The Shanling Mo arrived today. It had been on pre order from Amazon for quite a while. My expectations were low, I was expecting a cheaply constructive device with huge specs. especially as it only costs £99.

Shanling M0 includes Hi-Res audio certification, in a tiny size, with Bluetooth wireless capability, the M0 digital audio player represents the pinnacle of portable, high-fidelity listening. Pushing the limits of technology the Shanling M0 incorporates everything required of a Hi-Res portable player, with the size of a wristwatch. It has the capability to hold SD cards with up to 512GB and features a high-definition touch screen developed by LG.

It also has a newly developed side-wheel design that offers precise control with higher durability. The core of the M0 comprises of a multi-layered Microvia HDI high-density PCB board. Compared to ordinary PCB boards it provides better electrical performance and helps avoid signal interference in the circuit. These design elements allowed Shanling to make the M0 smaller while pushing its performance to higher levels.

In fact its really light too at just 38g. It is 40 x 13.5 x 45mm. Its made from curved glass and a double curved body design. The glass is 7H tempered glass and the body is a unibody CNC aluminium. In real life, it looks stunning. The photos dont do it justice.

Bluetooth is a two way affair. It can stream music to headphones or speakers or receive bluetooth from your phone or other source. It can do this using LDAC codec too.

USB is USB C. Yes. This means it has two way USB C interface. It can be used as an external sound card for your computer, or just as a digital transport transmitting the digital sound to another USB DAC.

So first impressions. I never read the manual. Just inserted a micro SD card (Sandisk 200gb) which had about 10,000 songs. Using the easy to use gesture interface, I added them to the players library. And hit play. Well I got my wife to have a listen first to a piano concerto. She did not want to give it back as the sounnd quality was fantastic. The MO comes in 5 colours. I have the titanium finish. There is black, red, blue and purple. They all look gorgeous.

I have had a listen too and am impressed. So far I have tried it with 3 different wired headphones and 3 bluetooth headphones. I have also used it as a digital transport. I cannot believe this Shanling MO only costs £99.

Head over to Amazon UK to get more info and pick one up too.