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HIDIZS S8 USB-C Headphone Adapter Review

pk500

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I bought the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro today to drive my Sennheiser HD 560s (120 ohm impedance, 110 db sensitivity), and I must admit I'm underwhelmed so far.

I know this is a dongle and not a nuclear substation for power, but it seems like the Sonata HD Pro only gives me about two more clicks of volume than driving the 560s straight from my iPhone 12 and the Apple Lightning DAC dongle. The sound isn't really cleaned up THAT much, either. I expected more considering the praise here and other audiophile lairs online.

Am I doing anything wrong? Or were my expectations too high? Or does this prove again that the Apple Lightning DAC dongle is the best $9 bargain in hi-fi?

Thanks.
 

Veri

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Am I doing anything wrong? Or were my expectations too high? Or does this prove again that the Apple Lightning DAC dongle is the best $9 bargain in hi-fi?

Thanks.
My guess is -No -Yes -Yes
 

raistlin65

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I bought the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro today to drive my Sennheiser HD 560s (120 ohm impedance, 110 db sensitivity), and I must admit I'm underwhelmed so far.

I know this is a dongle and not a nuclear substation for power, but it seems like the Sonata HD Pro only gives me about two more clicks of volume than driving the 560s straight from my iPhone 12 and the Apple Lightning DAC dongle. The sound isn't really cleaned up THAT much, either. I expected more considering the praise here and other audiophile lairs online.

Am I doing anything wrong? Or were my expectations too high? Or does this prove again that the Apple Lightning DAC dongle is the best $9 bargain in hi-fi?

Thanks.

The Sonata HD Pro auto senses the HD560S as low impedance.

To fool it into high gain mode for more power output, plug the 3.5 mm adapter that came with the HD560S into the Sonata. After your phone senses the Sonata, then plug your headphone cable into the adapter. You should notice a significant boost in output.
 

pk500

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The Sonata HD Pro auto senses the HD560S as low impedance.

To fool it into high gain mode for more power output, plug the 3.5 mm adapter that came with the HD560S into the Sonata. After your phone senses the Sonata, then plug your headphone cable into the adapter. You should notice a significant boost in output.

Thanks for the tip! Do I follow this procedure before or after I plug either the USB or Lightning cable into my source (phone or laptop)?

Edit: Reading is fundamental. I saw how the source must recognize the Sonata first. So, the final step is to plug the 6.3 mm main cable from the HD 560s into the adapter. This worked! More volume now. Thanks so much!!!

Odd how the Sonata HD Pro recognizes the 560s as low gain. They're 120 ohm. Not 32 ohm Meze 99 Classics, but not 600 ohm Beyers, either. Then again, I doubt there's a cheap dongle on the market that can drive much more than 250 ohms. I hear great things about the Qudelix 5K, but it's twice the price of the Tempotec and not available now on Amazon.
 
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raistlin65

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Thanks for the tip! Do I follow this procedure before or after I plug either the USB or Lightning cable into my source (phone or laptop)?

Edit: Reading is fundamental. I saw how the source must recognize the Sonata first. So, the final step is to plug the 6.3 mm main cable from the HD 560s into the adapter. This worked! More volume now. Thanks so much!!!

Odd how the Sonata HD Pro recognizes the 560s as low gain. They're 120 ohm. Not 32 ohm Meze 99 Classics, but not 600 ohm Beyers, either. Then again, I doubt there's a cheap dongle on the market that can drive much more than 250 ohms. I hear great things about the Qudelix 5K, but it's twice the price of the Tempotec and not available now on Amazon.

The cut off must be between 120 &150 ohm. It senses the HD58X and HD660S as high impedance and they are 150.
 

pk500

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The cut off must be between 120 &150 ohm. It senses the HD58X and HD660S as high impedance and they are 150.

Quick followup: Can I use a 3.5-mm male-to-female adapter to trick the Sonata HD Pro into high-gain mode? It doesn't have to be a wire, correct? The Tempotec just needs to sense something plugged into it?

I ask because I'm trying to keep the chain between my iPhone 12 Lightning port and the 3.5-mm male end of my headphone cables as short as possible for more convenient mobile use, and an adapter of 2 or 3 inches is shorter than a 12- to 15-inch cable.

Thanks!
 

raistlin65

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Quick followup: Can I use a 3.5-mm male-to-female adapter to trick the Sonata HD Pro into high-gain mode? It doesn't have to be a wire, correct? The Tempotec just needs to sense something plugged into it?

I ask because I'm trying to keep the chain between my iPhone 12 Lightning port and the 3.5-mm male end of my headphone cables as short as possible for more convenient mobile use, and an adapter of 2 or 3 inches is shorter than a 12- to 15-inch cable.

Thanks!

I don't see why not.

An adapter is basically just a really, really short cable :)
 

jkljklsdfsdf

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Just got my Sonata HD Pro and there's some weird stuttering when playing music (hi-res files and low res mp3 files both stutters), the stuttering happens every 15-20 seconds or so, the weird part is it only stutters on one of my devices (android tablet) but works perfectly fine on my pc and android smartphone.
 

ZolaIII

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Just got my Sonata HD Pro and there's some weird stuttering when playing music (hi-res files and low res mp3 files both stutters), the stuttering happens every 15-20 seconds or so, the weird part is it only stutters on one of my devices (android tablet) but works perfectly fine on my pc and android smartphone.
If it doesn't happen when you use a costume USB driver in player's such as HiBy, UAPP, Shanling (usually in option's called as exclusive mode and such)... With the tablet then it's tied up bad implementation of default USB Audio 2.0 driver implementation on it.
 

jkljklsdfsdf

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If it doesn't happen when you use a costume USB driver in player's such as HiBy, UAPP, Shanling (usually in option's called as exclusive mode and such)... With the tablet then it's tied up bad implementation of default USB Audio 2.0 driver implementation on it.

Still stutters with HiBy, I guess the usb implementation in this tablet is crappy lol.

Low power usb C dacs work just fine on this tablet, maybe the power delivery on the usb on this tablet is not enough for the Sonata.
 
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ZolaIII

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Still stutters with HiBy, I guess the usb implementation in this tablet is crappy lol.

Low power usb C dacs work just fine on this tablet, maybe the power delivery on the usb on this tablet is not enough for the Sonata.
Sonata is one of the most power efficient dongle DAC's (least power hungry) there is, Meizu HiFi whose just a little bit better than it.
I hope you did enable the driver with HiBy (profile tap, setting tap, Exclusive... tap).
Screenshot_20210319-163316.png
Best regards.
 
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Tiago P

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1) Meizu produces the same 2VRMS(take a look to my screenshot above) if the load is lighter than 100ohm or so. S8 produces the same 1VRMS or about at 32ohm load. That's why Meizu non-pro has about 50mW at 32ohm, S8 about 60mW at 33ohm.
2) I didn't notice any problem with my Meizu non-pro at 44.1k tracks, if you'll give me more details I'll try to find out.
3) Meizu is better for the distortions figures in real condition i.e. when the DAC is loaded with headphones because S8, in that case, has a few times worse THD. At no-load condition(without headphone plugged in), Meizu non-pro has the same distortions as S8. That's it.
I recommend Meizu non-pro because it a few times cheaper and much more compact vs S8. However, as I can see, S8 has 2 buttons, $50 for each, and if you really need that, of course, my recommendation looks silly ;)

@IVX , sorry for noobness. Would you consider meizu (non pro) to be more efficient volumewise then the apple dongle and S8 on some HIFIMAN 35ohms?
 
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pk500

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@IVX , sorry for noobness. Would you consider meizu (non pro) to be more efficient volumewise then the apple dongle and S8 on some HIFIMAN 35ohms?

Quick note about HiFiMan cans: They look easy to drive because of low impedance numbers. But they're pretty tough to drive because of their low sensitivity numbers.

Easiest to drive: Low impedance, high sensitivity
Toughest to drive: High impedance, low sensitivity
 
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I have an issue where my S8 suddenly stops playback after 15-20 minutes. Doesn't disconnect or anything (the source device still sees it) but it's annoying to have my music suddenly halted. Happens on iOS but hasn’t seemed to occur on macOS. Anyone else experience something similar?
 
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ReinhardS

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I'm a bit confused about the measurements:
SINAD without load is 114dB - impressive!
But THD+noise dropped to -88dB with 33 Ohm load.
So maybe a separate ampilifier would help.
But even with 300 Ohm we have THD+noise -100dB. Thats a little disappointing.

But anyway, in the real life the distortions will be generated by the headphones then.
 

ZolaIII

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I'm a bit confused about the measurements:
SINAD without load is 114dB - impressive!
But THD+noise dropped to -88dB with 33 Ohm load.
So maybe a separate ampilifier would help.
But even with 300 Ohm we have THD+noise -100dB. Thats a little disappointing.

But anyway, in the real life the distortions will be generated by the headphones then.
Read carefully! As stated samples truncated to 16 bit meaning theoretical 96 dB (instead usual 44100 Hz 24 bit - 150 dB) in signal as stated on 300 Ohm graph (actual distortion lower).
 

MrOtto

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I have an issue where my S8 suddenly stops playback after 15-20 minutes. Doesn't disconnect or anything (the source device still sees it) but it's annoying to have my music suddenly halted. Happens on iOS but hasn’t seemed to occur on macOS. Anyone else experience something similar?

Yes, I have also experinced that playback stops without reason. I have presented this problem, even with their recommended HiBy player and other problems with connectivity to Hidisz. Please send your issue to them too, so we can get a better firmware
 

hxsm

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hi im new here. maybe this question have been asked here but theres 55 pages to scroll.

have anyone tested this with tin p1? i already have sonata hd pro but really interested in owning a planar iem.
 
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