Hidizs AP100 USB-DAC support added

Just the other day, Hidizs posted an important firmware update for the AP100 player with a new USB-DAC function.



Although the player is inherently obliged to play music only on the road, very often you want to listen to music at work in the office. It is often easier to play music from a computer, but the quality of the sound system of an office computer leaves much to be desired. An external sound card with a high-quality sound is usually not bought at work, but the ability to connect the player as a sound card is an excellent way out.


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The ability to connect the player via USB as a sound card is called “USB-DAC” support, where the device works as an external DAC, receiving the audio stream via USB.



After flashing the player (detailed flashing steps at the end of the material), the menu item “Storage” or “Storage Mode” appears in the menu. You must select "DAC".

After connecting to the AP100, you must install the driver.

The driver for AP100 is made from Thesycon version 1.61.0. The driver supports Windows, ranging from XP and ending with Win 8.1. The support is missing only Win XP 64 bit.

The driver fully supports ASIO without any additional bridge programs like ASIO4All.

In addition, there is support for the native DSD stream, however, in the current driver version from under Foobar2000, the AP100 output only has noise. Perhaps full support for DSD will appear a little later.

What is the best way to listen to the AP100 on the example of Foobar2000

After successful installation, for high-quality music playback, you need to select audio output via Wasapi (Win7) or ASIO. These modes are the highest quality.



If during playback from ASIO the sound slows down or is interrupted, then you need to increase the buffer value in the driver settings. A small buffer value is needed only for musicians when playing real-time MIDI instruments.

When playing audio via USB from the player, you can only adjust the sound volume. Equalizer and resampler are not active.

RMAA Report

Device: TUSBAudio ASIO Driver
Features:
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Input latency: 176
Output latency: 1411
Min buffer size: 2128
Max buffer size: 2128
Preferred buffer size: 2128
Granularity: 0
ASIOOutputReady - not supported
Sample rate:
8000 Hz - not supported
11025 Hz - not supported
16000 Hz - not supported
22050 Hz - not supported
32000 Hz - supported
44100 Hz - supported
48000 Hz - supported
88200 Hz - supported
96000 Hz - supported
176400 Hz - supported
192000 Hz - supported
352800 Hz - not supported
384000 Hz - not supported
Input channels:
Output channels:
channel: 0 (Master Channel) - Int32LSB
channel: 1 (Left Channel) - Int32LSB

The RMAA report demonstrates playback support up to 192 kHz inclusive.

How to install new firmware on AP100

Firmware can be downloaded from. source: dropbox or site soundpal.ru

Before updating the firmware, make sure that the player is charged or make firmware with a connected charger.

1. turn off the AP100
2. remove the memory card
3. copy the file “AP100.fw” to the root directory of the memory card (the memory card must be formatted in FAT32)
4. insert memory card
5. press and hold the "Return" button, and then press the power button for 3 seconds
6. AP100 should go into update mode.
7. after the update is completed, “Success Update” is displayed on the screen, and the AP100 automatically reboots (if the file is not located in the root directory of the memory card, the screen will display “update file not found”).
8. not necessary, but desirable: System settings -> Restore factory settings -> Ok
9. turn off the AP100
10. remove the memory card
11. delete the file AP100.fw

The author Kuznetsov Roman romanrex