HIDIZS DH80S Review (DAC & Amp)

[Veri]

Nobody's asking the important question:

How in the hell do you pronounce "hidizs"?

Heed- 'dis.

 

[PeteL]

Well, I don't know how many people buy powerful external amps to drive IEMs. They sip power so you should not need a device like this.

? I don’t know but the vast majority of smartphone don’t have an headphone jack, this is obviously designed to be portable. If not why put a battery in it?. I‘d certainly want something that have the flexibility to do it all, not a separate amp for my full size cans and then an other less powerful for my Iems, who does that? No people needs a way to listen to music on the go, look at the best reviews, and choose it. The vast majority of people don’t even know what 202 mW in 32 ohms means. and the fact that it has a gain switch highly suggest that this would be able to have the flexibility. Why would they sip power when you are not using much power? Normally the included battery would last longer with sensitive headphones, and really, not a lot of people walk around with the two headphones you tried in your tests, I respectfully disagree with your rating on this. I have seen products, being slammed for issues much less audible than that, if audible at all, like a musical fidelity dac in september. It was declared headless, which to me (and to many) means crap. There was nohing wrong with this DAC. Now we are talking of something with the strongest recommendation of all, with how good audio stuff has become, it should mean flawless.

 

[Phorize]

Specs say 6 hours balanced and 8 hours single-ended, probably at moderate volume. 2.5 hrs charge. How does that compare to dongle draining phone?

Lol, so better battery duration than a 1 year old iPhone se that’s plugged into it

 

[staticV3]

Specs say 6 hours balanced and 8 hours single-ended, probably at moderate volume. 2.5 hrs charge. How does that compare to dongle draining phone?

What phone? How many charge cycles? What dongle? What headphone? What volume? WiFi/Bluetooth/GPS/NFC/... On or Off? Battery Saver On or Off? What Apps are open in the background?

Basically, it's impossible to answer that question due to sheer amount of variables.

 

[Berwhale]

The Hidiz website is incredibly confusing. So are you saying that the page shows two different products -- (a) an L-shaped DH 80, which is a DH80S physically modified to better dock with a specific DAP, and (b) the DH80S, which Amir tested and which includes an internal battery? When I first looked at their site, I thought the L-shaped thingie was a battery pack for the player Amir tested.

Same here, the DH80s looks very much like the AP80 DAP, but without the screen, so when I first looked at the pictures, I thought the DH80s plugged into the DH80 and I was very confused!

The AP80 + DH80 looks like quite a compelling combination for the price (around £230 in the UK).

 

[thebabyparrot]

I'd be more open to getting this if Hidiz would actually have an app with proper EQ support like the Qudelix 5K.

 

[scottgar]

Looking at the amp power graph, it would be nice if the power outputs and device names had the same orientation on the graph so you don't have to turn your head one way to read the names and the other way to read the power ouput numbers.

 

[amirm]

Looking at the amp power graph, it would be nice if the power outputs and device names had the same orientation on the graph so you don't have to turn your head one way to read the names and the other way to read the power ouput numbers.

Sorry, I am not following you. Would you explain more?

 

[pseudoid]

Sure. Any headphone output can be used as line out.

Is the opposite also true?

 

[amirm]

Is the opposite also true?

No. Standard impedance of line out is in the order of 100 ohms which severely limits the power output and impacts the frequency response of many headphones. Typical experience will be anemic sound, lacking bass and not getting very loud.

 

[pseudoid]

No. Standard impedance of line out is in the order of 100 ohms which severely limits the power output and impacts the frequency response of many headphones

Is that the same answer if the pre-out (line out) is balanced?

 

[GWolfman]

Already done, for less money, at half the size, a third of the weight, and with the option of LDAC Bluetooth connection too: https://www.qudelix.com/

IIRC, the Qudelix still leaves a bit more to desire (e.g., SINAD and power output).

 

[amirm]

Is that the same answer if the pre-out (line out) is balanced?

Yes.

 

[scottgar]

Sorry, I am not following you. Would you explain more?

I think it's the same in all the reviews, fwiw, but: If I look at the bar graph, the (power) numbers overlaying the bars read from top to bottom and the DAC names read from bottom to top. So, especially with relatively print, I have to turn my head one way to read the bar labels (power) and the other way to read the model name underneath the bar. It's just a little awkward.

 

[GaryH]

IIRC, the Qudelix still leaves a bit more to desire (e.g., SINAD and power output).

It's audibly transparent with harmonics below -90 dB, and produces 210 mW into 50 Ohms, which is plenty powerful for any mobile use-case, even powering the inefficient Ether CX headphones fine.

 

[GWolfman]

It's audibly transparent with harmonics below -90 dB, and produces 210 mW into 50 Ohms, which is plenty powerful for any mobile use-case, even powering the inefficient Ether CX headphones fine.

Thanks. I'll look at the numbers more closely.

 

[staticV3]

Sorry, I am not following you. Would you explain more?

Here's what scottgar is referring to:

 

[pseudoid]

Here's what scottgar is referring to:

I don't know if that BarGraph was ever envisioned to grow as much or so big.
A redo via some "data visualization" tool would allow future growth and ease of use, for both designers and users alike. IMHO!

 

[scottgar]

I don't know if that BarGraph was ever envisioned to grow as much or so big.

Probably true!

A redo via some "data visualization" tool would allow future growth and ease of use, for both designers and users alike. IMHO!

Also, true, I expect. However, in the original post, I was just hoping that it would be very easy to change the orientation of one of the text elements. I don't want to ask Amir (or anyone else) to do a lot of work.

 

[dib]

Heed- 'dis.

I hide-this in my pocket...