[PCgaming4ever]

It’s not a bad unit by any means, maybe it’s just mine that has horrible hit box placement/sensitivity. A firmware update could solve that anyways and the sound can be tweaked more on the AP80- I’m referring sound wise to the ‘base’ sound of each unit.

Frankly I figured the m6 would be nicer, but it is nicer than I imagined. But AP80 isn’t a bad dap at all, in fact if they updated firmware and shored things up it would be one of the best. And lots of people have no problems with having to hit buttons multiple times to get them to respond, so like I said maybe it’s just mine- or maybe my fingers are too big for the smaller screen (more likely).

I was leaning towards getting the M6 but I carry my dap everywhere (currently have a M0) so I wanted something bigger but not as big as the M6.

 

[phiemon]

Hi,

any sound comparison between this and the Hiby R3?

 

[cleg]

For those, who are choosing between AP80 vs M6

 

[mono-type]

For those, who are choosing between AP80 vs M6

I've read on the Fiio M6 thread that it's quite light on the bass department and hence not a good choice for electronic music. How true is that?

Anyway, been watching some of your videos for a while, and I must say they are quite informative and even helped me at some point in deciding which to buy.

 

[cleg]

I've read on the Fiio M6 thread that it's quite light on the bass department and hence not a good choice for electronic music. How true is that?

it's not true, it's neutral. and moreover, it's not lighter then AP80
anyway, if someone need more bass, it's much easier to achieve via earphones/headphones

 

[mono-type]

it's not true, it's neutral. and moreover, it's not lighter then AP80
anyway, if someone need more bass, it's much easier to achieve via earphones/headphones

Well, I have a variety of KZ IEMs, and an ATH-M50x, so I guess I'm all good, haha!

Comparison pics with M6.

Nice. Planning to get an M6 as well. How's the bass? I've read in some posts at the M6 thread that it kinda lacks bass, which made me a little hesitant, since I mostly listen to electronic music.

 

[abitdeef]

M6 is more neutral, treble and bass seems a bit boosted on AP80. And sometimes percussion can sound too metallic on AP80.

Although m6 can seem a bit more exciting the m6 is more natural sounding.

 

[abitdeef]

Well, I have a variety of KZ IEMs, and an ATH-M50x, so I guess I'm all good, haha!

Nice. Planning to get an M6 as well. How's the bass? I've read in some posts at the M6 thread that it kinda lacks bass, which made me a little hesitant, since I mostly listen to electronic music.

Bass is fine, in fact on Bluetech ‘leaving winter behind’ on that song when the heavy bass kicks in it distorts on the AP80 and kind of overshadows everything else.

M6 and AK SR15 handle it much better.

Although you have more sound options if you want more bass on AP80. I have no problem with m6 bass.

 

[mono-type]

Bass is fine, in fact on Bluetech ‘leaving winter behind’ on that song when the heavy bass kicks in it distorts on the AP80 and kind of overshadows everything else.

M6 and AK SR15 handle it much better.

Although you have more sound options if you want more bass on AP80. I have no problem with m6 bass.

To be fair, I don't even use EQ and MSEB on my AP80 (tried messing around with them, but I find the sound sig much satisfactory to my ears when they are disabled), so I guess M6's overall sound signature would be fine for me, then.

 

[abitdeef]

To be fair, I don't even use EQ and MSEB on my AP80 (tried messing around with them, but I find the sound sig much satisfactory to my ears when they are disabled), so I guess M6's overall sound signature would be fine for me, then.

Yes it’s a fine sounding unit, close to neutral so you cans/iems shine through. As long as your not trying to drive 300 ohm cans

When I listened to AP80 I missed the sound of zx300 and sr15- probably because of the stage and space between instruments. With m6 I don’t, it’s closer to their sound, although not quite as resolving, and 3D and dynamic. But at the price range it’s quite amazing.

And didn’t mean to derail thread, AP80 is still one of the best small daps I’ve heard.

 

[mono-type]

And didn’t mean to derail thread, AP80 is still one of the best small daps I’ve heard.

True that, bro. As I said bajillion times already, it's almost a perfect DAP, just needing some firmware and UI tweaks here and there to be truly perfect.

 

[LouisRenault]

Finally, my red AP80 arrived today. It really is a tiny gagdet, almost as small as a matchbox.

Customs was cleared in Belgium, no fee, no declaration on the package either. I'm less impressed by Hidizs' packing standards: Both boxes with the AP80 itself and the one with the leather case were just flying around in a somewhat bigger package. No padding whatsoever.

Hardware
Hardware seems okay, the knob could be a tad tighter but it's not loose. Turning it I feel a little resistance, I like that. But it sticks out enough from the case to be easily pressed or turned unintentionally as others already pointed out. I don't like the silver edge of the knob. B/c nothing else aluminium on the player is silver (i.e. not colored red) it looks like wear and tear to me. The right (or lowest) button protrudes just a little less than the other two and thus is noticeable harder to push.

FW version is 1.0. The player works flawlessly with my new exfat formatted Sandisk 400 gb card. Copied some folders via my iMac (artist / album / file or artist / album / disc 1 / file).

Both screen protectors have been applied precisely w/o bubbles or dust. The silicone case is transparent dark grayish and really looks horrible on the red unit. The leather case is a bit too tight and takes some serious effort to be removed. Pushing the side buttons with the case is impossible for me. The leather case is meant to wear the AP80 on the arm band or a belt so (at least for me) it makes the tiny player too bulky with the strap and the press button. With none of these cases you could put the AP80 in your bag with other stuff b/c the display ist not protected in any way.

User interface
Display is very good though not cristal sharp. Responsiveness is okay for everyday use. There's a noticeable lag when loading album covers. But mine are mostly above 1000x1000 for other players, so the AP80 has to do some work.

Adjusting the volume from the shortcut menu is a real pain. Why on earth did they have to place the volume slider in the lower right corner?! It's just too small for me. No problem adjusting display brightness in the lower left corner.

Cosmetic criticism that could be solved through firmware update (if ever there will be one):
- album covers are reloaded each time I scroll through the artist view and only when fully visible on screen; also on the now playing list, sometime missing w/o scrolling
- tapping on the album cover in the artist-album view should start playing the album from the beginning, no need to navigate to the track list first
- no album title in main player screen
- would be nice to have the artist name (in gray?) as a second line in album view
- question mark in front of every genre
- adjusting volume with the knob only sometimes shows the blue "sugarloaf graphic"

The remote control on the 1More IEM is not working with the AP80. No volume adjusting or pausing/skipping.
Edit: Enabling "In-line remote" in the settings gives me some control: one tap - pause/resume, double tap - next song. But all the same on all three remote buttons, so no volume control.

Listening experience (quite subjective)
Sound quality (that's what I've been backing this thing for ;-] ). Listened with my 1More Triple Driver IEMs as I would be commuting with this combination. Quality ranging from VBR MP3s to FLAC 24/192 (though I won't notice the HQ difference on that train or else in my age ;-] ). Listening included Tori Amos, Simple Minds, Foghat, Gary Numan, Johnny Cash, AC/DC, Massive Attack, Yello... all "old" recordings, no remastered stuff.

First experience is quite good, I like the sound. No MSEB or otherwise fiddling with the equalizer.
Bass could be a little more present. Johnny Cash's guitar on American IV sounds a tad fuzzy. Massive Attack Angel's first minute sounds quite okay but I didn't expect the AP80-1More combination to be spectacular here :-]
Mostly I'm missing deeper frequencies with music that has noticeable piano and quitar parts. I liked Gary Numan's Splinter or Pop Levi or Simple Minds' Big Music a lot, though. Could be the player is more suitable for modern recording/mastering? Well, I will have to listen to a lot more music to come to a final verdict on this little guy.

Tried FM only shortly but I found a couple of stations, sound quality was good. No noticeably background noise w/o music during speech. No station identifiers, of course.

Listening experience (not so subjective)
Then I tried Art Blakey, Foghat and Stevie Ray Vaughan as DSD64 and Sophisticated Lady Jazz Quartet as DSD128. DSD64 files clearly have a hissing sound in the background during quiet moments that is not there with FLAC converted from the same SACD. And if you heard it once you will hear it always, definitely annoying. I can best describe it as waves on a distant beach. I didn't notice any hissing sounds at all with DSD128 but I only own this one jazz album in this absurd quality.

Didn't try anything bluetooth yet.

tl;dr
All in all the AP80 is a nice player with very good sound quality (FLAC/MP3), though (for me) it might lack the last 10-20% in quality especially in the lower frequencies and with guitar/piano parts. Not useable for me with DSD64 files. I will also have a look at the Fiio M6, though I'm not sure I like the size.

Regarding the more than questionable customer experience with Hidizs during the last months, I ken not recommend them as a company to people I like and I will not buy another Hidizs product (sorry, couldn't help myself, haha ).

 

[silverfishla]

Finally, my red AP80 arrived today. It really is a tiny gagdet, almost as small as a matchbox.

Customs was cleared in Belgium, no fee, no declaration on the package either. I'm less impressed by Hidizs' packing standards: Both boxes with the AP80 itself and the one with the leather case were just flying around in a somewhat bigger package. No padding whatsoever.

Hardware
Hardware seems okay, the knob could be a tad tighter but it's not loose. Turning it I feel a little resistance, I like that. But it sticks out enough from the case to be easily pressed or turned unintentionally as others already pointed out. I don't like the silver edge of the knob. B/c nothing else aluminium on the player is silver (i.e. not colored red) it looks like wear and tear to me. The right (or lowest) button protrudes just a little less than the other two and thus is noticeable harder to push.

FW version is 1.0. The player works flawlessly with my new exfat formatted Sandisk 400 gb card. Copied some folders via my iMac (artist / album / file or artist / album / disc 1 / file).

Both screen protectors have been applied precisely w/o bubbles or dust. The silicone case is transparent dark grayish and really looks horrible on the red unit. The leather case is a bit too tight and takes some serious effort to be removed. Pushing the side buttons with the case is impossible for me. The leather case is meant to wear the AP80 on the arm band or a belt so (at least for me) it makes the tiny player too bulky with the strap and the press button. With none of these cases you could put the AP80 in your bag with other stuff b/c the display ist not protected in any way.

User interface
Display is very good though not cristal sharp. Responsiveness is okay for everyday use. There's a noticeable lag when loading album covers. But mine are mostly above 1000x1000 for other players, so the AP80 has to do some work.

Adjusting the volume from the shortcut menu is a real pain. Why on earth did they have to place the volume slider in the lower right corner?! It's just too small for me. No problem adjusting display brightness in the lower left corner.

Cosmetic criticism that could be solved through firmware update (if ever there will be one):
- album covers are reloaded each time I scroll through the artist view and only when fully visible on screen; also on the now playing list, sometime missing w/o scrolling
- tapping on the album cover in the artist-album view should start playing the album from the beginning, no need to navigate to the track list first
- no album title in main player screen
- would be nice to have the artist name (in gray?) as a second line in album view
- question mark in front of every genre
- adjusting volume with the knob only sometimes shows the blue "sugarloaf graphic"

The remote control on the 1More IEM is not working with the AP80. No volume adjusting or pausing/skipping.

Listening experience (quite subjective)
Sound quality (that's what I've been backing this thing for ;-] ). Listened with my 1More Triple Driver IEMs as I would be commuting with this combination. Quality ranging from VBR MP3s to FLAC 24/192 (though I won't notice the HQ difference on that train or else in my age ;-] ). Listening included Tori Amos, Simple Minds, Foghat, Gary Numan, Johnny Cash, AC/DC, Massive Attack, Yello... all "old" recordings, no remastered stuff.

First experience is quite good, I like the sound. No MSEB or otherwise fiddling with the equalizer.
Bass could be a little more present. Johnny Cash's guitar on American IV sounds a tad fuzzy. Massive Attack Angel's first minute sounds quite okay but I didn't expect the AP80-1More combination to be spectacular here :-]
Mostly I'm missing deeper frequencies with music that has noticeable piano and quitar parts. I liked Gary Numan's Splinter or Pop Levi or Simple Minds' Big Music a lot, though. Could be the player is more suitable for modern recording/mastering? Well, I will have to listen to a lot more music to come to a final verdict on this little guy.

Tried FM only shortly but I found a couple of stations, sound quality was good. No noticeably background noise w/o music during speech. No station identifiers, of course.

Listening experience (not so subjective)
Then I tried Art Blakey, Foghat and Stevie Ray Vaughan as DSD64 and Sophisticated Lady Jazz Quartet as DSD128. DSD64 files clearly have a hissing sound in the background during quiet moments that is not there with FLAC converted from the same SACD. And if you heard it once you will hear it always, definitely annoying. I can best describe it as waves on a distant beach. I didn't notice any hissing sounds at all with DSD128 but I only own this one jazz album in this absurd quality.

Didn't try anything bluetooth yet.

tl;dr
All in all the AP80 is a nice player with very good sound quality (FLAC/MP3), though (for me) it might lack the last 10-20% in quality especially in the lower frequencies and with guitar/piano parts. Not useable for me with DSD64 files. I will also have a look at the Fiio M6, though I'm not sure I like the size.

Regarding the more than questionable customer experience with Hidizs during the last months, I ken not recommend them as a company to people I like and I will not buy another Hidizs product (sorry, couldn't help myself, haha ).

There’s an in line remote function on one of the settings menus. You need to turn this on in order for your in line remote to work. Works with all my in line remote devices.

 

[LouisRenault]

There’s an in line remote function on one of the settings menus. You need to turn this on in order for your in line remote to work. Works with all my in line remote devices.

Thanks, so that's what it means. Maybe I should try some more settings, especially those with incomplete labels :-I

Works only partly though. All three buttons on the remote have the same function: one tap - pause/resume, double tap - next song. No volume control. But maybe that's on 1More, who knows.
Edit: Found my long retired earpods - only pause/resume works, both volume buttons don't do anything. I don't have any other IEMs with remote to try.

Another cosmetic nuisance:
- choosing the same album through Files shows the file name in "list now playing" view, chosen through Albums the tags are used
And again no album covers in the now-playing list are shown either way.

 

[silverfishla]

Thanks, so that's what it means. Maybe I should try some more settings, especially those with incomplete labels :-I

Works only partly though. All three buttons on the remote have the same function: one tap - pause/resume, double tap - next song. No volume control. But maybe that's on 1More, who knows.
Edit: Found my long retired earpods - only pause/resume works, both volume buttons don't do anything. I don't have any other IEMs with remote to try.

Another cosmetic nuisance:
- choosing the same album through Files shows the file name in "list now playing" view, chosen through Albums the tags are used
And again no album covers in the now-playing list are shown either way.

Yeah, sorry, the volume doesn’t work. Just the pause and skips work.