It’s abundantly clear that retro tech is having a moment. Folks are asking: can’t Apple make the iPod again so we can just listen to music without the abundant smartphone distractions? Well no, that isn’t going to happen. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find a way back to that experience.
The audio company Shanling has announced the new Q2 MP3 player, which offers an iPod classic-style design including the beloved click wheel. The attractive portable audio player promises Tidal hi-res streaming for those with an account and a host of high resolution music formats for those with their own digital music collections. Furthermore there’s support for 2TB microSD cards, so you can pack a load on there.
There’s also a quad-DAC (Digital-to-Analogue Converter) offering support for high-power balanced headphones via a 4.4mm jack, and another output offering 3.5mm cans. There’s also a bi-directional Bluetooth transmitter/receiver that’ll connect to pretty much anything you want, as well as offering LDAC/aptX over wireless. So you’ll still get lossless audio over wireless, which you can’t get with any Apple product at the moment by the way.
The lossless player can decode PCM up to 768kHz/32-bit, while supporting a significant number of the major formats. They include APE, FLAC, ALAC, WAV, DSF, DFF, MP3, AAC, OGG, M4A, and CUE.
The two-way USB-C port enables both charging and data transfer, while it can also be used as an external USB DAC audio player. Dual-band Wi-Fi ensures easy streaming and file transfers that can be placed on the player. There’s a 13.5-hour advertised battery life from the 1,850 mAh battery and a 2.09-inch HD touchscreen to complement the physical scroll wheel. It looks to be quite sturdy and well-made with a dinky 80×50×13.5mm design weighing in at just 83-grams. The construction is an aluminium alloy wth a rear glass panel.
The device can be ordered from Amazon now for $269/€259 in black-grey, orange, and silver. I just wish it supported more streaming services other than Tidal! Maybe in the future.
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