Hidizs AP200 review by musicday:
Introduction:
I would like to give big thanks to Hidizs company for providing me with the AP200 music player in return for my honest review. I have to admit that i wasn’t well familiar with this company. I have seen the AP100 in the past, but more or less i ignored it somehow. But now the flagship from this company is the new, yet to be released AP200 model. The new campaign on Indiegogo was a massive success and they managed to raise more then 290k $ way over their target. So even without being released yet this was quite a big success. The specifications are hard to beat at this price point and only time will tell how popular this player is going to be among the audiophile community around the world.
You can find more information here:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hidizs-ap200-next-generation-hifi-music-player-android#/
www.hidizs.com but at the time of writing this review the AP200 is not listed, hopefully soon with new firmware update.
Technical specifications: Inside AP200 there are two DAC chips ESS ES9118C that handle each left and right channels.
Internal memory : 32 GB aluminium/64 GB, 128 GB stainless steel. On bord there is 1 micro sd card slot with a maximum capacity of 256 GB.
Design and build quality:
Took Hidizs team over 2 years to come with this design, that looks very nice in real life. Usually i like all my music players to be black, but this stainless steel looks real professional. The build quality is high, on pair with other more expensive portable players IMO. Screen quality is okay with good viewing angles and nice colour reproduction, so your album art will look great. The stainless steel model is heavier (208 gr) then the aluminium (145 gr ) but that’s only because of a different casing used. My recommendation is to go with the first SS version, because of the larger internal memory. The stainless steel build is great and feels like it will last a long time.
On top we find the power button, on/off
Left side there is the play/pause button along with the volume button both made of stainless steel? Not sure, but i like the original design
Right side is clean, nothing there
Bottom has 24 K gold plated 3.5 single ended jack ( sorry no balance output ) USB type C port and micro sd slot next to it.
When you order the AP200 you have few options for the back panel also: glass, real wood or carbon fibre as you can see on this SS model, really nice.
Package and accessories:
The box AP200 arrived is black colour small and of simple design with very limited accessories.USB type C cable for charging and data transfer, screen protectors for front and back already applied, YES J, warranty card and user manual. Also there is a plastic back cover transparent included in the package. My only complain about the package is that they could have included better data cable and a higher quality case. I know many will not be worried about it, so hopefully we will see Hidizs offering more premium optional accessories soon.
Software and apps:
Hidizs AP runs Android 5.1 and also you have an option for pure music mode with Hiby Music. You have full access to Google Play store where you can download pretty much anything. I haven’t tried Tidal yet, but i can expect users to able to listen in offline mode. The UI was running okay, and during my pre-burning test and playing with the device i didn’t experience any hiccups and system freeze. Hidizs will improve the firmware in the future, so i am looking forward to see what’s going to be changed/added.
Gear used for testing/listening:
Pioneer SE Master 1 with 7N copper cable
Audio Technica ATH-CKR10
Monk+ cappuccino earbuds
Koss Porta Pro modified
On paper AP200 is not a powerful music player compared to the competition: 130 mW@32 Ohm. It had more than enough power to drive all my headphones. The DAC function is still under development now, but it will be added in the near future via a firmware update.
Sound impressions:
Right out the box the AP200 sound was a bit bright for my taste. After 10 hours i have heard changes in highs and they have started to settle and i was happy with the change. Even if you do not belive in burn in my advice is to allow your player at least 100 hours before critical listening. This was you get the best out of your equipment.
Good pairing was with the inexpensive Koss Porta Pro, great instrument separation and punchy bass but with a smaller soundstage. Moving along to the mighty Master 1, i started to really appreciate how good the AP200 is once you get used to it. Bass goes deep down with lots of kick, vocals are detailed in a natural way, the music instruments are properly separated .You can have a clear image where each instrument is placed in the band. Make no mistake this player has great potential with well recorded music, and DSD sounded best in this case. I could listen for hours without any fatique, as sound is easy on the brain and fairly neutral without coloration.
Conclusion:
I like to see companies like Hidizs making such feature packed music player that still remain affordable .Make no mistake, the AP200 is a great sounding music player, is made using premium materials, packs many features, Google Player Store allows you to install many apps like Youtube, Tidal, Spotify, Internet Radio, so you are not limited only to your internal music. I haven’t tried the OTG function, but it shouldn’t be a problem to connect external storage with the right cable.
Final words:
I will recommend the Hidizs AP200 music player to anyone who loves quality music and doesn’t want or can’t afford an expensive music player. There are other similar priced music players out there, but is down to you to try them all and decide which is better suited for your music tastes. Is a pleasure to listen to AP200 and i like the small footprint, meaning that is very portable.
Try if possible to listen to Hidizs flagship music player if you can before purchasing, but i am sure that you will not be disappointed in anyway. For the price, this is a very nice music player.
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