Shanling M0 Pro Digital Audio Player (Hardware)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Official Store: https://amzn.to/3Qhy0qg
Ever since the very first Dankpods video was released, interest in iPods was sparked anew, and suddenly, everyone wanted to have a dedicated music player once more. Breaking away from streaming services and going back to owning your own music library is satisfying, but no matter how much you mod an iPod, the problem is, they're still aging devices that were primarily made in the mid-2000s. Bluetooth, USB-C, and syncing without iTunes are all aspects that hamper being able to seamlessly use an iPod in 2023, so let's put the spotlight on a modern music player that actually can.
Shanling's M0 Pro is a tiny iPod Nano-esque combination music player and DAC. It focuses on being able to play a wide variety of music files, including 32-bit hi-res audio. If you don't have a dedicated audio solution for your PC, you can improve your audio quality by running it as a DAC, giving the device some solid versatility.
A major inclusion on the M0 Pro is a micro SD card slot. Supporting up to 2TB, you can cram as many FLACs as you could ever dream of keeping on a portable device. And is the M0 ever portable; it's a tiny little thing, a little on the thick side, but easily pocketable. It's got a 1.54-inch touchscreen display, with a click wheel on the side for volume and turning the screen on or off. I like the design a lot, and it really feels like a modernized take on an iPod. The M0 Pro also has the increasingly elusive 3.5mm jack, giving you a fantastic combination of wired headphones and expandable storage. You can also use Bluetooth if you want, giving you the best of both worlds.
While it does have a little wheel on the side, the M0 Pro's only button is used for turning the volume up and down and activating the screen if it's gone into sleep mode. This makes it a little clunky if you want to quickly switch songs, since you'll need to take it out of your pocket, press the button, wait for the screen to come on, swipe to the right, and then press the >> on the touchscreen. It's nowhere near seamless, and it can get grating. You can control the M0 Pro with a phone app, but honestly, if I'm using a dedicated music player, it's probably because I don't want to mess around with my phone at all. You can leave the screen on and have it idle on the album art, but that'll start draining the battery pretty quickly.
Speaking of which, there's not much battery to drain. Due to the diminutive size of the M0 Pro, you only get an advertised 14 hours of playback. The time you get out of it is also highly dependent on what and how you're playing your music--using a Bluetooth device and FLACs will drain it even faster, and in my use case, I found that I got closer to around 9-10 hours of use before it needed charging.
There's lots of customization options if you want to play around and get specific about how your playback. The M0 Pro has tons of equalizers you can toggle, gain adjustments, and themes. The UI isn't the best, and some settings are impossible to see because of the tiny screen (the text doesn't scroll there), though the touchscreen is incredibly responsive and snappy.
For $130, you get a great little music player that has everything you need--Bluetooth, 3.5mm, and a micro SD slot--combined with some extra function by way of being a DAC. There are a few quirks that keep it from being perfect, specifically the M0 Pro's weird hate of syncing to any of my Bluetooth speakers, and fairly weak battery life due to its tiny form factor. But for what it is, Shanling's DAP does a great job.
Verdict
- Supports expandable storage
- Highly portable
- Can be used as a DAC
- FLAC support
- Finicky when pairing to BT (speakers specifically)
- Clunky UI
- Underwhelming battery life
