Wired/Wireless Connections.

AP80 is packed with a lot of wired and wireless options I would like to go over below based on what I have tested.

USB digital out.

I had no problem using it as a transport driving iFi Audio micro iDSD BL and iBasso DC01.  Connection was flawless in both cases, with devices being recognized right away.  With micro iDSD the sound was very clean, expanded, no distortion, and quite transparent.  With iBasso DC01 it was nice to add a balanced output, but the volume level was rather high and had to keep it down to 10.

Line Out.

To enable the LO from 3.5mm headphone output, you have to select it in settings.  It sets the volume output to fixed max level.  I tested it with E12A, and found no clipping or distortion.  The sound was very neutral and a little more transparent when compared to playing the same song directly from AP80 where it sounds a little warmer with a touch fuller body sound.

USB DAC.

Connected to my Thinkpad T480s (Win10), I didn’t have to install any drivers, just selected USB Audio in AP80 settings to enable DAC.  Windows recognized the device, installed necessary files automatically, and was correctly displaying bit rate during the playback.

Bluetooth.

I tested Bluetooth Tx with B&W P7 wireless headphones (aptX) and R2R2000 Red DAP (as wireless DAC/amp).

With P7W I found results to be a bit surprising because I was comparing it to pair up with my Galaxy S9.  In theory the wireless encoding should be the same without any differences in sound quality since P7W is the one doing decoding and driving the transducers.  But with my S9 the sound had a more overpowering bass impact and narrower soundstage while with AP80 the signature was more balanced, giving mids/vocals more room to shine, and the soundstage was more expanded/wider.  Also, it worked in the open space 60ft away from AP80 and I had no issues controlling the playback, track skipping, and volume change remotely from P7W.

With R2R2k, due to its very minimalistic interface I preferred to use this DAP as a wireless (R2R) DAC/amp.  Considering R2R2k doesn’t support LDAC in BT Rx mode, I was still impressed with a sound when comparing the same track playing from local R2R2k storage vs wireless form AP80 – it sounded nearly the same.  And it was very convenient to keep R2R2k in a pocket while controlling and navigating tracks remotely from AP80.

I tested Bluetooth Rx while pairing my Galaxy S9 with AP80, to use Hidizs DAP as a wireless dongle connected to my various IEMs.  There were no issues with a wireless connection using LDAC codec.

Conclusion.

When it comes to entry level DAPs, people usually look for convenience of cheaper models with more features to use on the go.  There are no expectations of “the best sound” or “the best synergy with demanding headphones” because these are budget models that are not intended to compete with mid-fi or summit-fi players.  But the previous releases of M1 mini-DAP and M0 micro-DAP pushed the envelope of not only the performance and the sound, but also the cool factor.  In my opinion, Hidizs AP80 takes it one step further to make this “cool factor” more functional and user friendly.

As I already mentioned, while a tiny M0 was cool, after a while I realized it was just too small for my fingers to rely on 1.54” touch display and no hardware controls except for a single volume knob.  Nothing wrong with that, but it got a bit frustrating to control the playback of songs and the navigation through touch swiping.  I found AP80 2.45” display size to be the smallest I can tolerate.  Of course, it’s a subjective personal preference.  Plus, being able to control the playback with Play/Pause, Skip, and Fast forward/back buttons without turning the display on is a big plus.

Adding on top of that bi-directional hi-res Bluetooth which allows nearly lossless wireless headphone pair up or turning the DAP into a wireless dongle, USB DAC functionality, USB digital out to use the DAP as a transport, a decent battery life, a good sound performance – and you got one cool little DAP!  I can’t speak for Stainless Steel version which has $100 premium over Aluminum, the same as Copper version, but I was impressed with AP80 Cu which has a noticeable sound improvement over AP80 Al.  And with AP80 Pro around the corner, I am also curious how it will sound with a dual DAC.