I just bought it yesterday and I confirm my point of view. The UI is purely old school in the bad way.
Playback by folders in late 2015 for a 350€ (375$) DAP is difficult to forgive...
I owned or tried AK JR, iBasso DX80, Fiio X5II and Cayin N5 this year in the same price range and M2 is far far behind regarding UI and ergonomics.
Now a quick feedback (please read entirely)
-Chinese language right out of the box.So the first thing is to search the language setting (also in chinese)
-Screen has bad resolution (no idea what is it and UI is in grey levels...back to 2004. However it seems able to show some colors, battery charge screen being green.
-For me, UI is unintuitive and controls difficult to use right now
-It's bulky and heavy compared to Fiio X5II, AK JR, and even iBasso DX80 or Cayin N5...
-...However
this is one of the best build quality and finish I've ever seen: massive aluminium body with logo and marks carved in metal. Awesome!
-Battery life is very poor (I think something like 5 hours but I need more time to confirm it)
Now,...
SOUND:
For the few hours I listened to it, and despite I'm not used to 1k$ players,
this is the best sounding DAP I ever heard. Period.
-Soundstage and imaging are far beyond from his rivals can do, including DX80. Despite the air and instruments separation, it's full, consistant and organic.
-Signature is pure candy, warm but very detailed and dynamic with a unusual sense of rythm.Closest rival is N5 but M2 does everything better.
-Highs and mids are very detailed, textured, never receased neither agressive or bright (DX80 or X5ii can at high volume).
I don't know if some kind of burn in will improve SQ. But for now, I cannot imagine switch back to rivals in this price range (350-499$). SQ is such a strong point for the first hours I listened to it that I'm ready to forgive all others weaknesses.
For now, I'm waiting for MASSIVE firmware updates including music library with tags, album cover, controls optimised, maybe (if I may dream
) improved battery life, USB transfer, USB DAC with ASIO driver (I'm sorry to repeat myself, but this is the most important point for me).
Now, I' going back to listen it before starting work
(Sorry about my English)