Hidizs S8

Jumping right into Disclaimer…the Unit was provided to me by hifinage.com in exchange for my honest opinions and that is what you will get here. No Influence or sugar-coating whatsoever!

You can also buy the S8 by clicking here.

Technical Specifications:

• DAC Chip CS43131
• Supported sampling rate PCM up to 32bit 384kHz
• DSD up to DSD256
• Compatibility iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS, iPad OS
• Output options Single-ended stereo output on Jack 3.5mm (compatible with headphones with a microphone)
• Single-ended output power 2x 30mW @ 32Ω
• Single-ended output frequency response 20Hz - 50kHz
• Single-ended output THD+N 0.002% (1kHz)
• Single-ended output SNR 120dB
• Single-ended output channel separation 78dB @ 32Ω
• Single-ended output impedance < 1Ω
• Recommended headphone resistance range 8-150Ω
• Physical buttons.

In The Box:

• 1 x S8 Hi Fi Decoding DAC Amp
• 1 x 2.0 USB to Micro Cable
• 1 x Micro to Lightning Cable
• 1 x Micro to Micro OTG Cable
• 1 x Micro to Type-C OTG Cable
• 1 x Silicone Case
• 1 x User Manual

Build:

Hidisz S8 has a small minimalistic design with glass in the front and back of the body. The Chassis is made of aluminum. The Top has the infamous Micro-usb post and the bottom has the 3.5 jack. The front portion features the volume rockers. It would have been nicer if the micro-usb was done away with and USB-C type port was used.




Sources:

• Samsung Galaxy S10
• Laptop

Gears:

• See Audio Bravery.
• CCZ Plume.
• KZ ZAS.
• KZ ZEX.
• Tforce Yuan Li.

Sound Impressions:
Lows:

Lows are clear and detailed. If your IEM has sub-bass, S8 adds more punch to the same, while ensuring that there is no bass bleed while it enhances the same. So you will have a fun time while using this.

Mids:
Mids are also cleaner with natural tonality. Vocals, both males and females, have a sense of energy to them, and hence they sound more and more engaging.

Highs:
The treble portion is also well-pronounced while at the same time, I did not encounter any weird peaks. This gave me the micro-details I was looking for, in my playlist. But yes, I would not suggest using bight/neutral IEMs with S* as it may become too much sometimes.

Soundstage:

You will have a good separation between instruments. Throw a busy track to S8 and it will show you its prowess…there is no clutter observed at all. While the resolution may be top-notch, but it will still satisfy the needs of many.

Conclusion:

For day-to-day usage, Hidisz S8 is just a perfect offering. This is not something for very critical listening but if you like to have a good time with your music while traveling or while on a walk, this is the perfect fit. There are flaws to it like, no MQA support, or the presence of micro-usb port, it still makes up with its capabilities.

Introduction:
Hidizs is a Hong Cong based audio company known for delivering quality portable audiophile equipment like DAP, DAC, Amps and IEMs. S8 is an offering by Hidizs that surprises us with its features, size and price. It is a USB DAC-AMP that comes with 4 types of connector and is super useful for all types of sources we use, be it an android phone, an iPhone or any laptop. With most of the phones getting away with the headphone jack, USB dongles solve a dire need of the hour. This does not need any kind of app installation even on laptop. Just connect it with the device and you are good to go.

In just an inch square of size S8 packs so many capabilities that it mind blowing. Its design is minimalistic and simple. CNC machined aluminum case makes it sturdy and strong. It's extremely lightweight so super easy to carry. It comes in two colors, white and black. The front side has just 2 buttons on them, the top side has a headphone jack and bottom side has a micro-USB port. The design has an elegant simplicity and classiness.

It also comes with a nice feature of intelligent detection for headphone/IEM impedance as given in marketing manual which maybe be used for balancing the power consumption of the device, or could be just a marketing gimmick am not sure about that. Also it has an exclusive support for hiby app control giving one nice eq tweaking freedom using MSEB features.

Along with the device, the package also has
• 2.0 USB to micro cable
• Micro to lightening cable.
• Micro to Micro OTG
• Micro to Type-C OTG
• Silicon case
• User Manual

Features:
• DAC Chip : CS43131
• Supported sampling rate : PCM up to 32bit 384kHz, DSD up to DSD256
• Compatibility : Universal
• Output : Single-ended stereo output (3.5mm)
• Single-ended output power 2x 30mW @ 32Ω
• Single-ended output frequency response 20Hz - 50kHz
• Single-ended output THD+N 0.002% (1kHz)
• Single-ended output SNR 120dB
• Single-ended output channel separation 78dB @ 32Ω
• Single-ended output impedance < 1Ω

About Product:
• Case material CNC machined Aluminum, Rear panel material Glass
• Physical buttons Volume +, Volume -
• Dimensions : 47 x 18.8 x 7.8mm
• Weight : 9g



Sources:
For this review the unit has been paired with my phone Vivo X50 Pro and Samsung tab S6 lite without any other amplification on setup.

Disclaimer:
I have received as part of review circle sent from Hifinage in exchange of honest reviews. All impressions of sound are subjective to my own listening and my sources and is based on my experience with DAC/AMP of similar hardware configurations and price range. One can purchase it from the following link.



Highs:
The treble is well extended with nice micro-contrast. I did not find any kind of unwanted peaks or harshness. Treble felt slightly boosted to bring out all the micro details, with bright IEMs it tends to get little tiring with time.

Mids:
In terms of Mids, S8 sounds bit forward and aggressive. The instruments are nicely separated and have an airy effect. The vocals, both male and female are clean sounding.

Lows:
This has above average thumping base for such a small device. The subbase is clean without any bleeding effect. Mid-base complements the subbase very well. It does the job perfectly. Although low power impact can be seen in bass with some of IEMs making them less punchy. But overall as a budget device it does the job perfectly.

Technicalities:
Soundstage has decent depth and width with good separation between instruments. This does not have the best resolution one can find in USB DAC Amps but it's definitely of among the good ones but overall environment effect is quite airy and has a feel good factor to it.



Final Verdict:
Hidizs S8 pairs well with power efficient IEMs, and is perfect for day to day listening. It is a kind of device that significantly improve the quality of sound when connected to a casual source thanks to the very good implementation of CS43131. I have not faced any kind of pairing issues with this and it's very easy to carry around as of its low form factor. The power consumption also felt minimalistic so need not to worry much about the battery life of the source. For the price range this gives a decent listening experience and recommended for headphone/IEM impedance upto 150ohm.

Disclaimer

Hidizs S8 was provided to me for review purposes by Hifinage, India. I am neither related to them in anyway nor work for them. All the impressions shared here are subjective to my listening capabilities and gear used. You can buy Hidizs S8 from Hifinage, India for INR 6590 through this below link:

https://hifinage.com/collections/hidizs/products/hidizs-s8

About



Hidizs S8 is a beautiful small-frame body HiFi decoding amplifier with a built-in DAC. It has a strong Cirrus Logic CS43131 DAC chip, which provides exceptional audio performance and quality. It supports native DSD and PCM 32Bit 384kHz. It intelligently detects the plugged-in headphone impedance and provides stereo output up to 2-Vrms. It's a multi-platform universal AMP-DAC dongle that works with iOS, Android, Windows, MAC OS, and iPads. It has very compact size and is built extremely well with very good finish. It has minimalistic design, with just two buttons for volume on its front and brand labeling on the backside. It has only 3.5mm jack which has enough power to drive most of the IEMs out there. Hidizs has provided good amount of cables to use with different smartphones.



Gears Used

I had tested S8 by connecting it to my phone, iPhone 12 Pro Max, IEM used being itsfit labs Fusion.



Sound Impressions

Bass is good in S8, More so in sub-bass region, where it is emphasized. It has nice punch and slam feel to it. Midbass is decent, but not to the level of subbass. Bass is clean and decently detailed with neither muddiness or boomy nor bleed showing up in any other frequencies. Mids sound clean and natural, but slightly recessed. Male vocals sound natural, engaging, and energetic. Mids have good extensions. Female vocals sound natural, with good energy and engaging too. Soundstage has good width and depth with good space between instruments making it sound airy. There's no congestion found even in busy tracks. Imaging is precise. It has decent detail retrieval capabilities. Cymbals sound natural and crisp. Treble too carries forward S8's good performance with good extensions. Has decent details and is non-fatiguing.

Verdict

S8 is a very good dongle DACAMP for the price. It has got very good sound quality to go with good enough power to drive most IEMs.