Hidizs AP100 Pocket HiFi Player

Hidizs AP100 belongs to the class of compact Hi-Fi players for lovers of high-quality portable sound. The AP100 is an intermediate between compact and large Hi-End players. About the AP100, we can say that this is a reasonable middle ground among Hi-Fi class players.

Appearance

The dimensions of the player are comparable to the popular FiiO X3, iBasso DX50 and Astel & Kern AK100. The design is strict and concise. The player is presented in two colors: black and silver.



The front panel contains the main buttons:

• Fast forward and rewind a track
• Switch track back and forth
• Confirm and Cancel Button
• Volume buttons

All buttons are located logically and do not cause confusion.

On the top panel of the player there are two jacks, a headphone output and a linear output. The linear output is useful when connecting an external, more powerful or high-quality amplifier (portable or stationary).

On the bottom panel there is: a USB input for charging and connecting to a computer, an external memory slot and an electric digital input and output. When using a digital output, the AP100 can be used as a vehicle for an external stationary DAC.

The digital input can be used with a computer by connecting the player digitally to the coaxial output of the built-in sound.



On the left side panel there are buttons for controlling the equalizer and SRC algorithm.



On the right panel is a slide switch for key lock mode.

Equipment

The AP100 comes in two boxes - in the first player with the basic equipment, in the second box a leather case is attached.



The general configuration looks like this:

• player Hidisz AP100
• analog cable 3.5 mm <=> 3.5 mm
• digital 3.5 mm <=> RCA (coaxial)
• USB cable <=> micro-USB
• protective film
• screen napkin
• documentation

The only thing you can buy for the AP100 is a flexible adapter with 3.5 mm <=> 6.5 mm if you use headphones with a 6.5 mm plug. Short hard adapters are better not to use, because they usually blur the player’s nest.

Control

The player's controls are intuitive. At first, the layout of the EQ and SRC buttons is a little confusing, as in their place more logical volume control. But fingers very quickly remember what buttons are responsible for. Compared with other players from the "heavenly places", the AP100 has control logic at a high intuitive level.



I would also like to note that the manufacturer did not chase the minimum number of buttons. Many have come across the fact that the buttons for switching tracks are often used as rewind on a track and sometimes instead of rewinding, the track switches. In the AP100, these are separate buttons, which greatly simplifies the life of the end user.

To save energy, the player stops playback when the headphone plug is disconnected from the jack.

Although the menu does not support Russian at the moment, everything is so standard that there are no inconveniences.

The player supports most Lossless formats: APE, FLAC, WAV, WMA and ALAC. A special plus is the support of Cue index markup for albums represented by a single file.

Filling

The stuffing of the player in many respects echoes the more expensive Colorfly C4 Pro player. In fact, in terms of functions and capabilities, the AP100 is an inexpensive analogue of the well-known C4 Pro, a HI-End player recognized by demanding audiophiles around the world as one of the best portable sound sources.

The AP100 uses CS4398, the flagship Cirrus Logic, as the DAC chip. This DAC is widely used in studio DACs such as ProTools, LynxStudio, etc. Ordinary users, this DAC is known in the products of professional sound interfaces E-MU series “m” (Mastering). In other words, this DAC is in the “best DAC” category to date. Do not forget, the final sound quality is more dependent on the implementation of the component chain: "Power - DAC - Amplifier Part" in a particular device. The DAC bundle uses a high-quality AD823A op-amp. To ensure minimal jitter, two separate crystal oscillators are used, which are multiples of the frequencies 44.1 and 48 kHz.

The CS8422 is used as an alternative digital filter (SRC). A similar solution can be seen with the top-end Colorfly C4 Pro player and the Violectric V800 studio DAC. When using an external digital filter in many cases, you can squeeze a higher sound quality from the applied DAC. But there are many nuances about which we will release separate material on the example of the AP100 and V800. In short, from a consumer point of view, then:

• With heavily compressed musical material, SRC is better not to include
• When recording with high dynamic range, SRC mode must be selected by ear

The manufacturer pays a lot of attention to the presence of a hardware equalizer implemented through the DSP CS48L10. Such an implementation, in contrast to the software settings like most other players, allows you to customize the sound without sacrificing sound quality. With entry-level headphones, the equalizer is certainly useful.

When using high-quality headphones, the equalizer is superfluous. This is the very first rule of the "club of lovers of quality sound." Most importantly, we turn off the equalizer in the AP100 (Gen setting).

Sound

The player has already been compared in different publications, where the authors unanimously agreed that the player has sound quality that matches its price categories and at the same time has a high price / quality ratio.

We will not repeat ourselves and conduct an extended comparison with top-class models (Our Lifehack for the budget conscious!).

The crisis in Russia and rising prices for players makes us think about the advisability of buying players of the highest price segment. Given the fact that the AP100 has a digital and analog line output, the purchase of a “top player” can be divided into two parts.

The first purchase is the AP100. After, after a couple of months, you can buy an external amplifier (which is now abundant on the market). From the AP100 with an external amplifier you get a so-called “sandwich”.


Sandwich from AP100 and Creative E5 compared to Colorfly C4 Pro.

Such bundles are very popular in China and Japan.

The dimensions of the player largely determine the sound quality, as high-quality elemental base is not miniature. An exception can be seen in the example of premium Astel & Kern players, but there the cost of the product is about 2-4 times higher than that of a player with a similar sound and larger dimensions. A “sandwich” may be great, but the savings can be very substantial.



To assess the viability of the sandwich idea, we compared the AP100 with an external amplifier against two expensive top-level players, Colorfly C4 Pro (on the CS4398 DAC) and HiFiMan HM901 with a balanced amplifier. In addition, a professional E-MU1616m interface was used (on the same CS4398 DAC as the AP100).

Erzetich Bocillus was chosen as an amplifier, which acted as an analogue of a portable amplifier of the highest possible high class. Those. if such a bunch will sound no worse than top players, then you can move towards sandwiches.

Hidizs AP100 + Erzetich Bocillus vs Colorfly C4 Pro vs E-MU 1616m + Erzetich Bacillus

From headphones connected Grado SR325i , Denon D5000, Sennheiser ie 8i and M-Audio IE 40.

Comparison of line outputs only

The sound of the AP100 line-out on tonal balance turned out to be closer to the professional E-MU1616m interface than to the C4 Pro player. C4 Pro features brighter high frequencies.

Compared with the HiFiMan HM901, the sound of the player on the Saber ES9018 differs to a greater extent than the AP100 , C4 Pro and E-MU1616m among themselves.

This allows us to conclude that the implementation of CS4398 in the AP100 is up to the mark.

Comparison of Hidizs AP100 + Erzetich Bacillus vs Colorfly C4 Pro

Without an external amplifier, the AP100 is certainly inferior to the C4 Pro, but the situation changes radically when Erzetich Bacillus is connected to the AP100. This means that the “sandwich” option is quite justified and it is quite possible to reach the level of top players in two stages. It is possible that this is more convenient when selecting individual amplifiers for different headphones.



The volume level from the amplifier output of the AP100 matches the volume of the Colorfly C4 Pro from the 6.3 mm output. The AP100 is able to swing not only in-ear headphones, but also many full-size models.

Unlike the C4 Pro, the AP100 has no attenuation of low frequencies when connecting low-impedance headphones.

Which headphones can I recommend for the AP100 when using the built-in amplifier?

If you count on the built-in headphone amplifier, then the sound is universal and both bright and dark headphones are equally suitable for the player. It is not possible to single out some headphones. Due to the low output impedance, the reinforcing and hybrid models of headphones sound the way the manufacturer intended.

Technical measurements

Technical measurements of the Hidizs AP 100 player were carried out by the Reference Audio Analyzer project .



According to the measurement results of the AP100, the frequency response has no deviations (with the GEN preset), and the player's resistance is close to zero. Due to the low output impedance, almost all headphones when connected to the player will not change their sound when matching impedances.



When testing on resistive loads, you can see a slightly higher level of distortion for a low-impedance load, but when reaching the maximum value of the clip there is not one of the resistances. This means that the AP100 has no current limit and you can expect a fairly clear sound with any headphones at any possible volume.



The spectrum shows a low level of harmonic distortion. Technically, the potential of CS4398 is well revealed.



On the spectrum of the jitter test, we see a complete absence of side lobes. This indicates the absence of any jitter.

Hidizs AP 100 line-out detailed report Hidizs AP 100
headphone-out detailed report

Summary

The player can be called twice successful. This is a 100% HIFI level. The player has a high price / quality ratio in its price category and provides excellent sound quality. The player is able to swing not only in-ear headphones, but also most low-impedance full-size models. With AP100 you can make a “sandwich” with a better amplifier and raise the bar to a top-level player.

Author Kuznetsov Roman romanrex