Meizu Hifi USB-C Headphone Adapter Review

[Benpowell]

Iv worked out part of the reason for the variation between the these different dacs it's to do with enabling high Impedance mode if you put a 3.5 male to female on adapter before you plug in your headphones the volume jumps up massively going into high Impedance mode I'm now thinking that this would sound remarkably like the s8 although circuit is closer together so may pick up some usb noise. Can others please confirm can you remeasure in high Impedance mode I'm fairly sure you will get near 2v not 1v

 

[amanieux]

Iv worked out part of the reason for the variation between the these different dacs it's to do with enabling high Impedance mode if you put a 3.5 male to female on adapter before you plug in your headphones the volume jumps up massively going into high Impedance mode I'm now thinking that this would sound remarkably like the s8 although circuit is closer together so may pick up some usb noise. Can others please confirm can you remeasure in high Impedance mode I'm fairly sure you will get near 2v not 1v

you hypothesis sounds good but i have a 9x difference not a 4x difference in volume (p=u2/r so doubling voltage quadruples the power) and your hypothesis does not match my experience as volume changes without unpluging/repluging the iem in the meizu dac jack plug : 1/i plug the iem in meizu jack, it ask me if i want to use the usb dac with neutron player i say yes (let's suppose it switches to high impedance mode) 2/ neutron player plays my music at 11% volume 3/ i switch to youtube 4/i switch back to neutron, music in neutron is now 9x lower i have to raise volume from 11% to 97% to recover previous listening level (8.8x ratio) it is even lower volume than my internal phone dac when i plug my iem in the phone jack

 

[staticV3]

Could you tell me where you read that the meizu dongle has a high impedance mode?
While the cs43131 does have headphone load sensing capabilities, nowhere in the datasheet does it say that the cs43131 uses that data to switch between two Amp stages.

 

[Benpowell]

I'm by no means an expert but if I use blon 03 without using 3.5 to female first the volume is much lower even at maximum iv been messing around with my hd 650 as well going to try with pc later it's just updating the other thing about the chip I discovered is that it may perform better with upsampled music as this is what audiolab use in there m-dac nano except it's the previous generation chip it upsamples to 32bit apparently improving sound some dacs are definitely more susceptible to changes in sample rate will mess with windows later the hidizs s8 has Impedance mode that's what gave me the idea to try it.

 

[staticV3]

Please learn to punctuate your sentences.
Jeezus.

 

[Benpowell]

Please learn to punctuate your sentences.
Jeezus.

Haha lol I was not very good in school.

 

[Benpowell]

you hypothesis sounds good but i have a 9x difference not a 4x difference in volume (p=u2/r so doubling voltage quadruples the power) and your hypothesis does not match my experience as volume changes without unpluging/repluging the iem in the meizu dac jack plug : 1/i plug the iem in meizu jack, it ask me if i want to use the usb dac with neutron player i say yes (let's suppose it switches to high impedance mode) 2/ neutron player plays my music at 11% volume 3/ i switch to youtube 4/i switch back to neutron, music in neutron is now 9x lower i have to raise volume from 11% to 97% to recover previous listening level (8.8x ratio) it is even lower volume than my internal phone dac when i plug my iem in the phone jack

The same thing happens with usb audio player. I think try a 3.5 to female and uninstall neutron.

 

[Jimbob54]

My test on the hifi pro mirrors others on this page. Using UAPP on Android, plugging an extension or adapter plug in first, then the IEMs gives far greater volume for any volume level in the app than just plugging the IEM into the dongle. Whether this is a simple high/ low switch in the dongle or a sliding scale of gain - impedance setting I cannot say.

 

[Benpowell]

My test on the hifi pro mirrors others on this page. Using UAPP on Android, plugging an extension or adapter plug in first, then the IEMs gives far greater volume for any volume level in the app than just plugging the IEM into the dongle. Whether this is a simple high/ low switch in the dongle or a sliding scale of gain - impedance setting I cannot say.

I know there is definitely something going on with this. i hate it when they do these stupid Impedance modes same crap with b&o hifi plus and lg phones pathetic volume until you fiddle the Impedance modes. I read on the s8 if Impedance is above 80 ohm I think it triggers. playing with windows 10 and I feel like there is a difference upsampling to 32 bit I think it has to do with the the dac functions it has certainly makes a difference have a see what you think.

 

[Jimbob54]

I know there is definitely something going on with this. i hate it when they do these stupid Impedance modes same crap with b&o hifi plus and lg phones pathetic volume until you fiddle the Impedance modes. I read on the s8 if Impedance is above 80 ohm I think it triggers. playing with windows 10 and I feel like there is a difference upsampling to 32 bit I think it has to do with the the dac functions it has certainly makes a difference have a see what you think.

I have the tempotec HD Pro too, I'll try with that also.
EDIT I don't think the Sonata HD Pro can be tricked into high gain / high impedance mode by an extension /adapter. That, or the increase isnt as noticeable as the Meizu Pro.

EDIT of the EDIT The Sonata HD pro can be tricked- noticeable when your player app to max volume. Both devices sound pretty crap tricked and full volume.

 

[Benpowell]

I have the tempotec HD Pro too, I'll try with that also.
EDIT I don't think the Sonata HD Pro can be tricked into high gain / high impedance mode by an extension /adapter. That, or the increase isnt as noticeable as the Meizu Pro.

Can you compare maximum volume between them both? When meizu is tricked

 

[Jimbob54]

Can you compare maximum volume between them both? When meizu is tricked

The Temptec (and therefore Hidizs S8 too) can be tricked. I risked my ears for this. Tricked them both , played into a pair of Tin Hifi P1 and also a pair of Beyer T1.2s .

Both went loud but distorted, I wouldnt like to say which was outputting the most but I wouldnt advise going that high on either, sounded crap.

If I was anyone using these devices, just let the device decide and turn up the volume to desired levels. I wouldnt bother trying to get whatever gain setting if the 'phones arent higher impedance.

This was done from a Pixel 3, USB Audio Player Pro playing Tidal. I "tricked" the devices using a 3.5mm to 4.4mm adapter into the P1 and T1 (balanced) .

 

[Benpowell]

The Temptec (and therefore Hidizs S8 too) can be tricked. I risked my ears for this. Tricked them both , played into a pair of Tin Hifi P1 and also a pair of Beyer T1.2s .

Both went loud but distorted, I wouldnt like to say which was outputting the most but I wouldnt advise going that high on either, sounded crap.

If I was anyone using these devices, just let the device decide and turn up the volume to desired levels. I wouldnt bother trying to get whatever gain setting if the 'phones arent higher impedance.

This was done from a Pixel 3, USB Audio Player Pro playing Tidal. I "tricked" the devices using a 3.5mm to 4.4mm adapter into the P1 and T1 (balanced) .

Thanks for confirming hope your ears are intact. so basically the meizu non pro could possibly be as loud as the pro and and s8 and or tempotec which would mean the measurement of 1v can not be correct as this should easily be able to do 2v as a line out for an amplifier. When plugged into pc I can not listen the to the 650s at full volume it's simply deafening.

 

[Jimbob54]

Thanks for confirming hope your ears are intact. so basically the meizu non pro could possibly be as loud as the pro and and s8 and or tempotec which would mean the measurement of 1v can not be correct as this should easily be able to do 2v as a line out for an amplifier. When plugged into pc I can not listen the to the 650s at full volume it's simply deafening.

Couldnt substantiate that, mine is the Meizu Pro but if it says adaptive resistance on the meizu blurb, I would assume the non pro can be tricked.

 

[amanieux]

My test on the hifi pro mirrors others on this page. Using UAPP on Android, plugging an extension or adapter plug in first, then the IEMs gives far greater volume for any volume level in the app than just plugging the IEM into the dongle. Whether this is a simple high/ low switch in the dongle or a sliding scale of gain - impedance setting I cannot say.

can you experience this high volume level in other apps than uapp (youtube,spotify etc...), the volume i get in neutron is high enough without using the trick but the problem is that volume goes down by a factory of 9 as soon as i leave neutron and if go back to neutron i cannot get the high volume i first had, i must unuplug and replug the iem physically

 

[Jimbob54]

can you experience this high volume level in other apps than uapp (youtube,spotify etc...), the volume i get in neutron is high enough without using the trick but the problem is that volume goes down by a factory of 9 as soon as i leave neutron and if go back to neutron i cannot get the high volume i first had, i must unuplug and replug the iem physically

Not tried or trying.

 

[amanieux]

Not tried or trying.

so you only listen to music via uapp, you dont use any other android app that uses audio on your smartphone ?

 

[Jimbob54]

so you only listen to music via uapp, you dont use any other android app that uses audio on your smartphone ?

Correct! Phone for driving and walking, proper kit for home. Wouldn't worry about sound quality or volume for anything else. I have a large data allowance so tidal lossless everywhere

 

[Benpowell]

Correct! Phone for driving and walking, proper kit for home. Wouldn't worry about sound quality or volume for anything else. I have a large data allowance so tidal lossless everywhere

I have meizu non pro and can confirm volume trick works on youtube spotify etc I just leave the 3.5 female plugged in and any headphones I plug in get extra volume.

 

[Benpowell]

This is the Male to female cable I use made by deleycon from amazon. I'm sure any 3.5 to 3.5 would work.