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HIDIZS S8 USB-C Headphone Adapter Review

Veri

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Hi there, I'm starting to think that this forum is one of chinese international commercial strategy.
I'm sorry for being too much rude like this but could you tell me @amirm why do you test a lot of chinese product and less european one ?
Thanks and sorry for inconvenient.
They are either sent in by the manufacturer or by users here who want to see their device tested. Amir is located in the US, of course it's a little more difficult to get European gear in. You can always PM Amir and send him your gear yourself across the globe.. shipping these things cost money.

Also he just reviewed the RME ADI-2 with AK4493. Saying he's mostly reviewing Chinese gear is just false, there's quite a lot of reviews for devices like schiit, rupert neve, many more... it's probably also easier to get Chinese gear to test simply because the prices are lower. Not everyone wants to ship their very expensive toys to get them tested. So it is a little more complicated than you think.
 

KisSme

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They are either sent in by the manufacturer or by users here who want to see their device tested. Amir is located in the US, of course it's a little more difficult to get European gear in. You can always PM Amir and send him your gear yourself across the globe.. shipping these things cost money.

Also he just reviewed the RME ADI-2 with AK4493. Saying he's mostly reviewing Chinese gear is just false, there's quite a lot of reviews for devices like schiit, rupert neve, many more... it's probably also easier to get Chinese gear to test simply because the prices are lower. Not everyone wants to ship their very expensive toys to get them tested. So it is a little more complicated than you think.

I'd like to thank you for this answer and I accept it.

As I said "sorry" and I know my message was a little bit rude. This is because, a certain person from a French forum said that is an Asiatic complot when people from forum like this are not transparent when they test Asiatic products against US or EU.

I already ordered a Meizu Hifi HD Pro DAC for my Windows 10 computer.
I'm going to compare it myself against an entry-level product creative labs costs 20€.

Wait and see...
 

Veri

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I already ordered a Meizu Hifi HD Pro DAC for my Windows 10 computer.
I'm going to compare it myself against an entry-level product creative labs costs 20€.
Wait and see...
All right :) I own the Meizu too. For me it works well with my work laptop which has no USB noise issues. The meizu sounds great to me, especially considering the low cost.
 

raistlin65

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I got the TempoTec Sonata HD PRO HiFi version off Amazon this week.

It works great for me on my Samsung S9+ phone.

Problems with subjective listening tests aside, I'm really impressed with the sound, and it does offer noticeably more output than the S9+ headphone jack. I've been using it with the HD660S, and I'm quite happy to have the extra volume. Particularly because the extra output helps the bass to hit harder on EDM.
 

Zerohour

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I'd like to thank you for this answer and I accept it.

As I said "sorry" and I know my message was a little bit rude. This is because, a certain person from a French forum said that is an Asiatic complot when people from forum like this are not transparent when they test Asiatic products against US or EU.

I already ordered a Meizu Hifi HD Pro DAC for my Windows 10 computer.
I'm going to compare it myself against an entry-level product creative labs costs 20€.

Wait and see...

Can they clarify on how it is not "transparent"? I'd like to hear their reasoning.
 

Cirrus Incus

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Hi, I'm new here. Couldn't find an introductions section.
These reviews have been helpful, really cuts through the pseudoscience.
I was wondering whether the S8 be used as a DAC for a PC and then connected to an external headphone amp like Schiit Magni 3?
I would think so, considering the Dragonfly Red can do it.
Thanks
 
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ZolaIII

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Hi, I'm new here. Couldn't find an introductions section.
These reviews have been helpful, really helps cut through the pseudoscience.
I was wondering whether the S8 be used as a DAC for a PC and then connected to an external headphone amp like Schiit Magni 3?
I would think so, considering the Dragonfly Red can do it.
Thanks
In short yes now read hire about TempoTec Sonata HD Pro.
 

Zek

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Has anyone tried TempoTec Sonata HD Pro with MacOS Catalina and does it support DSD256 files?
 

MDZPNMD

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Hi, I'm new here. Couldn't find an introductions section.
These reviews have been helpful, really cuts through the pseudoscience.
I was wondering whether the S8 be used as a DAC for a PC and then connected to an external headphone amp like Schiit Magni 3?
I would think so, considering the Dragonfly Red can do it.
Thanks

I want to discourage you from using the Hidizs S8/Tempotac Sonata HD Pro with a Schiit Magni 3. You can use them together but in my case I get an annoying static noise whenever I skip a song or start/stop playing a video. It is most likely due to the automatic impedance detection of the device. the problem occurs when connecting the Hidizs/Tempotec with a 3,5 to Cinch adapter and the only way to remove the issue is using an attentuator cable that "simulates" a specific impedance like the one on Solderdudes homepage. Others report the same issue, for some interconnects solved the issue but not for me. The volume steps are also quite annoying for me and even after solving the static noise issue, I would rather use the apple 3,5 to usb-c adapter or maybe a Sanskrit DAC.
 

taner

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Hi all,
This is my first post on this site. I was looking for a desktop DAC for sourcing my amplifier. The measurements of this device is really impressive and I'm considering to use this as desktop DAC rather than portable headphone amp. What really strikes is those measurements done with very low impedance headphone outputs. I think i would be great counterpart with an amplifier.

Anyone has similar use with this S8/HD Pro ?
 

Raikon_N

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Hi all,
This is my first post on this site. I was looking for a desktop DAC for sourcing my amplifier. The measurements of this device is really impressive and I'm considering to use this as desktop DAC rather than portable headphone amp. What really strikes is those measurements done with very low impedance headphone outputs. I think i would be great counterpart with an amplifier.

Anyone has similar use with this S8/HD Pro ?

My permanent desk setup is Topping D30 DAC/Atom Amp combo.
I received my Tempotec Sonata HD Pro a couple of days ago, mainly used for my smartphones.
But I also tried it for few hours on my Acer Windows 10 laptop running Foobar2000(WASAPI push).
Setup was HD Pro to Atom Amp, sounds as good as my D30 to Atom Amp setup, from my subjective listening.
I tried it with my HD6XX headphone and my Legacy 3 in-ear with no problem.
 

taner

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Setup was HD Pro to Atom Amp, sounds as good as my D30 to Atom Amp setup, from my subjective listening.
Thank you for response. Since CS43131 is evolution of CS4398, it does makes sense your observation of similar performance with D30.

I think that people aren't realizeing enough what is happening here. This device is working on asynchronous usb mode but not incorporates any dedicated oscillators for x44.1khz and x48khz sampling rates but yet accomplish -140db jitter performance! Am I wrong or a revolution is happening here? Maybe a new era of digital audio is just beginning with these CS43131/CS43198 devices.
 

taner

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This device is working on asynchronous usb mode but not incorporates any dedicated oscillators for x44.1khz and x48khz sampling rates but yet accomplish -140db jitter performance!

I just noticed that Meizu Hifi dac's usb controller is woking with a 22.5792MHz oscillator which is responsible for generating clocks for 44.1kHz related sample rates, but no 24.576MHz oscillator which will be responsible for 48KHz related sampling rates. Maybe only Meizu ones are working on Asynchronous usb mode and generating 48KHz related clocks with internal PLL.

Btw, HD Pro/S8 ones only have a 12MHz clock which is common practice with Synchronous mode usb transfers.
 
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Veri

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I just noticed that Meizu Hifi dac's usb controller is woking with a 22.5792MHz oscillator which is responsible for generating clocks for 44.1kHz related sample rates, but no 24.576MHz oscillator which will be responsible for 48KHz related sampling rates. Maybe only Meizu ones are working on Asynchronous usb mode and generating 48KHz related clocks with internal PLL.
Probably it's just ASRC no? For the 48kHz multiples.
 

taner

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Probably it's just ASRC no? For the 48kHz multiples.
Probably. I guess 46L41-CWZR in Meizu shares same design features with CS42L73 which states "Native (no PLL required) support for 6/12/24 MHz, 13/26 MHz, and 19.2/38.4 MHz". There is no mention of 44.1/88.2/176.4 which explains existence of 22.5792 MHz clock. And absence of 24.576MHz (48KHz) and 12MHz (usb) clocks.
Meizu-Oscillator.jpg
 
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crystal6tak

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Been using the Sonata HD Pro, getting an odd issue where audio stutters after a few hours of playback.

I'll start time-stamping it to figure out how often it occurs, but so far it seems to happen once every 6-12ish hours.

Anyone else experiencing something similar?
 

Zarniwoop

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Been using the Sonata HD Pro, getting an odd issue where audio stutters after a few hours of playback.

I'll start time-stamping it to figure out how often it occurs, but so far it seems to happen once every 6-12ish hours.

Anyone else experiencing something similar?

Yep, been reported by myself and a couple of others. At one time it was really bad, stuttering and crackling every few seconds. Seems to have fixed itself now for me, maybe the very occasional glitch. I would say this is not a DAC you could use for critical missions because of this.
 

crystal6tak

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Yep, been reported by myself and a couple of others. At one time it was really bad, stuttering and crackling every few seconds. Seems to have fixed itself now for me, maybe the very occasional glitch. I would say this is not a DAC you could use for critical missions because of this.
That's unfortunate... Any lead on what's causing it? I got DPC latency checker running now and waiting for the glitch to occur to see if my system is the issue.
 
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