The company Shanling is well known in the audio equipment market, so I expected their first M3 player with considerable interest. I must say that the player has justified the expectations placed on it: an interesting sound, an unusual design, many possibilities - all this is available for the M3. When it was time to release a successor, Shanling decided not to "hit the squares", but clearly to think what niche they want to occupy. Such a balanced approach allowed them to make a very successful budget model, which received the M2 index.
In the face of M2 Shanling decided to create a compact, inexpensive model with a high-quality design and a pleasant "vintage" sound. To do this, they took the already tested CS4398 (in my opinion - the absolute leader in popularity among modern players), added a rather unusual combination of op amps, changed the design of the case and made it smaller.
In addition, M2 pleases with a reduced price, the recommended price in the world is $ 240, and in Russia .
Specifications
- DAC: Cirrus Logic CS4398
- OC: JRC MUSE8920 and BB TPA6120A2
- Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 kHz (-0.5 dB)
- Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise: <0.004%
- Signal to noise ratio: > 102 dB
- Output power: 125 mW @ 32Ω, 13 mW @ 300Ω
- Output level: 1.3 Vrms
- Supported formats: APE, FLAC, ALAC, WMA, AAC, OGG, MP3, WAV, AIFF, DSF, DFF
- Supported sampling rates: 44.1kHz - 192kHz
- USB DAC mode: Support up to 192 kHz / 32 bit
- Screen: 2.35 ", TFT, 360 × 400
- Outputs: 3.5 mm earphone, combined linear / coaxial 3.5 mm
- Inputs: MicroUSB
- Memory Cards: MicroSD up to 128 GB
- Battery: 2200 mAh
- One-charge operation time: about 9 hours
- Size: 52.5 mm × 13.8 mm × 110 mm
- Weight: 115g
Packing and delivery kit
The box of the player is multilayered. Outside, a package of thin glossy cardboard with restrained printing, inside there is another box of black color, this time from cardboard. Traditionally, the player is on top, all accessories are under it. In the kit you will get a couple of films on the screen (one I immediately glued with air bubbles), an adapter for coaxial output, a storage case for storing the player, a USB-reader (useful accessory) and traditional instructions-warranty coupons.
Unfortunately, there is no cover, but there are very good black and brown leather cases available on the market, they look very good, so I immediately advise you to buy one.
Design and management
We worked on the design of the model for glory. Despite the budgetary orientation, the M2 is made of black anodised aluminum, and the rear panel displays a carbon fiber insert that looks good and protects the device against any rubbing. The build quality is good, there are no creaks and no backlashes.
There are very few controls. On the bottom panel there is a connector MicroUSB, by tradition it serves for charging and access to data, also M2 can work in the form of USB DAC. On the left side there is a slot for memory cards and a button for turning off the player / screen lock. The device supports the "deep sleep" mode, so you can not turn it off in between uses, the battery will be used sparingly. On the upper side there are output connectors, on the left for headphones, on the right - universal. In the menu, you can choose whether it will work as a linear output or else it will give a digital signal over the coaxial S / PDIF.
Most of the front panel is occupied by a screen, it is quite good, at maximum brightness you can see the information even in bright sun. The main control is carried out with the help of a multi-position wheel located in the upper right corner. This control was clearly borrowed from digital cameras, so the ergonomics of this solution is very good. This wheel can not only rotate, but also used as a five-position joystick. Inside, a quality encoder is used, so that rotation and clicks are recorded fairly clearly.
The interface is "sharpened" for the use of this wheel, so at first it may take a little getting used, although in general everything is logical. To navigate through the menu, the rotation is used, the input is the central button, the return to the higher level is the deviation of the wheel down. On the playback screen, left-right (rewind) and up (playback and pause) operations additionally work. The volume is adjusted using the wheel and works only on the playback screen. Another interesting feature of this screen - pressing the central button shows the current list of tracks for convenient selection. A long press on the same button shows a context menu that allows you to change the playback mode, add a track to the playlists and favorites and delete it. Immediately you can go to the viewing of artists or albums, which is very convenient and saves a few clicks.
The menu is convenient and stylish, it uses circles as the main metaphor for the interface, and it looks interesting. The main menu consists of 5 items: return to the playback screen, view the music library, view the folders, playback settings and system settings. In the list of the music library there is a preview of artists, albums and genres, in addition, there is a list of selected tracks, playlists and a list of all your music. In the playback settings, select the maximum volume level, memorize the selected volume, adjust the 10-band equalizer (there are ready, or you can twist yourself), then the channel balance and the gain factor change. In the same menu, playback without pauses and moving to the next folder after the music is finished in the current one. In the system settings there is a traditional "gentleman's set" such as updating the library, selecting the backlight time and brightness, sleep and shutdown timer, selecting USB mode and line output, the interface language (Russian is not present), and also one of the three themes. Still here you can see information about the system and start the process of updating the firmware.
In general, the M2 interface makes the most pleasant impression, it's clear that they worked on it - neat icons, unusual design, fast on-off and update of the library. I saw on the Internet complaints about various problems with the M2, but I have not touched any of them, the player behaves stably and responsive. To the credit of Shanling it is worth noting that they do not abandon the support of their devices, the same M3 also recently received a 4 version of the firmware with a lot of innovations.
During the testing of the battery, the player played FLAC files for 8 hours and 20 minutes (low gain, volume 70, headphones Trinity Techne).
In general, purely my tactile-visual impressions of the player are positive. A small, compact player that is pleasant to the touch and is conveniently controlled by a thumb.
Sound
To listen to the player, the following headphones were used:
- Oppo PM-3
- Dunu DN-2000J, Titan 1, Titan 3 and Titan 5
- Lear LHF-AE1d
- Ambient Acoustics AM10
- VE Monk and Asura 2.0
It's not often that the developers of the players pamper us with a story about exactly what kind of feed they wanted, so Shanling was pleasantly surprised by publishing a detailed description of how they would like to see the sound of M2. According to them, the player should provide a musical presentation of the material with an emphasis on the merger (here the representatives of the company could not resist the traditional memories of vinyl) and comfortable sound with a reduced amount of HF. Immediately I can say that the company did it.
The bass is very well balanced (in general, the "balance" is just the M2 motto), it has enough energy to create the "body" of the melody, but it does not differ too much, as it can sometimes irritate, instead there is a light raid valyazhnosti, however, on the buzz player clearly does not break.
Medium frequencies - generally without complaints, I do not know what to add here. In comparison with the top expensive players of M2, of course, there is not enough microcomputing (especially noticeable on high female vocals), but to hear it - you need to listen for a long time. Minor nuances, emotions - all this is in the pitch Shanling, and the background created by the bass, it emphasizes the midrange player. The imaginary scene is medium in width, the depth is just below the average. The tools are well separated and positioned.
High frequencies are simplified. Not enough to turn into a rustling something, but working out them is clearly not a record. Fortunately, the company decided to take them to the second plan and not lost. The HD detailing in M2 is quite enough to make the recordings of airiness, but not enough for sharp sound. Therefore, the M2 is well compatible with most headphones, unless, of course, you are not completely full of HF haters.
Traditionally, we slightly equalize the player with devices of similar form factor and / or price. I remind you that all such comparisons are subjective and based purely on my preferences.
iHiFi 800. Favorite of the category "audiophilia inexpensive". A detailed, monitor, smooth player with a detached and slightly cool serve. I like its technicality, but if you like genres like rock and metal and do not want monitor feed, perhaps M2 will be a more suitable option. It is slower, but more vintage and relaxed sound is beneficial to the pitch.
Fiio X3-2. Perhaps the most popular player of the price category. From M2 differs slightly more emphasis of the edges of the dynamic range, which gives an "attractive" sound, although the RF can sometimes be tired, and the LF is not as well controlled as in M2.
xDuoo X3. If you take the ratio of price and quality, then, of course, xDuoo wins. It is more than 2 times cheaper, but at the same time, of course, it is not 2 times worse. If you take the players in the "absolute" comparison, then I probably overpaid. M2 is much better on management and ergonomics, and its musical pitch is much more pleasant than the technicality that xDuoo is trying to achieve.
Hidizs AP100. The surprising debut of the Chinese company, which brought them popularity. They have not been able to release an update for a couple of years, but the "weaving" is now in Russia so much that this player can be strongly recommended. Compared to M2, it has more collected LFs, which are larger and quantitatively, and also better RF processing. In this case, it is much larger in size and more critical to light headphones.
Compatibility
Overall, the M2 is not the most versatile player. It is not so powerful that it can cope without problems with taut full-sized models, which limits its scope primarily to IEM and sensitive full-size ones. In addition, the player has a high output impedance (specific figures vary in different sources), which affects the multi-driver and hybrid models. Therefore, the best choice for M2 are good single-drive dynamic models, fortunately, there are a lot of them now. Although I tried the M2 and hybrid models, HF subsides, but, in general, it is quite possible to listen.
The genre player is more attracted to the music that benefits from its presentation: non-brutal metal, classical rock, all kinds of jazz. Not bad sounds orchestral classics (corrected for not the biggest stage) and electronic music. Slightly worse, but very good go and superheavy metal styles. To the quality of recording the player is tolerant, on the traditional 10-point scale, I would rate it by 6 points.
As usual - examples.
Royal Republic - Addictive. The spirit of hard rock of the old school, mixed with the sleek madness of commercial punk, lives and lives in the works of these musicians. Music for a breakaway, when you remember that on Monday you're at work by 9:00 and without delay. From this, however, it does not get worse. M2 perfectly suited for this track, just driving into the ears cheerful percussion and ironic vocals. After 15 seconds, if you do not want to jump, then certainly shake your head.
Antonio Vivaldi - Primavera - Allegro. One of the most famous works of classical music. Shanling M2 with its mid-range feeds is very suitable for violin music, and the allocated high frequencies make music easier to perceive, although at the expense of a small decrease in the reliability.
Juno Reactor - Invisible. A great example of smart electronic music, interesting and full of unusual ideas. Shnaling M2 here also shows itself on the good side, its dense bass creates a powerful base for the rest of the melody, so necessary for such styles.
conclusions
Excellent player, which combines an affordable price, stylish design, convenient control and unbanal sound. He clearly is meant to become a road companion for an active music lover who loves a slightly softened musical pitch.
The article is based on materials .
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