HiFiMAN Mini Shangri-La

The HiFiMAN Mini Shangri-La is a direct descendant of the original Shangri-La, introduced in 2016 and joined by Shangri-La Jr. in 2018. The new Mini Shangri-La is an advanced desktop system with electrostatic headphones and amplifier.

Electrostatic system

The Mini Shangri-La headphones are equipped with an electrostatic driver. The basic principle of this technology is to apply a static electrical charge to a membrane suspended between two perforated metal plates. When an electrical voltage is applied to the plates, the attraction and repulsion of the static electricity causes the membrane to vibrate without direct physical contact. The advantage of this system is that the diaphragm produces a perfectly even sound signal, which greatly reduces the diffraction of the sound and thus enables sound reproduction of astonishing precision. It should be noted, however, that electrostatic headphones require a special amplifier, as a voltage of several hundred volts is needed to operate them.

HiFiMAN Mini Shangri-La: A nanometric membrane

The Mini Shangri-La headphones from HiFiMAN have a diaphragm that is only a few nanometers thick. This technical feature increases the bandwidth beyond the audible spectrum (7 Hz to 90,000 Hz), making even the last octaves of your favorite recordings visible and revealing a wealth of previously unknown details. A nanoparticle coating on the diaphragm of the headphones ensures precise conduction and stability, even in varying temperatures and environments, with a deep and expansive soundstage.

There are two types of protection on the outside of the ear cups. Firstly, a nanometer-thin layer prevents dust or other impurities from entering the inside of the headphones and causing distortion. The second protection takes the form of a honeycomb grille that protects the drivers from air vibrations and thus ensures natural, precise sound reproduction.

HiFiMAN Mini Shangri-La Amplifier

The amplifier is equipped with a linear power supply, a discrete filter system and two MOSFET transistors, minimizing distortion and other anomalies in a fully balanced input and output design. The amplifier voltage is routed directly to the output power transistors to keep the path clean and uninterrupted. The robust amplifier housing features stereo RCA and XLR inputs and two 5-pin electrostatic outputs. A discrete filter system to further filter out distortion and other irregularities and a fully balanced design in both the input and output stages.