Hilidac Audirect Beam 2 review
I bought Beam 2 in search of another synergy combo, mainly to replace the SMSL Idea (in the O2+Idea combo), now that Idea has been unavailable for months.
I even ordered the red one, just like 2 out of 3 my Ideas - I ordered all three in red, but in the last order the store ran out of red
Beam 2 costs a lot more than Idea - 140$ vs 85$, so my expectations were high.
Build/package:
Idea was based on the ESS ES9018Q2C chip, and supported PCM up to 32bit/768kHz and DSD up to DSD512
Beam 2 is based on dual ESS9281C Pro, and supports up to 32bit/384Hz and DSD up to DSD128, but adds MQA rendering (but not decoding!) and a balanced 2.5mm output.
Beam 2 specifies much higher power - 110mW into 32Ohm, compared to 36mW on the Idea.
Beam 2 has no physical buttons, only the Type-C port and the 2.5/3.5mm ports, it's controlled purely from your laptop/smartphone.
The indicator light is supposed to change color according to the music format - red is SD audio format, blue is HD master audio format, and rose red is MQA master audio format.
However, playing MP3s from Foobar2000 the indicator was blue - "HD master audio format"
Beam 2 comes with 3 short cables - Lightning to Type-C, Type-C to Type-C, and Type-C to Type A.
Sound Quality:
I started my test on the laptop, running Beam2 with O2.
Beam 2 seems to sound better with 192/24 instead of 96/24, even when listening to MP3s.
Using it with O2 doesn't make much difference, except for a very slight improvement in bass texture (which is already very good). It is a quite powerful device, meant to be used standalone.
Sound wise, I would rate it around the level of Sabaj DA3, below SMSL IQ. Compared to Sabaj DA3, Beam 2 has better bass texture, worse timbre - especially in vocals.
There is no synergy with Pro 82, it's just an above average sounding DAC/amp.
I didn't test MQA rendering or the balanced output.
Conclusion:
I am baffled by Beam 2 - who is this device for? Judging by the inclusion of Lightning and Type C cables, it's targeting mobile users.
But I can't imagine myself using my smartphone with a wired DAC and a wired headphone - it's too limiting.
Excellent Bluetooth adapters that provide same or better SQ cost only about half as much - Earstudio ES100, Shanling UP2, FIOO BTR3/3K, and they can also be used as USB DACs.
I regret buying Beam 2, should have gone for Shanling Q1 - it doesn't support MQA rendering and doesn't have 2.5mm output, but supports the same PCM and DSD rates.
Q1 is based on ES9218P, costs 20$ less, is a full fledged lossless music player and supports 2-way Bluetooth, including LDAC support as a receiver. Of course, it can be used as a USB DAC too. Much better value proposition than Beam 2.
Is MQA rendering (but nor decoding) really such an important feature, that people will pay 140$ for it? If Beam 2 can't beat SQ of much cheaper devices with FLAC/MP3 files, will it suddenly sound much better with MQA? I doubt it.
Here is the DAC/Amp comparison post:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/tak...ns-and-discussion-thread.849965/post-13501419