When asked if I wanted to take part in this tour I quite quickly replied with an overwhelmingly resounding, YES! After hearing how awesome the X1s was I absolutely had to hear the other offerings in Aune’s lineup as well especially in the Digital Audio Player (DAP) realm. So for this I must give a huge thank you to both Aune for accepting me and NMatheis for inviting me to this outstanding tour. But without further adieu allow me to express my thoughts into the Aune M2.
I'm a 25 year old firefighter currently for the U.S. Army North Carolina National Guard. I was formerly a civilian firefighter in Kentucky with the Millard Fire Department before I enlisted and moved to my current location in Charlotte, North Carolina. My current goal is to begin my career again in the civilian fire service, and yes, I am the cliché of wanting to do that since as far as I can remember.
My interests/hobbies are powerlifting, fishing and relaxing to audio products and reviewing them to help other decide on what products would work for them. On that note over the years I've really came to an understanding of what it is I like and look for in audio products.
What I look for is a relaxing, warm and sensual sound that just drifts me away in the emotional experience of the music being performed. Yes, accuracy is still important but I will happily sacrifice that if I'm presented with a clean, warm sound that can wisp me away into an experience that makes me yearn for more.
My ideal signature are that of respectably forward mids and upper bass range with the bass being controlled but with some slight decay. I like my treble to have great extension and detail reveal but I don't like artificial treble in order to achieve that. Examples of products that have given me chills and keep giving me the yearning for more feels are the Bowers & Wilkins P7, Oppo PM-1/2, Empire Ears Hermes VI, Audeze LCD-XC, Meze Headphones 99 Classics & Stax SR009.
My interests/hobbies are powerlifting, fishing and relaxing to audio products and reviewing them to help other decide on what products would work for them. On that note over the years I've really came to an understanding of what it is I like and look for in audio products.
What I look for is a relaxing, warm and sensual sound that just drifts me away in the emotional experience of the music being performed. Yes, accuracy is still important but I will happily sacrifice that if I'm presented with a clean, warm sound that can wisp me away into an experience that makes me yearn for more.
My ideal signature are that of respectably forward mids and upper bass range with the bass being controlled but with some slight decay. I like my treble to have great extension and detail reveal but I don't like artificial treble in order to achieve that. Examples of products that have given me chills and keep giving me the yearning for more feels are the Bowers & Wilkins P7, Oppo PM-1/2, Empire Ears Hermes VI, Audeze LCD-XC, Meze Headphones 99 Classics & Stax SR009.
The Opening Experience
The opening experience of the M2 I’m not exactly sure if this is how it comes from the factory of if it was only for this tour. What I mean by this is the M2 actually came inside an Aune B1 Portable Headphone Amp. case and I’m highly doubtful a production unit would come packaged as such. In addition, the only thing included with said package was a micro usb charging cable and the user manual. So, for this reason I cannot justify giving any sort of unboxing experience impressions on the Aune M2.
Construction
As we were, onwards and upwards and I right? So how’s the build quality of the Aune M2? This is only my second experience with a designated DAP so my experience is respectably limited but I do still have a pretty good idea on what’s well built and what needs some work.
As for the M2 I firmly believe that the construction is sound. The aluminum framework feels both smooth to the touch yet hard if that touch were to lose its grip. The screen is large enough as to have a nice sized font, thus no squinting is needed. The volume button on the right side of the unit is beautifully responsive yet provides AMPLE volume selection. Not once during my time with this unit have I wished for a half volume selection, even when I’m listening to the M2 when laying down to rest when my ears are at their peak sensitivity have I had an issue. Also on the right side of the unit is the SD card slot which presented itself it’s own issues, but we’ll touch on that later. On the bottom there’s the volume port and micro usb charging port.
Functionality
This is something I look for, perhaps even more than build quality. How easy is it to use and what’s more on top of that is how effective is the navigation? In the terms of ease of use the M2 is quite simple. Though one will have to play with it about a minute or two to figure out what’s he back etc… but once that’s down it’s pretty smooth sailing.
Well smooth sailing so long as you’re card reads. I know that 32gb is not the max size that the M2 can register but that is the only size that I was able to get to work. I tried 2 separate 64gb sd cards and received nothing but a “read TF failed.” Forums mentioned it had to be formated as “FAT32” so I tried reformatting, but that option never appeared so I simply purchased a 32gb card and have had no problems since.
The ability to sort through songs is still not what I wish it would be. Say I’m in the “C’s” and want to listen to a sone in the “T’s” and what more I’m not sure of the folder or artist said file is in. My only option is to continuously click forward until I finally arrive at the song I’m wanting to hear. There’s no option to fast search. Now I’ve been told a solution to this is to arrange your music alphabetically into folders but why would I want to organize over 1,400 songs when I feel this is a relatively simple software solution. My phone’s music player had this ability, as does the Ipod Classic.
Sound
Alright, and the main event is upon us. How is the sound quality of the Aune M2? From my time of listening to this I was delivered an experience that expected to receive. The audio came through very cleanly and on normal sensitivity headphones these were pretty impressive, but on super sensitive ciems such as my Empire Ears Hermes it was respectable but still had notable hiss. Now the use of the Ultimate Ears buffer jack fixed this, but it was still present nonetheless.
Now, getting back on track I really enjoyed the DAC equipped, the 4490 produced wonderfully clean sound that had quite impressive bass extension that I truly enjoyed on my B&W P7, the headphone I’ve had the longest and have well over a thousand hours with. I know how it sounds and has become my go to headphone when reviewing an amp or dac. The P7 has some of the most beautiful treble I’ve heard at its price range with very smooth and emotion filled mids with subtly warm bass. The M2, to my honest surprise, didn’t alter any of that but instead but instead accentuated them. The sound was just smoother and more easier to the ears. The musicality of my P7’s remained which is exactly what I want and expect, however the degree it was increased or rather the music was reproduced isn’t much different than what I expected.
Conclusion
To sum up my thoughts, the Aune M2 retails for around $350 depending where you search and for that price I got pretty much exactly what I expected sub some SD card annoyance. The construction is solid and the UI is quite simple yet nothing extravagant (doesn’t even have the ability to show track images). The sound quality is what I expected and makes for a VERY sound investment for anyone looking for a modest priced DAP. The internal amp has some serious punch easily able to drive whatever I plugged into it (see my personal inventory for list) and the dac’s ability to reproduce the audio signal being pushed through it was great for its price. The M2 digital audio player despite having some slight drawbacks is a solid dap for those in the market.
Also, don’t forget to check out my unboxing and review videos! I really appreciate it and let me know what you think, if the review helped you don’t forget to hit that thumbs up button. Till next time my friends, stay safe.
Thanks for the review btw