Hello, any update on gapless playback for this device? I’m still interested in it and would like to know if it works or not before buying it. Thanks a lot.

Hi Anthony.

I do not own the Shanling M1 Plus, Thomas did that review. That said, I have an affinity for Shanling sound, which comes across as warmer and richer in the DAPs I do own from them. The M1 Plus seems to offer features that the JM21 doesn’t have such as AirPlay and Eddict Player, which may separate the Shanling.

The JM21 provides a good baseline sound, that is more neutral than not, with plenty of detail and the USB-C connection is how I am currently running it for another review. Sorry I couldn’t help more.

Thanks, I think I’ll preorder the jm21 as a long standing fiio fan from the X series even though the R4 does look awesome for the money

Cheers again!

Doesn’t have a better decoder (DAC) and amplifier though. Nor does it have a jack to plug your iem or headphones into :)

I have always been a fan of using dedicated media devices, however, I really don’t see any tangible benefit for using this unit over a similarly priced and carefully selected android phone. A phone will have a larger battery capacity, more up to date software, better storage (256GB units can be had for same price), better screen resolution and much better processors and higher RAM. If someone absolutely must have a dedicated device for music a secondary phone used solely for this purpose would offer a much better user experience without any noticeable degradation in perceived sound quality.

As for spending your $, as much as I’d love to, that’s up to you. Both of these are quite good, with benefits that favor each: the JM21 works better using USB-C than the R4, but the HiBy embedded music app is superb.

So, for pure sound qualities, the JM21 would be the choice, especially with USB-C. For a bit more personality and the music app, that would be the R4.

Cheers.

Hi Bob,

I do not have the Sony NW-A306 in my possession, so I can’t help you with that. Apologies.