SHANLING EH3 DAC ES9039PRO Headphone Amplifier Black

With the EH3, Shanling offers us an extremely versatile DAC with volume control, which can also be used as a headphone amplifier or as a streamer. Indeed, in addition to its ES9039PRO DAC chip, Shanling also offers an amplification system based on four OPA1612s, and the possibility of playing audio files directly from a local server or DLNA application thanks to its Wifi connection.

Shanling EH3 : Cutting edge sound processing

At the heart of the EH3 is an ESS ES9039PRO DAC chip. This high-performance 8-channel chip, based on Hyperstream IV technology, enables the EH3 to decode up to 32bit 768kHz PCM and up to DSD512, and to do so symmetrically so as to limit the interference created by the influence of one channel on the other.

Management of USB connectivity is entrusted to an XMOS XU316 chip, enabling transparent sound reproduction while ensuring support for the above-mentioned sampling formats.

On the amplification side, this is ensured by four OPA1612s, recognized as operational amplifiers with very low noise density (1.1-nV/√Hz ) and virtually zero distortion (0.000015% at 1kHz ). As a result, Shanling's EH3 deploys power ranging from 126 mW to 1900 mW at 32 Ω unbalanced, and up to 5300 mW at 32 Ω balanced.

Shanling EH3 : Versatile connectivity

Shanling's EH3 offers a wide variety of inputs and outputs. Indeed, it is possible to use a wired input in coaxial, optical, USB-A, USB-B, RCA or HDMI I2S, but you also can connect to the device via Bluetooth 5.0 or link it to your local network via Wifi. Finally, the EH3 is also compatible with the Airplay protocol, so it can receive music from any Apple device.

On the output side, there are four headphone outputs on the front panel: an unbalanced 6.35mm jack output, an unbalanced 3.5mm jack output, a balanced 4.4mm jack output and a balanced 4-pins XLR output. The rear panel features an RCA output and a 3-pins XLR output, which can bypass the volume control if desired. Finally, the EH3 can be controlled remotely via Shanling's proprietary Eddict Player application.