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Hidizs S3 Pro Review (Headphone Adapter)

Saidera

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Does anyone know why the SINAD for one channel could be lower? Though I know it is of no significance due to the equivalent power output.
 

Budgeter

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Kinda unrelated to the topic, but is it possible to have a high resolution of the bar chart when it becomes too small to zoom in. Personally I prefer that way since the review index is not up-to-date in real time.
 

moench3992

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I have got one of these coming in the mail and wanted to ask if anyone might know where to get the differently tuned firmwares?
I looked at their download center and it seems to have neither driver nor firmware for the S3 Pro.
 

Jabinho

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New Firmware has been released:
 

Jabinho

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Hidizs S3 Pro portable USB-C DAC and headphone amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $55.

It comes in silver and black. I have the latter:

View attachment 148173

I must say, it is so cute with that round shape! Nice to see some innovation as far as form factor in these products especially if you are going to pay a premium over $9 dongles form phone companies.

There is a nice three color LED indicator showing the sample rate. In use it ran cool to the touch during my testing.

Hidizs S3 Pro Measurements
Here is our usual dashboard of 1 kHz tone at 1 kHz sampling rate:
View attachment 148174

One channel has very low distortion for a dongle at SINAD of 105 dB. For some reason the other though is much lower at 97 dB. Averaging the two the S3 Pro lands in competent design category for all DACs tested:

View attachment 148175

The output voltage is key though as that determines the maximum power you can get into high impedance headphones. I like to see minimum of 2 volts and we are short of that at 1.4 volts. Throw-away dongles are around 1 volt so you are getting more just not as much as I like to see. Alas, this is not much larger than a throw away dongle so probably not any room to build a decent dc to dc converter in there.

Dynamic range was surprisingly good:

View attachment 148177

That's on the left. On the right, for the first time I tried to adjust the volume to 50 millivolt using Windows volume control (there is no other). Not sure I trust the numbers I see there but there you have them.

Jitter test cleaner output than many dongles that are at total mess:
View attachment 148178

Most important tests here are power output. Let's start with 300 ohm:
View attachment 148179

As expected, total power is not anything to write home about:

View attachment 148180

Surprisingly though, the S3 Pro steps up when it comes to low impedance 32 ohm test:

View attachment 148181
View attachment 148182

S3 Pro Listening Tests
I started testing with my Sennheiser HD-650. On tracks with full amplitude there was plenty of volume which surprised me. The burst power capability must be higher than continuous power I test. On tracks with lower amplitude, there was just sufficient volume in a quiet room.

I expected the unit to fall apart with Drop Ether CX headphone but it did not! It got up to average volume with zero distortion. If you look at the power vs distortion curves above, neither clips which means any volume you get is essentially transparent to your source. That is what I experienced.

Net, net, subjective results were better than what objective data suggested at first blush.

Conclusions
The S3 Pro provides good objective performance. I wish it could produce more power but fortunately in subjectively testing, it seems to be there. Combined with that you get a cute package at average price for premium dongles. So while I hope for more when testing this class of device, at the end it won me over.

I am going to recommend the Hidizs S3 Pro as long as you don't have more demanding headphones than what I tested.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Hi Amirm Have you tested the new firmware ? Could you please put this review into Review Index?
 

Adaboy4z

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Neat little Dac Dongle. I purchased it based on the review to pair with KZ S10Pro IEM's. Good setup for under $100. It's not to hard on my phone battery and sounds much better over the Samsung OEM dongle. The combo travels with me in a velvet carry bag in a front pocket. Thanks for the review.
 

Schlippwhip68

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Hi
Has anybody tried to update the firmware on the Hidizs S3 Pro yet? I have tried with Windows 11 but with no success. It is said this is a windows 10 only path.
 

Schlippwhip68

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@Schlippwhip68 did you make sure that the VID and PID in the tool matched what is shown in the Device Manager?
Ok, there is a method to the process at least with my PC. I have to plug the device into the PC first then open the Hidizs software and take it from there. Files and hardware matched then and it worked on widows 11 successfully. I settled on the treble lift after testing all three updates. I use this for an ipad connected to an JBL Partybox 710 via the aux. I think its a good choice as it does not drain power, for my own use, it does not need to be louder like the Hidizs S9 due to the phenomenal power of the 710 speaker. The bass update was surprisingly good and really did sound good on the 710 but the trade off is a little less detail up top and as the 710 has more than enough well tuned bass i settled for the treble lift to have that edgy upper detail. Its a good little DAC overall although not as powerful as the S9 it does still improve on the ipads output considerably which for me is a little bonus with an 800w speaker. My only gripe is the directional usb connection which is not a deal breaker, just a fiddle.
 

Schlippwhip68

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Ok, there is a method to the process at least with my PC. I have to plug the device into the PC first then open the Hidizs software and take it from there. Files and hardware matched then and it worked on Windows 11 successfully. I settled on the treble lift after testing all three updates. I use this for an ipad connected to an JBL Partybox 710 via the aux. I think its a good choice in portable tablet/phone Dacs as it does not drain power. For my own use it does not need to be louder like the Hidizs S9 due to the phenomenal power of the 710 speaker, the dac is not being used to drive anything just merely for an upgrade in sound quality over the Bluetooth option, that being said the 710 does produce a very good sound via Bluetooth. We are talking about a Party speaker and not an audiophile rig, if you get my drift. The bass update was surprisingly good and really did sound good on the 710 but the trade off is a little less detail up top and as the 710 has more than enough well tuned bass i settled for the treble lift to have that edgy upper detail. Its a good little DAC overall although not as powerful as the S9 it does still improve on the ipads output considerably which for me is a little bonus even with an 800w speaker. My only gripe is the directional usb connection which is not a deal breaker, just a fiddle.
 
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Schlippwhip68

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Hi I tried all 3 options. Not that big impact but you will notice it anyway. I went back to balanced option. It would be nice to see how these 3 different firmware's measure against each other.
Hi I tried all 3 options. Not that big impact but you will notice it anyway. I went back to balanced option. It would be nice to see how these 3 different firmware's measure against each other.
The bass option was incredible when I used this dac between and iPad and a JBL Partybox 710. I expected it to be a messy dull muddy finish but in fact it was the complete opposite. I settled on the treble as it gives everything the balanced does but with a little more top end sparkle that bodes well with the JBL.
 
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