The appearance of the very first player from Hidizs AP100 was an event truly noticeable. The player, released in 2014 and still enjoying a good demand, is, you know, a strong claim for success. For a long time, the company did not hear a sound from the camp, until the appearance of the budget model AP60 , which was not bad, but did not become a breakthrough. But the end of last year brought us two whole models of the company, and today we will talk about the second revision of the AP60 itself.
Despite the affordable price and a good set of features, the first "sixties" did not gain much popularity, because of some flaws in the sound, and not the best because of the touch buttons control. Meanwhile, a segment of inexpensive, but high-quality solutions in a compact format clearly required some kind of model. And then Hidizs really did almost incredible, they scrupulously collected all the shortcomings of the first revision of their player and eliminated them, releasing the updated AP60. Of course, improvements on all fronts could not be cost-free (and I so would like to write about the surprisingly unchanged cost), so the player price has increased somewhere up to $ 120, however, in this case overpayment is clearly worth it.
Specifications
- Processor: X1000
- DAC: AKM4452VN
- OS: MAX97220A
- Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 kHz (-0.5 dB)
- Output power: 35 mW @ 32Ω
- Output Impedance: 0.1Ω
- Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise: 0.005%
- Signal to noise ratio :> 109 dB
- Dynamic range: > 105 dB
- Channel separation: 106 dB
- Supported resolution: PCM up to 192 kHz / 24 bit, DSD to DSD128
- Supported formats: FLAC, APE, WMA, WAV, ALAC, AAC, OGG, MP3, AIFF, DSF, DFF
- Bluetooth: 4.0 with aptX
- Screen: 2 "TFT, 320 × 240
- Input: MicroUSB
- Output: 3.5 mm
- Battery: 1000 mAh
- Operating time from one charge: 10-12 h
- Memory Cards: MicroSD up to 256 GB
- Dimensions: 75 mm × 42 mm × 14 mm
- Weight: 71g
Packing and delivery kit
The outer design of the package meets the "proprietary" yellow stripe, a little spoiling good design in the rest. Inside are the player itself, the charging cable, protective films (one is already pasted from the factory, and I raise my glass for the companies that do this) and the plastic protective semi-shell on the back panel.
In general, everything is quite simple, but for a budget player - it's quite normal. By the way, Hidizs for the first generation AP60 had a very cute leather case with a flip, which is still on sale. I did not check, but I think for the second generation, he should also come up.
Design and management
That is exactly the main area where the developers' efforts were made. The second version of the player pleases the body, made of aluminum with a spectacular back panel "under the glass." Changed materials significantly improve the perception of the player, it looks much more expensive than the first generation. AP60-II exists in five (at least for now) color variants, they are all rather discreet, but they look stylish, so you can easily choose any of them. The build quality of the player itself at a very good level for this price level - nothing creaks, hangs and does not play.
An additional "wow factor" of this gadget is a small size, it is really compact, and light weight (despite the mentioned on the box 50 grams, weighing showed 70) allows you to carry it without problems even in the pocket of light summer shorts.
On the left side there is a brand volume rocker (if desired, you can switch it to the navigation menu on the tracks), it has a curved shape, and the finger itself lies on the right place, which allows you to use it without looking. Above is the power button, it also blocks the screen. On the right side there is a slot for microSD cards, on the bottom - headphone jacks and MicroUSB. The latter is very versatile, it serves both for charging and accessing files, it also allows you to connect the AP60 as a USB DAC. Also the player understands USB OTG flash drives and can serve as USB-transport, connecting to external DACs.
By the way, about charging. In my standard test (MEEAudio P1 as a load, FLAC 44.1 / 16 as a material), the player worked 9 hours and 40 minutes. Charges it fast enough, a full charge took less than two hours, in general, good results for such a compact player with a full-featured DAC.
Pleasantly pleased and updated front panel. First, the screen. I do not know where the Hidizs take parts, but the "sixty" display really pleases, in spite of its small size, it has good resolution and color rendition, very decent viewing angles and even some margin of brightness (how am I waiting for summer ...). Secondly, the control unit, in the first revision of the player in a small area under the screen, six touch buttons were placed at once, which led to erroneous pressing and inconvenient "blind" control. In the second revision, the buttons became mechanical, and there were only four. Simply put, the plate under the screen acts as a 4-position switch, so now you can easily control the player without removing it from your pocket (however, pocket fuss from the side can be perceived inaccurately).
Firmware
Some processing has undergone and firmware. At the core of everything is the Hiby code, which offers familiar features. The developers have slightly changed the navigation, making it more logical and convenient. Use the up / down keys to navigate the menu, use the right button to select the functions, and the left button to return. On the playback screen, "up" and "down" are used to navigate tracks, "right" starts playback and pauses. On the playback screen and in the track lists, a long hold to the right opens an auxiliary menu, a long press of "left" will take you back to the main menu.
The menu itself is divided into four sections.
View music by folder. Here everything is obvious: we choose an SD card or USB OTG flash drive (if it is connected, Chinese programmers do not want to automatically remove the unnecessary menu item for many years) and enjoy the media library in the form in which you created it. From the pop-up menu, you can add / remove a track to your favorites or erase it from the memory card at all.
Browse music by category. Here everything is also familiar: all tracks at once, albums, artists, genres, favorites, playlists and recently lost songs. The pop-up menu here for some reason is completely different and offers, in addition to deleting and favorites, adding a track to an arbitrary playlist.
Music settings. Here, too, everything is customary:
- update the library (fast enough)
- gain
- DSD output mode
- EQ (10-band, but traditionally it is better not to include it)
- playback order
- remembering the current position when turning off
- play without pauses
- maximum volume
- volume at start-up (remember or set the specified value)
- channel balance
System settings. I think a simple listing will suffice as well:
- language (Russian - available)
- Bluetooth (enable, search for devices, activate HibyLink). As before, the player can serve not only as a transmitter, but also as a receiver, that is, you can, for example, stream music from the phone to the player, but "for reception" it is limited only to the SBC codec. However, this is still a pleasant opportunity
- USB mode (memory access or USB DAC), the DAC works with a slight delay, so you can listen to music, but with the video there may be difficulties
- brightness
- backlight time
- clock settings
- go to the next folder during playback (why it's not in the music settings - I do not know)
- function of side buttons (volume or scrolling of tracks)
- off timer when idle and sleep timer
- formatting the card, updating the firmware, information about the player
Screen playback - familiar to other players with a similar firmware, most of it covers the album cover. A bit of addiction is required by the fact that navigation by tracks is done with vertical buttons, but after rebuilding the reflexes of problems this does not cause. Immediately there is an additional menu with the necessary settings and functions.
In the new firmware, the clock feature was added, when you press the power button for the first time, you see a clock plus the name of the current track, and only the second will return you to the player control. Fortunately, the buttons begin to work already on the screen with the clock, so to switch the track or pause the power button just press it once. If you do not need a watch, you can turn it off.
In general, the firmware works very quickly and without any problems, the player is conveniently controlled and pleases with obedience. By the way, judging by the reviews on the Internet (I personally have not tried it), firmware from the second revision can be installed on the first generation of the player, but the expediency of this action remains in question.
Sound
To listen to the device used the following headphones: iBasso IT03 , Meze 99 Classics , Audio Zenith PMx2 , Noble Kaiser Encore , Campfire Audio Andromeda, 64 Audio U12 , HUM Pristine and others.
If you take into account the price of this player, then the sound turned out to be very good. Hidizs corrected the disadvantage of the low frequencies of the first version, and corrected this time normally, at the hardware level (for the first version of the AP60 they just released the firmware, which tried to fix this problem programmatically, it turned out so-so), so the AP60-II is devoid of any pronounced shortcomings and plays very cheerfully and in detail. In the following description of the sound, I will not take into account the price of the device, describing its shortcomings regarding much more expensive models.
The bass in the presentation of the player is slightly accentuated, but the accent is very moderate. LFs are surprisingly deep, although control of the "lowest" layers is expected to be average, and they are slightly weakened quantitatively, but they do not crawl to the rest of the range. The speed of the bass and resolution is not bad, but it's also obviously not reaching for more expensive solutions, although they certainly do not suffer from the blurring characteristic of cheap noname models in China.
MF neutral, they have a normal resolution but are fed in a slightly dry manner. Sometimes with this "dryness" sixtieth even overdoing, but this is mainly a problem of records, not the device itself. There are no clearly expressed problems here, yet we do not have a device on a primitive codec. The imaginary scene is slightly less than the average in depth and width, but the separation of plans is still available (albeit not ideal), and the instruments do not fall into a heap and do not lose their character.
The upper frequency range has a normal resolution, but the development of attacks and damping is at a fairly average level, so there is almost no layering of the HF range. Fortunately, the player still does not turn the entire upper part of the frequency response into a monotonous rustle, the legibility of the range remains at a decent level for the price category.
If you slightly expand the price segment AP60II, then it includes several popular models.
FiiO X1-II. The larger size of the player allowed FiiO to use the amplifier more, which will be of help to those who listen to more sophisticated headphones in the disclosure. Also, it should be borne in mind that, from the point of view of the functions and speed of the firmware, the hero of this review clearly looks better. If we compare purely by sound, FiiO is slightly warmer in the overall presentation and offers slightly more emotional midrange.
Shanling M1. An example of an almost perfect competition: players are the same in functions and very close in sound (although the HF / HF in Hidizs sound a little cleaner and more natural), so all competition goes in the field of design and user-friendliness. In this aspect, I like AP60II (or, more precisely, I like M1 less), but this is an exclusively subjective issue.
Cayin N3. And one more player with an absolutely similar set of functions. On the Cayin side, a lot of power, more musical midrange and better-developed HF. This AP60II responds with smaller dimensions, more convenient controls and better design.
Compatibility
Of course, 35 milliwatts of power impose limitations on the headphones used, only sensitive models can be used from full-size models, however, with the majority of IEM, under which the player is "sharpened", there are no problems. I would advise the player first of all inexpensive hybrids or "dynamis" of the segment "about $ 100", but this is already a matter of tastes. The player is almost noisy, even when you turn on Bluetooth.
Zhanrovo AP60II is universal (naturally, adjusted for its price), it has no expressed preferences, but, of course, for the full disclosure of complex music you need something more expensive. To the quality of recording, the player is not particularly critical, so on a 10-point scale its "capriciousness" I would estimate somewhere at 4.
Traditionally, some tracks as examples
A Perfect Circle - Passive. If the supergroups are going, then it is someone who needs it. So the "Ideal Circle" appeared to allow MJK to present its ideas in a more calm form than in Tool (although it does not always turn out so calmly). This track is well suited for filming a small Hidis - quite complex to demonstrate the positive side of the player, but it is not very brutal and presses compression, which could spoil the impression.
Julian Lage - Splendor Riot. A wonderful example of modern guitar jazz. Former prodigy Julian has grown up, but his talent for playing guitar has risen to some unrealistic heights, and, unlike the musicians of the "fatal school," he is not fond of distortion and "zapilami," preferring to demonstrate technicality in a more light manner. AP60II, of course, is not ideal for such styles, but still at a very decent level copes with the transfer of all the nuances of the virtuoso game.
Sergio Mendes - Bim-Bom. British scientists have long proved that the best way to survive the winter cold is Latin jazz, pleasantly relaxing the soul and pleasing the ear not only with cheerful melodies, but also with pleasant musical finds. The hero of today's review thanks to corrected LF perfectly builds the basis of this track, stringing on it the other layers of the track.
conclusions
What surprised me in Hidizs was the ability to correct mistakes. Taking a not very successful model, they clearly localized the problems and completely corrected them, releasing, perhaps, the best compact player in the last couple of years.
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