Shanling ME700 Review

Specifications 

For the nit-pickers and nerdy ones here, I’m giving the specs and technical sheets. For all the other, you can just go to the next page to see how the Shanling ME700 performs.

Balanced drivers + Gold-Plated Diaphragm DD

It’s a trend now, every brand got to add a hybrid IEM in their catalog. 

Again, each bore has been directly 3D-printed inside the shell for utmost precision. It’s one of my favorite features in modern IEM if you’d ask me, very posh and yet a wonder for the eye.

As a three-way in-ear, we have :

• 2x Balanced Armature Drivers for the Highs
• 2x Balanced Armature Drivers for the Mids
• 1x Dynamic Driver for the lows

Shanling ME700

Each driver has been carefully customized, especially for Shanling. Compared to the previous ME500, the Shanling ME700 is said to offer “higher performance focused on top-grade clarity and detail”, thanks to the bigger driver for midrange and lower treble.

But, the real surprise here, comes from the golden driver. Diamond-Like Coated diaphragm? Seen it, done that. Gold-coated diaphragm? That’s a sight to behold. Plus, Shanling is pretty proud to advertise nice features such as improved dampening, less unwanted vibrations, tighter bass, and lush full sound.

We’ll have to check on that later.

Stainless steel port and SLA shell

As we saw earlier, the Shanling ME700 shell is made of SLA, which is supposed to be skin-friendly medical-grade resin, from Germany. All modern manufacturers rely on this German resin, with good reason if you were to ask: it’s notoriously sturdy, comfy, and should withstand the test of time. For example, my NF-Audio NF-3U is still superb, even after a few years of use now.

Shanling ME700

But, for the socket, nozzle, or plugs, Shanling chose another high-grade material: stainless steel. Yes, it’s not as impressive as gold, but for everyday use, steel is much more adequate thanks to its robustness and stiffness. 

Moreover, the ME700 gets gold-plated MMXC ports (classic), gold plated nozzle (fancy, but not so classic) to complete the Au-driver. Obviously, every adapter provided has been given the same treatment with gold-plated plug, whereas the cables are made of pure silver, instead of copper.

It’s not as eye-catchy as could be the ME500 Platinum, but in its own way, the Shanling ME700 remains a sight to behold.

Isolation

Like all resin-made IEM, the Shanling ME700 are excellent noise-blockers.

If you were to compare those ears with acrylic-made IEM the improvement would be subtle, but real. And, obviously, if you were to put them head-to-head against metal-made IEM like the BGVP DMG, or the ME500 Platinum, the ME700 would win every time.

Shanling M700

Silicon tips also gave good results, but not as good as the foam, and, as usual, the foam tips give the best results, properly stopping unwanted noises. The green tips were my favorites one, with the right balance of elasticity and comfort.

I use a mechanical keyboard at the office, and I couldn’t hear the click with silicon tips even at low volume, once I’ve plugged the foam one, every unwanted noise is completely out of the picture.

Full specs

• Type : IEM
• Style : Hybrid 
• Drivers : 2x Knowles (Mids) – 2x Knowles (High) – 1x Dynamic Driver (lows)
• Socket : MMCX 
• Cable : Octa-core Neotech Silver – 2.5mm TRRS plug
• Shell : 3D Printed – Medical grade resin
• Frequency Response: 20Hz – 40 KHz
• Impedance: 18 ohms
• SPL: 106 dB +/-3dB
• Sound Isolation (up to): 30 dB
• Cable length: 120 cm (without the 3.5/4.4mm adapters)
• Price: $549

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