Shanling PH-100

[antigeek1]

Just pulled the trigger on this amp I saw on Ebay ( Item number: 320258034521). Took a risk on it as there were no reviews anywhere online. Even the manufacturer does not give away much details on it spec wise except the below:

"Pure Class A output circuitry employs J200/K1529 high power FET’s.
Volume adjustment is accomplished by ALPS Type 27 potentiometer, achieving 0.5dB accuracy.
CD and direct coupled AUX inputs
Professional Neutrik headphone output socket
Audiophile-quality custom CMC RCA sockets ensure no-loss signal transmission."

Says on the rear it uses 25 Watts.


For £110 it seemed a no brainer.


Postage to the UK was about £25 from HK.. unfortunetly got ripped off by the ars*holes at ParcelForce for £16.58 VAT and an illicit and totally ripoff £13.50 ParcelForce clearance fee.

Total investment inc p&p and charges £165!!
Not quite such a bargain but still quite a good value amp.

Out the box from cold through my HD650 cans it sounded really dark, overtly bassy, very compressed soundstage and not a good match for the Senns. My rare Sony MDR-S50 portable cans (from the 80's) seemed to sound a far better match through the amp that the expensive Senns!!.

A few days running in later though and the sound has changed completly. The Senn HD650 now seem to sound very good. Still somewhat warm and smooth sounding but getting better. Soundstage (if its possible through cans) has also got far better.

The bass on this amp is superb and definelty one its strong points. Dynamics are also very impressive (seems like the amp is capable of putting out loads of current very quickly).

Another area they have got right with this amp is that the gain level its set too puts the alps volume pot to good use (volume seems to go up quite gradually with each degree dial is turned).

Also appears so work well with low impendance cans. I tried it with a set of 16ohm Yuin PK2 ear budds and a set of 16ohm Sony MDR-EX90LP budds. Amp really suited the Sony buds as well as Sony MDR-S50 portable cans mentioned earlier.

With nothing playing, turning the volume right up revealed only the slightest bit of hiss and a little bit of buzz from the traffo.

Build quality is superb. Really nicely cased and finished. Really heavy!

Has anyone else heard one or heard of one of these?

[dc]

yeah i've seen them but they're not a common product

they come with a matching CD player and DAC as well i think

concept is quite similar to the Stello 100 series:

www.hifi500.com/

[Deleted]

Another interesting one!

There is also the PH-300 which sports 2 x h'phone jacks and a valve pre-amp stage. Approx $100/£50 more.

Do you have another h'phone amp to compare it against? Or only the standard jack on your main amp.

I notice it does not use the loop through connection, only direct. So you'll need an appropriate switching box to use the unit in a tape loop.

Couldn't help but notice 2 units in your photos. Bought 2 or just stock photo?

[antigeek1]

Jun 15, 2008 11:20:33 GMT @cjarchez said:

Another interesting one!

There is also the PH-300 which sports 2 x h'phone jacks and a valve pre-amp stage. Approx $100/£50 more.

Do you have another h'phone amp to compare it against? Or only the standard jack on your main amp.

I notice it does not use the loop through connection, only direct. So you'll need an appropriate switching box to use the unit in a tape loop.

Couldn't help but notice 2 units in your photos. Bought 2 or just stock photo?

Thank alot for the replys. Only got the one working headphone amplifier at the minute (just completed a C2KIII kit though not yet wired or cased it). Have had quite a few amps or various types in the past though and this new one sounds the equal of most of them, including the Darkvoice 332 I sold not too long ago. The DV332 was alot brighter sounding and hence suited the Sennheiser HD650 cans slightly better. More upfront cans such as AKG701s or grados would probably suit this PH-100 very well. The gain setting appears to work well for both high and low inpendance cans.

Several of the pics including the internals and the pic with the two PH-100 amps are stock pics. The other pics were done with my Logitech webcam hence the grainy appearance. Limited to 2mp resolution.

Might see if I can get the lid removed for some better internal pics while the light is good..

[antigeek1]

Jun 15, 2008 6:21:32 GMT dc said:

yeah i've seen them but they're not a common product

they come with a matching CD player and DAC as well i think

concept is quite similar to the Stello 100 series:

www.hifi500.com/

Yes, the external casing is very similar to the Stello headphone amp. The internals are very different though

[antigeek1]

Internal pics as promised. Done with webcam so quality not too good. Limited to 2mp resolution and very narrow depth of field (not much in focus in any one shot)

Enjoy!!

[insomniac]

That's a nice looking amp. What does the volume knob feel like with the connecting shaft? is it still smooth to turn?

Bad luck with the "ParcelFarce" btw, but even so it's still not a bad deal. Remember to let it burn in for a good few hours.

[antigeek1]

Jun 16, 2008 1:31:19 GMT insomniac said:

That's a nice looking amp. What does the volume knob feel like with the connecting shaft? is it still smooth to turn?

Bad luck with the "ParcelFarce" btw, but even so it's still not a bad deal. Remember to let it burn in for a good few hours.

Hi Insomniac

Volume knob is very smooth turning. No problem there. Must be a luxury model amp as the volume knob is heated (slightly warm anyhow)!

Whole amp is pretty warm (does not appear to ever get hot) due to it being class A. 25w power consumption does not sound too high though compared with some tube / Class A amplifiers.

Yeah, its the luck of the draw with ParcelForce. First time they have charged me this year so not too bad going. The Ph-100 has been burning-in since last Wednesday (not constantly playing music) so should almost be on form. As the design of this amplifier is so close to that of the AT-HA5000, I bet Audio-Technica cans would sound stunning though this toy.

Though sounding pretty good though my HD650s, after many years of listening to these cans I now have a very strong craving to get some more exciting and less lazy cans such as a pair of MDR-SA5000 or ATH-W5000. No funds to upgrade at the minute though..

[antigeek1]

Hi Mrarroyo

Good to know I've not purchased a total pup.

So far its looking and sounding like the best purchase I've made all year.

It apears to be doing everything right and I'm not missing the Darkvoice 332 I sold not too long ago. ;D

[antigeek1]

This amplifier keeps getting better and better the longer it burns in.

While my HD650s sounded awesome (though a little warm and smooth) through this amp, plugging in the 16 Ohm Sony MDR-EX90LP really suprised me.

Through this amp the little 16ohm Sony earbuds sound shockingly good and almost the equal of the HD650 in some respects.

In PRAT these little buds whip the Senns especially with dance music (currently listening to Darude : Label this). Really fast and punchy!

Turning the volume right up to max with nothing playing reveals that although the background is not entirely silent, its very quiet. Noise is much like soft AM radio static and totally unobtrusive. Hum noise has almost disappeared.

Until I can score some AKG K701 cans, these little Sony buds have relegated my HD650 cans to Ebay fodder.

Update 19/06/08

I was too hasty in relegating the HD650 cans to Ebay. Upon further listening the the Senns, they are clearly leagues ahead of the Sony budds in most areas. For bassy, beat driven dance music though, the Sonys are a much more pacy, exciting listen.

Although no output specs given, the ph100 appears to be a current powerhouse. Although it drives the HD650 cans with ease, it appears to be optimised for lower impendence cans.

[FritzS]

an interesting game - Mr. DouDou Singer vs. Shanling PH-100

who has the chance?

[Deleted]

Volume adjustment is accomplished by ALPS Type 27 potentiometer, achieving 0.5dB accuracy.

Really ?

[antigeek1]

Hi all

By the time number 2 is reached on the dial, both channels appear to be pretty much equal through the Sony budds. I've tried far worse volume pot such as the one on the Darkvoice 332 (probably one of this amps biggest weaknesses).

Would be very interesting to compare the Ph-100 to the Singer. Singer also looks like a very well thought out amplifier. Price also looks good value. ;D

[Deleted]

I worry that if a manufacturer makes an outrageous claim like "Volume adjustment is accomplished by ALPS Type 27 potentiometer, achieving 0.5dB accuracy." that all the other claims are exaggerated too.
FTR, Alps only claims within 3dB tracking for the RK27 series.

[antigeek1]

You have a good point there though Shanling have not exactly marketed this amplifier nor made any other claims regards its specs / figures

If I personally was responsible for marketing (my dream job!!), I would not bother with exagerating the spec of the volume pot as the RK27 is pretty much the minimum standard pot most people would expect on a reasonable and not too commercial grade amplifier.

Far better marketing IMO would be for Shanling to exaggerate:

A) The stereotypical benefits of discrete class A ie.. warm, smooth, none-fatiguing and "musical" sound of discrete class A.

B) Exaggerated "megawatt" output figure claims .

C) Bulletproof 10mm thick brushed aluminium front/ rear panels

All these would be far more worthy of emphasis when marketing to the Gullible.

[antigeek1]

I suppose that they could test each RK27 individually and "cherry pick" only the best.

Would probably not be worth the time and expense for such a relativly low cost amplifier. They would be better off individually matching the resistors and transistors instead.

[Deleted]

could a pot be tweaked to get better performance? Just wondering.

To 0.5% right across the range ?
IMHO, NO ! Although it can be improved over part of the range by the careful selection of added resistances.
To put the claim into context, the -3db point of an amplifier is where the output voltage is 30% lower than in the flat part of it's response. i.e. approx.70% of that level. Within 3dB is what Alps state for the RK27, although some units may be much closer.

Just that simple statement would make many people think that this amplifier is something very special, without even mentioning other things.It may very well be, but why make such a claim ?

SandyK

[antigeek1]

Don't know too much about volume pots. Found this on Tangent's website:

tangentsoft.net/audio/atten.html


" No volume control has perfect tracking: one channel will always be a little different from the other. Even well-trained ears are only sensitive enough to notice a difference of about 1dB, though, and for the average person the minimum noticeable difference is more like 3dB. It's no surprise, then, that the least expensive volume controls have a 3dB tracking specification."

and

"The average channel matching is much better than the specs allow for, so that the two channel curves are almost on top of each other on the graph."

Perhaps the figures given by Shanling are dirived from this 3db figure and they are not meaning it to cover the full range of the pot..

Who knows?

[dotnet]

Jun 19, 2008 13:13:39 GMT antigeek1 said:

Perhaps the figures given by Shanling are dirived from this 3db figure and they are not meaning it to cover the full range of the pot..

That's what I'm thinking. At volume 0 both my channels are so closely matched that I can't hear a difference.


Cheers
Steffen.

[Deleted]

Steffen
The only way to really know what you have just said ,is to feed a calibrated tone into both channels, (perhaps from a test CD) and measure the actual output to L and R. The ears are very forgiving of channel response deviations in amplifiers with very average channel separation. In amplifiers such as the modded Jaycar, these errors become far more obvious.
Alex

[dotnet]

Hehe, it was just a lame attempt at humour... ;D

I agree with you, that's why I said "at volume 0"

Cheers
Steffen.

[Deleted]

Steffen
I don't know about the Shanling, but I believe that may not have been the case with the Singer HA
Alex
















Perhaps the hum WAS the same in both channels ?

[antigeek1]

Hi All

The buzz that could just about be heard way below the background hiss though the 16 Ohm Sony MDR-EX90LP came through both channels.

This buzz was the result of my unshielded (in the normal method) interconnects picking up some RF hum from the nearby computer sound source. Moving the modem to the opposite side of the desk and rearranging the interconnects has now solved the buzz.


www.s-arrowcables.com/index.html

Any background noise is only audiable through the 16Ohm buds at at full blast. Totally silent with the HD650 cans.

[antigeek1]

Just looked through the User Manual (all in Chinese!!).

The Spec section is the only understandable section.

I thought this amp sounded like it was pushing out some serious current. The specs certainly confirm this.

Why the hell did Shanling not use this impressive spec list in any of their marketing? It may have helped them shift more units..

I would say these specs sound like they are fairly conservativly rated and the actual power and S/N level is slightly better than paulished.



Still amazed by this amp and shall be holding onto it. Class A discrete sounds beautiful. Seems to a good compromise between the best of valve and solid state amplification

[antigeek1]

Finally ditched my old Senn HD650 cans on Ebay and brought a nice new pair of AKG-K701s. Been running them in since they arrived Thurs morning and they are starting to come along really nicely.

Basically they synergise perfectly with the PH-100 amplifier and the rest of my system and are producing the type of sound that I was always after but never got from the HD650s. To say I'm inpressed with the K701 and amp combination would be a total understatement. A match made in heaven it would appear!!

Until the cans run in, the sound can only get better..hard to believe but true