Shanling’s New M2x Player to Feature WiFi
Shanling has had some pretty good success with their latest line of devices. The M5s featured a touch display and it serves essentially as the benchmark for their proprietary touch-based UI which is currently called MTouch 2.0. The upcoming M2x will also sport this UI and will bring along a whole host of hardware upgrades over the original M2s too.
The M2x will have a touch display – a 3.2-inch panel no less. this brings it up to par with the likes of some of FiiO’s latest devices like the M9 and M6. But, there are a few more upgrades over the original M2s including both a 3.5mm single ended and 2.5mm balanced output, LDAC connection over Bluetooth, and perhaps best of all is the inclusion of WiFi.
By having on-board WiFi this will allow the device to receive OTA firmware updates as well as giving the device DLNA and Airplay functionality. Shanling also announced that Tidal users will have access to their Tidal account from the M2x, but it seems this will be restricted to online mode only (at least for now). Unfortunately, by using a proprietary operating system this also means that subscribers of various other streaming services such as Deezer are unlikely to be able to access those services from the M2x.
Other hardware specifications include a single AK4490EN DAC chip, along with a 2400mAh battery which will enable a maximum playback time of about 10.5 hours via the 3.5mm connection or up to 7.5 hours using the 2.5mm balanced connection. 
Pricing & Availability
Shanling have stated that the M2x is to be priced at $219 (so a little more than the original M2s) and that they plan to introduce and sell the device to their domestic Chinese market first in March, and possibly in the US by April or May.
