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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 5, 2011 11:42:22 GMT
By the way (not that it matters) the Kingston class 4 cards are made in Japan.... here is a pic of the one that came with the Mini APE:   the marking C4 denoting "class 4" |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 5, 2011 11:50:10 GMT
More on the class system here:  |
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leo
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Post by leo on Feb 5, 2011 16:55:29 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2011 17:18:30 GMT
Some more info. to be aware of...
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XTRProf
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Pssst ! Got any spare capacitors ?
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Post by XTRProf on Feb 6, 2011 3:20:17 GMT
Some more info. to be aware of... Nowadays SDHC is very common with the gear towards high capacity flash cards. |
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leo
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Post by leo on Feb 18, 2011 18:39:15 GMT
Mini APE is on its way back to you Mike with a few Flacs you can copy and paste onto your SD card. weird thing I forgot to mention earlier, I think the Left and Right analogue outputs may be reversed  |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 18, 2011 19:42:44 GMT
Mini APE is on its way back to you Mike with a few Flacs you can copy and paste onto your SD card. weird thing I forgot to mention earlier, I think the Left and Right analogue outputs may be reversed Cheers Leo.... no probs I will fix everything up when she arrives.... Candy sent me the reset .exe so I'll try resetting it too  |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 19, 2011 21:29:47 GMT
Hi Leo,
She arrived back today, many thanks. I reset her using the .exe file that HiFiDiy emailed me and it has been working flawlessly all evening. The remote was a bit random but changing the battery solved that so it all seems perfect now.
The FLAC files you sent are great (and I know most of the albums very well) I've been having a listen on my loudspeaker based system and, you're not wrong, it's VERY close to the quality of CD on playback (if not even better) very impressive indeed! To think that all that music is stored on a small SD card (or USB stick) it's pretty amazing isn't it?
I could easily live with that kind of SQ from my loudspeakers, there is no shame to the Mini APE as a source at all. In fact, no spinning discs, no moving parts so there is no reason why this type of source shouldn't be a lot more reliable and better sounding than a CD player.
The Mini APE probably isn't the last word in these type of devices but the sound coming from that small box is certainly up there with a medium priced CD player IMO. I'll fix a headphone amp to it tomorrow night and have a real good listen to my favourite albums... through speakers, though, it's not at all bad!
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leo
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Post by leo on Feb 20, 2011 9:25:48 GMT
Hi Mike, Glad it got back to you ok , let us know if you want any more music files , wasn't sure what to send you so just did a selection . So is the reversed left and right sorted now since the reset? Any idea on the price yet? I like the fact it can play 25/96 and 192 files back and hope more of these SD card players come out soon, something for the fiddlers to play with  Cheers Leo |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2011 9:36:54 GMT
Hi Leo,
There's another device that I've seen bandied about - the Brennan JB7 that incorporates a CD player to get the files. It looks interesting (and bomb proof) but I don't think the quality is there. I had a listen.
This device that you tried looks interesting but the 'problems' were a bit worrying. I think that it'll go at quite a price because it's quite a (potentially) versatile little unit.
The idea of good quality digital files at your disposal at home without a computer going is very attractive.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 20, 2011 9:37:16 GMT
Hi Mike, Glad it got back to you ok , let us know if you want any more music files , wasn't sure what to send you so just did a selection . So is the reversed left and right sorted now since the reset? Any idea on the price yet? I like the fact it can play 25/96 and 192 files back and hope more of these SD card players come out soon, something for the fiddlers to play with Cheers Leo Leo, It's the only one of these I have seen, I think I remember Candy mentioning $300 USD but I will have to confirm this. The full sized APE is $599 so, yes, I would expect the Mini Ape to be around the $250 - $300 USD price point but I will confirm this with HiFiDiy. I haven't had time to check the reversed outputs, will do that today.... going to take the Mini APE out to the workshop with me for a listen. |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 21, 2011 2:26:53 GMT
I've just been talking to Candy and the price of the Mini APE will be $300 USD (£184 GBP) which isn't a bad price at all considering the SQ this little puppy delivers.
They have changed it slightly, it is now 24 BIT and the remote control has been upgraded.... the latest "firmware" has made it a lot more stable Leo, in fact, since I installed it there have been ZERO glitches!
It's still a pretty exclusive item, even in China, I have the only one in Europe and there have only been 300 sold in China so far so we are talking "in at the beginning" here.
GROUP BUY FINISHED.... Price of Mini APE is $300
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2011 8:36:26 GMT
Mike, That's a terrific price for that device. I'd love to be counted as one of the 10!!!  Many thanks!! |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2011 8:51:00 GMT
Ian,
You're damn right there!
Mike,
Well done on the negotiation front!
Please pencil me in, though it depends a little on timing whether I have spare "pocket money". More unexpected bills this month, car broken down again etc etc........
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2011 8:55:55 GMT
Sounds like a nice little unit.
Put me down for one please Mike.
Thank you.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 21, 2011 12:06:23 GMT
OK.... three down seven to go.... I will inform Candy that it's looking like all systems go! |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2011 12:41:23 GMT
Mike, have you tried using a 2.5" HDD with the Mini APE?
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Post by JohnnyBlue on Feb 25, 2011 17:34:51 GMT
Forgive me for interrupting this thread with yet another one of my naïve questions, but the truth is I’ve only just discovered this area of RG (having posted a question in the HPA forum about DACs and USBs, an answer to which led me here!). Anyway, quite apart from my desire to get half-decent sound out of my PC (hence the previous question about DACs and USBs) I have been looking round for a device that will take information (WAV, FLAC, APE and MP3 formats) from an external HDD or memory stick (via USB) or SD card and convert it to analogue, which I can plug into a hi-fi system or headphone amp. I was interested in this media player, which does what I want, BUT requires a TV to view and then select the albums I want to play, with which I can’t be bothered and in any case I don’t want to play any of the myriad video formats it can also handle. From reading this thread, it seems that this Aune Mini APE could do exactly what I want: to show me on the little blue screen the folders and files on any external HDD, memory stick or SD card I plug into it, so I can then select them and play them. Is this correct? |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 25, 2011 18:50:42 GMT
Forgive me for interrupting this thread with yet another one of my naïve questions, but the truth is I’ve only just discovered this area of RG (having posted a question in the HPA forum about DACs and USBs, an answer to which led me here!). Anyway, quite apart from my desire to get half-decent sound out of my PC (hence the previous question about DACs and USBs) I have been looking round for a device that will take information (WAV, FLAC, APE and MP3 formats) from an external HDD or memory stick (via USB) or SD card and convert it to analogue, which I can plug into a hi-fi system or headphone amp. I was interested in this media player, which does what I want, BUT requires a TV to view and then select the albums I want to play, with which I can’t be bothered and in any case I don’t want to play any of the myriad video formats it can also handle. From reading this thread, it seems that this Aune Mini APE could do exactly what I want: to show me on the little blue screen the folders and files on any external HDD, memory stick or SD card I plug into it, so I can then select them and play them. Is this correct? Absolutely correct! Look at the Aune Mini APE as a music player but instead of, say, a CD player the Mini APE reads from USB sticks, SD cards, USB hard drives etc. It can also double up as a DAC..... this is exactly what you are looking for |
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chris1967
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Post by chris1967 on Feb 25, 2011 19:06:34 GMT
Sounds great!
Mike can you put me down for one also?
Thank you!
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 25, 2011 20:48:37 GMT
Mike, have you tried using a 2.5" HDD with the Mini APE? Yes I do.... I have a Samsung and a Toshiba USB hard drive, works great with the Mini APE.... you can see the Toshiba drive connected here:   |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2011 21:35:31 GMT
I'm wondered wether the stutter Leo found when playing Hi-Rez files from flash sources doesn't happen when playing from HDD or if it is related to a possible lack of CPU power.
How easy and quick is to browse the drive? are there any shortcut keys (like jumping folders in 5 or 10 steps)? You can't fit that many files and folders in a 8 or 16GB USB stick so no big deal moving up and down with the arrow keys but a 750GB 2.5" drive is a different story (and they are getting dirt cheap).
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2011 22:09:31 GMT
Although you can copy 24/192 ,for example, to an ordinary USB stick, it will often stutter when attempting to play the files back, or just sound lousy. There is no problem with playing 24/192 .wav files from a faster USB stick such as the Corsair Voyager GT USB 2.0 , which now has been certified for USB 3.0 with recent product.
(at least from my W7 32 P.C.)
About a week ago, a friend of mine copied some of my 24/192 .wav files to his generic USB stick. They sounded terrible when played back here. Back home, he couldn't play them at all, but he was able to copy them to an internal SATA HDD, and they then played back O.K.
Alex
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Post by clausdk on Feb 25, 2011 22:10:48 GMT
OK I am in
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 25, 2011 22:30:26 GMT
I'm wondered wether the stutter Leo found when playing Hi-Rez files from flash sources doesn't happen when playing from HDD or if it is related to a possible lack of CPU power. How easy and quick is to browse the drive? are there any shortcut keys (like jumping folders in 5 or 10 steps)? You can't fit that many files and folders in a 8 or 16GB USB stick so no big deal moving up and down with the arrow keys but a 750GB 2.5" drive is a different story (and they are getting dirt cheap). Since I reset the Mini APE it has been fine, pretty easy and fast browsing the drive, you use the up and down arrows on the remote. Candy informs me that the unit I have is one of the first ones and they have improved the design since then.... she has offered to send me one of the latest ones but I have declined the offer as I am swamped with gear at the moment. Candy assures me that the latest version performs flawlessly and also does 24 bit. They are a very good company to deal with and their guarantee is actually "valid" unlike some of these Chinese "ebay" outfits.... any problems and you can be sure that HiFidiy will put things right. I have been listening to the Mini APE for about 3 days in a row now and it is a very engaging listen, full of emotion and musicality. I have been comparing music from the USB hard drive and music from SD card and USB stick.... the USB stick and SD card definitely have the edge over the hard drive, possibly as there are no moving parts to contend with. During those three days the Mini APE has been 100% stable and the remote very responsive (I changed the battery)..... the only problem I have had is it's difficult to switch it off!! You just want to keep listening to the music! On it's own it is a very capable player and, as Leo says, on a par with a mid priced CD player sonically which is excellent considering the price of the Mini APE. You can also, if you wish, bypass the Mini APE's internal DAC and run it through an external DAC... I have tried it with the Cambridge Audio DacMagic and it has upped the performance a couple of notches, most noticeably greater clarity and midband detailing.... it's not a "huge" improvement (nothing ever is in the audio world) but a subtle improvement and well worth trying if you have a DAC kicking about. It all started with the "record player", then came the "tape player", the "CD player", the "mini disc" player etc. etc..... here we are now, 2011, listening to our music on a "USB / SD player"... incredible isn't it?  The Mini APE has impressed me so much that I may well have a look at the full sized APE player |
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Many thanks!!
