Founded in 2009 by the leader of a college underground rock band, Hidizs have been making earphones and portable audio players for the Chinese market since 2012 after a three year period of R&D with the aim of bringing quality sound to all consumers.
We recently took a look at the Hidizs DH80S Portable DAC/Headphone Amplifier and Hidizs S9 Pro Dongle DAC and found that both units were extremely competitive with anything from Astell&Kern and FiiO at their respective price points.
2023 sees the company launch the MS3 headphones and popular AP80 PRO-X player in the UK and US.
Let’s take a look at the new portable DAP that is remarkably inexpensive.
AP80 PRO-X
The $169 AP80 PRO-X is a mini portable music player that greatly exceeds the performance of smartphones and laptops, able to drive high quality headphones, wired or wirelessly.
Boasting Dual ESS9219C DACs alongside a FPGA chip, the AP80 PRO-X offers huge value for new audiophiles and anyone wanting a simple and truly portable (72 grams) music solution.
MQA files and Sony LDAC wireless transmission are supported alongside HiBy UAT, allowing a 192kHz Bluetooth sample rate. The HiBy app can be used to control the player from a smarthone and DSD512 playback is possible.
Bi-directional Bluetooth allows you to send and enhance all of your smartphone, laptop, tablet or gaming music too or you can use a dedicated USB cable for enhanced sound quality.
Micro SD cards are supported for storage – up to a maximum of 512GB. Up to 11 hours of playback is possible or up to 8 hours when balanced headphones are used via the 2.5mm output.
Simple and smart as a combined player and DAC or just a portable DAC for your devices, the AP80 PRO-X is an ideal companion for home listening, your commute or vacations when you want to turn off the distractions of a smartphone and listen to music.
For more information: hidizs.net | Amazon
Related reading: Astell&Kern SR35 DAP Review
ORT
June 26, 2023 at 10:57 pm
Wow. Hidiz makes some very nice portable DAPs and this one is no exception to that “rule”. I still use my two Echobox DAPs along with the HiBy Music app for playing back via MicroSD.
Those players look classic and while this particular Hidiz player is no where near the looker my Echobox units are they are still quite nice to behold.
And if you be holdin’ one, I salute you.
And yes. It is me writing this. 😉 I like my Echoboxes just fine. Those who purchase one of these Hidiz AP80 PRO-X players should enjoy them for what they are.
Excellence in every facet that should matter to someone that wants to hear the music and nothing else. Besides that, it looks great doing it.
ORT
Ian White
June 27, 2023 at 1:13 am
The price is so low…I’ll deal with the industrial design.
This is a brand that is going somewhere.
Ian W.