Today we are talking about a very unusual device, it's not the headphones, not the player, not the DAC or amplifier. I want to talk about an alternative board for the upgrade of the Aune M1 player, which is called Module Choir.
Aune almost always demonstrates an unprecedented breadth of approach to its products, offering unusual options and moves that competitors do not have. Not always they are 100% successful, but in most cases at least cause interest. The Aune M1 player, a bit late for the first section of the portable HiFi market, still bribed with very high quality sound for very little money, interesting "chips" were inside: the DAC and amplifier are placed on a separate board, which assumes the possibility of replacement.
Representatives of the company immediately promised that in addition to the stock card with PCM1793 will be available many more DACs, but so far this has not happened. Fortunately, in China there were craftsmen who independently developed and released a fee for modification. They called it Module Choir, and it is based on a very interesting chip CS4398 from Cirus Logic, the amplifier is assembled on the basis of TLE2072 and LMH6321. The board is made in 4 layers, the power circuit uses Elna Starget capacitors, designed for use in audio.
In Russia you can buy HiFiMod from for 5500 rubles.
An additional "bonus" for the Module Choir installation is the replacement of the coaxial output by a linear one. This is very reasonable, because the role of digital transport Aune M1 is not very convenient, but you can use it to connect it to an external amplifier.
Delivered Module Choir in a metal box with a transparent window, through which you can see the filling, in addition to the board itself, you will get another handle on the volume control.
Installation of the board does not make any special problems, for this you just need to have direct hands and a little accuracy (but remember that all manipulations with the player deprive you of the warranty and you do it at your own risk).
The manufacturer has prepared a visual step-by-step instruction: http://d.pr/f/10iib.
There is not one important step in this instruction: after you remove the stock card, before installing a new one, you need to isolate the crystal oscillator located on the main board of the player. I used ordinary scotch, pasted it on top.
Suppose the replacement was successful, and the assembled player is working. What will the user hear?
In order to make the comparison as accurate as possible, I lent the second player and compared the players using the Fiio HS2 switch on the same record, switching them on the move. The result of such a comparison, by the way, turned out to be different from the opposition of players "from memory".
To listen to the player, the following headphones were used:
- Ambient Acoustics AM10
- HiFiMan Re600
- VSonic Gr01 and VSD3S
- Philips Fidelio X1
- Dunu DN-2000
Choir is more neutral and less accentuates certain aspects of music compared to the stock M1. The first few minutes it seems that the replacement board sounds "more boring" than the original, but with good headphones you quickly realize that the impression is fraudulent. In fact, the neutral pitch and increased detail of Choir open more nuances of music, bringing the player's sound to a different level. To make sure that the "upgrade" sounds closer to neutral sound, I compared both versions of the player with the QLS QA360.
The basic aspects of the Aune M1 sound remain unchanged: a powerful and energetic bass, a detailed middle - all this will remain with you, although the bass will become better controlled and more informative.
Due to a more neutral feed in the player's sound, musical accents are shifted. For example, in the track "Slow, Love, Slow" by Nighwish, it's better to hear the male backing vocals, which shades the vocalist's voice in the choruses, because of this the track takes on a new depth.
Also, a modified version with a virtual scene construction works better, the player makes it possible to clearly distinguish real records made in a large room from the artificial volume attached during recording.
Slightly more reliable voices (especially men's voices) and instruments. This is well audible on the records of vocalists, whose voices are well known: Robert Plant, Mark Knopfler and others.
The demand of the player for headphones and records has grown, since their disadvantages are revealed to a greater extent, but this is a payment for sound of higher quality.
In general, Module Choir is a very interesting purchase for owners of Aune M1, who want to improve the sound, retaining the basic features of the player's sound.
The article is based on materials .
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