Now, the Jolene didn’t work for me with the H7 previously. This type of presentation worked well with the Jolene. Consider this the mosh pit version of the arena-like H7 experience with that rhythmic in-your-face bass presence and the singer right in front of you. If you are a vocal lover the H5 will image in your favor but if you need headroom and space it’s unlikely to impress. It is a more intimate presentation, with less separation, space, and width, and pulls you right into the mix. Well, the H5 staging is almost the opposite with a stronger bias to depth and a forward mids presence with both aspects dominating in monitor presentations. I noted in the H7 how its own staging quality was wide and holographic but with a relaxed midrange imaging and a bass slightly above neutral but nothing dominant. Without it, the H5 reverted to a punchier low-end with a bit more treble sparkle inducing more contrast in the timbre and a slightly better level of clarity and definition in the presentation which at times I actually preferred on some pairings. If anything, the tone is even more euphonic with a bit more midrange presence teasing a very even-harmonic bias in the timbre. It does slightly level off the bass weight but retains the generally warm and lush tone throughout. One thing I must mention is the IEMatch effect if you plan on using it. Thankfully, though forward, its more rounded tone produces smoother percussion and treble performances in general so less fatiguing than the sometimes edgy delivery from the older generation chipset implementation. There is a bit more focus on the lower treble and upper-mids which is a bit similar to how I found the older AK4493EQ implementation.
Treble presence on the H5, at least in terms of upper treble sparkle is attenuated and more relaxed than its bigger sibling.
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Alternative portable amp/DACs such as the Mojo 2 are more neutral with a cleaner more reference-type tonal quality in its stock tuning. If you are coming from the H7 there is a noticeable increase in bass weight and bloom combined with a richer forward midrange tonal quality. Without IEMatch I found the H5 timbre to be generally towards the warm and dense side teasing out a generally fulsome tone combined with a strong bass fundamental. Your preferences on what’s more suitable may vary when testing this. Using IEMatch does seem to smoothen the highs or flatten the bass on some or enhance the upper bass on others. One final note, some IEMs will have slightly different tonal profiles with impedance skew a factor from the high Ω output rating on the H5. Single-DAC mode sounds flatter to my ear and not as engaging. Use this as your default as it maximizes the presence and level of fine detail possible from the H5. Then forget about this setting forever despite its resulting shorter battery life. I would recommend you go into the settings menu and switch on the dual-DAC mode. However, that is how I always remembered the AK4993EQ being tuned all those years ago so in all honesty, I am not surprised by the stronger bias to a forward bass and midrange image.
It is a more intimate presentation not as holographic or as wide as the H7. IEMs that can sizzle on the highs when poorly matched such as the Noble Audio Kadence will sound more forgiving with the H5. It is an exceedingly engaging match for those looking to beef up their monitor or headphones performance or inject girth into the vocal performance. The new AKM AK4493AQ retains the best aspects of the older EQ version including its excellent bass power and general levels of PRaT combined with a forward and emotive vocal presence.Īt the same time, combined with the chosen opamps, the H5 implementation refines on some of the rawer aspects of the older chipset’s peppy upper-mids and lower treble performance leaving out the overt harmonic dissonance to produce a more natural percussion and vocal tone. The Shanling H5 is a smooth, weighty, and rich-sounding portable amp. The following impressions were created using the Shanling H5 local media player combined with the 64 Audio U4s, the Noble Audio Kadence, and a custom-designed version of JH Audio’s Jolene.
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