The holiday came to the street for lovers of listening to music in good quality "on the go." Just a couple of years ago, the sound-quality players could be counted on the fingers of one hand of the miller, and with their appearance they brought up thoughts about the products of the Soviet military industry. Now a mass of experienced Chinese companies have emerged on the market, starting to tear each other up with the effectiveness of hungry pit bull terriers. And if such players as Fiio, QLS and iBasso, are known in audiophile circles, then the company Hidizs with the player AP100 appeared almost nowhere. However, the player turned out to be interesting, and gave me the opportunity to read it. Read about the results of this acquaintance in this review.
Despite the fact that Hidizs before the announcement of the AP100 was virtually unknown, the company was founded in 2009 and led the development of almost 5 years, trying to create the best combination of price and quality. At a price, the novelty falls just between the “lower” segment (Fiio X3, HiFiMan 601, iBasso DX50, etc.) and the middle one (Fiio X5, iHiFi 960, iBasso DX90), thanks to a price tag of about $ 320. What is the quality for the money offered by the developers?
The player is based on the Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC that supports recording up to 24 bit / 192 kHz, complemented by its hardware equalizer CS48L10. To change the sampling rate "on the fly" player uses a chip CS8422. The amplifier uses well-proven AD823 op amps and polar transistors. One of the unusual moves is the use of two quartz resonators, which makes it possible to play music more accurately with sampling frequencies of a multiple of 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz without oversampling. A good Ingenic 4760B processor provides seamless support for all audio formats.
Specifications
- Distortion + noise: <0.004% @ 1 kHz
- Frequency range: 10 Hz - 20 kHz ± 0.2
- Channel separation: > 90 dB @ 10 KΩ 1 kHz
- Signal to noise ratio: > 108 dB
- Dynamic range: > 103 dB
- Recommended headphone impedance: 8Ω - 300Ω
- Output power: > 600 mW @ 16Ω,> 300 mW @ 32Ω,> 32 mW @ 300Ω
- Output impedance: <0.2Ω
- Peak output voltage: > 10 Vp-p
- Maximum output current: > 200 mA
- Volume control: 80 levels
- Equalizer: hardware, it is possible to customize the user mode and preset
- Size: 65.5 mm x 107 mm x 16.2 mm
- Weight: 156 gr
- Screen: 2.4 ″ TFT, 320 x 240
- Outputs: 3.5 mm to headphones, 3.5 mm linear output, 3.5 mm coaxial digital
- Inputs: 3.5 mm coaxial digital, microUSB
- Memory: 8 GB, microSD cards up to 64 GB inclusive
- Lossless formats: APE, FLAC, WAV, WMA, ALAC
- Lossy formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG
- Colors: black and white
- Battery: 3000 mA / h
- Charging: 5 V, 1000 mA
- Charging time: <4 h
- Operating time per charge: > 10 h
Package and Delivery
I just want to say thanks to the developers for not using these pretentious pseudo-leather boxes with locks, so beloved by many Chinese brands (I think there is a factory somewhere in the Middle Kingdom where you can buy them cheaply, so they are “used” at any convenient opportunities). In the version that I visited, Hidizs approached the package in its own way, so when you first look at the box of the player, you remember the popular TV game “What? Where? When? ”With their black box. The AP100 comes in a carton box in black, almost cubic in color. The inscriptions on the box at least, they are made of silver paint. According to the good Chinese tradition, inside the outer box made of cardboard is thinner, there is another box, more dense, and there is already a player in it. Under the player - compartment for accessories.
There are a lot of different papers in the delivery set: a warranty card, two excellent printing instructions in English and Chinese, some kind of card. In addition, you will receive: Micro USB cable for charging and downloading files, a short cord with two angled 3.5 mm TRRS plugs (useful for using the AP100 with a portable amplifier, for example), a microfiber cloth for wiping and a screen protector. Some cover is missing a little, but what’s not - that’s not. Despite this, we can say that the packaging of the company was a success, and the package was very good.
By the way, while writing this review, Hidizs sent photos of the updated packaging: it will be more traditional rectangular shape, apparently, on magnets, and in addition to the silvery inscriptions on it will appear stamping.
Design and management
The body of the player immediately leaves a pleasant feeling. Most of it is made of magnesium alloy, which gives hope for durability and durability, the front panel is plastic, most of the buttons and a 2.4 ″ screen are located here. The screen is typically medium, both in color and in viewing angles, but it is not necessary for the player. By the way, it is interesting when it comes to Chinese companies that in a HiFi player a color screen is not really needed, and they use something like eInk? In size, the player is close to the ideal set by the iPod Classic at one time, so the hand is very comfortable, the controls are easy, although it’s more oriented towards the right hand.
The developers did not stint on the buttons: there are 8 of them on the front panel, two on the left side, one on the top, and also the lock switch on the right. The direction taken by the company is correct, the hardware buttons in such devices are good, although I do not quite agree with the functions placed on them.
The front panel contains buttons: play / pause, rewind, switch tracks, go back and adjust the volume. The off button is located on top, on the left side there are buttons for selecting the equalizer mode and oversampling (by adding two additional microchips, in Hidizs they did not refuse the users the ability to select the desired settings). No duplication of functions, almost no long clicks, for all there are separate buttons.
On the top panel there are two outputs: line and headphones, on the bottom - a slot for memory cards, USB-connector and two jacks of digital input and output.
The player menu is striking in its asceticism. There are only two points. The first will show your media library, allowing you to select music, watch your favorites or go to the playback screen, the second hides various settings. Music is shown in folders, which should please those whose media library is in disarray. At first, such minimalism is surprising, although then you realize that, in general, nothing more is needed to listen to music.
In the settings there are the following options:
- Play mode: one by one, randomly, in a circle
- Memorization of a position: off, only track, track and time
- Manage your favorites
- User EQ settings
- Maximum volume
- Automatic shutdown time: from 10 seconds to 5 minutes or not to turn off at all
- Interface language (no Russian)
- Backlight brightness: 5 levels
- Backlight operation time: from 5 to 100 seconds in 5 second increments or always work
- Choosing a color theme: blue or green
- Library update
- Reset to factory settings
- Player Information
In playback mode, a long press on the return button opens the context menu of the track, you can do the following in it:
- View track information
- Add track to favorites (or delete)
- Change the order of playback
- Enable sleep timer
- Change screen brightness
In the file navigation mode, long pressing the back button allows you to delete the selected file.
The screen for playing files is quite logical, it displays a lot of necessary information, starting with the playback mode and ending with the selected sampling rate. The player sewn into the cover files did not understand, although I didn’t understand, maybe somehow he would understand them differently.
The firmware is quite stable, for the three days that I used the player, no major problems were noticed, although minor errors such as positioning in the tracks sometimes occurred.
Very good regular battery. It charges a little more than 3 hours and really provides the promised “more than 10 hours of work.”
Sound
Actually, the most interesting question in the player is, of course, sound.
To listen to the player used the following headphones.
- Ambient Acoustics AM6 HiRez
- HiFiMan Re600
- VSonic Gr01
- Philips Fidelio X1 and several others
When I first auditioned, I was frightened by the unnaturalness of the player feed. It turned out that the whole thing is in the included equalizer, which, in addition to the specified change, adds a considerable amount of artificiality to the sound, although not as much as in most other players, I think, primarily due to its hardware implementation. After 10 minutes of listening, the only equalizer mode that I found acceptable to myself is “off.” Thus, the button for switching EQ modes turned out to be useless for me. The same fate befell the oversampling frequency selection button. Since the vast majority of my records are stored in FLAC 16 bit / 44.1 kHz (and most of the remainder is 48 kHz), I don’t see any reason to choose a different resampling frequency, despite the fairly high-quality implementation in hardware and this function.
Generally speaking, the sound of the AP100 neatly falls into the same niche as the price. It sounds better than the DX50 and Fiio X3, but does not reach the level of the X5. I have not heard the new DX90 yet, but I doubt that it will lose the AP100.
In general, the player justifies its price: detailing, testing attacks, serving - it’s very good. Further in the description of the sound, I will point out mainly the shortcomings, in comparison with the more expensive models, I think this is the most valuable information for those who choose the player.
The sound of the player is a bit warm, the emphasis is on the mid frequencies and the lower middle. The bass is deep, very fast, but when compared to the X5, its control is not enough. If on dynamic headphones this doesn’t become a problem, then high-speed fixtures will show you very clearly. On the same Gr01, the problem of “middle” bass is heard clearly.
Midrange worked very well. For some reason, while listening to this player, I caught myself thinking that he was trying to “bring closer” the vocals, to push him forward with respect to other instruments. In many genres (blues, classic) it gives a pleasant effect of the presence of a musician. Tools sound natural and do not fall into a pile.
High frequencies are given in detail, but in some places they lack airiness, they are sharp. A little more and the player would have broken into sibilant and cutting sound.
Once again, the shortcomings described above relate to players that are higher in level and price. If you compare with the "younger" models - AP100 will be the winners.
For the AP100, perhaps, it is worth to take care of the selection of headphones. Not all models work equally well. To my ear, hybrid headphones are contraindicated to it, and dynamic with it will sound better than reinforcement.
findings
Hidizs (how is it generally read?) AP100 turned out to be an interesting player. It implements a number of unusual ideas that are not typical for competitor models. The player will appreciate the good ergonomics, good design and the corresponding price sound. The niche of players with good sound quality is filled with an increasing number of models, so in the near future, we are waiting for active price wars, which I, as one of the consumers, cannot but welcome.
The article is based on materials .
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