HIDIZS S8 USB-C Headphone Adapter Review

[pk500]

iFi's sales reps they'll happily sell you an iGalvanic and an iDefender and a USB 3.0 Mercury whatever telling you fancy words too.. just saying

Well, I've never been pressured by any one of them at head-fi. Sure, they promote their products. That's their job. But it's always in a helpful, cooperative way.

Hell, I'm always impressed by a sales rep or any rep from a headphone company actively participating in the community, keeping their ear to the ground to learn what consumers like or dislike. That's much better than the "Wizard of Oz behind the green curtain -- "we'll give you what we want, and you'll like it, or else!" approach of some mass-market audio companies.

 

[Veri]

Well, I've never been pressured by any one of them at head-fi. Sure, they promote their products. That's their job. But it's always in a helpful, cooperative way.

Hell, I'm always impressed by a sales rep or any rep from a headphone company actively participating in the community, keeping their ear to the ground to learn what consumers like or dislike. That's much better than the "Wizard of Oz behind the green curtain -- "we'll give you what we want, and you'll like it, or else!" approach of some mass-market audio companies.

Maybe it appears that way. I had a private chat on head-fi with the designer of the original iFi micro BL, on how they got rid of him and made the signature/diablo on scrapped ideas. I'm sure it's not all rainbows and sunshine on their side really just business being business.
Anyway. Enough off-topic from me in this hidisz thread~~

 

[Zerohour]

I DO use high sensitivity IEMs, and it's still a useless feature - because the noise floor level at the phones output does not change at all (and there is no need for it, as there is no audible noise whatsoever) . As the DAC (and iOS) remember the last volume setting again there is no need to artificially cripple max output volume.

I also wonder who brought up the idea this 'headphone class detection' is a feature added intentionally by the manufacturer of this DAC. AFAIK the DAC signals line or phones mode to the operating system, and that one lowers the signal in the digital domain when 'phones' are detected (the DAC does not receive full digital level anymore, no matter what app one uses). I am 100% sure this is the case with iOS (I don't have Android).

Shifting the resistance value to a different level is no solution.

They should make a firmware where this 'feature' is disabled. Or add something like push both +- buttons to switch it off or on.

Agreed, such a waste of a good product to be limited by such feature. I loved mine but ultimately changed to the Zishan U1 because I needed a bit more juice to run a Sundara and its supposedly the same chip series but only a DAC portion (CS43198). There's also no standby feature on the U1 so I don't get random popping when I start or stop a track.


I got the Tempotec version but considering the company doesn't really engage or market their products, not really hopeful they will implement such features (different firmwares) for their products. Guess time will tell, maybe Hidizs will improve in this regard.

 

[SlipScope]

To anyone that has bricked their s8 like me, i found a fix.

So basically I went out and bought the s8 pretty much right after seeing this review, not realising its just a rebadged tempotec sonata hd pro. But i noticed though that the hidizs works on IOS + Android + PC. Where the sonata apparently has 2 versions, IOS only or Android + PC, so im assuming this is where the extra cost has gone and the rebadging?

Anyway to the fix, the hidizs website has alot of firmware on it for all its devices and its pretty poorly layed out, i went on there thinking i could update my s8 with whatever sonata software they had and well no, this is how it ended up bricked. Luckily i found that tempotec's website is much better and has their sonata HD pro software clearly labeled (currently v3.0) so i used that driver exe and it fixed the problem since they're the same device. I was wondering if maybe it would lose ios compatability but no the s8 still works on iphone and ipad after flashing the tempotec firmware.

Hope this helps someone! I definitely had a mini heart attack during all this haha

 

[ZolaIII]

@SlipScope I am glad you fixed yours. Difference between Sonatas (HD Pro's) is only in bundled cable's, they offered one with lightning cable and without it with price difference of the cable. Somehow cable's are the biggest problem when it comes to portable gear. Best solution ever which I seen whose one with costume deticated USB driver which allowed user's to use regular phone cable's unfortunately only on now againg Sonata iDSD series and only for the app in which the driver whose incorporated so limited to it's functionality only (HiBy Music).

 

[SlipScope]

@SlipScope I am glad you fixed yours. Difference between Sonatas (HD Pro's) is only in bundled cable's, they offered one with lightning cable and without it with price difference of the cable. Somehow cable's are the biggest problem when it comes to portable gear. Best solution ever which I seen whose one with costume deticated USB driver which allowed user's to use regular phone cable's unfortunately only on now againg Sonata iDSD series and only for the app in which the driver whose incorporated so limited to it's functionality only (HiBy Music).

ah ok, kinda seems like a bit of a hassle for everyone. I guess hidizs is making quite a profit then if its only adding an extra cable but charging almost double for the same dac!

 

[raistlin65]

H

ah ok, kinda seems like a bit of a hassle for everyone. I guess hidizs is making quite a profit then if its only adding an extra cable but charging almost double for the same dac!

My understanding is the Sonata HD Pro version without the lightning cable does not work if you just try to use your own lightning cable.

So the difference in cost is probably more related to a licensing fee that has to be paid to Apple, rather than just the cable value alone.

 

[AdamG]

ah ok, kinda seems like a bit of a hassle for everyone. I guess hidizs is making quite a profit then if its only adding an extra cable but charging almost double for the same dac!

Welcome Aboard @SlipScope.

 

[Cirrus Incus]

Is it okay to use this as a DAC for powered speakers? Would double amping be a problem?

 

[raistlin65]

Is it okay to use this as a DAC for powered speakers? Would double amping be a problem?

Yes. No it's not a problem.

 

[respice finem]

Sorry for the silly question: If I connect it to a phone and IEMs with a mic function, will the mic also be usable? My cautious guess: probably not.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Sorry for the silly question: If I connect it to a phone and IEMs with a mic function, will the mic also be usable? My cautious guess: probably not.

Nope, no mic input. There's a good quality one in the Meizu Hifi Dac.

 

[GeekyBastard]

For people having BSOD problems with the driver on Windows, I contacted Hidizs about this, as I was getting a BSOD as soon as I plugged in the device. They sent me a new firmware, which fixed the issue. It also fixed the issue with the device volume not working on Windows Vista (may have been a problem on other Windows versions also, did not test those).

I do not see it on the Tempotec website yet, but I imagine it will be there soon. In the meantime I will attach it here.

So this firmware fixes:
1) BSOD
2) Volume Control (on some Windows versions)

Oh god, they just sent you a 1.0 version firmware (LOOK AT THE CRC32!!!), no wonder it sounds bad after I flashed it, they didn't fix anything, what a ****** move by their customer support team, if they still got any.

 

[Ismapics]

Hello is this the same product?

https://www.amazon.com/HIDIZS-Porta...ld=1&keywords=HIDIZS+S8&qid=1620511234&sr=8-1

 

[Jimbob54]

Hello is this the same product?

https://www.amazon.com/HIDIZS-Porta...ld=1&keywords=HIDIZS+S8&qid=1620511234&sr=8-1

Other than that one being black, why do you think it might not be?

 

[Ismapics]

Other than that one being black, why do you think it might not be?

Hello : It has been a while and the price was significantly lower than when the review was published. No harm making sure.

 

[raistlin65]

Hello : It has been a while and the price was significantly lower than when the review was published. No harm making sure.

The Tempotec Sonata HD Pro dongle is speculated to be the same unit, and it has sold for significantly cheaper.

https://www.amazon.com/TempoTec-Sonata-HD-PRO-Android/dp/B084YX4MZD/ref=mp_s_a_1_3

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...sonata-hd-pro-review-headphone-adapter.22625/

So maybe the S8 price is finally lowering to be more competitive with the Sonata now that the S9 is out.

 

[DarrylG]

The Tempotec Sonata HD Pro dongle is speculated to be the same unit, and it has sold for significantly cheaper.

https://www.amazon.com/TempoTec-Sonata-HD-PRO-Android/dp/B084YX4MZD/ref=mp_s_a_1_3

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...sonata-hd-pro-review-headphone-adapter.22625/

So maybe the S8 price is finally lowering to be more competitive with the Sonata now that the S9 is out.

On the other hand, the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro's price is rising.

 

[Rottmannash]

Get over yourself, dude. It's warm and smooth to MY EARS. It was never stated as a objective fact. It was a subjective impression, which comprises about 90 percent of the discussion here.

Your mileage clearly varies, which is totally fine. The VAST majority of this hobby remains subjective. One person's trash is another's treasure.

90%? You're on ASR- not Head Fi.

 

[Tokyo_John]

Based on this review, I just got one of these S8 dongles. I'm surprised at the quality, this is a little gem. Very happy to have all the extra cables around.

I'm not surprised to hear that there are many re-branded clones of the same device going around. There are also a lot of USB video capture dongles on Amazon and elsewhere, some companies are buying them, stamping their names on them, and then marking them up incredibly high.