HIDIZS AP80 PRO MAX Hi-Res Streaming Player Review – Dual DAC Sound Powered By Dreams
HIDIZS AP80 PRO MAX is a $189 USD DAP or Digital Audio Player with a Dual ES9219C DAC combo, balanced and single ended power output, Bi-Directioonal USB DAC, BiDirectional Bluetooth and Wifi for Streaming. Today we will review the AP 80 PRO Max and also explore how it improves from the other AP80 series of DAPs that we’ve reviewed recently.
Introduction
The AP80 series of DAPs is one of the longest running series that I’ve ever learned about, and the very first HIDIZS AP80 DAP has been around since I started reviewing. The company keeps refining them and with each iteration they get better, more capable of streaming, and overall HIDIZS has always shown support for their customers. The latest AP80 PRO MAX DAP is uniquely capable, better than the previous ones, and although the name is a Pro Max, it has almost no increase in weight and size, just in sonic quality and versatility.
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Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4e2aXgS
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3yqA48d
Build Quality – Subjective Usage
CPU and Storage – At its core, AP80 PRO MAX is powered by an X1600E SoC, which is not a CPU for an Android system, but rather a unique solution developed together with Hiby. There is no on-board storage, but AP80 Pro MAX can read microSD cards up to 2 TB. Despite the CPU not being one that is known to be fast, the minimalist OS is very snappy and it makes the whole DAP move faster than most Android based alternatives that come with a midrange CPU. One of the interesting upsides of this processor is that AP80 PRO MAX has an insanely long standby time, and I actually forgot to play with it for almost 3 weeks, and it still had 89% battery. Most DAPs will self deplete after a week or so.
DAC – At its core, AP80 PRO MAX is based on a Dual ES9219C DAC combo, with Native DSD256 and PCM 32 Bit / 384 kHz decoding abilities. This includes pure lossless playback, different from most Android DAPs that will resort to SRC resampling for volume control and which can damage the sound. There is no info about the FPGA or AMP used inside of the DAP.
USB DAC – Beyond the USB DAC function, AP80 PRO MAX has Bi-Directional DAC advertised function, which means that it can output a digital audio signal for an external DAC AMP, or be used as a USB DAC for a smartphone or PC computer. It even has 2.4 GHz Wifi for lossless Tidal, Qobuz streaming. Beyond this, it can be a DLNA and Airplay endpoint, so it can receive signals from Foobar2000 and other services. It even has Bi-Directional Bluetooth 5.1 which means that it can receive BT signals or send them to an external pair of headphones or IEMs. There is some USB DAC delay, between 50 and 100 ms, it is not instant, so AP 80 PRO MAX is not ideal for playing videoclips, or games.
Display and Build – Physically, and subjectively, AP80 PRO MAX feels exactly the same as the other AP80 DAPs, including the display that is 2.95″, has a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels and is touchscreen. This display has a sharp enough resolution that I cannot see the individual pixels and the whole DAP is incredibly solid and sturdy. While it may seem inherent to the design, I actually did complain when reviewing a couple of DAPs recently that they are too frail and that handling them as a mini DAP might break them, but AP80 PRO MAX is really sturdy. There are 3 versions of the AP80 PRO MAX around, and one is this base vanilla version, which is the default, but there is also a Linsoul version, with a different backplate and model, and a limited edition, Copper version.
Software – A lot of the magnificent performance that AP80 PRO MAX delivers is built using the Hiby OS software, which gives it a huge part of all the abilities it has, including the music playback, Bluetooth connectivity and Hi-Res support. This software is very simple, but it even includes hiby link. When you press on a button, the action happens, and there is no wait, no delay, no odd pause, as it happens with most Android based DAPs, so you feel that you give up some versatility as you cannot install apps, but it does move really fast for what it does. As we’re talking about Hiby, we have MSEB support, which is an advanced EQ, but we also have PEQ and standard EQ if you want to keep things simple. You can ev en control the AP80 PRO MAX via your smartphone which is what Hiby Link is all about.
Power output – With small size comes a small power output and AP80 PRO MAX has just 70 mW of output power per channel for the single ended output, for a 32 OHM impedance, and 190 mW per channel for the balanced output which is a full-sized 4.4mm jack, for a 32 OHM impedance. This is rather nice, and it is as good as it goes for this size, unless you want a little radioactive device in your pocket. There is no radio function, but you do have support for DSD and WAV, along with advanced BT codecs like LDAC, aptX and UAT.
Battery – When I saw the battery rating for the AP80 PRO MAX I felt quite underwhelmed, because 1300 mAh really feels tiny, but it has a 3.8V battery inside, and it charges in 1 hour, while standby time is around 60 days. It actually is that long, and in around 3 weeks I noticed only a 10% decrease in battery, from 100% to 89%, so standby will not be an issue. The overall runtime is 8-10 hours for the balanced output, which can decrease to 6-7 if you have a lot of SoT or Screen On time and use a loud volume, while for the single ended headphone output, it is 1-2 hours longer in general.
Sound Quality
Pairings – To test the new HIDIZS AP80 PRO MAX I have paired it with a collection of IEMs and Headphones including Faith Audio E1000, Grell OAE2, Lily Audio Genesis One, Palma DHS-1, KBEar Cepheus, Crosszone CZ-10 Enhanced, TinHIFI T7, NFAudio NE4, Sivga Peng, Crosszone CZ-8a Enhanced, Soundz Flame, YanYin Canon PRO, Dunu Vulkan 2, Moritz Aura, HarmonicDyne Romantic, Hiby Digital Yume, HIFIMAN Audivina LE, Westone Mach 80,BQEYZ Winter II, Fosi Audio IM4, Aune AC55, iBasso Cookie Ti Jr.
Despite the low maximum driving power, HIDIZS optimized the loudness saturation gradient for AP80PROMAX to deliver as much power as early as possible. This means that it gets loud easily, but it is a controlled sounding DAP, perfect for all IEMS, and even some headphones. The balanced output in particular is powerful, enough for most portable headphones, not quite enough for planar magnetic headphones, but more than enough for those known to be easy to drive.
Overall Signature – At first I had a hard time pinpointing the exact signature of the AP80 PRO MAX. Most HIDIZS DAPs were quite neutral, and it seems like the new MAX follows the same tuning, it is fairly balanced and neutral, color-free and transparent. This makes it perfect for all music styles, IEMS and Headphones, but what surprised me is that it can pack a punch, and a lot of sub-bass, making music punchy, dynamic, engaging and vivid. With most IEMS, it will allow the character of the earphones to shine through.
Bass – At the bassy bottom-end, AP80 PRO MAX has the highest bass out of all the AP80 DAPs. This time around, it can extend a fair amount of bass impact and render depth, punch and kick. It is perfect for all music styles, but especially great for EDM, Dubstep, as it renders a full, bouncy and fun bass. Bass reaches easily 20 Hz and has max power and max energy right from the start, with top control.
Midrange – There’s no midrange coloration and AP80 PROMAX is one of the DAPs with the cleanest, most transparent vocal presentations I’ve heard in this price range. This means that you can expect to hear no tilt, bright or dark, warm or cold, and every single song is perfectly balanced. It will work equally well for male and female voices, guitars and pianos, EDM and Rock. Male voices have depth, female voices have emotion, everything is vivid, each song filled with a colorful image.
Treble – You will hear extensions going up to 20 kHz, with an excellent brightness and brilliance for cymbal crashes, but ProMax is not necessarily bright or fatiguing, yet it allows each song to sound the way it will. There’s a nice balance of treble relative to the bass, giving music a good balance of top and bottom.
Dynamics And Textures – Dynamic range is natural with a good balance between revealing details and information, and yet headroom for classical and acoustic instruments. Texture rendering is natural, with a slower, more bouncy bass, a faster and more glassy treble texture, and a natural, juicy midrange. You will hear far more bass texture than treble texture, while in the midrange female voices tend to have a really emotional and smooth presentation, but male voices inherit more texture from the bass.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – Saturation gradient is early saturated, this means that max volume is delivered early on, with a lot of contrast, and a punchy presentation. Sadly, this leads to more dynamic compression at higher volumes, and less granularity for the volume control, yet it allows you to get a lot of volume out of the DAP. There’s a lot of power relative to the voltage, so you will have very low distortion, strong bass and an engaging sound, but this means that volume is not really usable after half, as it starts oversaturating voltage vs power, creating the feeling that promax has a bit more driving power than it actually has. It feels like this design was applied so that it could deliver some real volume and voltage for high impedance headphones at higher volumes.
Soundstage – One of the best aspects of AP80PROMAX is that it achieves a wider, more holographic soundstage than the AP80 PRO X as well as the other AP80 family of DAPS. It is perfect for rock, metal as well as EDM and Pop. While not exactly creating the type of soundstage for orchestral and classical music, it has plenty of space between instruments, top imaging and excellent overall instrument separation. You can expect to hear individual layers of guitars in complex rock like Rings Of Saturn, and a spatiality to those, depth and width.
Value – Conclusion
HIDIZS kept the price really reasonable at 189 USD for the new AP80 PRO MAX, despite numerous updates from the older AP80 DAPs. While physically it grew ever so slightly and while the display is slightly larger, the Bluetooth protocol supported is now 5.1, it supports Wifi for Tidal, Qobus and DLNA, as well as airplay,. While no other AP80 DAP did, it has overall the same power output for the balanced jack, but has a much larger battery, almost 39% larger than the previous ones, and it also has a slightly heavier weight but it is still one of the lightest DAPs on the whole market. Considering all of those upgrades, the DAC quality increase, CPU upgrade, and that the whole package is much more premium now, AP80 PRO MAX has killer value, and it has one of the best price / performance ratios in the whole world right now.
You have to consider every single aspect when considering AP80 PRO MAX, but it offers more than any mini DAP did before, including Streaming and Wifi, Bluetooth with Bi-Directional BT, Bi-Directional USB DAC, and a nice sound, so it is a fully recommended purchase and the first DAP from HIDIZS that can actually be fully recommended to every potential buyer. You can consider it to be affordable, fun, well-made and versatile, perfect for daily use.
PROs
- Super sound quality and resolution
- Sharp and colorful display
- Excellent build quality, very sturdy
- Balanced and single ended headphone outputs
- Very fast and reliable OS
- MSEB and PEQ and normal EQ support
- Hiby Link support
- Wifi Streaming for Qobuz, Tidal and DLNA
- A simple but efficient OS
- A nice and clicky volume wheel
- USB DAC support
- Low price
- Long battery Life
- Really versatile and ergonomic
- With a good pair of IEMS, it is downright perfect
Cons
- Having all inputs and outputs really close together works well for ergonomics of the DAP but poorly for the headphone jacks
- Odd volume saturation gradient, gets loud early, but cannot drive most planar headphones
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4e2aXgS
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3yqA48d
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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