“I transcoded David Bowie’s “Nothing Has Changed” and “Bow Wow Wow,” “See Jungle” recently sent from Amazon! See Jungle!” into WAV format and hit the road.”. Chinese company AUNE started its activities in 2004. The guys are engaged in production of high quality audio systems for PC and lately producing portable audio. Today I will acquaint you with their “first swallow”, the player AUNE M1.
AUNE M1 audio player
Appearance and Package
The player comes in a nice little box, kippel-white, with the silver inscription on it M1 and AUNE. Inside you can find the player, a USB cable, an adapter with 3.5 mm SPDIF coaxial and documentation.
The player itself is made of aluminum and is black. The quality is top-notch. Nothing superfluous, nothing bangs, everything is strict, clear and reliable. In fact, the device is very comfortable in the hand. Controls, buttons – within one finger: all navigation under the screen.
On the front panel is a screen and navigation controls. At the top are: an analog volume control with a very soft, pleasant stroke a 3.5mm headphone output and a 3.5mm coaxial.
On the bottom end, there’s an SD card slot, a micro usb connector for a cable/charger connection, and a toggle switch for on/off player. M1 has no internal memory.
The menu is simple and ascetic. If you turn on the power tumbler, the screen shows the directory with the folders that are on the memory card.
Swiping up/down, you select the folder you want, and then the track, with the Play button . Switching and rewinding songs is done by a short and longer press on the Next button.
Only one setting in the menu. As I understand it, this is the order of playing files. And here is the unpleasant thing: every time you turn it on you have to set it anew, because when you turn off the player, it is reset.
Battery life is 7-8 hours.
I admit that some people may find this player a bit rude and “crude” – the market is full of devices with a well thought-out menu, colorful artist artwork, etc.d. Here it is not. I think that the main thing in the player is to find the desired album/song very quickly and, of course, the sound quality, and it is one of the strong sides of AUNE M1.
The sound is better than the old two
The sound of the AUNE M1 is the most interesting.
For listening I used headphones: Etymotic ER-4p, Westone UM3X, MyST Nail2, Audio-Technica ATH-SX1a.
AUNE M1 player sound can be described as neutral, without obvious distortions and distortions. All the sounds are clearly traced in space. Sound is clear and detailed. Virtual scene is not great, but it does not have any disadvantage.
You get the impression that each instrument is a clearly woven pattern on an even canvas, where everything is in its place. There is no depth and “fat” like in multibit Hifiman 601/801 or MyST 1866OCUB, but the sound is clear and I would even say crystal. Good attacks, clear and fast bass, excellent separation of instruments – it’s all about AUNE M1.
The woofers are well worked out, have decent weight and punch.
MF – good definition, no shouting or dips, everything is very clear, distinct and smooth.
The tweeters are unobtrusive and not ringing. There are exactly as many as you need. The only disadvantage in this frequency range is some crumbliness. But I think this is the prerogative of most delta-sigma DACs.
Conclusions
The device is good, the sound is very good. The menu, however, is quite ascetic, and the appearance is simple and brutal. Another alarming thing: the player supports only one audio format WAV, even smartphones now understand FLAC, MP3, etc. d.
But on the other hand, there’s no problem to transcode a disc or material from FLAC to WAV. There are a lot of encoders and the process does not take much time. But the sound quality of the AUNE M1 is really high!
At the time of this article the price of the AUNE M1 ranged from 8,500 to 9,000 Dollars, which is pretty cheap for a device with this level of sound.
The sound, build quality, pretty normal runtime for a portable device with quality sound 7-8 hours , ease of use, low price.
Lack of support for most modern formats, rough appearance, not the most recent software.
Specifications:
The device is based on the DAC chip PCM1793 from Texas Instruments
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Amplifying part with NE5532 + OPA2134.
Amplifier output power: 700mW 32&Omega
Outputs: 3.5mm headphone, 3.5mm SPDIF coaxial
Impedance: 32&Omega – 320&Omega
connector for charger: micro usb
Battery life: 7 hours
Charging time: up to 2 hours
Supports memory cards: SD, up to 32 GB
Supported Format: WAV, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit
Weight: 181 grams
Size: 103.1 mm x 56 mm x 20 mm
Can you provide more information about the overall sound quality of the AUNE M1 audio player and how it compares to other players in a similar price range?
I’m intrigued by the AUNE M1 audio player’s capabilities! Could someone who has tried it please share their thoughts on the overall sound quality and how it compares to other players in terms of clarity and bass speed? Additionally, does the player excel in reproducing fast-paced music genres or would it suit any type of music equally well? Looking forward to hearing your experiences!
Is the AUNE M1 audio player worth the investment for someone looking for a device that delivers powerful attacks, deep bass, and crystal-clear sound quality?