Finally, the Hidizs emerged from the state of suspended animation, which lasted for several years. Having released in the spring of 2014 a very successful model AP100 and teasing the public for a while with the more top-end AP300, the company's developers disappeared and ceased to show signs of life until the fall of last year when they suddenly returned with the new budget model AP60.
The novelty turned out to be interesting from all sides: a small and light player with AK4452 in the role of DAC and MAX97220 is itself an application for a victory, but Hidizs decided not to relax and equip the device to the maximum. There is also Bluetooth with APT-X, and work in USB OTG mode, and even it's unclear why the necessary support for the DSD format. In general, functions are not just many, but very many. But the finishing move is to become a price, at the time of publication of the article you can only for 5500 rubles.
Specifications
- Processor: X1000
- DAC: AK4452VN
- OS: MAX97220A
- Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
- Output power: 35 mW @ 32Ω
- Distortion: 0.005%
- Signal to noise ratio: > 109 dB
- Dynamic range: > 105 dB
- Channel separation: 106 dB
- Output Impedance: 0.1Ω
- Supported formats: FLAC, APE, WMA, WAV, ALAC, AAC, OGG, MP3, AIFF, DSF, DIFF
- Supported resolution: up to 192 kHz / 24 bit, DSD to DSD128
- Screen: 2 "TFT, 320 × 240
- Battery: LiPol, 1000 mAh
- Operating time from one charge: > 10 h
- Memory Cards: MicroSD up to 256 GB
- Bluetooth: 4.0 with APT-X support
- Dimensions: 75 mm × 42 mm × 14 mm
- Weight: ~ 50 g
Packing and delivery kit
Hidizs decided to develop a unified package for their products, so the player, like most of their new products, is packed in a dark box of solid cardboard with good printing. Inside is the player itself, a leatherette storage bag, a protective foil on the front panel (guess who taped it with bubbles?), A microUSB cable and headphones. In Hidizs decided to make a "ready-to-use" set and put in a set of in-ear headphones and foam nozzles to them.
Another interest is the booklet with the future products of Hidizs put in the box, it clearly makes it clear that the company's plans are vastly Napoleonic.
By the way, Hidizs also released leather cases with a flip for AP60, there is a choice of colors, and a buckle with a button adds to their appearance of charm, but traditionally the cover will have to be bought separately, well worth less than $ 15.
Design and management
The player's design causes quite positive emotions, Hidizs managed to give the AP60 a stylish appearance, despite the budget price. The case is made of plastic with a light soft-touch effect, but this plastic is of high quality, almost does not creak or lyuftit, and the unusual shape and metal circle around the headphone jack (hello, Sony) adds the appearance of the gloss player. AP60 is available in several colors, so the aesthetes have where to walk, and judging by the booklet, there will also be limited versions dedicated to the superheroes Marvel and Hello Kity (chur me with Thor).
On the left side there is a power button, it, as usual, blocks the screen, under it there is a volume rocker. In Hidizs they thought and made it a convenient form, the finger falls on it and, thanks to it, the buttons are convenient to press without looking. In the latest versions of the firmware, these buttons can control tracks on the locked screen (the function switches to the menu), which is very useful given that the player does not have the most convenient touch control.
On the right side there is a MicroSD card slot, the player "digests" cards of any size without problems. At the bottom there is an output to the headphones and a microUSB charging connector, it also serves to access the memory card from the computer and to connect the player as a USB DAC. An additional bonus is USB OTG support and the ability to connect external DACs to USB, so if desired the AP60 can work with digital transport. Also located below the headphone jack. The upper side is devoid of functional load, and on the back are only the Hidizs logo and information about the model.
Naturally, the main functional load falls on the front panel, most of it is occupied by the screen, and below it are located control buttons. The screen is not the most amazing imagination, it does not have a very large depth of color and viewing angles, and it is noticeably blind in the sun, but for the budget model it is quite sufficient, the resolution is not the smallest, so the interface looks normal. The control buttons, unfortunately, are touch sensitive and very small, they are made in the form of a standard "cross" with a confirmation button in the center (it also serves to play and pause), and from the top left and right are the buttons for calling the menu and going back. In general, the touch-sensitive buttons are not in themselves the best solution, but in combination with the small size and high density - and even more so. To manage this player will have to get used, at first there may be slips. On the management of "blind" here it is not necessary to say, thanks to Hidizs for duplicating the switching of tracks to a volume swing.
The menu is simple and very logical, in spite of the absence of a Russian translation, it's very simple to deal with it. Music Browse - View the contents of a USB OTG drive and a memory card for those who like to navigate through folders. The Music Category contains the expected lists: albums, artists, genres, favorites, all tracks in a row, recently played tracks and M3U playlists. Music Settings - all settings related to music: scanning the library, gain, 10-band equalizer, playback mode, whether to continue playback after shutdown, support gapless and volume settings (limiting and remembering when turned off). The last item, called System settings, is expected to be responsible for various system settings. Here you can select the language, USB mode, brightness, backlight time, jump to folders during playback, set the auto-off timer and other familiar options for other players. There is also a Bluetooth control menu and information about the player.
Playback screen - simple and logical, from additional convenience - on the player's screen there is always a line with the battery indicator, the playback mode and the current volume level.
Thanks to a not very powerful amplifier and a normal battery on board, the player is very pleased with the running time, in my standard test (MeeAudio P1 at a volume of 30 with a high Gain when playing FLAC 44.1 kHz / 16 bit), the player gives out somewhere 10 hours 25 minutes.
Sound
To listen to the device used the following headphones: Meze 99 Classics, Audio Zenith PMx2, Noble Kaiser K10AU, Campfire Audio Jupiter, Dita Audio Brass, HUM Pristine and others.
Here I, perhaps, will have to write a traditional introduction about the role of price in assessing the sound of the player (sorry for the pun). Approach to the evaluation of Hidizs AP60 "without looking at the price" will not work, as it loses noticeably more expensive models, but in the budget segment every dollar plays a role, and against the background of "comrades in the category" AP60 sounds quite competitive. Therefore, it is necessary to split the review of sound into two parts, the first part - with an eye to the price.
The player sounds quite vivid, the highlight of its presentation is the underlined emotionality of the mid-range, which adds spectacular effect to the musical material. The sound of the player does not have pronounced problems and distortions in the frequency response (the curvature of the first versions of the firmware, though not perfect, but corrected). The overall feed is slightly relaxed, this applies to slightly smoothed MF and soft detachment of the HF. In general, a good player, especially for music oriented to midrange.
If you do not take into account the price and evaluate the player more strictly, you get the following. In the first versions of the firmware, the frequency response of the player had pronounced blockages on the sub-bass and high-frequency, which resulted in a lack of massiveness and after-sound. With the bass in Hidizs decided to fight with the help of firmware, so in the latest version 1.01 available on the official site, the bass was raised quantitatively, but it did not go for the benefit of its legibility. The speed and texture processing in this player can be estimated at best 3 out of 5, and on high gain this problem becomes more noticeable.
The mid-range is built in a tasteful manner, the microcontrast is not high, the main emphasis is on macrodetails - bright emotions, fast transitions - this is the main strength of the player. The imaginary scene is slightly less than the average in depth and width, the instruments are crowded, but their character is transmitted normally.
The upper frequencies are noticeably allocated to the second plan, either to please those to whom the HF is cut hearing, or simply "it happened", but the fact remains - the HF is not the strongest side of the player, there are no fine nuances and fading here. However, for simple music styles there is quite enough high frequency, and their detachment is good for simple headphones with imperfect control of this part of the range.
Traditionally, one can not do without comparisons
Shanling M1 . The closest ideological competitor of the player from Hidizs is built on a similar elementary base and very close to specifications and capabilities. The model from Shanling offers a better study of LF and HF, a wider imaginary scene and a more neutral pitch. In turn, the AP60 offers more (for more than an hour) working time, more emotional midrange and a noticeably smaller price tag.
Fiio X1-II . Even if you drop the threefold superiority of the X1 in power (which is important enough for many more or less serious headphones), on the Fiio side there will be a better working out of the whole range (though not all of which are necessary) and non-sound capabilities such as a metal case. AP60 this can be countered by a smaller size and the availability of the APT-X codec.
xDuoo X3 . Despite the rather coarse sound and noticeable unevenness of the high-frequency range, by the sound of the X3 this is a noticeable step forward, both in power and microdetails, but not everyone will like its rather aggressive manner.
Compatibility
The player's power is 35 milliwatts per 32Ω of load, which automatically limits the scope of its application to sensitive intra-channel "gags" and is very light in swinging "full-size". At the same time, the player makes a little noise with highly sensitive headphones, so it's clearly not the best option with top IEM roads (however, it would be foolish to expect the opposite).
By the way, about the complete liners. The best characteristic for them will be the fact that they do not want to be thrown out immediately, as it sometimes happens with cheap Chinese models. Inserts from Hidizs, of course, do not shine with a resolution, but at least they play quite vividly, without very much cutting ear problems. However, you do not really need to count on them anyway, you still have to buy other headphones.
The genre player gravitates to simple music such as mass "electronics", not brutal styles of metal, rock and some subspecies of jazz. You can also listen to it with something like instrumental music and vocals, but the result will be worse. For aggressive and saturated styles AP60 does not fit at all. To the quality of recording the player is not particularly critical, on a 10-point scale of scores of 5.
Traditionally, several sample tracks
Judas Priest - Ram It Down . Here is the track, as if created for this player. Driving, but not very complicated drumming, a well-defined rhythm section, Rob's emotional vocals - something that emphasizes the strengths of the AP60.
Peter Gabriel - Upside Down . Of course, for a full disclosure of this track you need a source several times more expensive than the AP60, but brilliant music, similar to Gabriel's symphonic works, allows you to enjoy it even on a simple player. Especially since AP60 pleasantly highlights an emotional voice.
Ennio Morricone - The Braying Mule . A pleasant instrumental track, which acquired a second youth in the soundtrack to "Django the Liberated", is very suitable for the hero of today's review, the AP60 plays it very weightily and without excessive sharpness.
conclusions
In general, a normal player that does not reach the "excellent" is not so much. AP60 is well suited for the role of a "music fan" player for a user who does not require ultra-high quality sound (however, who will give it for $ 90?) Or for the role of digital transport for a "sandwich" with an external DAC for fans of unusual combinations. On the side of this player versatility, a wealth of additional features and attractive appearance, coupled with a compact size. And, of course, the price.
The article is based on materials .
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