FiiO M17 vs Shanling M7: Which Drives More Headphones?

FiiO M17 vs Shanling M7

Short answer

Power: about the same. The FiiO M17 has 500 mW into 32 Ω, the Shanling M7 406 mW (balanced: 3.00 W and 920 mW). The FiiO M17 drives 1 headphone to 100 dB that the Shanling M7 cannot (Symphonium Titan).
Quieter with sensitive IEMs: the Shanling M7. 24 headphones stay below audible hiss on it but not on the FiiO M17 (64 Audio Fourte, AFUL Performer 8, Audio-Technica ATH-CKS1100, 21 more).
Price: the FiiO M17 costs $550 more; what that buys on these numbers is set out further down, under What the price difference buys.

Both are portable players, $1799 against $1249.

The FiiO M17 reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here, the Shanling M7 on 566.

Specification	FiiO M17	Shanling M7
Power into 32Ω	500 mW	406 mW
Power into 150Ω	115 mW	87 mW
Power into 300Ω	63 mW	43 mW
Power into 600Ω	32 mW	22 mW
Output impedance	1 Ω	1.0 Ω
Output noise	3.5 µV	1.6 µV
Price	$1799	$1249
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	567	566

Specification

FiiO M17

Shanling M7

Power into 32Ω

500 mW

406 mW

Power into 150Ω

115 mW

87 mW

Power into 300Ω

63 mW

43 mW

Power into 600Ω

32 mW

22 mW

Output impedance

1 Ω

1.0 Ω

Output noise

3.5 µV

1.6 µV

Price

$1799

$1249

Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567

567

566

The 4.4 mm or XLR socket, rated on its own

Balanced	FiiO M17	Shanling M7
Socket	4.4mm	4.4mm
Power into 32Ω	3.0 W	920 mW
Power into 300Ω	250 mW	98 mW derived
Output impedance	2 Ω	1.0 Ω
Output noise	7 µV	2.2 µV
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	567	566

Through the balanced sockets the FiiO M17 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 M17	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 M17 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 M17 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

1 headphone reaches 100 dB on the FiiO M17 but not on the Shanling M7 — Symphonium Titan.

24 headphones stay below the audible-hiss threshold on the Shanling M7 but cross it on the FiiO M17 (64 Audio Fourte, AFUL Performer 8, Audio-Technica ATH-CKS1100, 21 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 M17 has +20 dB of headroom there against +15 dB. 6 dB is about 3.6 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 M17 headroom	Shanling M7 headroom	FiiO M17 hiss	Shanling M7 hiss
Shure SE846	9 Ω	0.04 mW	+40 dB	+35 dB	25 dB	19 dB
Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020	9 Ω	4.0 mW	+20 dB	+15 dB	5 dB	-1 dB
Audeze LCD-2 Classic	70 Ω	0.79 mW	+25 dB	+24 dB	3 dB	-3 dB
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)	250 Ω	0.63 mW	+21 dB	+19 dB	-1 dB	-8 dB
HiFiMAN HE400se	25 Ω	7.9 mW	+19 dB	+16 dB	-2 dB	-9 dB
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X	470 Ω	1.6 mW	+14 dB	+12 dB	-8 dB	-15 dB
Sennheiser HD 600	300 Ω	6.6 mW	+10 dB	+8 dB	-12 dB	-19 dB
HiFiMAN Susvara	60 Ω	50 mW	+7 dB	+6 dB	-14 dB	-21 dB

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The FiiO M17 costs $550 more than the Shanling M7. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 1 more model driven to 100 dB.

It does not run one way only: the cheaper Shanling M7 keeps 24 models below the audible-hiss threshold that the FiiO M17 does not, which is the part worth checking against your own headphones before paying the difference.

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