Aune M1S Review audio player

Today we review Aune M1S audio player. 2016 turned out to be “hot” for interesting audio news. Almost nameless Chinese manufacturers released “killer flagships” on a very decent specifications and affordable price ZiShan DSD. “Add fuel to the fire» xDuoo, with its device X10.

Hidizs with their characteristic ambition announced a bunch of renders even non-existent players. And as usual, without too much pathos, quietly, Aune released a new model M1S. It will be devoted to today’s review.

Page Aune M1s on the official website.

Box

A small box of black color with a pleasant tactile “rubberized” finish.

Aune M1S: Equipment

Includes player, microUSB cable, full and brief instruction manual.

Dimensions

According to the width of the player is small but quite high. 55 × 126 × 14.8 mm. Weight 147 grams.

On the men’s hands and in comparison with Hidizs AP100 and ASUS ZenFone 2 (ZE551ML).

Aune M1S: Appearance

Player Housing and control buttons are made of aluminum. Rectangular housing. The front side faces are bevelled.
On the front side is placed a 2.4-inch IPS-display and main control buttons. The display is very bright, has seven gradations of brightness level and perfectly readable in the winter sun. Matrix display is protected with plastic. Plastic is quite susceptible to mechanical stress. After several days of careful operation on the screen appeared minor scratches. Therefore, it is desirable to take care of its protection.

All management is completely mechanical. under the screen “Home” button on the left, to the right “Back”. Buttons “Left”, “Right”, “Up” and “Down” stylized touch circle. Inside the OK button. The buttons are fairly tight turn, and pressed with a nice click.

On the back cover of the logo of the company, the index of the model, serial number and manufacturer information.

The left side is empty.

On the right side is a power button, she’s lock button, volume button, Reset button hole and a slot for MicroSD memory card (supports memory cards up to 128GB).

Below are two audio output – a standard 3.5 mm, combined with a linear output, the second balanced 2.5 mm jack for MicroUSB cable.

Aune M1S: Software

Aune use their own software writing completely from scratch, including the kernel. Firmware is very nimble and easy. Perhaps this is the best Chinese player in terms of usability.

Upgrade can tell from the official site of the manufacturer. The latest version appears initially on the Chinese version of the website . Is the player easily. It is necessary to throw the firmware file to the root of the memory card and select settings System upgrade.

Playback mode

In playback mode, the display shows the song title, album information, artist and bit rate file. On top of the volume, the charge indicator and the selected filter.

The controls are simple and intuitive. Pressing the central button – Pause / Play. Button “Down” – stop playback. Button “Up” – to switch the play mode (repeat, play in order, random playback). Long press – to add the track to your favorites. “Left” and “Right” – switch tracks and rewind while holding. Pressing the “Home” button – exit to the main menu. Pressing – returns to the playback window. The button “Back” – return to the folder to select the file.

The player has a few main points, which can be accessed from the playback mode button “Home”.

Aune M1S: Settings

The first paragraph of Start-up auto-play is responsible for the switch playback when the player (position stores).
Play mode – Selects the play mode (play list, single repeat, shuffle). Unfortunately, there is no automatic change folders.

Paragraph Filter mode, you can select one of three filtrov- Slow, MP, Fast. These filters are responsible for processing sound.

Next is the setting item Brightness display brightness. There are seven levels of brightness.

Paragraph Auto power off You can set up automatic shutdown of the player up to 5 hours (range 30 minutes).

The next item Auto-lock time is responsible for the duration of the display and lock the tinting (maximum 30 seconds).

Gapless playback is responsible for the smooth shifting tracks.

The next item Gain – selection of the gain. There are three modes – Middle, Low, Hight.

Paragraph language, you can select the language. There Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English and Japanese. No Russian language.

LO out – mode switching audio output 3.5 mm (headphones or line output).

Factory data reset – Reset the default settings (all settings are reset to the factory).

System upgrade item is responsible for the firmware update.

The next item Update playlist forcibly updates the library.

System info – remaining free space on the memory card and display the software version.

The last point is the most interesting Lock setting. In it, you can enable or disable in the lock mode buttons. Long holding the button to the left – previous track, right – next, the center button to choose Play / Pause or unlock. Moreover, the player comes out of the lock mode button “Home”.

Songs

This section displays all the songs on the memory card. Sort by file name.

Folders

The usual file manager. Going into folders, song selection. Delete files or folders can not be.

Playlists

In this section, work with playlists. Paragraph Most played shows all the playlists on the memory card. Paragraph Favorites displaying lyrics added to favorites.

Aune M1S: Battery

Playing Time (music material in Flac 16BIT 44kHz format) to a comfortable volume amounted to 11.5 hours. That is very good for this class of device. Charging time Charger 5V 1,5A just over 2.5 hours.

Aune M1S: Supported formats

I have on the card were the music files in the following formats: Flac 16BIT 44kHz, Flac 24BIT 44kHz, Flac 24BIT 96kHz, Flac 24BIT 192kHz, WAV 16 bit 44 kHz, WAV 24 bit 192 kHz, DSD Stereo 64 2.8224 Mbit / s, DSD Stereo 128 5.6448 Mbit / s, APE 16BIT 44kHz APE 24BIT 96kHz. All files are losers without any problems. With CUE works fine. Tracks are shown as separate files.

Aune M1S: Headphones

When listening to the player I used the following headphones: hybrid LZ-A4, Fidue A73, reinforcing HisoundAudio HA2, dynamic TFZ SERIES 1, Hi-Z Earbud HP150, Macaw GT100S.

Aune M1S: Sound

Well, that went to the most interesting – the sound. And there is something to tell. With a sound from Aune M1S full order. The player can easily compete even with more expensive and renowned competitors.

Sound can not be named uniquely dark. But he just does not light. It seems to me there longer appropriate epithet – warm. Submission is not neutral and “a monitor,” and the emotional and involving. There is an emphasis on the lower frequencies and lower middle. Submission is not tiring and requires a long and comfortable listening.

Bass. No. BASS. This is perhaps the greatest strength of the player. Firstly, the amount in my opinion counted optimally. Secondly, its study and control are commendable. Let’s start with perhaps the quantity. It’s not so much that it would drive the sound in “darkness”, and move to a low-frequency hum in the dark with headphones. But it is enough to feel that the “body” and the amount. A sort of the fundamental basis of the composition, which built the rest of the musical stories. Now, with regard to control. Despite its “weight” and “physicality,” he does not look like an elephant in a china shop. “Agile”, fast and delicate. I get along well in the neighborhood with center frequencies.

By midrange, I do not see what could be fault. In this respect, it can easily compete with players of a higher price range as for the sake of clarity, and in detail. The average frequency is slightly softened, eliminating the harshness and “filing”, but the emotion and energy is not lost. If you start picking on indecent, such a “soft” is not always good for the female vocal, slightly lost expression.

The player can construct a very wide stage with a clear arrangement of musical instruments and the artist, and a very good study of virtual plans in depth.

In the circles of “audiophile” walk “bike” that devices on the Sabra can easily identify by ear, with characteristic corporate “podzvonu” at high frequencies. But Aune engineers have once again proved that the audio equipment, as well as in cooking – dishes taste depends not only on the ingredients but also on the method of preparation. They were able to completely get rid of the hated for the many features of this DAC.

High frequency Aune M1s comfortable as much as possible. They did not deliberately select, but also to hide in the background, too, did not. Their “dosed” very competently – as much as possible in order that the sound would be lost lightness and ease, but also to avoid any unpleasant manifestations of excessive brightness. Even in the light headphones is not the slightest hint of excessive sonority or hype. When you select a player should take this into account. If you’re looking for a light, bright sound with accentuated high frequencies, then Aune M1s is not the player, where you want to catch the nuances, the most subtle and delicate sounds and reverberation.

Aune M1S: compared to other audio players

Hidizs AP100

Bass in Aune M1S quantitatively less than in the AP100. But his control and the quality is much better. AP100 sometimes tend to get bogged down in bubnezh and lose control. In M1s do not.

Average frequency AP100 more edgy. Sometimes it is advantageous effect on the vocals, but negatively on guitars.
High frequency AP100 more and they pozvonche. But in light headphones often skips sibilance. And sometimes sound a little “dirty” for reinforcing or hybrid headphones.

3: 0 in favor of not Hidizs AP100.

XUELIN IHIFI800

Bass in M1s much more. It is more “fat”, dense and solid.

Average frequency IHIFI800 more accentuated and punctuated.

High frequency XUELIN IHIFI800 quantitatively greater than Aune M1S and they are airy, bright and sonorous.
The sound is completely different players. XUELIN IHIFI800 tends to supply light with a hint of the monitor. Therefore, as the saying goes – each will remain in his.

Shanling M2

Bass in M2 a “spineless” and “impressive.” Sometimes it lacks hlёstkosti. Here wins M1s. Average rate on similar feed manner. Just a little relaxed in Aune M1S.

The detail and the study of high-frequency M1s markedly better than in Shanling M2. You can hear more details and specific nuances.

2: 0 in favor of Aune M1S.

In my opinion Aune M1S definitely beats Hidizs AP100 and Shanling M2.

Aune M1S: Personal impressions

Not often, among the Chinese players there are models without jambs. But Aune M1S was a pleasant exception. The rare case, when really do not see what could be fault. The player I really like. It’s been a few days, but the euphoria of buying passes. Listening Aune M1S every day for several hours, and all the other players have moved on the shelf.

Source: auneaudio