Shanling EM7 Flagship Lossless Desktop Player with ES9038Pro ESS DAC

The Shanling EM7 is an all-in-one high-end headphone rig: a standalone music centre with direct access to streaming services, an ESS ES9038PRO DAC and Shanling’s most powerful headphone amplifier, with up to 7W into 32Ω and 1W into 300Ω. Balanced XLR and 4.4mm outputs sit beside standard 6.35mm and 3.5mm sockets, a 5.8-inch screen tilts up for easy use, and a split power supply keeps the streamer away from the audio circuits. It can also be a pure DAC, a preamp or a digital source for your hi-fi.

A tilting 5.8-inch display

Designed for tables, bedside cabinets or dedicated hi-fi racks, the EM7’s 5.8-inch 1080p Sharp LCD touchscreen tilts up to 60° so it always sits at the ideal viewing and operating angle.

An all-in-one music centre

The EM7 is built around Shanling’s deeply customised, closed Android 10 system and works as a completely standalone rig. It plays from USB drives and memory cards (microSD up to 2TB), streams from local servers over DLNA, AirPlay or a NAS, and has apps for Spotify, TIDAL, Qobuz, Deezer, Apple Music and Amazon Music, all in one simple system. Shanling’s AGLO technology (Android Global Lossless Output) processes every audio file correctly and at full quality, for true hi-fi performance from Android. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 octa-core processor gives more computing power than any hi-fi streamer needs, for the smoothest, fastest response, and the EM7 decodes MQA in full (16×) from TIDAL or MQA files.

Flagship ES9038PRO DAC

The EM7 is based around ESS’s best DAC, the ES9038PRO, supported by its dedicated ES9311 voltage regulator and using all eight of its channels for a fully balanced audio circuit. Shanling describes the sound as highly energetic, detailed and fast, for a deep exploration of even the most demanding tracks. Shanling’s in-house I/V stage, built around the TI OPA1611, helps the ES9038PRO reach its full performance while keeping all the energy and character of the DAC.

Split power supply

To prevent interference between the streamer and the audio circuits, the Android section runs on its own dedicated switching power supply. The DAC and balanced amplifier are powered by a high-performance Noratel toroidal transformer from Norway, with two high-current voltage regulator chips and four 6,800µF/35V capacitors.

Hi-fi to every last detail

To leave no weak link, the EM7 uses highly accurate Omron relays, hi-fi grade single-crystal copper wiring and gold-plated oxygen-free copper connectors, along with 0.01% thin-film resistors and Panasonic tantalum-polymer capacitors that are accurate and less sensitive to temperature. Two Japanese KDS active crystal oscillators and Shanling’s updated third-generation FPGA algorithm keep the digital signal precise and reduce jitter for cleaner, more accurate sound. Shanling’s CPAF technology (Constant Phase in All Frequencies) handles the low-pass filtering with two more TI OPA2211 chips.

Shanling’s most powerful amplifier

The newly designed headphone amplifier uses four TI OPA2211 chips with eight BD139 and BD140 transistors in a four-way balanced design, running in Shanling’s proven OP+BUF topology. It was made for audiophile full-size headphones, including the most demanding models in hi-fi history, with up to 7W into 32Ω and 1W into 300Ω from the balanced outputs and 2.3W into 32Ω from the single-ended ones. Four gain levels (low, medium, high and turbo) suit everything from sensitive in-ear monitors to the most demanding headphones, helped by a low output impedance.

Ready for any headphones

Four headphone outputs on the front fit all the common standards: 4-pin XLR and 4.4mm balanced, and 6.35mm and 3.5mm single-ended.

A USB DAC and more

An XMOS XUF208 on the USB input lets the EM7 work as a high-end USB DAC with PCM up to 768kHz/32-bit and DSD512. A CT7302 audio bridge adds high-quality sample-rate conversion, including converting all playback to DSD. Seven digital filters let you fine-tune the sound.

Fitting into any hi-fi system

The EM7 is a complete system on its own, but adapts easily to an existing set-up:

• Digital receiver: stream to it over DLNA, AirPlay or from a NAS.
• Pure DAC: feed it from optical, coaxial or USB.
• Preamp: drive power amplifiers or active speakers from the XLR or RCA outputs.
• Digital source: send audio to another DAC by USB, coaxial or optical.
• Bluetooth: two-way Bluetooth 5.0 lets it receive from your phone (LDAC, SBC) or send to Bluetooth headphones and speakers (LDAC, aptX HD, aptX, SBC).

Remote control from your phone

Connect the EM7 to Shanling’s Eddict Player app and use any Android or iOS phone or tablet as a remote: Wi-Fi gives full screen mirroring, or Bluetooth gives simpler control of local playback. The EM7 holds Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification from the Japan Audio Society.

Good to know

• The Android system is closed and customised by Shanling, with the streaming apps listed above.
• In the box: power cable and quick start guide.
• For a dedicated streamer without a headphone amp, see the Shanling SM90; for an R2R DAC and headphone amp, the Shanling EH90.