I think reading that review will help you more than what I will write:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ap8...l&utm_source=watched_thread_reply_messagetext
But still I will give you my opinion.
I have been using the device around 12 hours a day for more than a month now with different headphones, earphone, amps, bluetooth devices (car). If I lost it I would buy it right away without any hesitation. It does exactly what I want for a portable device: Play my music and give me an astonishing sound. (I had problems with the battery longevity but not anymore I don't know why.)
I am a professional musician and I am surrounded by gears of all kind, synthesizers, guitars, violins, bass, plenty of PC with high end soundcards, mixing console, Multi effect, pedals, etc. I have multiple studio monitors with different amps and tube amps. I think I have a decent idea of what a good source sounds like. And this little boy here sound almost as much as good as my big rig (almost). I play and listen mostly to progressive rock and metal. And most albums I listen to are concept albums, so I don't wanna listen to them in a random way. So for me I don't really care if the device is able to scan my memory card or not or showing me the album art.
If going into folders like you do on a computer and selecting the albums you want to listen is ok with you, then you will love the way you can play your music.
With all the reviews I have read about the Shanling m0 it seem the device is amazing too. But for me it is too small. Even my AP80 is too small for my taste but I didn't want to spend more than what I already paid because I already have too much money to spend on real life. I won't go into details but my medication for Lyme disease each month cost me around 500$ just to still be able to walk, and I have a car and a house to pay.
You can pay in the thousand for a device like this, but seriously for me the AP80 is an amazing piece of gear and I don't feel the need to pay more than that. I will never pay 7-800$ CDN like I did as a teenage for my first Walkman CD. Yes the AP80 has some small problems. Sometimes it doesn't remember the song position if you restart the device. On some FLAC or DSD the EQ doesn't work (but for these albums you don't need EQ anyway).
The knob is wobbly, I still need to find a way to tightened it, I think I would just need to push it and turn it at the same time, but I am not the kind of guy who break stuff so I think I will ask the seller how to do it.
About support, I seriously think if we would write to the company and be polite about it, and ask them to please update the device, I think they would listen. They even answered me on Aliexpress during the weekend 2-3 hours after I wrote to them and they where really nice.
But pretty often I see comments just to insult them. Personally if you insult me I will never do anything for you.
Hidizs need to understand that they can make a lot of money with that device if they just give us a decent firmware. On my side 2 of my friends bought the device after hearing it, I just can't imagine what it would be like if people didn't have anything to complain about it, because seriously I think the biggest work has already been done on the device already and they just need to refine it now.
I hope it was helpful. Have a good day everyone.
For some reason, all Google results point out to "dobryj den" being the standard Ukrainian equivalent of "hello". Looks like those are wrong, then.
