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Hidizs S9 Review (Headphone Adapter)

n0ah_fense

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Has anyone paired the S9 with a Galaxy S20? What is the power draw? I'm looking at using it with my IEMs (Etymotic ER4XR / 45 Ohms) for air travel, but I'm concerned about the power draw on a long flight.

What should I expect?
 

brandall10

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I'm comparing the measurements at the top of this thread for the s9 with those for the s8. It looks to me like the s8 has slightly better SINAD of 114 dB (vs 108 dB for the s9). The s8 has a dynamic range of 121 dB. I don't really understand why there are two dynamic range measurements for the s9 (118 dB and 79 dB) both labeled "balanced out", but that second one is considerably worse than the s8. The s8 also looks to have better jitter performance. Multi-tone performance looks about equal.

About the only thing that looks better for the s9 is the power, which on the flipside, likely has a negative impact on battery life.

Since I'm really only planning on driving IEMs (Etymotic ER4SR) that don't need a lot of power, I'm not seeing any reason I should get the s9 even if it were the same price. Is there anything I'm missing?

I think you've basically got it. I got an S8 to drive my KSE1200 for this reason... only the DAC section matters as it comes w/ a specialized amp. And if you have easy to drive IEMs/headphones it's probably more than enough or even ideal.

The S9 is particularly great due to its great performance across the board and driving capability, which is unique for something of its form factor. The poor dynamic range measurement is at 50mv... which again points to the S8 as being the better choice for easy to drive items.
 

raymate

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Anyone got the S9 and the S9 Pro, I got the S9 just after @amirm review then the S9 Pro was released, want people views on if its worth getting the S9 Pro, mostly use Senns HD 6xx series of headphones
 

kevmitch

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I think you've basically got it. I got an S8 to drive my KSE1200 for this reason... only the DAC section matters as it comes w/ a specialized amp. And if you have easy to drive IEMs/headphones it's probably more than enough or even ideal.

The S9 is particularly great due to its great performance across the board and driving capability, which is unique for something of its form factor. The poor dynamic range measurement is at 50mv... which again points to the S8 as being the better choice for easy to drive items.
Ok, good to know I'm not misreading anything. I realised that the second, worse dynamic range measurement is 50mV after lurking around this site for a while and watching a few of amirm's youtube videos. Still, the physics grad student in me wants to deduct a mark for improper labelling of graphs. It looks like the 50mV wasn't even measured for the s8, so we don't actually know how much better or worse the s8 is at low volumes.

I just broke down and ordered an s8 (at $75!) mostly due to concerns about power draw and because it should be miles ahead of the Dragonfly Cobalt I'm embarrassed to own. Was thinking about the Luxury and Precision W2, but decided it would probably flatten my battery in 10 seconds flat. amirm has also not measured it, so I'm taking the hype as hearsay for the moment.
 

brandall10

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Ok, good to know I'm not misreading anything. I realised that the second, worse dynamic range measurement is 50mV after lurking around this site for a while and watching a few of amirm's youtube videos. Still, the physics grad student in me wants to deduct a mark for improper labelling of graphs. It looks like the 50mV wasn't even measured for the s8, so we don't actually know how much better or worse the s8 is at low volumes.

I just broke down and ordered an s8 (at $75!) mostly due to concerns about power draw and because it should be miles ahead of the Dragonfly Cobalt I'm embarrassed to own. Was thinking about the Luxury and Precision W2, but decided it would probably flatten my battery in 10 seconds flat. amirm has also not measured it, so I'm taking the hype as hearsay for the moment.

I've been on Head-fi since 2003... wouldn't touch any flavor of the month DAC/amp thingy with a 10 foot pole. You just can't get better performance than the Hidizs units.
 

mrbungle

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Has anyone paired the S9 with a Galaxy S20? What is the power draw? I'm looking at using it with my IEMs (Etymotic ER4XR / 45 Ohms) for air travel, but I'm concerned about the power draw on a long flight.

What should I expect?
I have an iPhone and the S9 Pro. Very high power draw, see also here: https://www.audioreviews.org/hidizs-s9-pro-review-jk/.

Still very happy with it, but using it now for my iPad Pro with a nice little Anker USB-C hub. Connected to a Topping A90 via the Douk XLR switch.

Seems like the Qudelix 5K is the standard recommendation for battery powered dongles.
 

sthaus

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I found Hidizs s9 Pro does not support 512 DSD .. at least on my Roon ..
- DSD up to 256 (working)
- PCM up to 768Khz (working)
- MQA (working)

I contacted the web chat support .. they asked me to download Hiby for test but still not support DSD 512 (not) but 256 (playable) .. Is there anyone got tested or having issue like mine ..
I tested on both iPhone 12 Pro Max and PC-direct (usb-c) on Roon.

Thanks
 

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meccup

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I have not tested DSD 512 using mine.
How do you know if it supports MQA? The specs do not say that and the indicator turns green when I play Tidal Masters, but it does not mean that it supports MQA afaik.
 

sthaus

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I have not tested DSD 512 using mine.
How do you know if it supports MQA? The specs do not say that and the indicator turns green when I play Tidal Masters, but it does not mean that it supports MQA afaik.
it might not giving right colour (pink)... I'm playing on MQA in Roon 1.8.. thanks
 
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sthaus

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I've tried all DSD 512, 256 and 64 .. it wont work on DSD 512 .. unfortunately HiBy does not play DSD512 either but 256 and others (see attachments).

In Roon,
- I've tested on other Dacs like Gustard, Loxjie d50 and Su-9 .... and DSD 512 as native support (showing up on setting)
- On Hidizs, I tested on PC-direct (usb-c) and also on iPhone 12Pro max, but its only play up to DSD 256 ..
 

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0RF30

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I've tried all DSD 512, 256 and 64 .. it wont work on DSD 512 .. unfortunately HiBy does not play DSD512 either but 256 and others (see attachments).

In Roon,
- I've tested on other Dacs like Gustard, Loxjie d50 and Su-9 .... and DSD 512 as native support (showing up on setting)
- On Hidizs, I tested on PC-direct (usb-c) and also on iPhone 12Pro max, but its only play up to DSD 256 ..
 

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sthaus

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it wont show up on my Roon 1.8 for DSD512 option .. any kind of driver install ... ?? i have both windows 10 and 11. otherwise my product could be a faulty one ? .. i played DSD512 file directly .. for natively tested dsd512, can you please show me your HQplayer setting !
 
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0RF30

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@sthaus : Of course, you have to install ASIO drivers (from Hidizs website). And activate S9 Pro ASIO output in Roon.

There is no MQA hardware support on S9 Pro as far as I know. But I won't even try to find a file example of this aberration to test it for sure. But I assume if it was such support, Hidizs wouldn't miss to mention it.
 
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sthaus

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@sthaus : Of course, you have to install ASIO drivers (from Hidizs website). And activate S9 Pro ASIO output in Roon.

There is no MQA hardware support on S9 Pro as far as I know. But I won't even try to find a file example of this aberration to test it for sure. But I assume if it was such support, Hidizs wouldn't miss to mention it.
i got the ASIO driver from Hidizs website .. but music wont load from the ASIO driver, fully of distortion and some even not loaded ? not sure why on my Windows 10 and 11 (my system is AMD 3900X 32GB ram, the other is i7 11700 32Gb ram) . music load from WASAPI is fine but only support up to 256 ... !!!
 

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0RF30

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i got the ASIO driver from Hidizs website .. but music wont load from the ASIO driver, fully of distortion and some even not loaded ? not sure why on my Windows 10 and 11 (my system is AMD 3900X 32GB ram, the other is i7 11700 32Gb ram) . music load from WASAPI is fine but only support up to 256 ... !!!

I only use DSD 512 for upsampling purpose in HQPlayer, with no problem at all.

I managed to get some DSD 512 files, supposed to be native ones (I doubt it since it's not really used in the industry, anyways...), and tried to play them on Ronn 1.6, I got stuttering issues, switched to Roon 1.8, no problem at all. Direct SDM on HQPlayer : no problem at all.

Could you please PM me links to couple of your problematic files (preferably different albums/sourcing) so I can test if I'm able to play them smoothly ?

[EDIT] I just saw from your attached picture, which I initially didn't really look at, that you were trying to upsample 24/96 file to DSD 512 on the fly with Roon ! Well... I wouldn't do that ;) I strongly suggest to use HQPlayer for this purpose (you can output to HQPlayer using Roon).
 

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sthaus

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I guess my one might be a faulty one due to even not loaded file on Hiby / iPhone app.. i tried my DSD512 file on Loxjie d50, Gustard x16 and SMSL Su9 on Roon 1.8 without hiccup .. its playable and no problem with DSD512 file.

I will test few things more tomorrow .. definitely i will pm you for help .. thanks for advance
 

0RF30

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I guess my one might be a faulty one due to even not loaded file on Hiby / iPhone app.. i tried my DSD512 file on Loxjie d50, Gustard x16 and SMSL Su9 on Roon 1.8 without hiccup .. its playable and no problem with DSD512 file.

I will test few things more tomorrow .. definitely i will pm you for help .. thanks for advance

Could you please PM me link to your file so I can test it on Roon 1.8 and report back ?
 

Jazz

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I found Hidizs s9 Pro does not support 512 DSD .. at least on my Roon ..
- DSD up to 256 (working)
- PCM up to 768Khz (working)
- MQA (working)

I contacted the web chat support .. they asked me to download Hiby for test but still not support DSD 512 (not) but 256 (playable) .. Is there anyone got tested or having issue like mine ..
I tested on both iPhone 12 Pro Max and PC-direct (usb-c) on Roon.

Thanks
The S9 Pro is not the S9.
 

0RF30

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The S9 Pro is not the S9.

He posted on both thread, I replied on both, didn't even noticed we pursue the conversation on S9 one. If a moderator could kindly replace the concerned posts on S9 Pro thread, that would be nice, we'll continue on this one (I'll flag my current post). If I remember correctly, there are a lot of posts to move from this thread ;)

[EDIT] We're clear to poursue here.
 
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sthaus

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He posted on both thread, I replied on both, didn't even noticed we pursue the conversation on S9 one. If a moderator could kindly replace the concerned posts on S9 Pro thread, that would be nice, we'll continue on this one (I'll flag my current post). If I remember correctly, there are a lot of posts to move from this thread ;)

[EDIT] We're clear to poursue here.
my apologize to drag you into the conversation in wrong thread. same to everyone ..
Note: I will send you an PM shortly after uploading the file to Gdrive ..
 
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