[fiercekid84]

just got my AP80 red and damn it is really really small. time to retired my fiio x3 gen 1. oh just in case u want to know, i'm from singapore

 

[petricnah]

just got my AP80 red and damn it is really really small. time to retired my fiio x3 gen 1. oh just in case u want to know, i'm from singapore

Hi, Is yr parcel delivered via Singpost or 4PX?

 

[fiercekid84]

not too sure. the office people in my work place sign it for me.

 

[petricnah]

not too sure. the office people in my work place sign it for me.

Thank, My 'Arrival at Destination' this morning.

 

[fiercekid84]

so a simple sound quality was made and my sad boys rap sound even sadder then when it was on fiio x3 gen 1 and now i'm suicidial.

 

[abitdeef]

so a simple sound quality was made and my sad boys rap sound even sadder then when it was on fiio x3 gen 1 and now i'm suicidial.

Don’t try suicide, you’re just gonna hate it,

Don’t try suicide, It’s a drag

Don’t try suicide, you’re not going to like it

Don’t try suicide, nobody gives a damn

Freddy

And don’t forget,

Wine is fine but whiskeys quicker

Hey, you should play with the EQ or the magic 8 ball to try get that warm wolfson X3 sound my friend.

 

[prophette]

I got my AP80 on Tuesday but because I'd not received any tracking numbers or any indication that anything had been shipped to me, I didn't notice it until Wednesday when I went out to retrieve another package I'd received that day. Fortunately, no one stole it off my porch. My AP80 is red but I'm backer #78 so I wouldn't have expected any problems getting the color I selected. I would have preferred purple or blue, but clearly was in the minority on that. I've not played around extensively with it because I bought a Hiby R3 when it was on sale for $150. It was originally my intention to give the AP80 to my husband but after playing around with the R3, I realized it would work better for him and bought another one before the sale ended. I was then going to give the AP80 to my brother to replace an old iPod someone else had given him but after reading through this thread, I've changed my mind. He loves music but hates technology and anything with problems of any kind will just reinforce in his mind why he's right about technology. And since he lives 500 miles away and I see him only at Christmas, any problems he encountered means the thing would just end up in a drawer unused at best and in the trash at worst.

I'd use it in the car but I mainly listen to podcasts in the car and Bluetooth is plenty fine for that. So I guess I'll keep it and see what future updates bring, if anything.

Just got my tracking number today despite having received it 6 days ago. (sigh)

 

[fiercekid84]

Don’t try suicide, you’re just gonna hate it,

Don’t try suicide, It’s a drag

Don’t try suicide, you’re not going to like it

Don’t try suicide, nobody gives a damn

Freddy

And don’t forget,

Wine is fine but whiskeys quicker

Hey, you should play with the EQ or the magic 8 ball to try get that warm wolfson X3 sound my friend.

nah I just leave it as it is. all eq related settings at default

 

[mandrake50]

Guess what? I got email shipment notification for my AP80 today. You know, the one that was delivered last Thursday.

 

[dblml320]

I received my AP80 last week, and have been listening to it. Generally I like the device, but I want to ask a serious question. If you are a DAP veteran, what listening improvements has your AP80 (if you received yours) brought to your listening experience?

Frankly, I have found only one improvement in the device over my previous DAP's (Hiby R3, AP60, Shanling M1). I really like the AP80 format display that shows the DSD, FLAC and MP3 files as groups.

I have not found any other improvement. The U/I is also slightly different than other devices, so it has a small learning curve.

I am bringing this up, because as the audio capabilities get better on my phones, and I see these new players not really advance the quality of the listening experience, I will be buying fewer devices .... only devices that have apparent listening improvements.

If the AP80 is your first device, great! It is a nice device for the price, and I would not be disappointed!

 

[abitdeef]

I received my AP80 last week, and have been listening to it. Generally I like the device, but I want to ask a serious question. If you are a DAP veteran, what listening improvements has your AP80 (if you received yours) brought to your listening experience?

Frankly, I have found only one improvement in the device over my previous DAP's (Hiby R3, AP60, Shanling M1). I really like the AP80 format display that shows the DSD, FLAC and MP3 files as groups.

I have not found any other improvement. The U/I is also slightly different than other devices, so it has a small learning curve.

I am bringing this up, because as the audio capabilities get better on my phones, and I see these new players not really advance the quality of the listening experience, I will be buying fewer devices .... only devices that have apparent listening improvements.

If the AP80 is your first device, great! It is a nice device for the price, and I would not be disappointed!

Well all those daps use the same firmware company for one thing, and are all relatively inexpensive.

You surely aren’t talking about apple phones because they haven’t made a good sounding device since iPod 5th gen Imo. Very flat sounding as far as imaging and staging and very digital sounding.

No they don’t sound horrible but with something revealing you can really notice the difference. I’ve never heard the LG models with the 4 dacs like the AP80, I imaging that sounds pretty good.

Hiss in the signal has went down though from years past.

Specs on stuff now adays are beyond human hearing anyways. You really need a well designed amplification circuit to get the most out of a device. I didn’t really expect the 115 dollar AP80 to bring any sonic improvements beyond other bargain daps, but I do enjoy messing with the many dsp features and filters.

Also I do prefer its sound to the other small bargain daps.

 

[IryxBRO]

I received my AP80 last week, and have been listening to it. Generally I like the device, but I want to ask a serious question. If you are a DAP veteran, what listening improvements has your AP80 (if you received yours) brought to your listening experience?

Frankly, I have found only one improvement in the device over my previous DAP's (Hiby R3, AP60, Shanling M1). I really like the AP80 format display that shows the DSD, FLAC and MP3 files as groups.

I have not found any other improvement. The U/I is also slightly different than other devices, so it has a small learning curve.

I am bringing this up, because as the audio capabilities get better on my phones, and I see these new players not really advance the quality of the listening experience, I will be buying fewer devices .... only devices that have apparent listening improvements.

If the AP80 is your first device, great! It is a nice device for the price, and I would not be disappointed!

Just my own point of view:
- Smartphone audio capabilities as well as photo|video capabilities and so on are far away from the quality of dedicared devices with much more suphisticated component base and much more efforts in R&D to maximize the qaulity of a single function and testing it afterwards.
- My personal experience requires to have a dedicated DAP cause I have 2 sim cards in phone and no space for microSD card.
- Smartphone is a device to stay connected... additional battery drain is not a good idea
- Usually, to get the best quality of audio in OS environment you should pass the stream in proprietary mode which excludes other sounds to pass (that contradicts phone nature)
- Smartphones are moving to digital outputs instead of analog, which means additional covertions to audio
- Lack of different output options like BL, coax, etc.
- No possibility to use a smartphone as USB DAC
- No possibility to use in home audio system as DAC cause you want to stay online instead of placing a smartphone on a shelf for a long time...
etc...
So, no matter the brand or level of a DAP - it still outperforms a smartphone in all aspects. Same for camera or browsing abilities. The only function that is more or less ok is reading... But it depends of the screen size, eyes, light, etc.

 

[dblml320]

Well all those daps use the same firmware company for one thing, and are all relatively inexpensive.

You surely aren’t talking about apple phones because they haven’t made a good sounding device since iPod 5th gen Imo. Very flat sounding as far as imaging and staging and very digital sounding.

No they don’t sound horrible but with something revealing you can really notice the difference. I’ve never heard the LG models with the 4 dacs like the AP80, I imaging that sounds pretty good.

No .. not any iDevice for sure .. and I wonder why Apple has been so absent from the hi-res audio market. I think they are very arrogant to think that 16 bit music and ear pods are good enough...

I look at the audio capability of my phone like I look at the camera. My first smartphone camera was horrid, and this is the nicest I can say about it. My phone's camera today has for 99% of my photography replaced my digital camera.

So I think it is reasonable that phones will get there in audio also in the next 3-5 years. No doubt all these players get better every year .. but several hundred dollars better every year? I don't think so .... and your initial comment about all these devices having the same firmware troubles me, cause again that means very little differentiation...

I expect one or two of these DAP companies to go out of business in the next 2-3 years. Not that I want them too, but if they don't bring out compelling products year to year, and listen to their customers .. And .. if Apple does decide to take music seriously again .. who knows???

 

[djricekcn]

No .. not any iDevice for sure .. and I wonder why Apple has been so absent from the hi-res audio market. I think they are very arrogant to think that 16 bit music and ear pods are good enough...

I look at the audio capability of my phone like I look at the camera. My first smartphone camera was horrid, and this is the nicest I can say about it. My phone's camera today has for 99% of my photography replaced my digital camera.

So I think it is reasonable that phones will get there in audio also in the next 3-5 years. No doubt all these players get better every year .. but several hundred dollars better every year? I don't think so .... and your initial comment about all these devices having the same firmware troubles me, cause again that means very little differentiation...

I expect one or two of these DAP companies to go out of business in the next 2-3 years. Not that I want them too, but if they don't bring out compelling products year to year, and listen to their customers .. And .. if Apple does decide to take music seriously again .. who knows???

They aren't arrigant. Most people just can't tell the difference nor want to spend the money for it . Majority is satisfied with lossy

 

[dblml320]

Just my own point of view:
- Smartphone audio capabilities as well as photo|video capabilities and so on are far away from the quality of dedicared devices with much more suphisticated component base and much more efforts in R&D to maximize the qaulity of a single function and testing it afterwards.
- My personal experience requires to have a dedicated DAP cause I have 2 sim cards in phone and no space for microSD card.
- Smartphone is a device to stay connected... additional battery drain is not a good idea
- Usually, to get the best quality of audio in OS environment you should pass the stream in proprietary mode which excludes other sounds to pass (that contradicts phone nature)
- Smartphones are moving to digital outputs instead of analog, which means additional covertions to audio
- Lack of different output options like BL, coax, etc.
- No possibility to use a smartphone as USB DAC
- No possibility to use in home audio system as DAC cause you want to stay online instead of placing a smartphone on a shelf for a long time...
etc...
So, no matter the brand or level of a DAP - it still outperforms a smartphone in all aspects. Same for camera or browsing abilities. The only function that is more or less ok is reading... But it depends of the screen size, eyes, light, etc.

Everything you say is true. But most of them could easily be done in a smartphone. No reason why the phone couldn't be a DAC. In fact a modular phone and music system would be very cool, and something I would consider buying .. I look at optical and coax out as legacy. I think both could be done more precisely over USB and perhaps wirelessly over Wifi .. yes, with all due respect that would likely impact battery life.