The Game Boy was many things, but a Hi-Res music player was not one of them. The Hidizs AP30 Music Boy fixes that historical oversight by dressing serious audio hardware in delightfully familiar retro gaming aesthetics.
Measuring just 68 × 53 × 17 mm (2.68 × 2.09 × 0.67 inches) and weighing 56 g (1.98 oz), this palm-sized player features a 2-inch IPS display, tactile buttons, and an ALPS volume wheel. It even includes a retro block puzzle game, so you can arrange falling shapes while listening to music instead of accomplishing anything useful.
The AP30 can be worn around the neck, clipped to a bag, or snapped magnetically onto the back of a phone using its optional case. Plastic and aluminum versions are available, each featuring a whale-engraved backplate created through Hidizs’ collaboration with WDC.
Beneath the playful exterior is an RKNANOD controller, CS43198 DAC, and RT6863 amplifier. It supports DSD256 and PCM up to 24-bit/192 kHz, with a 3.5 mm single-ended output delivering 61 mW per channel and a 4.4 mm balanced output producing 137 mW per channel at 32 ohms.
Bluetooth 5.3 handles wireless listening, while USB DAC mode lets the AP30 improve the audio from another device. Storage is expandable by up to 256 GB through microSD, and its 1,200 mAh battery provides up to 12 hours of single-ended playback or 10 hours through the balanced output.
The Hidizs AP30 Music Boy is currently offered through Kickstarter, with pledges starting at US$99 at the time of this writing. It looks ready to play cartridges, but its real talent is making your lossless library considerably more adorable.
The product is a go, by the way. With around 31 hours remaining, the campaign has already been successfully funded. All that is left now is for the clock to run down and for Hidizs to fulfill its end of the deal. If everything goes according to plan, shipping should begin sometime in October 2026.
Images: Hidizs.
