dad's garage (with all of my CDs already ripped to FLAC) on top of buying albums digitally in FLAC for years from Qobuz and Bandcamp. With PI2AESes being a thing I realize that I enjoy being a fatass when playing a new album.

P.S.: Few times I care about SACD was those remastered Mercury Living Presence albums where they were originally recorded with 3 to 4 mics (which for LPs and CDs they were mixed down in stereo) and if you had a multichannel SACD setup you can hear those albums as it was recoded multichannel. That on top of most of the serious Mercury Living Presence albums were musically fun (except for the Pops stuff, I don't care about those release).

 

Thanks for the impressions @purr1n

I recently decided to get back into CD's because vinyl prices are out of control. I can pick up CD's for $1 at the thrift store, so it was a no brainer to scratch the physical media itch. I was also lucky enough to score 300 CD's for free from a neighbour who no longer wanted his collection. I bought an old early 2000's Sony DVD player which also does SACD and it's quite nice but I'd love a top loading transport to feed a modern DAC. Any modern DAC suggestions around the same money?

 

I have 15,500 CDs ranging from opera, classical, jazz, pop (I still need to cull about 3,500+ from a recent acquisition). I am writing concerning the Shanling ET3 which I so dearly wanted to love instead of purchasing a Jay's Audio CDT3 Mk3, especially after reading all the positive reviews.
Well, it isn't for me or my friends. Unfortunately, it is a high resolution CD transport that does not work well with either my COS Engineering D1v (set on no time delay) or my Topping D70s DAC. It is bright and there is a lack of center fill-two major failures in a system including Von Schweikert VR9 SE Mk2 speakers and both EAR 912 and 890. Instead, my best friend is using an old Denon 3300 and I'm using an OPPO DVD player from 2006 as CD transports. They are neutral and my OPPO is nearly as detailed sounding, but has center fill, more body, sweeter sound and dynamic.

Also, I had immediate second thoughts concerning the Shandling when I tried the thumbdrive USB port through the Eddict Player app. My spectacular EAC transferred CDs all played sounding dark and less resolving than when played through several high end systems (spectacular, better and just as musical sounding than mine). I am not a detail freak and seek musicality/timing/expression/tonality over detail. I have ample detail with my current audio system, more than most posters here.

I just wanted to relay that the Shanling ET3 is not all that it's reviewers indicate. I hope that the Jay's audio isn't just a super resolution machine that will sound as if it lacks heart in my system. I also have 28,500 LPs (need to cull about 5,000+) using my favorite all around cartridge, a Dynavector 20X2 L in a modded SME IV arm. It plays mono and all types of music great.

 

15,500 cds and 28,500 LPs...you live in a warehouse?

 

Lets see some pic's

 

lets see, if each was 45 minutes in length and you listened every day for 16 hours a day.... it would take over 5.5 years to listen to the entire collection. Wow... that's some listening collection

 

First of all @Stephen Fleschler I appreciate your thoughts and criticisms. Don’t worry about the other members calling out your credibility due to your size of your collection, etc. We tend to get all kinds of upset when a rando pops in to poop on our favorite gear without specific details and/or photographic evidence of having the gear IRL.

I find this to be the exact opposite of the way I hear this transport. The lack of center fill is called out-of-phase stereo. If you still have the ET-3 you could try a phase switch on your DAC or flip RCAs at the DAC out to see if that fixes your issue.

The brightness your describing is very puzzling, what output were you using on the ET-3? I would agree somewhat with your next quote about the transport being dark sounding especially with AES out.

Your tone is of a pompous dirtbag and this is the cause of people like me disliking your post. We tend to have a bit of class here and try not to crap on the quality of other peoples’ systems in the open.

I have this transport and I like it a lot for my average-sized CD collection. I think that if your opinion differs that’s cool but try explain with more detail about inputs/outputs used so that we can try to understand. Like @JK47 says we also like to abide by the old “pics or it didn’t happen” philosophy.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

It's quite strange that you had such major difference in sound between CDs and USB playback, switching from high-resolution bright to dark and not resolving enough.

Can you please tell me which output on ET3 you used and if you had upsampling enabled for both of these cases?
Was it running firmware V1.6?

 

URGENT ALTERATION IN ANOTHER COMPONENT COSTING 20 TIMES THE SHANLING.
I had several "golden eared" friends over, one who is a well known for remastering all types of analog recordings and lives his life for listening to recorded music. He found the problem immediately, the speakers were retaining a boxy sound with a vaporous image. It is pleasant on simple music (a guitar, voice, piano, etc) but cannot handle complex music. We changed amps no avail. Then we installed my old EAR 864 preamp with my RCA cleartop 12AU7 and Black ladder original D getter Sylvania 12AX7 in the line stage (with Herbie tube dampers) and the Acme treated fuse.

The result was an IMMEDIATE cessation of the hole in the middle, what my golden eared friend called hififool sound (open and vapid-stuck in the speaker midrange). We heard all types of music for 5 hours (a rare day off for all of us) from the Boxtops, Romeros, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Giuffre Trio, Mal Waldren, Ervin Booker, Pepper Adams, Elvis 58', Grant Johannesen (classical), Nathan Milstein, Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, Babes in Toyland 1943, etc. There NO longer was a hole in the center and deep set vocals, soloists with mids stuck in the speakers. I am embarrassed by my Sunday post compared to the 1000s of accurate posts over several decades. I am now greatly satisfied with the result though.

The OPPO was being used in the system as a crutch, (albeit quite good sounding) which dampened the highs. I reinstalled the Shanling ET3 and it was ideal, such as sweet and open sounding as the system needed now. Sure, most people put down the EAR 864. My golden eared friend prefers it as does one of EAR's 35 year national repairmen. I heard the EAR 912 on many occasions for analog use but not line use (CD, etc) and loved the spacious sound. The EAR 864 has an excellent 834 phono stage so and also a perfect match for my cartridge.

There is still the matter of the USB Eddict app sound which did not convey as good sound as the CDs (or analog stage). As someone suggested, I may need to change an internal ET3 setting.

To the person who mentioned reversing the phase, I did that to no avail. It was a much more fundamental problem with the equipment mismatch.

I heard my speakers with a solid state amp (Westminster Labs Rei) and the EAR 912 and it sounded great. Well, it doesn't like my three very different amps (I have Dynaco Stereo 70 highly modified for voltage regulated rather than ultralinear mode, upgraded connections, NOS Mullard EL34s) and a pair of extremely modified Altec 1569A amps (also voltage regulated design, kept chassis and great transformers only).

As to my very large recorded collection over 65 years (I retain perfect hearing up to 16kHz tested last year), I have purchased at very low price and been given over 7,000 classical CDs from two elderly collectors. I also inherited from one very close friend and again a very inexpensive purchase, over 5,000 classical LPs. I have purchased about 500 more Jazz CDs. All in the past two years. I have a rule for myself. if I don't potentially want to listed to a recording three times annually, out it goes. I have culled 18,000 records in the past 35 years. I still have about 5,000 LPs and 3,500 CDs to cull for disposal (sale and/or donation). I've got 500+ mono opera LPs (recorded in stereo as well) ready to donate.

I like the Shanling ET3 so much, that I am purchasing another for my living room system. See Audiogon for photos of my listening room.

Thank you and again, I'm sorry if I mislead anyone.

 

I have 18,000 LPs, CDs and 78s in an adjacent 17' X 9' X 10' room to my listening room. It has 7 shelf height located on three walls plus the center has both 14 CanAm CD shelving unit drawers and 5' high LP shelving in back. I also store 5,000 LPs and 78s in my Tuffshed, 2,000 LPs in garage shelves, another 3,000 LPs in another home of mine I recently acquired as well as 6,000 of the CDs I recently acquired.

I have known four major collectors (I pride myself as a listener, not a collector). They included Thomas Chandler of San Bernardino, 1.5 million records, Music Man Murray of Hollywood, 1 million records, Thomas Lane of Vista & Hollywood (definitely a listener), 250,000 mostly 78s and Tom Null (through my best friends) producer/ower of Varese Sarabande, Newport Classics, Urania reissues, etc. with about 225,000 recordings. My listening collection is mostly in my room adjacent to me and a 2,000 CD rack at the rear of that listening room with multiple alarmed security/listening room doors (17" thick like a bank vault-see Audiogon photos) in a guard gated community. However, I doubt anyone cares about my opera and classical vocal collection (not rare LPs), classical 78s, LPs, R2R tapes or my ethnic music collection. I mostly own jazz CDs as the LPs are too expensive for me. My home has a 5,700' ground floor. I am also a part time, recording engineer for Viklarbo chamber, many choirs and occasionally a local professional orchestra at Disney Hall, Royce Hall, John Ford Theater, etc over the past 30 years. I also was the archivist who compiled the Erich Zeisl 2005 Vienna Centennial 11+ hours from his archives and am currently the Aminadav Aloni archivist (I made so many recordings of his music).

I love music more than audiophilia.

 

Still, no pics...


EDIT: Where are your Audiogon pics? Too vague of a reference

 

fleschler's System | Virtual Listening Room (audiogon.com) pre VS VR9 SE MK2 and
Hi-Fi Audio Systems & Audiophile Listening Rooms (audiogon.com)

 

Can you actually show your CD/LP collection? I want to see how the heck do you organize 40k media.

 

I don't have a hole in the middle or recessed sound any longer. Thank you for your advice but it is unnecessary after removing the EAR 912 preamp. The Von Schweikert VR9 SE Mk2 has 14 individual control knobs of high quality/noiseless and precise for the pair of speakers. Just one step difference is easily heard. It has superior dispersion. Tilting a 350 lb speaker is not recommended (it's not a maggie or monitor). It has built in casters for easy adjustment. It also is an active sub which permits placement of the mids/highs first, then just tune in the bass. It took only 1.5 hours to set up these speakers (and lots of knob twiddling by the installer) instead of his usual 5 to 8 hours. He said my room was the most easy to accommodate and set up in his life.

The very strange thing is that my prior speaker, the Legacy original Signature III loved the combo of the EAR 912 and 890. My new VS speakers now sound like Sig IIIs on steroids but hate that 912/890 or other tube combo. The difference from a traditional box speaker with 7 drivers to a hybrid dual box, active sub 7 driver speaker is quite a huge change.

 

ORFAS gonna be ORFAS