Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Tecsun M-801 media player review

I acquired a used Tecsun M-801 music player.

The good,

  • Built-in FM antenna with decent reception.
  • User replaceable 18650 battery.
  • USB-C port supports changing and acting as a USB speakerphone.
  • It can record audio into a TF card.
  • The built-in mic can be used for answering phone calls via bluetooth.
  • It exposes its battery level to phones through bluetooth. 

The bad,

  • The recorded audio is in MP2 format at 160 kbps instead of MP3.
  • The only knob has two functions. I prefer a dedicated volume knob.
  • The USB-C port is not implemented properly to work with USB-C adapters. 
  • No AM reception. 
  • The speaker has a noticeable noise floor.
  • Volume is not synced to phone in bluetooth mode.