FiiO M15S vs Shanling M7: Which Drives More Headphones?

FiiO M15S vs Shanling M7

Short answer

More power: the FiiO M15S, with 580 mW into 32 Ω; the Shanling M7 has 406 mW (balanced: 1.20 W against 920 mW). Both drive 566 of the 567 non-electrostatic headphones here to 100 dB, so on that test the difference changes nothing.
Quieter with sensitive IEMs: the Shanling M7. 20 headphones stay below audible hiss on it but not on the FiiO M15S (64 Audio Fourte, AFUL Performer 8, Campfire Audio Andromeda 10, 17 more).
Output impedance: 36 headphones are left alone by the Shanling M7 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the FiiO M15S (64 Audio Aspire 1, 64 Audio Fourte, 64 Audio Ocean, 33 more).
Price: the Shanling M7 costs $450 more; what that buys on these numbers is set out further down, under What the price difference buys.

Both are portable players, $799 against $1249.

On raw power they are level: each reaches 100 dB on 566 of the 567 non-electrostatic models here.

Specification	FiiO M15S	Shanling M7
Power into 32Ω	580 mW	406 mW
Power into 150Ω	150 mW	87 mW
Power into 300Ω	93 mW	43 mW
Power into 600Ω	47 mW	22 mW
Output impedance	1.4 Ω	1.0 Ω
Output noise	3.2 µV	1.6 µV
Price	$799	$1249
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	566	566

Specification

FiiO M15S

Shanling M7

Power into 32Ω

580 mW

406 mW

Power into 150Ω

150 mW

87 mW

Power into 300Ω

93 mW

43 mW

Power into 600Ω

47 mW

22 mW

Output impedance

1.4 Ω

1.0 Ω

Output noise

3.2 µV

1.6 µV

Price

$799

$1249

Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567

566

The 4.4 mm or XLR socket, rated on its own

Balanced	FiiO M15S	Shanling M7
Socket	4.4mm (2.5mm also provided)	4.4mm
Power into 32Ω	1.2 W	920 mW
Power into 300Ω	368 mW	98 mW derived
Output impedance	2.3 Ω	1.0 Ω
Output noise	5.2 µV	2.2 µV
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	567	566

Through the balanced sockets the FiiO M15S reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here and the Shanling M7 on 566. Derived figures are worked out from the loads the maker did publish.

Where each power figure comes from

Load	FiiO M15S	Shanling M7
32 Ω	Published	Published
150 Ω	Derived	Derived
300 Ω	Published	Derived
600 Ω	Derived	Derived

Both makers publish a power rating. FiiO M15S publishes at 32 Ω and at 300 Ω; Shanling M7 at 32 Ω. The other rows are worked out from those.

So the two columns are not equally firm row by row: at 300 Ω only the FiiO M15S figure is the maker’s own. On those rows the derived number is the one to doubt first.

What the labels mean.

The headphones that tell them apart

On power they are interchangeable across this whole database: there is no headphone here that one reaches 100 dB on and the other does not.

36 headphones are left alone by the Shanling M7 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the FiiO M15S (64 Audio Aspire 1, 64 Audio Fourte, 64 Audio Ocean, 33 more).

20 headphones stay below the audible-hiss threshold on the Shanling M7 but cross it on the FiiO M15S (64 Audio Fourte, AFUL Performer 8, Campfire Audio Andromeda 10, 17 more).

566 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both.

Headroom and hiss on 8 models, both sources

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020: FiiO M15S has +19 dB of headroom there against +15 dB. 4 dB is about 2.6 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

Hiss below about 20 dB SPL is inaudible in a quiet room.

Headphone	Impedance	Needs	FiiO M15S headroom	Shanling M7 headroom	FiiO M15S hiss	Shanling M7 hiss
Shure SE846	9 Ω	0.04 mW	+39 dB damping	+35 dB	25 dB	19 dB
Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020	9 Ω	4.0 mW	+19 dB damping	+15 dB	5 dB	-1 dB
Audeze LCD-2 Classic	70 Ω	0.79 mW	+26 dB	+24 dB	3 dB	-3 dB
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)	250 Ω	0.63 mW	+22 dB	+19 dB	-2 dB	-8 dB
HiFiMAN HE400se	25 Ω	7.9 mW	+18 dB	+16 dB	-3 dB	-9 dB
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X	470 Ω	1.6 mW	+16 dB	+12 dB	-9 dB	-15 dB
Sennheiser HD 600	300 Ω	6.6 mW	+11 dB	+8 dB	-13 dB	-19 dB
HiFiMAN Susvara	60 Ω	50 mW	+8 dB	+6 dB	-15 dB	-21 dB

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Shanling M7 costs $450 more than the FiiO M15S. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 36 more models left alone under the one-eighth rule and 20 more models kept below the audible-hiss threshold.

Nothing runs the other way: there is no axis here on which the cheaper of the two does better.

Only published figures count here; blank axes are counted separately.