[robfol]

THIS THREAD IS ALL ABOUT THE AR-M2 - A Stereophile Class-A Recommended Component at just $1199 USD / £899 GBP
 
The  M2 Hi-Res Player is an amazing quality portable source, with a big touchscreen, tough metal chassis & Duralumin case, long battery life, highest quality components and impeccable audio performance. The headphone amp is remarkably powerful and will drive virtually any high-end headphone including Sennheiser HD800. The player plays almost every format ALAC, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, DSD64/DSD128 & DXD, MP3/4 and AAC , has 64GB built-in memory & Micro-SDXC expansion up to 200GB (Lexar and Patriot recommended)
 
Built on a custom Android platform, M2 has Wi-fi for hi-res streaming from Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify and more.
 
Constant firmware upgrades have added many features with many more to come
 
 
. 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Mimouille]

It is discussed on the AR thread already.

 

[bcarr112281]

It is discussed on the AR thread already.

 
Hi, Mimouille -
 
Are you referring to this thread?
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/653904/acoustic-research-mysterious-new-audiophile-dap
 
It's primarily devoted to AR's previous model, the M1. Only recently has attention shifted to the new M2, with coverage starting on page ten of a twelve-page thread. Perhaps the moderator would be kind enough to split the old thread accordingly; otherwise, I think robfol is right to start a new one.
 
Best regards,
Brian

 

[D3Seeker]

*gasp* It's gorgeous!

 

[Kunlun]

Looks good . I like that it can drive headphones.

 

[Audiotomb]

64 gb and 128 add on - big oversight on not enough space

 

[D3Seeker]

  64 gb and 128 add on - big oversight on not enough space

That seems to be the going theme these days, sadly

 

[Audiotomb]

yeah
 
I just bought a Cayin today   8 gb and 128 on mini sd
 
big thing for me is sound quality and after reading the X5 comparisons I took the plunge, plus I like the look
 
I figure I can carry around multi minis for now

 

[robfol]

Thanks Brian, the old thread was getting very confusing (-:

 

[robfol]

  64 gb and 128 add on - big oversight on not enough space

Why on earth is this a BIG oversight? Memory costs money, we would have it charge more to fit more memory
 
256Gb MicroSD cards are on the way and as you say with your 8Gb Cayin, just carry another card or two

 

[Audiotomb]

well
 
all of us with big collections would love to see huge onboard memory
 
I would love to see someone do a 2 terabyte flash drive memory
 
consumers in this niche market would take note quickly
 
best of luck in your venture

 

[robfol]

Just checked and I have 41 Hi-Res albums at 24 / 96 and 24 / 192 mainly in AIFF format that take up approx. 81Gb on my machine
 
So I could fit around 95 albums in 64 + 128  and another 60 on another card
 
How much music do you guys carry around? 
 

 
Why on earth is this a BIG oversight? Memory costs money, we would have it charge more to fit more memory
 
256Gb MicroSD cards are on the way and as you say with your 8Gb Cayin, just carry another card or two

 

[robfol]

Thanks Audiotomb, TBs would be great as an option. Must be a market for memory 'backpacks' - Cheers Robert

 

[Audiotomb]

The technology wiill come where a terabyte portable device works

Those that seek to provide this will have a market advantage (price withstanding)

Apple lost touch with reality on the ipod

People didnt want video, pics, they wanted gobs of storage

I have 3 180 classics and 3 terabyte of music that I have downloaded

A 500 GB hard storage player would be ideal

 

[Mython]

There was an extensive discussion about this issue in the =713735&newer=1&output=posts&resultSortingPreference=recency&sdate=0&search=msata&type=all&start=100]Fiio X7 thread.
 
Although it would not be without some technical challenges, Samsung's 1TB mSATA card would be a superb option.
 
It's not going to happen on the X7 or the AR-M2, but hopefully we will see mSATA (or updated format) on a DAP soon, as high-capacity memory storage is too often dismissed by DAP-makers (A&K and D&A have, arguably, made a bit more effort than most, though). At the very least, if DAP-makers don't wish to add the premium cost of internal memory to their players, they can at least make 2 memory slots a serious priority. Strangely, Fiio did this on the X5 but prioritised Wi-fi efficiency instead of a second slot, when designing the X7.
 
Anyway... good luck to the AR-M2.