Shanling SM50 Compact Streaming Music Centre

The Shanling SM50 is a compact music streamer with its own DAC and headphone amplifier, and Shanling’s smallest and most affordable streamer so far. It plays Tidal and Qobuz through their Connect apps, is Roon Ready, streams from AirPlay 2, DLNA or your NAS, and plays files from a USB drive. An ESS ES9039Q2M DAC handles up to 32-bit/768kHz and DSD512, and the balanced 4.4mm output gives headphones up to 700mW, all in a case just 53mm tall.

Streaming, without the clutter

Rather than Android, Shanling built the SM50 on a lean Linux-based streaming system, which it says is more streamlined and quicker to respond. It’s the same platform Shanling uses in its ONIX XMT20 streamer. Tidal Connect and Qobuz Connect let you choose music in the Tidal or Qobuz app and play it in full quality on the SM50, while Roon Ready, AirPlay 2, DLNA and Squeezelite cover most other ways of playing music around the home. Your own library can come from a NAS on the network or a USB drive plugged into the back. You can browse on the 4.5-inch 1080p touchscreen, or from your sofa with Shanling’s Eddict Controller app.

ESS conversion with dual clocks

Conversion is by ESS’s ES9039Q2M DAC, with two crystal oscillators (90MHz and 98MHz) for the two families of sample rates, so 44.1kHz-based and 48kHz-based recordings each run from a clock made for them. The SM50 plays PCM up to 768kHz/32-bit and DSD up to DSD512, and reads DSD, DXD, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, ALAC, APE, DTS, MP3, WMA, AAC, M4A, OGG, MP2, AC3, OPUS and TAK files, with CUE sheets. Shanling quotes up to 123dB signal-to-noise and distortion as low as 0.0004% on the line outputs; the full figures for each output are below.

For headphones and for a hi-fi system

There are two dedicated headphone sockets on the front. The 4.4mm balanced output delivers up to 700mW into 32Ω on high gain (176mW on low), and the 3.5mm output 182mW (46mW on low), with output impedance below 0.8Ω and 0.4Ω, so low gain suits sensitive in-ear monitors and high gain suits full-size headphones. At the back, balanced XLR (4.9V) and RCA (2.4V) outputs work as a fixed line-out into an amplifier, or as a volume-controlled pre-out straight into a power amplifier or active speakers.

More than a streamer

The SM50 also works as a DAC for your computer: plug it in through the USB-B input and switch to USB DAC mode. A Bluetooth 5.2 receiver with LDAC and aptX HD plays from phones and tablets, and the USB and coaxial digital outputs can send the stream to an external DAC if you already have one you love.

Measured, output by output

Shanling publishes a full set of figures for each of the four outputs. The headphone outputs have two gain settings; the figures below are at high gain, with low gain in brackets.

What the numbers mean in use: 700mW from the balanced socket drives most full-size headphones, though the most demanding planar models may want a dedicated amplifier. An output impedance below 1Ω keeps the tonal balance of multi-driver in-ear monitors as designed, because their impedance changes with frequency. The XLR output runs at about twice the RCA level, as balanced connections usually do.

Three ways to use it

• A headphone system on your desk. Stream, browse on the screen and listen through the 4.4mm or 3.5mm socket on the front. Choose low gain for in-ear monitors and high gain for full-size headphones.
• A streamer for the hi-fi you already have. Set the RCA or XLR outputs to line-out and connect them to your amplifier, which keeps control of the volume. If you have a DAC you love, send it the stream from the coaxial or USB digital output instead.
• A streamer and preamp in one. Set the outputs to pre-out and connect a power amplifier or a pair of active speakers directly. The SM50’s knob, touchscreen or the Eddict Controller app then sets the volume.

Part of Shanling’s 50 series

The SM50 is the same size as Shanling’s other 50-series components, about 19 × 20cm, so it sits neatly beside the Shanling CD50 CD player for a compact streaming and CD system on a desk or shelf. Its aluminium case and glass panels come in black or silver.

Connections

Good to know

• Spotify Connect isn’t on Shanling’s list of services. From an iPhone, iPad or Mac, Spotify can play through AirPlay 2; from other phones, use Bluetooth (LDAC or aptX HD where your phone supports it).
• Pre-out mode controls the volume of a power amplifier or active speakers from the SM50. Use line-out with an amplifier that has its own volume control.
• The two aerials on the back are for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. A wired Ethernet connection is there if your Wi-Fi is weak.
• Want Android and more apps, or a bigger screen? See the Shanling SM90 or the Shanling SM1.3, or browse all our music streamers.