Both are dongles, $250 against $259. This page puts them side by side on the only three things a maker can be held to — power, output impedance and noise — and then asks the question that actually matters: which headphones do they treat differently?
The Questyle M15 reaches 100 dB on 565 of the 567 models here, the Shanling UA5 on 562.
| Specification | Questyle M15 | Shanling UA5 |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 300 mW | 137 mW |
| Power into 150Ω | 110 mW | 29 mW |
| Power into 300Ω | 55 mW | 15 mW |
| Power into 600Ω | 28 mW | 7.3 mW |
| Output impedance | 0.5 Ω unverified | 0.8 Ω |
| Output noise | 3 µV unverified | 3.5 µV unverified |
| Price | $250 | $259 |
| Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567 | 565 | 562 |
A figure marked not published is missing from the maker’s own material, which is not the same as being good or bad. Where one of these two publishes a number and the other does not, the comparison on that axis cannot be made at all — and saying so is more useful than guessing.
3 headphones reach 100 dB on the Questyle M15 but not on the Shanling UA5 — Moondrop COSMO, Symphonium Crimson, Symphonium Helios.
562 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both. That is a power count and nothing more; whether either source suits a given headphone also depends on the two lines above.
Each has a page of its own with a full headphone list and the provenance of every figure — worth opening here, because Questyle M15 has published no electrical specification at all and everything above comes from independent measurement: Questyle M15 and Shanling UA5. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.