Shanling M1 Plus – MTouch Pure Music DAP

Shanling M1 Plus – MTouch Pure Music DAP

Shanling M1 Plus is a $209 USD Digital Music Player or DAP, with an Ingenic X2000 Processor at the core, Bi-Directional Bluetooth, Two-Way USB Connection, and Wifi Connectivity, and it will be the star of today’s review. We will explore how it generally stands against the market, and what it can offer as an ESS ES9069Q DAC Music Player, and what the alternatives are.  

Introduction

Shanling has been creating a couple of high-end Music Players, which brought popular features to the audio market, so the M1 Plus we’re reviewing today is based on the Mtouch System, which was a big part of what M5 Ultra has at its heart. Unfortunately, we’ve only and barely scraped the surface with Shanling and only have reviewed entry-level DAPs from them, but we hope that in 2025 this will change and that we will get to explore more high-end DAPs, as regardless of how impressive their DAPs are for the price, exploring the big thing is always more satisfying. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to Astell&Kern for providing the sample for this review, in exchange for my honest opinion. 

PROs – Super good sound, full and deep bass, vivid and clean midrange, sharp and airy treble, it has a little bit of everything and can satisfy everyone. M1 Plus includes streaming support with Tidal, looks badass in person, and has nice clicky buttons. High driving power, no distortion even very loud, but still impressive sound very quiet. 

Cons – Tidal support is very limited, USB DAC function not working at this moment. Audible hissing with sensitive IEMs. 

Product Link

Amazon – https://amzn.to/40P7dsm

Build Quality/Aesthetics

You can always count on Shanling to make things interesting, and one of the highlights with M1 Plus is the 661mW of driving power for an impedance of 32 OHMs. The new angled design with a full metallic alloy body is just 86x61x17mm in size, and it weighs just 116 grams. M1 Plus has a bright 3.2 Inch Display at the navigation center, it has a 480 x 320 pixels of resolution, and it is fairly bright, enough to be visible in full daylight. The individual pixels and aliasing of text are visible up close, but it is not an issue for a pure music player and at a normal reading distance. 

Shanling developed the MTouch Operating System, which is a cross between Android and a very basic operating system and UI, like what we’ve seen from HIFI Walker in their original H2 DAP. This being said, the system still manages to be feature-rich, having the Ingenic X2000 CPU for speed, and having support for Wifi and Streaming, including tidal. 

Sonics are supported by a single ESS ES9069Q DAC, which is the same as the DAC found in Shanling Ua4, and the same DAC can be found in FiiO BTR17, but FiiO implemented it in a Dual DAC design. This means we have support for PCM data rates up to 32 Bit / 768 kHz, and DSD512. The Amplifier is a Dual SGM8262 which is a solution we’ve seen in FiiO KA15, FiiO Ka11 and Shanling Onix Alpha Xi1, all of which are affordable entry-level devices. 

You can extend on your local playlist with Streaming, as M1 Plus supports Wifi, DLNA and Airplay, and it also supports Bi-Directional Bluetooth, being capable of receiving music from your DAP, and also transmitting music to your wireless bluetooth earphones. The USB Type-C port also supports a Two-Way connection, so you can use the M1 Plus as both a USB DAC and as a Transport for a separate USB DAC. It really feels like Shanling designed it to be a center piece for any listening setup, easily switching roles and offering exactly what you need it to do, although the very compact design will be a matter of taste, as some people’s fingers are too big to easily control it. 

To see is to control, so the volume wheel is illuminated, and there’s a Shanling app, the Eddict Player you can install on Android or iOS for remote control of the M1 Plus. It works very well, and it gives you an easier control, although Tidal works flawlessly from the M1 Plus too, although it only works for online playback, and you cannot store offline Tidal files on M1 Plus. This is a considerable limitation because the wifi speed is limited compared to a smartphone, and I have so and so wifi coverage compared to my phone around the house. As long as you are near a router you will be fine. I did encounter a bug, as Tidal reports only 50 songs in our Audiophile-Heaven Playlist, while we now have over 100. No playlist can be shown by M1 Plus longer than 50 songs on Tidal. 

In this sense, you’re better off using M1 Plus as a Bluetooth DAC/AMP, like a FiiO BTR17, as M1 Plus does have support for LDAC, aptX HD, aptX, AAC and SBC for Bluetooth. This is all powered by a rather tiny 2100mAh battery (relative to my smartphone, Red Magic 10 PRO, which has a 7000mAh battery), although the life of M1 Plus is quite good, with my tests showing up to 11.5 hours of battery life for the single ended output, and up to 9 hours for the balanced output. There’s a screen protector applied from the factory, and the output impedance is noted to be 0.6 OHMs for the SE output and 1.2 OHMs for the balanced output 

USB DAC / Subjective Usage

The USB DAC function has not been recognized with my PC or laptop, so I have not been able to test it, but all the other functions work properly. Despite the Tidal bug that limits the playlist to 50 songs, everything works well. For local file streaming, M1 Plus is snappy, quick and feels like a proper unit. When it reads Tidal files, M1 Plus cannot read lyrics, so you can expect a very customised Tidal experience, proper for a pure music mini DAP. 

I generally did not experience any annoying bugs, although I honestly have been slowly growing out of mini DAPs, the sound is really nice, but I prefer to either have full streaming support, or use local files. The buttons of M1 Plus are really nice and click, it feels well-made and looks really nice in person. I see M1 Plus as an excellent shuffle DAP, and if you want to quickly search for a song on Tidal, it works great, and it is snappy, works well, with a good sonic performance and high driving power relative to its size. 

Sound Quality

Pairings and Match-up – To test the Shanling M1 Plus, I have paired it with both IEMs and Full-Sized Headphones, and for the IEM list I have used Westone MACH 60, Tin HIFI P1 MAx II, Campfire Moon Rover, Simgot EM10, HarmonicDyne Devil, HeartField Blanc, and Soundz Flame. The headphone list includes Palma DHS-1, MIRPH-1, Audeze MM-100, Erzetich Mania V2024, Ecoute TH1 (both wireless and wired), Crosszone CZ-8a Enhanced. The maximum driving power, especially from the balanced output is plenty for full-sized headphones, at least the ones I tested, but the power is not sufficient for the likes of the HIFIMAN He1000 Unveiled. For IEMs, you will hear a background hiss and noise floor, which will be much more obvious with more sensitive IEMs, and this hissing is audible with most IEMs, although once you play music, it is not audible, or at least not noticeable. 

Overall Signature – Sonically, Shanling M1 Plus is a brilliant sounding DAP, it is incredibly detailed, vivid, with a full, bold bass, and a lively midrange. This is all complemented by a sharp, airy treble, and M1 Plus is one of the best sounding entry-level DAPs I heard with a bit of extra meat on the bones in the low-end region. It is simply fantastic, and brings both life and energy into music, rendering fine details and soundstage gues / information really well. 

Bass – The bass department has always been a highlight for Shanling DAPs, and M1 Plus makes no exception, it has a full, deep bass, quite a bit of extra power and oomph / impact in the low-end department. There’s a good sense of space and clarity, with a strong separation of the bass from the midrange, plus a strong emphasis all across the lower and middle bass. The upper bass takes a step back, so the sound never gets boomy or veiled, but it has quite a bit of low-end nonetheless. 

Midrange – With a colorful and lively approach, Shanling designed the M1 Plus to sound vivid and direct, live and clean. There’s a good sense of instrument separation. Everything just pops and feels fun to listen to with M1 Plus. The lower midrange has a strong volume and presence, while the upper midrange is pushed farther away in the back, creating a wide and open space for music to play. There’s a strong sense of imaging and separation, although male voices generally are a bit more forward than female voices. 

Treble – For the first time in history, Shanling put a bit of extra treble and sharpness in one of their DAPs, and M1 Plus has a fairly sharp and sparkly, airy treble, with a good extension audible up to 18 kHz, although most of the treble energy softly rolls off above 12 kHz. This top end helps a lot with the perceived resolution and clarity of the M1 Plus. 

Dynamics – M1 Plus does not have a compression effect regardless of the volume it is playing at, and it handles dynamics very well. 

PRaT / Textures – The texture is generally natural, slightly splashy and slightly soft, so regardless of the fact it has a sharper treble, it never sounds fatiguing or harsh. M1 Plus is quite enjoyable and has a softer edge in the texturization. 

Loudness Saturation Gradient – I can freely enjoy the M1 Plus at low and high volumes, it sounds warm, balanced and snappy at low volumes, and becomes ballsy, loud, voluminous, and full at higher volumes. Although the signature changes, it is plenty enjoyable at all volumes. 

Soundstage – The soundstage size is on the intimate side with M1 Plus, and it presents music with a personal approach, but it has a strong imaging and instrument separation, creating a good layering and stereo effect in music. 

Value and Conclusion

M1 Plus has an excellent value, it is directly comparable to FiiO BTR17, which it can act like for the most part, but comes with extra features, including being a DAP, although it does not cover different grounds too. In the world of DAPs, M1 Plus is an excellent choice, and sonically it is impressive. 

At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a warm and bloomy sounding mini DAP, with a strong and punchy sound, vivid midrange, and with an excellent support for local files playback, and also streaming, plus good Bluetooth, M1 Plus is the best you can get, and it has currently the warmest, bassiest signature but with a good detail and resolution you can find for a DAP of its size and class. 

Product Link

Amazon – https://amzn.to/40P7dsm

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Full Playlist used for this review

We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature.  I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5

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