The further, the more companies from China are capturing the market for audio, increasing the already considerable competition. Aune as a whole is not new to this field, so the player in its performance has been waiting for a long time, and the Aune M1 introduced this summer was received very warmly, despite the presence of a number of significant limitations. From the moment of its appearance, I wanted to listen to him, so when friends from the store they offered me to do it - I gladly took the opportunity.
In the development of M1 Aune, they threw all their strength on the hardware component, leaving the software part overboard. This led to the player coming out very simple. It supports exactly one format: wav, no mp3, no flac. Judging by the fact that the management turned out to be very awkward in general, the firmware was adapted from the company's “desktop players”. M1 would risk to go completely unnoticed if it were not for two factors (I would even say one and a half): a low price (less than 200 dollars) and an incredible sound for such a price.
Specifications
- DAC chip: interchangeable, PCM1793 by default, announced in the future ES9018, ES9023, AD1955, WM8741, TDA1543
- Amplifier: replaceable, default is NE5532 + OPA2134
- Amplifier output power: 700 mW @ 32Ω
- Outputs: 3.5 mm TRS, coaxial SPDIF 3.5 mm
- Load impedance: 32Ω - 320Ω
- Battery life: from 7 hours
- Battery charging time: up to 2 hours
- Memory card support: SD, up to 32 GB
- Supported formats: wav, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit
- Weight: 181 grams
- Dimensions: 103.1 mm x 56 mm x 20 mm
Package and Delivery
The box of this player is a real masterpiece of minimalism, which even Apple can envy. In the past there were those times when the Chinese players were delivered in wooden caskets, covered with gold stamping and piano lacquer. Aune M1 comes to the buyer in a tiny box of white cardboard, on one side of which it is written Aune, on the other - M1. In the box you will find a player, USB cable, various pieces of paper and an adapter with 3.5 mm SPDIF to coaxial. On this the excesses are completely exhausted.
In general, for a budget player - everything you need is there, there is no unnecessary, and rightly so, it is necessary to save natural resources and not to waste them on what the buyer will be doing without work. And buyers can be glad that the price is not too high for a penny.
Design and management
The appearance of the player is very good. It is made of black anodized aluminum with a texture, slightly thicker than its competitors, but already. Due to the reduced width, it fits perfectly in the hand and makes a pleasant impression. The build quality is very high, no backlash or squeaks, the full feeling of a monolithic aluminum bar.
On the top panel there is a headphone output and SPDIF, as well as an analog volume control. It is very good, the tightness of the rotation is well chosen, although if you carelessly handle the volume, you can accidentally increase the volume, and since the player is powerful enough, it can be unpleasant.
The bottom panel contains connectors for SD-cards, a microUSB-connector for charging, a LED indicating charging and a power switch, made in the form of a small toggle switch. The player uses full-size SD cards, the capacity is up to 32 GB, although I read reviews that some 64 GB cards are also supported. Due to the peculiarities of the player’s interface (which are a little lower), supporting higher capacity cards makes little sense - getting to the right music is rather troublesome, so it’s better to buy several lower capacity cards and change them if you like.
In general, the player is quite capricious, and not all cards will work with it, so it is advisable to ensure compatibility before purchasing. It is also a pity that the player does not show up as a USB Mass Storage Device when connected to a computer, so you need a card reader to download music (although I heard reviews that the player is seen as a “flash drive” when connected, it didn’t work for me).
There is a screen on the front panel (absolutely nothing outstanding, but enough for a player), a green LED that indicates the player’s operation when the screen is off, as well as control buttons, which, due to the player’s interface features, accumulated as many as 7 pieces.
The Aune M1 interface is as tough as Chuck Norris’s punch. A few seconds after the player is turned on, you see a list of files on the memory card through which you can navigate using the buttons. Selecting the desired file, you start playback. The fact that files are sorted not by name, but by creation time adds to the joy, so often the list of tracks in the album can be mixed up (there are special utilities to fix this).
The player has only one setting - the playback order, a separate button is used to change this setting, and the current mode is displayed using the icon on the screen (by the way, it’s not easy to understand which one means something), while after the reboot the mode is not preserved. There are quite a few such “illogicals” in the firmware, for example, when entering the list of folders (using a separate button), playback stops. Forget about adjusting the backlight time, remembering the current playback position, the off timer - none of this. You can listen to music, you can not listen to it - these are the two functions of Aune M1. By the way, to save energy, the screen turns off quickly, and after that, to control the player, you have to “wake up” it by pressing a separate button. This sets up a separate philosophical way of communicating with the device and allows you to train your inner calm.
Aune M1 - just the case when you really want to believe in the output for him RockBox. By the way, it is strange why the Chinese do not use RB in stock for their players, many of them would benefit from this, and the developers saved time to develop the firmware.
There is a common saying “audiophile must suffer,” which jokingly hints that many connoisseurs of high-quality sound are ready to sacrifice convenience for the sake of the sound of the device, but Aune M1 is its most vivid embodiment.
Charging and working on one charge during the tests I was 8 hours 26 minutes.
Sound
As I wrote above, Aune M1 can play only one format - wav-files with a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz and 16 bits. No hayrez and no other formats. If the first as a whole can be experienced, especially in the portable, then the need to unpack files in wav personally depresses me.
To listen to the player used the following headphones.
In Aune, they promise to produce replacement DAC and amplifier boards for the M1 in the future, but this is questionable and primarily depends on how the player is perceived by the market, fortunately, even the current version that is sold everywhere is very, very good.
The sound of the player as a whole is almost neutral, without pronounced accents, although it may appear dark against the background of other players of a similar price range. The fact is that he is very energetically playing the low frequencies, while the high frequencies are slightly simplified. Individually, these factors are not so strong as to consider the player “darker than usual”, but compared to other players in this price segment, this feeling arises. If you continue to listen only to Aune M1, the perception is “flattened out” and an understanding comes that the sound of this player is closer to the correct one than the competitors.
The first thing I want to mention is the bass: powerful, biting, well controlled and going very deep. Not many top players can boast of such a study of the lower frequencies. The symphonic recordings of large orchestras, electronic music, well recorded live jazz and many other genres played with the Aune M1 with new colors.
The mids at the player are also worthy of all praise. Emotionality and detailing - at a decent level. Separation of tools is not perfect, but for the price range - more than worthy. The imaginary scene is built perfectly both in depth and in width.
The upper frequencies are good in quantity, but their supply is slightly simplified, just a little, again, for a player with a given price, this absolutely cannot be a nag, but an energetic bass sometimes wants to compensate for the tweeter, so some tracks sometimes lack air.
By the way, between my tracks the player makes about half a second of loud noise, judging by the reviews on the forum, this may be due to the converter used to create wav files, since not all users have encountered such a problem.
The player is quite unpretentious to the headphones, but the quality of records for it is better to ensure. I liked the Aune M1 more with dynamic headphones and hybrids, since its powerful bass can be played with rebar for many IEMs.
findings
To understand whether this device is suitable for you, ask yourself the question - how important is the quality of sound for you? If the sound is the main thing in the player, and you are ready to endure everything for it ... say, the features of Aune M1, then this is your definite choice. If you do not have the patience of a Buddhist monk and the humility of Mahatma Gandhi, you should look at other models.
The article is based on materials .
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