Intro :
Since the past few years I had kept myself away from trying out any new DAPs or audio gear since I was pretty satisfied with my Fiio X5 (1^st gen) and Sansa Clip /Cowon D2+ that I had been using and secondly it kept my wallet happier.The X5’s jog wheel conked off long time ago and I had stopped using it so a new DAP is definitely on my mind now. That’s when my friend @toxicdrift informed about all these new DAPs (Shozy Alien Gold,Aune M2 Pro and Opus #1 ) he had just bought and offered to loan them out to me for testing .Just few weeks back I had posted the Bit Opus #1 review and  today I will be reviewing something from one of my favorite VFM brands – Aune (having tried their B1 amp earlier I’ve already been in love with their no-nonsense design and sound quality). Here’s my review for their mid tier version of the high end M2 dap series of M2 -  The Aune M2 Pro. 
 
I will be adding extended comparisons with other players once I’ve spent enough time with all of them and done some comparisons.
 
Packaging and Design : 
 
 
The M2 Pro comes in simple dark black cardboard box, pretty much like the one of their B1 amps. Since the model I was trying out was a M2 Pro it comes in silver (also available in black I guess). The Blue model which is reserved for more expensive and flagship model M2S looks very unique IMO and my personal favorite.
 


 
The additions in the box are the warranty card, Usb charging cable and a manual.  A basic case and some screen protectors etc could be great,  atleast a silicon or protective case needs to be the standard accessory for all high end players in this price range along with the option to purchase  a leather or better cases.
 

 
In terms of design is extremely bold yet understated with that straight lines inspired industrial look and a body which is clean solid piece of aluminum chassis with no visible joints or gaps . The brushed metal matte texture finish and laser engraved text give the unit a very premium feel when you look at it or hold it in your hands.
 


 
The front panel has the 2.4” IPS LCD screen and the Aune logo engraved above the screen . At the bottom 32 Bit DSD player is etched. The logo and other engraving doesn’t stand out much in the silver colour player as compared to the black and blue versions (M2S).
 

 
In the lower half there are 3 simple buttons for Back-Play and Pause (Select in Menu)- and Forward. The buttons are pretty solid and have good feedback. I could easily operate them without having too look at the player.
 
 


 
 
The back of the player has the branding , model number , serial number and assembly details etc in English as well as some Chinese text.
 
The top side of the player has the power button on the left , a long press is for turning the player on and off whereas a normal short press toggles the screen on/off when using the player.
 
The bottom side  has the 3.5mm headphone out ,  a line out (3.5mm) and the charging + sync port in the form of micro USB .
 
On the right hand side we have a small pin hole for reset function (using a pin or paperclip) , micro SD slot which supports upto 128 GB and a jog dial wheel for controlling the volume as well as back and fast-forward function when screen is locked. The wheel has a nice pattern texture which provides for better control and grip . There’s  a multi-function port as well covered with rubber protection .* not sure about its functions currently but I guess Aune plans to add extra functionality in the future using this port*.
 
Sound Quality :
 
Out of the box trying out the M2 pro  I was very impressed by the sound quality .Coming from a Fiio X5 , there was a good amount of difference in detailing and texture as well as background noise which was easily noticeable. I could say a good 25-30% of upgrade from what I was used to in terms of portability. The overall sound is lot cleaner and and revealing whereas the sound signature is a lot more balanced and neutral in comparison. The black backgrounds was one of the most impressive sound improvement that I noticed instantly.
 
Using the Sennheiser IE80s  , I had a smile on my face from the improved bass I was hearing . The speed and control was better, better texture and layering in bass . Perfect slam and reverb along with micro-detailing in some bass tracks which were not easily audible before. The IE80 no more sounded like a mid bassy IEMs which it does with many other DAPs even at the lowest bass setting.
 Even when using the Sennheiser HD598 which doesn’t have a very good sub bass , the overall output in the lower spectrum was a lot more controlled and clean .
 
The midrange is again extremely detailed and clear with good layering and no sign of any sibilance . Didn’t find any forwardness or warmth in the mid presentation nor does it sound recessed. I would say pretty much neutral , a tad bit of warmth might make it more fun sounding but it doesn’t sound dry or boring at all .Pretty much hits the right spot in terms of being perfectly neutral and not boring.
Listening to vocals tracks is pure bliss , very accurate representation and texture when listening to female vocals . Even the male vocals sound pretty good.In comparison the Opus #1 is slightly more warm /fun even though it maintains a neutral signature as well.
 
The highs are extremely detailed without being sharp or piercing. Again good amount of micro-detailing and clarity which shines through in the highs.
 
The soundstage is by far one of the best Ive heard in the below 500-600$ range. The soundstage and imaging along with the detailing almost makes you forget you are listening to a portable device.  It rather sounds like a good desktop I would say .Ive heard of people comparing the sound quality and soundstage to the Chord Mojo and even though I haven’t yet compared or tried them together I can’t comment on the same.
 
Filter settings :
 
The M2 Pro has some DAC level filter settings - Sharp SD (short decay), Sharp LD (long decay), Slow SD, and Slow LD. I couldn’t exactly understand the function or changes in each of them but they did alter the sound signature to certain extent where in the Sharp SD sounded the most neutral and sharper treble whereas the Slow LD seemed to have slightly more bass and warmer sound.
 
Even the power handling capacities are very good. It could drive my HD598 , Grado  325, AKG K702 etc with great authority but I did end up pushing the volume to the higher limit . It doesn’t have any gain settings to increase the power output so I am not sure if it will drive the more difficult headphones like the HD 650 or higher impedance can to their best but it should drive them fairly well and maybe adding the Aune B1 amp would make it the ideal setup.
 
UI,Features , battery life etc.
 
The UI and controls are a little odd or different compared to what I am used to on the FiiO or Opus but it doesn’t take more than 1-2 days for getting used to . Since the play / pause buttons also act as navigation button and each button has multiple functions as you can see in this quick guide below.
 
The M2 has a really quick boot time , barely a few seconds . I couldn’t find any sleep or standby mode feature as such but with such quick boot and playback from the last played track it’s probably not needed.
 
The custom software is very simple ,basic  and easy to use overall . It has a very old school 2D feel to it without any animations or much efforts put into the UI design .
The UI menu has 4 basic options on the home screen, Songs-Folders-Playlists-Settings. The menu can be controlled using the buttons below the screen as well as the volume wheel on the right side. You can find the detailed options in settings etc in the photos below. 
 
The software on the device at the time of my testing *almost 1.5 months back* was pretty basic with the play screen not showing album art for some songs and also the volume wheel only works when you are on the play screen , incase you are on the song list or main menu etc it acts as the navigation wheel which can be a little frustrating if you wish to suddenly change the volume in between.
Some other major features like gapless playback , Equaliser etc are missing .
 
Overall there is no lag /crashes or such issues with the firmware but still it seems somewhat half baked and could do with a lot of improvements overall . Hopefully Aune is working in better firmware in the future and will fix the minor issues soon.
 
 


 

 
 


 
 
Battery Life
 
I could get about 7 hours , give and take 20-30 minutes of  juice out of the M2 Pro in each charge. Not that great but not too bad either for a high end DAP which comes with a class A amplifier which are known to be heavy on the battery . This also probably the reason the device gets tad bit warm at the back panel after few hours of usage. Even with regular 2-3 hours of listening, you probably would need to charge the M2 Pro twice a week.
 
Conclusion :
 
Ideally if you are someone like me who just need a high end DAP to play your high quality DSD, lossless music etc and do not care much about the UI etc and other fancy features , the M2 pro would be perfect for you.  For others looking for a complete player it might be a good idea to wait for Aune to fix the smaller issues . The beauty of the player lies in something a lot of great DAC’s don't get it perfectly – pushing the sound quality to perfection at a VFM price point  , something which usually can not be fixed or scaled by software or firmware upgrades.  Either the best sounding one's without any major flaws will be extremely expensive *1000$+ or the other fully packaged player at the 500-600$ price point would be lacking in sound compared to the the M2 pro.
 
If you were to purchase the Aune M2 pro purely for its unmatched sound quality under 500$ it would definitely be a very a great experience and you will definitely love it but for some folks it could be difficult to ignore some of its basic shortcomings like limited playback , single memory card slot ,  limited play list support , lack of digital out . So you could wait and watch if Aune improves upon the M2 pro to make it the perfect player.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Intro :
 
I had been away from the high-end DAP market for a long time until my Fiio X5 died and I was in the market looking for a new player. Though Ive never been a huge fan of the high end or ultra-high end DAPs (read-400-500$ and above) since I usually  sensed beyond that price range the returns are much lower going by the diminishing law of returns in most audio gear.  But after trying out some of the new players in the market I have been taken by surprise to find the super value the some of the new mid-tier brands have been offering .The kind of sound I would only expect from a 1000-1200$+ range player few years back.
One such player I recently tried out was the Audio-Opus,  Opus #1. I had never heard of this Korean brand until my friend toxicdrift(on head-fi) told me about it and was generous enough to loan my his personal player for this review and I am glad that I found this brand and player . To know why, read the review below.
 
Specifications :
 
  24bit / 192kHz High Resolution Sound
  32bit processor core
  Cirrus Logic CS4398 x 2EA Dual DAC
  ARM Cortex-A9 1.4GHz, Quad-Core CPU DDR3 1GB
  SNR 115dB, THD+N 0.0007%, Crosstalk – 130dB, Output 2Vmrs
  Low-clock-jitter sensitivity: 50ps(Typ)
  4inch TFT Wide Touch Display (480 x 800)
  WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, DSD, WMA,
  MP3, OGG, APE(Normal, High, Fast)
  Internal Memory 32GB
  External Micro SD Card Memory 200GB x 2EA
  Enhanced ABS Solid Body and Tempered Glass
  Ultra Power Saving Mode
 
Complete details can be found on their site : http://www.audio-opus.com/?page_id=15881
 
Packaging and Accessories:
 
The all black box and packaging is simple yet classy . No tacky graphics or design on the packaging.  Upon sliding the outer cover and opening the box you find the beautiful player staring right at you. Beneath the player you can find the minimal accessories which includes the USB cable, screen protectors and the user manual. Opus does sell the genuine leather case separately for 50$ which is a pure work of art so anticipating that as a stock accessory is not expected  but  a simple protective silicon type case would have been a great addition .
 

 
 
 

 

 
 

 
 
Design and Build Quality :
 
The player’s design is pretty simple and elegant with a rectangular shape and angular edges but a lot of people might find it odd and not to their liking , it’s a very subjective thing I guess. Personally I fell in love with the overall subtle design and feel of the player.
 
The design does somewhat remind me of the Astell and Kern players and even though it does look like a single piece of CNC machined metal body its actually made from ABS plastic with glass finish at the back .The tough tempered glass seems to be scratch resistant. The advantage of not having a metal body is that the overall weight seems much lower than other high-end players I tried recently like the Aune M2 pro.
 
In terms of ergonomics I find it perfect to hold and use .Especially the placement of buttons is convenient with the volume buttons on the top  left and playback buttons on the top right sides. The power buttons on the top side along with the headphone and balanced out .  There are 2 covered microSD slots at the bottom left side which I feel should be a standard on every high-end DAPs instead of a single slot since all these FLAC and WAV files do take up quite a lot of space.
 Rest of the operations are part of the beautiful UI on the 4 inch TFT screen which is not something exceptional like today’s high-end android phones but it pretty much does the job.
 
Overall the design is not as stylish, futuristic and distinguished which makes the asymmetrical A&K players stand out but it does pack its own weight and balance in terms of beauty and aesthetics with the low weight and plastic which doesn’t compromise on the looks or build . Infact quite a few of my non-audiophile friends loved its design which they usually don’t approve of when they see the bulky bricks of high-end players . 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 
 


 
Features , UI Battery life etc :
 
The UI is built on a stock android OS I believe and is pretty flawless .Not at all half-baked like some of the Chinese players out there. Browsing through music, fast forwarding, using play lists is all smooth and snappy .I personally haven’t come across any bugs in the UI during my limited usage.
Boot up takes 15-20 seconds and on booting it takes you directly to the playback screen instead of a menu . It resumes from your last track. There are two small icons on the top corners which take you to the media library (left icon) and the quick handy settings on the right icon which consists of EQ , balance out switching , sleep function  and screen brightness adjustments.
This settings menu takes you the main settings which has other options like Left/Right fader etc.
There’s a 10 band EQ with the option to save 3 custom settings but no pre-sets. I rarely play around with EQ except for minor adjustments so can’t comment much on that but the manual EQ does take few seconds to kick in and is not instantaneous .
 
The player supports pretty much all major codecs and music formats like Native DSD256 24bit/192KHz, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, WMA, OGG, APE etc  .  There is no USB DAC functionality as of now which can be a drawback for some. Maybe it can be added in the future via firmware upgrades.
 
The beefy 4,000mAh/3.7V Li-Polymer battery returned good 8.5-10 hours of playback time for me , depending on the files I played.  Charging it from 0 to 100% took close to 3-4 hours . A faster quick charging feature could be great .The power saving feature and standby time on the other hand is remarkable.
 
 
 
 
Sound Quality :
 
Most high end DAPs usually end up putting a smile on my face for two reasons – either for being extremely detailed and analytical without being dry and giving you the instant upgrade in dynamics and clarity or  sometimes cause of a smooth , close to warm sound which isn’t too colored and yet doesn’t compromise on the detailing.
 
The Opus #1 I would say gives me the best of both worlds. The instant reaction was damn the soundstage is huge. The instrument separation, depth and texture detailing in the upper bass and lower midrange is phenomenal. Usually not something I notice when going from a mid-level player like Fiio X5 to something double its price.
 
Speaking of sound signature when I say warmth, there’s just a small hint of it in the right amount. Infact most would find the interpretation to be close to neutral but not analytical and hence it could rightly be classified as a Mastering Quality sound . What I like is its neither dark nor aggressive which was fresh relief from my existing FiiO  that I had been using and the Aune M2 pro that I had tried recently. Both of which I do enjoy  but the Opus 1 seemed to be pleasant change which made the listening experience a bliss.
 
The bass is great, one of the best I've heard in this price range. Haven’t noticed such texture and bass reverb on my IE80 otherwise.I guess the very tight and linear bass  of the player balances out the bass heavy IE80 and makes it sound perfect. I didn’t notice any mid bass oomph or added punch .The sub bass extends pretty low without trying too hard or overpowering.  Its punchy in the right quantity and well separated from the mids.
 
The midrange is I think the highlight of the sound with clean and full bodied sound .  Great transparency and a very intimate feel to the overall midrange - instruments and vocals  make the Opus sound beautiful and enjoyable.  The midrange just feels alive yet neutral and not too analytical or aggressively engaging. The smooth and natural sound should work with almost any headphone / IEMs.
 
Moving on to the treble extends well but not too bright or edgy and infact might seem less brighter than a lot of other players which may be a good or bad thing depending on your preferred sound signature or headphone but there is no compromise on the clarity and transparency in the treble. Some may find it laidback but definitely not lacking .
 
The sound stage is wide as I mentioned earlier but not too airy and depth is good enough, nothing phenomenal.  Yet overall the sound stage is one of the best Ive heard in this price range. The silent and black background phases in songs is amazing.
 
Overall the whole sound presentation of Opus is perfect for live music or electronic music which I listen to most of the time.  Opus seems to have played safe with the sound signature and not create something too unique or a signature sound which works perfectly fine for me . The clean , open and neutral presentation just works . The detail retrieval  , dynamics and texture do give you a major sense of upgrade if you are coming from a 250-400$ range DAP.  
 
The Opus 1 could drive most of my collection of HD 598 , Grado SR325i ,Denon AH-D5000 , AKG K702 etc really well . It’s not extremely powerful but not lacking in terms of driving factor. If you own a pair of cans which are extremely difficult to drive you may have to add an amp but  for most others there wont be need any . Infact you would rarely be touching the upper digits of the volume unless you listen to your music really loud.
 
Final thoughts :
 
An all-rounder and super value for money DAP is what comes to my mind after experiencing the Opus #1.  No particular features seem be lacking .Top notch finish and build quality, no half-baked UI or OS. Great sound quality for the price. Storage capacity is high, the whole experience is snappy and smooth.
 
Its sound quality is close to pro probably on par with the Aune M2 pro which I have been using side by side with the Opus but as a complete package in terms of the price /performance + features ratio , the Opus is very close to what the music lover in me has always wanted without dropping 1000$+ on a DAP.
 
If you own a pair of great headphones or IEMs which could benefit from a DAP upgrade you should definitely consider the Audio-Opus Opus #1.