Shanling M2s Hi-Res DAP with AK4490 + MUSE8920, Bluetooth, & USB Out

[RadioactiveTangerine]

Got my M2s today ! I'm still preparing my music for it (better quality). Don't have time to spend with the player and to grasp the new sound in peace so I think I will start exploring my M2s in the weekend.
A small walk would be a nice opportunity to check how good is it !

 

[lcdman]

It's great to see another polish user of this great player!

However, there is one minor issue with the font that's not bugging me too much as I don't have more than 10 polish songs (out of 9000...), but the font doesn't contain the polish letter "ć". Other than that, great stuff.

I have similar problems with some Hungarian characters (accented vowels). But otherwise, it's a great little player.

 

[theMUKe]

Got my M2s today ! I'm still preparing my music for it (better quality). Don't have time to spend with the player and to grasp the new sound in peace so I think I will start exploring my M2s in the weekend.
A small walk would be a nice opportunity to check how good is it !

Would recommend to install firmware 3.30 or later as the sound quality seems to have improved since then.

 

[RadioactiveTangerine]

Would recommend to install firmware 3.30 or later as the sound quality seems to have improved since then.

Thanks. I don't know which version has mine M2s as I haven't even turned it on. I plan to update to 3.50 right after booting it. Good to know that!

 

[RadioactiveTangerine]

I finally had some time to get acquainted with Shanling M2s. Copied my music on SD card.
There's still a plenty of free space to fill ! 110+ GBs. Went with my Shanling on a small walk.

Listened to FLAC files, converted to mono (due to my impaired hearing). Didn't feel any massive difference to my iPod video.
Listened to Beatles' Sgt. Pepper, 1987 release (my own rip from CD). Then I decided to give a try to DSD file.
I have Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon 2003 SACD and found the SACD layer ripped on the net.
Haven't listened to anything from them for a long time. And my vinyl pressing of that album is kinda bad I think.
That was nice experience. Heard some new things, I think. Should check the FLACs from regular layer too, to confirm.
I probably haven't heard everything due to my impaired hearing. So i omitted everything different played back on my left side.

Now, I have decided to play Iron Maiden - Powerslave (OGG, quality 10, mono - my new to-go format for the music I don't own on CD / LP / anything). Set gain to high for a test.
MAN, THAT'S BRUTAL ! The sound is strong and powerful. Might experiment more with it. If I only knew about that during my walk...
Feels kinda like listening to the music from a stereo. Hope that my favourites would sound as good as Maiden.

Tomorrow, there will be a big test. I'm commuting to work so I want to check how strong my M2s would be in my commute conditions.

For reference, I am posting my IEMs - Shure SE215 with foam tips from the set.

 

[Micha0815]

Shanling M2s custom firmware v3.50 by Vortex: link
- Music Library limit was increased up to 30000 songs;

I appreciate your work; but are you sure you really increased the limit to 30000?
I put your custom firmware at my device and let it update my music library - it stopped at exactly 15000 titles... (and there are much more at my device).

What is the limit of the original firmware - the 15000 (and why does it exist)?
When you use a 256GB SD card or even a bigger one, it's IMHO normal to have more than 15000 songs (even 30000 would be a limitation for that)...

 

[Shanling]

I appreciate your work; but are you sure you really increased the limit to 30000?
I put your custom firmware at my device and let it update my music library - it stopped at exactly 15000 titles... (and there are much more at my device).

What is the limit of the original firmware - the 15000 (and why does it exist)?
When you use a 256GB SD card or even a bigger one, it's IMHO normal to have more than 15000 songs (even 30000 would be a limitation for that)...

15K song limit was decision by HiBY, to assure smoother running of their system.

On current Shanling players using MTouch system, limit is set at 40K files(and so far we didn't get a single person hitting it).

 

[stecob]

I appreciate your work; but are you sure you really increased the limit to 30000?
I put your custom firmware at my device and let it update my music library - it stopped at exactly 15000 titles... (and there are much more at my device).

What is the limit of the original firmware - the 15000 (and why does it exist)?
When you use a 256GB SD card or even a bigger one, it's IMHO normal to have more than 15000 songs (even 30000 would be a limitation for that)...

The Custom firmware works perfectly on mine. Both of the updates released to date. Agree 15,000 is too small. I too have 256 GB SD. Currently have about 23,000 tracks on it and all show on the count.

 

[Micha0815]

15K song limit was decision by HiBY, to assure smoother running of their system.

On current Shanling players using MTouch system, limit is set at 40K files(and so far we didn't get a single person hitting it).

That's nice for newer devices - but how will this help customers of your "older" players which own a lot of music?

And which devices do you mean? Only M0 (and upcoming M5s)? Or which other devices are the "current" ones, you were talking about?

And will you say the players for which HiBy wrote the software will no longer get updates / better functionality (because you don't engage HiBy to do these changes/updates)?
That'd be bad news

 

[Shanling]

That's nice for newer devices - but how will this help customers of your "older" players which own a lot of music?

And which devices do you mean? Only M0 (and upcoming M5s)? Or which other devices are the "current" ones, you were talking about?

And will you say the players for which HiBy wrote the software will no longer get updates / better functionality (because you don't engage HiBy to do these changes/updates)?
That'd be bad news

File limit of HiBy software is 15 000 files for long time, not sure if it's even changed on their new devices.

Updates to older devices, we were always sending lists of needed changes to HiBy, what we got is what we got.

Current devices using our own developed MTouch system, so M0 and M5s.

 

[tichyztech]

Hi guys apologies I know this has been covered somewhere here. I have the M0 bought the use as Bluetooth from my Note9 >Bluetooth M0 usb otg>mojo. But the buletooth and USB doesn't work at the same time. The M0 screen is just too small. Does the M2S work instead?

 

[DBaldock9]

Only Shanling's new M0 and M5s are capable of Receiving any higher quality Bluetooth than SBC.
I'm not sure if any of the currently available, budget model DAPs (from any of the manufacturers), can receive high quality Bluetooth (aptX HD or LDAC), and then output the music stream via USB.
Plus, the audio quality can suffer, when you stack up multiple encoding schemes: Tracks either stored on, or streamed to your Note9 > encoded to Bluetooth (lossy compression) > DAP (decode Bluetooth) > Transcode to USB and output to Mojo

 

[tichyztech]

Only Shanling's new M0 and M5s are capable of Receiving any higher quality Bluetooth than SBC.
I'm not sure if any of the currently available, budget model DAPs (from any of the manufacturers), can receive high quality Bluetooth (aptX HD or LDAC), and then output the music stream via USB.
Plus, the audio quality can suffer, when you stack up multiple encoding schemes: Tracks either stored on, or streamed to your Note9 > encoded to Bluetooth (lossy compression) > DAP (decode Bluetooth) > Transcode to USB and output to Mojo

Thank you for replying. That being said, is the best option then to buy an M2S with bigger screen as transport and use that with the Mojo?

 

[Ivan TT]

Thank you for replying. That being said, is the best option then to buy an M2S with bigger screen as transport and use that with the Mojo?

I use it as transport for mojo, with hiby link it’s awesome.
The only issue is inability to change volume from an app, but it’s minor.
Airport security does get excited about this set up now and then though

 

[DBaldock9]

I use it as transport for mojo, with hiby link it’s awesome.
The only issue is inability to change volume from an app, but it’s minor.
Airport security does get excited about this set up now and then though

It makes sense that the HiBy Link app only changes the volume when the audio is decoded internally on the M2s, and output on the earphone jack.

I haven't tried connecting the USB output of my M2s to my iFi Micro iDSD (since the iDSD is generally connected to a charger, functioning as my "home" preamp, with audio arriving via TOSLINK).

I have been listening to my M2s all day at work, with my VE Asura 2.0 (2.5mm TRRS) earbuds, since the combination is really good for vocals (like on my Iona albums - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iona_(band)#Discography ).