Review on HIDIZS AP80 PRO Hi-Res Bluetooth MP3 Player by Josh Koa

I was looking for a dedicated lossless music player that doesn't depend on the Android interface, and HIDIZ's AP80 PRO seemed to be a godsend. It's been a great player so far, with a few caveats. Let's get straight to the most important aspect - the sound. Well, if you're looking for a super portable player that can potentially sound a lot better than listening to .mp3s on your smartphone, the AP80 PRO should be on your list. I've played .WAV files on it (note: I'm switching to FLAC - see update) and the sound is excellent, both through headphones and via Bluetooth. At some point I'll probably hook it up to a set of powered speakers. I saw a YouTube video of this player and knew it was small, but it's still shocking how small it actually is when you unbox it. This can be really good if mobility is of paramount importance to you, but if you have large hands this device can be difficult to work with. I have medium sized hands for a man and I wouldn't want to mess with a much smaller player. The touchscreen is very responsive unless you have dry hands. My hands tend to be dry, so I didn't feel comfortable working with my fingers - I've had better luck with a soft-tipped stylus, although I think a little hand lotion would have helped too. However, the main issue I had was that despite being a multifunctional device, it surprisingly lacked instructions. The supplied "User's Guide" is very short and grammatically questionable. I was hoping there would be a more detailed manufacturer's manual online, but their website is nothing more than a shop (although you can check for firmware updates there). Pros: - Awesome sound - Super portable - Overall good build quality (minus the SD card slot) - Bluetooth pairing was easy and performance has been very good so far. a rich set of functions, the almost complete absence of manufacturer's instructions. So it's an impressive little player, but a lot of its features have to be learned through trial and error, unless HIDIZS expands its website or some kind soul posts a useful YouTube video. . :) Update 05/18/21 Okay, I've been playing with this device for a few days, and here are a few additional observations: First of all, I really like this player - now I have a 64GB micro SD card installed and several Albums of my favorite music that I copied to FLAC format from my CD collection using Microsoft Windows Media Player. Pairing via Bluetooth with my Onkyo compact stereo and using the playlist feature is like having your own personal radio. Brilliant! As for the file format, I found that FLAC is the best lossless audio file format. I used WAV files, but this format doesn't use file compression, so it takes up memory card space. Worse, this format doesn't store metadata, so benefits like album art aren't stored with the file. The FLAC format offers the same lossless audio benefits as WAV, but it's compressed to make better use of your storage. Maps and can also store album art that is displayed on the AP80. Finally, FLAC files seem to copy faster than WAV files when using an application like Windows Media Player. I finally understand now why this player's SD card slot is difficult to access - since you can connect the player to your computer via USB, there's no need to remove the SD card - in fact the little rubber jumpsuit that comes with the AP80 doesn't have a cutout to access the slot. :)