Shanling Onix Tocata XM2 Digital Audio Player

The ONIX Tocata XM2 is truly compact hi-fi: the third portable player from ONIX, the hi-fi brand born in Brighton in the 1980s, designed by ONIX and made by Shanling, in a minimalist aluminium body just 82 × 65mm. Inside, a Cirrus Logic CS4308P eight-channel DAC, ONIX’s “Brighton” I/V stage and a fully balanced amplifier give up to 800mW from the 4.4mm output. A 3-inch touchscreen, real buttons, Wi-Fi with Tidal, DLNA and AirPlay, two-way Bluetooth 5.2 and two-way USB-C make it a pocket player and a hi-fi component in one.

Compact minimalism

The aluminium construction gives a durable, dense body in an ideal portable form, and at 82 × 65 × 18mm and 140g it sits easily in one hand. The 3-inch, 720 × 720 touchscreen is clear and can be rotated to four angles to suit how you hold or place the player, and hardware buttons for play/pause and track skip, plus a customisable FN button, give intuitive, tactile control in a pocket. Choose black or copper.

Exploring new types of sound

The XM2 uses Cirrus Logic’s brand-new flagship eight-channel DAC, the CS4308P. Its current output is converted to voltage by ONIX’s in-house “Brighton” architecture, an I/V conversion stage built around two OPA1612 op-amps, and two SGM8262 chips form a compact, fully balanced amplifier for powerful output. Advanced FPGA technology, combined with two active crystal oscillators, handles the digital signal. The result plays PCM up to 768kHz/32-bit and native DSD512, with four selectable digital filters, running on a pure music system optimised for sound.

Power for IEMs and headphones

Both outputs have two gain levels. The 4.4mm balanced output gives 2.54Vrms (200mW into 32Ω) on low gain and 5.08Vrms (800mW) on high gain, with a 124dB signal-to-noise ratio, 112dB channel separation and 0.7Ω output impedance. The 3.5mm output gives 1.28Vrms (51mW) or 2.56Vrms (204mW), with 121dB SNR and 0.4Ω output impedance. Distortion is just 0.0005% from both.

A multifunctional hi-fi component

• Two-way Bluetooth 5.2: send music to wireless headphones, or receive it from your phone, with LDAC, aptX HD, aptX, AAC and SBC in both directions.
• Wi-Fi: stream Tidal, play from your network over DLNA, or cast from Apple devices with AirPlay.
• SyncLink companion app: control the XM2 remotely from an iOS or Android phone.
• Two-way USB-C: use the XM2 as a USB DAC for a computer, or as a USB digital transport to an external DAC.
• microSD: your own library on cards up to 2TB.

Battery and formats

A 3,000mAh battery gives up to 8.5 hours of playback and charges at 12W with USB PD. The XM2 plays DSD (ISO, DSF and DFF; DST-encoded ISO files are not supported), DXD, APE, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, AIF, DTS, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, ALAC, MP2, M4A, AC3, M3U, M3U8 and OPUS.

A magnetic leather case

ONIX’s optional case is crafted from premium genuine leather, custom designed for a precise fit, with a magnetic ring that lets you attach the XM2 directly to the back of a smartphone. It is available separately as the leather case for the ONIX Tocata XM2.

Good to know

• It runs a dedicated music system rather than full Android, so apps other than the built-in ones can’t be installed.
• In the box: XM2, screen protector, USB-A to USB-C cable and quick start guide. The leather case is sold separately.