Hello everyone,
I have just bought and received my HIDIZS S8 and I have tested it already but before I will let you know what do I think about it I will explain why I was into the dac market looking after new portable dac.
In the past I’ve had many different dedicated audio players, smartphones and phones (do anyone remember Siemens SL45i ? ) with an extra portable dac and amp. In short from what I remember it was SL45i, Sony Ericsson Walkman, Samsung Galaxy S2 with very good Woodson DAC, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4 and S5 (all the Galaxy phones been rooted with some extra modifications for audio, Ibasso DX80 with optical, Fiio X3, sansa clip with modifications, Chord Hugo, Fiio E12, Fiio A5 and an amazing LG V30. I believe there are many other which I just do not remember. Anyway, my last and current which I was using as a portable player was my LG V30 with its amazing quad dac. I was using LG as a player together with Fiio A5 as an portable amplifier and it was beautiful and powerful sounding experience which I was in love till audio jack on LG V30 got broken
After reading Amir reviews I have decided to buy HIDIZS S8 as an portable dac and plugged it to my LG V30. Firstly I have checked how it can play sound “just” as an LG V30 + HIDIZS S8 combo and with this combination I was already very impressed but of course I was very curious on how good the performance will be after I will add an dedicated amplifier - Fiio A5.
Already been very impressed with my LG V30 quad DAC and Fiio A5 combo but what I have heard from this little gem - HIDIZS S8 is out of this world. The sound which I have now from LG V30 + Fiio A5 + HIDIZS S8 is the most analog and the closest to the real sound I have ever had. It is very precise, clean, powerful and dynamic. Seriously I have never heard anything better than this on headphones.
Thank you Amir for your review. Without your great work I would never decide to buy anything like HIDIZS S8 - this little beauty is a real beast. Hands down the best portable dac I have ever had. It looks like it is even better than my minidsp SHD in my main system and now after couple of hours of listening today I can understand why it is better.