Another great, unbiased review … thanks Amir! Purchased this from Amazon after watching your review. I usually take reviews with a “grain-of-salt” as the reviews are subjective based on the reviewers likes/dislikes … that’s why I love your objective reviews. Really gives us a good baseline for comparison, before subjectivity plays its part. Very much enjoy your reviews, keep up the great work. You’re doing all of us a great service.
i bought the dragonfly black like 5 years ago, making only dust these days. Now I use the well reviewed (well... subjectively well reviewed....not at Amir level of course) FiiO BTR5 in DAC form with my macbook pro, specs says produce 242 mw at 32 omhs in the balance output, the little device has volume, battery as is also a Bluetooth5.0 Receiver with LDAC, aptX HD, codecs. to be fair it is not as small as a dongle but still is a quite tinny device at 1.55 ounces. Roughly same price as the Hidizs. So in paper could be a better deal, but only Amir can tell us if it is truly better, I love your channel!!!!
WOW! Just purchased from Amazon within 60 seconds of watching Amir's review. If this sounds half as good as the numbers indicate, it's an incredible value. The idea of pairing this to my phone to power Sundara w/balanced cables on-the-go is beyond exciting! Thanks Amir!
@@razetw well......it worked fine for a few days before the audio clipping began as others have noted. Power for the Sundara with 2.5mm balanced cable was more than adequate. Battery drain on my android was horrible however. DAC was always warm, clearly pulling a lot of juice. Poor battery life plus quality control issues was enough for me. Back to Amazon for refund.
Purchased it based on your recommendation! The THX was my first choice but too expensive for my budget, still I think I made the right choice, sound is clean and very powerful. I'm using it at the gym or while bicycling and couldn't be much happier! This dongle gives me tremendous pleasure. 🇨🇦
What an impressive little gizmo! I liked the flow of your presentation and especially all the graphs and infographics. Really thankful to see that 32 tone spread, it really puts me at ease, 1khz data always leaves me wondering ha ha. I know allot of color-theory is based around having simultaneously balanced colors across the visual spectrum, for example blue and yellow go well together as yellow is a crossover of Red and Green, so together with Blue it stimulates all 3 cones in our eyes of RedGreenBlue. I think music theory may be the same, where there's some psychoacoustic joy in perceiving just a few small portions of the auditory spectrum simultaneously, I find it kind of interesting to think of an amplifiers performance in that simultaneous broad-spectrum context. A smooth linear noise floor is kind of like having all he colors present which would just wash out as white, I guess that's why they call it white noise. Whereas when you get non linear jaggies like this Dongle has, they're more like distinct colors, which may present to us some theoretical patterns and pairings of jaggies that stand out like colors complementing each other if they strike the rite interval. To stretch the metaphor, these jaggies at inaudible levels is like color theory in the dark ha ha ha. So like a linear noise floor of higher volume would be like a white background with the paint of music on it, like painting on a white piece of paper. While the lower the noisefloor gets us more into grey and black approaching HDR like black levels allowing the musical colors to really glow and shine on that dark background, but in a scenario like we see with this dongle as it gets "darker" and quieter, it also moves out of color neutrality and has a slight tone to it, so now it's like were painting on black construction paper that was left in the sun and washed out a little bit green. I tend to feel it's better to have the lower noise floor, than to pursue linearity, because it's getting it even further outside of perception to avoid interactions that would possibly bring it into perception. But perhaps in some real world scenarios, there's knock-on effects that in certain contexts make linear better. At -120db it's inaudible, and arguably of no significance, what I wonder is if the noise is still cumulative with the signal content? like if we added 50db of white noise, would the jaggies add cumulatively and move that inaudible texture up into the audible range? or if we had tube distortion would the noise balloon the harmonics into crushing the high end resolution. It would be cool to see how a signal chain of equalizers and DSP toys transmutes a DAC's jaggies through those layers of cumulative distortions. My desktop setup is like a trainwreck, with boxcar after boxcar of signal chain modulating gizmos that I just like playing around with ha ha ha. Anyway thanks for the video! keep up the good work!
Love your reviews man gotta say. Also bought the s9 pro based on your review of the 8 and 9. I was very impressed and even bought one for a friend. It drives my hd650s with east also drives even my hifiman sundaras in Single ended mode no problem. Great and thank you sir.
Also placed an order for one based on your thorough review! I woudn't have known about this device if it weren't for your Audio Science website. Subscribed!!
It would be very interesting to see how it compares to measurements of TempoTec Sonata BHD. This is because iBHD is balanced as well, but (in contrast to Hidizs) has volume control buttons.
Tried a few including dragon fly cobalt ,earman sparrow and this s9 . Ithini the sparrow just edges it on balanced and at low volume.(unimpressed with the cobalt) ,however this has more drive and is better at higher volumes all at half the price so I kept the S9. Great review thank you. I use Shure 846 for reference.
How was your SE846 + S9 Pro experience after a year and possibly varrying setups? Also, what was the Audio File Source? Curious if Samsung, Apple, or other and if there was any noise. If you see this - THANKS!
I'm not sure if you done this but could you test if balanced iem cables and dac makes a audible difference. I'm curious because I recently purchased a sensitive iem ( Fearless S8P) and I'm currently using it with my phone's 3.5mm jack (Lg V20 quad dac). is the upgrade to balanced really that audible that everybody recommend it? PS. I recently found your channel and immediately subscribed!
Looks like 6 of the same 25 people that usually downvote his videos, are missing here. Good video man. Glad someone’s out here providing objective measurements.
Amirn, when you done the test on the trinnov altitude can you please throw it in the cat litter box for the scam that trinnov , dolby labs atmos is thank you.
Can you review Shanling UA2 and UA1 and compare it with Hidizs z9 pro and 8... It would be lovely to see the comparison and also the amount of power they suck when used with mobile device
the definition of no-nonsense review........real smart........a review on hidizs s9 pro is a must Sir.........if possible..........thanku & cheers!!!!!
thanks for the quality content Amir. it would have been great if you tested for the steepness of the volume control which was the main complain people had with the S8, from both the in built volume buttons (which might be the reason why the removed them altogether this time around) and the system volume in a phone. I am sure we will be discussing this in the forum in no time but it might also be of concern for the folks at youtube
I almost bought the S8 because of the volume buttons (and it's now ~$85). I opted for the S9 since I might consider converting to balanced, and I also preferred USB-C over micro-USB. But this is good to hear, eliminates my angst over losing the volume adjustment. Edit: turned out to be a bust. Mine had the stuttering issue; didn't care to try again with another unit. The search continues.
That was a great review 🤩 . Now there is the s9 pro if you can get it and test it cz the s9 is no longer available (thnx to akm Factory fire) . Plz we need u to get it and test it 🥺❤️
I've got 2 concerns about this DAC: 1 - it's not shielded so it easily picks up interference from phone's GSM/WIFI 2 - if you have IEMs like Shure SE846 then at v.low volumes you might hear a lot of noise when watching videos on e.g. youtube or listening to music on default music player or spotify, yt music etc. The only solution for issue no. 2 (that works for me) is to use upsampling to 24bit in USB Audio Player Pro or Poweramp.
I would go with the Quadelix 5k that you reviewed since it has 10 PEQ filters built-in via its application. Sure, Distortion didn't measure great but S/N is really good and it provides a lot of power.
@@chamade166 Amirn, when you done the test on the trinnov altitude can you please throw it in the cat litter box for the scam that trinnov , dolby labs atmos is thank you.
So, for balanced use with my iPhone, the ddHiFi TC44B (also highly reviewed by Amir) beats the Hidizs S9 Pro, hands down. Both have excellent sound quality, but the S9 Pro draws so much power that the volume starts clipping in the 60-65% range. The TC44B, while not being as powerful on paper, cleanly powers headphones to 85-90% full volume on my iPhone. In addition, I think the Cirrus Logic DAC chips sound a little more musical to my ears.
Hi Amir, thank you very much for all the effort you put into your measurements/reviews. Always a joy to watch. Any chance you are going to measure the FiiO Q3? All the best from Germany.
I would love a test of "burn-in" amplifier and dac. Some brands state hours or weeks of burn in before they sound good as they can. I really suspect that at first they sound not so good but after a while you get used to that sound so you like it more. Is there any burn in in cap,transistor,etc..? From what I leaned at school they dont change value over hours of use. yes over time caps, resistor value will change.
@Audio Science Review Thanks for this review, Amir! 👍 With so many of these portable dongle type USB DAC/Headphone Amplifiers available now, it's really hard to know which one to go with BEFORE buying it and actually testing it with your own high-impedance headphones. It would be great if they added a small USB Type-C or mini-USB jack/port to function as a dedicated power input so we could use a small, slim, pocketable smartphone-sized rechargeable 10,000mAh USB Power Bank as a "clean" PSU. Yes, that would somewhat defeat the minimalist/portable aspect, but if your portable source unit's battery dies quickly while using this, well, you're "dead in the water" so to speak without gaining very much listening enjoyment. Do any of these small, portable and good-performing DAC/Headphone Amplifier units offer a separate power input jack? ...like the Apple Camera Connection Kit dongle or most USB to HDMI output dongles? I'm looking for a new, small USB DAC/Headphone Amp to combine with my *Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0* GSM/LTE cellular 8" Phablet (# SM-T715Y). This combination would function as my Car Audio Source or "Head Unit". Preferably, the DAC/H-P Amp would have a ~4v Balanced Output to feed into the multi-channel *miniDSP C-DSP 8x12 DL* processor that I use in one of my "high-end" car audio systems (I'm a long time follower/internet buddy of Erin Hardison). I use the Android *USB Audio Player Pro* app on the Samsung Phablet. These types of USB DAC/Headphone Amps really kill the battery quickly in your portable Smartphone or Tablet if you don't have a way to simultaneously charge them!
You could get cables that separate the power line from data and then feed them that way. Problem is that you could create ground loops due to inclusion of another power supply. And at any rate, performance would not improve.
Hi Amir! Just purchased this little DAC to compare with my Audioquest dragonfly red on hd650. I came across a review you wrote on a graph that compares SINAD and found the red in tier 3 or 4 :(. I also read something from the net that there's a difference between balanced and true balanced in how it works (especially on ps audio where paul explains how balanced works). I am a bit confused. Can you enlighten me a bit? and also how does the balanced work on this particular DAC. I heard hd650 has a wider soundstage using balanced. (according to z review I think. ) Very much appreciated.
I have purchased the Tempotec sonata HD pro after reading the review of Hidizs S8.Really happy with its performance.Unfortunately when using with Android phones,I simply cannot bypass the Android audio control/driver- whatever that thing is called.With laptop it sounds great when combined with Fiio K5.I tried Hiby music app,but was disappointed with audio quality. Thanks for all the hard work you put in.
Yes, the *USB Audio Player Pro* app replaces the built-in Android audio Kernal in your Android smartphone (which up- or down-samples all digital music files to 16-bit/48kHz) with it's own proprietary Audio Kernal to provide bit perfect Hi-Res, non-resampled digital output. Well worth the price of the app.
I'm also searching for measurement tests of the BTR5, I have ome, and it sounds really good, energetic, but I'm not sure how it performs to other budget portable DACs. Hope to see some tests soon!
Hey! I have been experiencing popping and sometimes crackling noise when I pause or play music. I am afraid of damaging the headphones (Audeze LCD-2C). Any help is much appreciated.
The analyzes are surprising, but what about the noise of the PSU of a PC? Being a dongle, where are the filter/reserve capacitors, are they really needed?
Thanks for the video. I am very new to this category and still trying to learn. I have an iPhone and as you know Apple Music now supports lossless and hi-res lossless. I recently purchased the $9 Apple lighting 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter. It includes a built in DAC. Have you done a review of this adapter? If yes, do you feel it is a great value for $9 and a good choice for an iPhone-Apple Music user?
These dongles are very underrated. 3 years ago you had to spend 100-200$ to get decent sound quality on PC. Apparently we only needed to get rid of 3.5mm in smartphones so that manufacturers would start making cheap decent dacs. Now it only takes 10$ to get transparent dac+amp+mic input with -85 thd+n. Some still pretending that they are only for mobile use or they are just an "adapters". But i think even 0.5V would be enough for many headphones on the market to get 100-110dB and some dongles have nearly 2V undistorted output. Not to mention state of the art projects like E1DA
I just got one of those last week and am astonished at how good it is, even with my LG V40 which most folks agree has an excellent DAC for a smart phone. Certainly the E1DA drives all my planar phones and moderately hard to drive Beyerdynamic T90s without difficulty. The volume implementation is fiddly, however, and I have nearly blown my little ears off a couple of times but generally a great buy.
@@Lamanka85 The USB stick shape and the amateurish logo make it look so unnecessarily cheap that I don't want it on my table. But taste is subjective... I won't fault you for choosing the superior internals of the E1DA!
Hi. Your review vlog is next level, very comprehensive and i really appreciate it. I finally received the S9 about a week ago. was very happy with it up until a few minutes ago. It won't come on whereas all the times I used it up until now it came on just fine by itself. Is there anything I can do to get it to work again? Any reason it would just up and stop functioning?
does the volume you listen at impact what level of performance you should pay for in a source when you do not want to spend anymore than you need? I'm rural ontop of a mountain in the woods with a passive pc etc etc so my listening room has a background noise level of 13db which makes like 75db sound loud as hell and even before I lived here I never really listen loud. Does this mean the thresholds for what is considered strictly transparent change? if so which ones
Nice testing-methods I have to say, thx for that; I whould love to see audio-tests for my Denon AH-D 5200 Headphones and IPOD SHuffle 1First Generation. As I remember right, they say, the IPOD Shuffle 1G was the best of the best at the time in terms of audio-quality..., but was it? I use it until today, and I still like it very much! But is that objektive or subjective?
Can you measure the effect of placing a doorstop on top of a DAC? For the memes, please please please ... or ok, vibrations in general, shake it, hit it with a [rubber] hammer during measurement ...
Welp, already returning mine. It cracks and pops, as well as has some sort of buffering issue where it occasionally drops samples and causes a hitch in the audio. Other than that it's a noticeable upgrade over my current piece-of-crap DAC/amp, but the quality issues naturally overshadow the sonic performance. I noticed quite a few Amazon reviews complaining about QC issues like this.
I have a question for you: does using European equipment (designed for 220V) in the US (using a step up-down converter to 220V) make sense or does the converter degrade performance?
Cant find a solution for getting this to be recognized when plugged into the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G - every other device i plug it into works immediately, every other USB C cable is recognized just not the S9 Pro DAC......and yes ive tried enabling developer mode, USB debugging etc. Contacted Hidizs ....still no help!
I am confused on the use of this device. I have an ipad Air4 with usb C socket. I use a usb to 3.5mm adapter for headphones. If I use this device instead of my adapter what exactly does it do? Surely to use the DAC in this device the output from the ipad needs to be a digital stream not just audio that normally powers headphones?
The adapter you’re using and the S9 are in the same product category. They are external DACs with headphone jacks that both bypass the iPad’s internal DAC to process and output the sound.
@@juliuso1 Thanks. I had assumed the $20 adapter I am using was a simple usb plug wired to a 3.5mm socket and did not contain any electronics. So, if I use the S9 when streaming from Spotify or Tidal then the flac or ogg file will stream from the ipad usb?
@@geoff37s38 That $20 adapter has a DAC inside it, a very small one. Since USB-C is a digital interface, it cannot directly output an analog signal. So it's not a dumb adapter that turns a USB-C connection into a headphone jack. It's also performing Digital-Analog conversion. An easy way to think about it is when you plug the S9 or that adapter into your iPad, the internal iPad DAC shuts off, and your external DAC turns on and does the work.
Thanks Amir. I bought this based on your review. However, I cant figure out how to connect this to iphone 12... i bought a small cable with lightening one end and usb c other end didnt work (the part that goes into the DAC needs to be longer than normal)... I tried my charging cable with usb c and lightening also didnt work. I bought a small attachment with female usb c to lighterning in order to use their usb c cable... also didnt work. Can anyone recommend me a cable or attachment to use this to listen on iphone 12? Thanks
@@michaelzoppo534 No you dont. I saw this reply so many times and seems like people keep pasting what they read. you need to buy Lightning to Type-C DAC OTG Cable: www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002015389662.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.7c894c4dgPxBiw
I had a stuttering problem too. Just sent it back for a refund rather than replacement. Hopefully we'll get some more budget dac/amp reviews, or confirmation that Hidizs has fixed the problem.
I suspect it might have the same problem as the Apple USB-C adapter has for me which is it gets too loud too quickly for low impedance phones like IEMs, when used on Windows 10. Key phrase here is "when used on Windows 10." I know it's meant for phones.
Amir I hope you will forgive me posting a bit off topic but I wanted to say something about the measurement/ golden ears argument and this is your most recent video. You often use an analogy with medicine when arguing for a purely evidence based approach, one with which I mainly agree. However.. I have been a physician for 35 years. When I started in medicine beta blockers were contraindicated in heart failure. The evidence we had at the time suggested they killed people by reducing the hearts capacity to pump forcefully and efficiently. Now one of the first drugs we reach for when we diagnose someone with heart failure is a beta blocker. They are invaluable and save lives. Turns out we had an incomplete understanding of the mechanism of the ailment and the way the drugs worked. There are many other areas where medicine has evolved as the science and our understanding evolves. Areas where we were completely wrong but for the very best reasons. It is likely that the physical science of signal production, transfer, conversion and music reproduction will evolve too and that there is stuff going on which we don't understand and can't measure. Yet. All that before you bring psychoacoustics into the equation. I am all for relying on the best evidence available and debunking marketing nonsense but perhaps we need to be more willing to admit we may only be seeing part of the picture. Of course the companies building stuff are working with the same level of scientific understanding you are so challenging unsupported claims is entirely legitimate.
I don't mind your question but answering it takes a lot more than a comment here. Let me just say that we are like 40 years into realization that we need to have controlled testing before we believe efficacy of any audio product. In your domain, I am pretty sure no one is advocating that we throw out controlled testing and everything you have learned in medical school and your profession, and believe anyone who is selling anything. That is the world of audio we are living in. People literally selling little stickers smaller than a postage stamp that you put on your walls and supposedly improves the sound! It has become wild west with zero regards to engineering, science, research and even common sense. I am sure nothing remotely like that exists in proper medical field. Our instrumentation today absolutely can tell if the signal is changed. There are no ifs and buts about it. It is like me telling you that you can't measure my blood pressure because as a lay person, I can't figure out how anyone can do that.
I absolutely agree about testing and it's importance and we can only work within the limitations of our current knowledge base. I simply think it's important to acknowledge that both what we can measure and our interpretation of those measurements are subject to change as our understanding advances. I guess it is a plea for humility from those people on all sides of the argument. Having said that I am learning an enormous amount from your UA-cam channel. I always felt that the website, especially the forums, quite naturally assumed a great deal of pre-existing knowledge but your excellent demonstrations and explanations are proving invaluable in filling in the gaps, for me at least.
Thanks for this Amir. I actually bought one of these last night just before this review was posted. Seems like it was a good decision based on the measurements. Was it not possible to do a linearity test?
It is because my analyzer can't generate the signal without noise being added to it for this class of device. I can only run "static" test signals which I play with my audio player which doesn't allow "sweep" type tests like Linearity.
Hi Amir. Will you also be reviewing the Hidizs S9 Pro that will be launching soon?
You are the best, Amir.
You are very kind Robert.
Another great, unbiased review … thanks Amir! Purchased this from Amazon after watching your review. I usually take reviews with a “grain-of-salt” as the reviews are subjective based on the reviewers likes/dislikes … that’s why I love your objective reviews. Really gives us a good baseline for comparison, before subjectivity plays its part. Very much enjoy your reviews, keep up the great work. You’re doing all of us a great service.
i bought the dragonfly black like 5 years ago, making only dust these days. Now I use the well reviewed (well... subjectively well reviewed....not at Amir level of course) FiiO BTR5 in DAC form with my macbook pro, specs says produce 242 mw at 32 omhs in the balance output, the little device has volume, battery as is also a Bluetooth5.0 Receiver with LDAC, aptX HD, codecs. to be fair it is not as small as a dongle but still is a quite tinny device at 1.55 ounces. Roughly same price as the Hidizs. So in paper could be a better deal, but only Amir can tell us if it is truly better, I love your channel!!!!
Always trust your ears.
Just placed an order for one. I get the feeling that watching this channel and reading your reviews are going to get a bit expensive for me lol
Or another way to look at it, is you aren't going to buy the overpriced / poor performance Vs cost gear, thus in the long run will save you a fortune!
Not reading and watching ASR is even more expensive ;-)
WOW! Just purchased from Amazon within 60 seconds of watching Amir's review. If this sounds half as good as the numbers indicate, it's an incredible value. The idea of pairing this to my phone to power Sundara w/balanced cables on-the-go is beyond exciting! Thanks Amir!
The sound is great but there are quality issues regarding functionality. Mine would stutter like crazy.
@@humanbass Thanks for the heads up. Easy to return to Amazon if there is an issue, but good to know.
Man, I hope I did not set too high of an expectation. :)
@@robshead can you update how it worked with your sundara?
@@razetw well......it worked fine for a few days before the audio clipping began as others have noted. Power for the Sundara with 2.5mm balanced cable was more than adequate. Battery drain on my android was horrible however. DAC was always warm, clearly pulling a lot of juice. Poor battery life plus quality control issues was enough for me. Back to Amazon for refund.
Have to reviewed the upgraded one with the ES9038Q2M DAC chip from ESS Sabre Technologies?
Purchased it based on your recommendation! The THX was my first choice but too expensive for my budget, still I think I made the right choice, sound is clean and very powerful. I'm using it at the gym or while bicycling and couldn't be much happier! This dongle gives me tremendous pleasure.
🇨🇦
Hey Amir! Are you going to review the new Hidizs S9 Pro?
What an impressive little gizmo! I liked the flow of your presentation and especially all the graphs and infographics. Really thankful to see that 32 tone spread, it really puts me at ease, 1khz data always leaves me wondering ha ha. I know allot of color-theory is based around having simultaneously balanced colors across the visual spectrum, for example blue and yellow go well together as yellow is a crossover of Red and Green, so together with Blue it stimulates all 3 cones in our eyes of RedGreenBlue. I think music theory may be the same, where there's some psychoacoustic joy in perceiving just a few small portions of the auditory spectrum simultaneously, I find it kind of interesting to think of an amplifiers performance in that simultaneous broad-spectrum context. A smooth linear noise floor is kind of like having all he colors present which would just wash out as white, I guess that's why they call it white noise. Whereas when you get non linear jaggies like this Dongle has, they're more like distinct colors, which may present to us some theoretical patterns and pairings of jaggies that stand out like colors complementing each other if they strike the rite interval.
To stretch the metaphor, these jaggies at inaudible levels is like color theory in the dark ha ha ha. So like a linear noise floor of higher volume would be like a white background with the paint of music on it, like painting on a white piece of paper. While the lower the noisefloor gets us more into grey and black approaching HDR like black levels allowing the musical colors to really glow and shine on that dark background, but in a scenario like we see with this dongle as it gets "darker" and quieter, it also moves out of color neutrality and has a slight tone to it, so now it's like were painting on black construction paper that was left in the sun and washed out a little bit green. I tend to feel it's better to have the lower noise floor, than to pursue linearity, because it's getting it even further outside of perception to avoid interactions that would possibly bring it into perception. But perhaps in some real world scenarios, there's knock-on effects that in certain contexts make linear better. At -120db it's inaudible, and arguably of no significance, what I wonder is if the noise is still cumulative with the signal content? like if we added 50db of white noise, would the jaggies add cumulatively and move that inaudible texture up into the audible range? or if we had tube distortion would the noise balloon the harmonics into crushing the high end resolution. It would be cool to see how a signal chain of equalizers and DSP toys transmutes a DAC's jaggies through those layers of cumulative distortions. My desktop setup is like a trainwreck, with boxcar after boxcar of signal chain modulating gizmos that I just like playing around with ha ha ha. Anyway thanks for the video! keep up the good work!
Love your reviews man gotta say. Also bought the s9 pro based on your review of the 8 and 9. I was very impressed and even bought one for a friend. It drives my hd650s with east also drives even my hifiman sundaras in Single ended mode no problem. Great and thank you sir.
Love your approach to fine audio. It brings us down to earth and practical information.
Also placed an order for one based on your thorough review! I woudn't have known about this device if it weren't for your Audio Science website. Subscribed!!
Will you be reviewing the S9 Pro?
It would be very interesting to see how it compares to measurements of TempoTec Sonata BHD. This is because iBHD is balanced as well, but (in contrast to Hidizs) has volume control buttons.
Tried a few including dragon fly cobalt ,earman sparrow and this s9 . Ithini the sparrow just edges it on balanced and at low volume.(unimpressed with the cobalt) ,however this has more drive and is better at higher volumes all at half the price so I kept the S9. Great review thank you. I use Shure 846 for reference.
How was your SE846 + S9 Pro experience after a year and possibly varrying setups?
Also, what was the Audio File Source? Curious if Samsung, Apple, or other and if there was any noise.
If you see this - THANKS!
I'm not sure if you done this but could you test if balanced iem cables and dac makes a audible difference. I'm curious because I recently purchased a sensitive iem ( Fearless S8P) and I'm currently using it with my phone's 3.5mm jack (Lg V20 quad dac). is the upgrade to balanced really that audible that everybody recommend it?
PS. I recently found your channel and immediately subscribed!
Looks like 6 of the same 25 people that usually downvote his videos, are missing here.
Good video man. Glad someone’s out here providing objective measurements.
Fingers crossed, hoping TempoTec comes out with a lower priced version.
Amirn, when you done the test on the trinnov altitude can you please throw it in the cat litter box for the scam that trinnov , dolby labs atmos is thank you.
I just bought the S9 Pro. It sounds amazing~!!
Can you review Shanling UA2 and UA1 and compare it with Hidizs z9 pro and 8...
It would be lovely to see the comparison and also the amount of power they suck when used with mobile device
big fan of your website. great to see you have a youtube channel too now! subscribed instantly!
Great review. Subscribed. I'm still holding on to my LG V30. The dac is amazing.
the definition of no-nonsense review........real smart........a review on hidizs s9 pro is a must Sir.........if possible..........thanku & cheers!!!!!
I picked one up based on this video. Look forward to trying it, but hard to go wrong at the price. Thanks for the interesting report.
Greetings from Mumbai, India . Excellent, thanks for the technical, objective analysis. Thanks Samir
thanks for the quality content Amir. it would have been great if you tested for the steepness of the volume control which was the main complain people had with the S8, from both the in built volume buttons (which might be the reason why the removed them altogether this time around) and the system volume in a phone. I am sure we will be discussing this in the forum in no time but it might also be of concern for the folks at youtube
I almost bought the S8 because of the volume buttons (and it's now ~$85). I opted for the S9 since I might consider converting to balanced, and I also preferred USB-C over micro-USB. But this is good to hear, eliminates my angst over losing the volume adjustment.
Edit: turned out to be a bust. Mine had the stuttering issue; didn't care to try again with another unit. The search continues.
That was a great review 🤩 . Now there is the s9 pro if you can get it and test it cz the s9 is no longer available (thnx to akm Factory fire) . Plz we need u to get it and test it 🥺❤️
Such a pro-review, GR8 !
I ordered the new Hidizs S9 PRO, wondering in what way it beats its predecessor the Hidizs S9. ✌
Subbed.
Hidizs s9pro vs audirect beam 2 which one is more better ?
Love your insights man. Thanks.
I've got 2 concerns about this DAC:
1 - it's not shielded so it easily picks up interference from phone's GSM/WIFI
2 - if you have IEMs like Shure SE846 then at v.low volumes you might hear a lot of noise when watching videos on e.g. youtube or listening to music on default music player or spotify, yt music etc.
The only solution for issue no. 2 (that works for me) is to use upsampling to 24bit in USB Audio Player Pro or Poweramp.
I bought one and using with Sennheiser HD650. Great combo. Thanks Amir and greatings from Poland.
I would go with the Quadelix 5k that you reviewed since it has 10 PEQ filters built-in via its application. Sure, Distortion didn't measure great but S/N is really good and it provides a lot of power.
Doesn’t the Qudelix sound veiled/muddy
@@chamade166 Amirn, when you done the test on the trinnov altitude can you please throw it in the cat litter box for the scam that trinnov , dolby labs atmos is thank you.
Yes. I get the S9 (AK-chip) this week :) I allready have S8 and S9 Pro.
You think Avantone Planars can work? 32ohms 250mw
So, for balanced use with my iPhone, the ddHiFi TC44B (also highly reviewed by Amir) beats the Hidizs S9 Pro, hands down. Both have excellent sound quality, but the S9 Pro draws so much power that the volume starts clipping in the 60-65% range. The TC44B, while not being as powerful on paper, cleanly powers headphones to 85-90% full volume on my iPhone. In addition, I think the Cirrus Logic DAC chips sound a little more musical to my ears.
Hi Amir, thank you very much for all the effort you put into your measurements/reviews. Always a joy to watch. Any chance you are going to measure the FiiO Q3? All the best from Germany.
I would love a test of "burn-in" amplifier and dac. Some brands state hours or weeks of burn in before they sound good as they can. I really suspect that at first they sound not so good but after a while you get used to that sound so you like it more. Is there any burn in in cap,transistor,etc..? From what I leaned at school they dont change value over hours of use. yes over time caps, resistor value will change.
nonsense unless it is tube amp
@Audio Science Review
Thanks for this review, Amir! 👍
With so many of these portable dongle type USB DAC/Headphone Amplifiers available now, it's really hard to know which one to go with BEFORE buying it and actually testing it with your own high-impedance headphones.
It would be great if they added a small USB Type-C or mini-USB jack/port to function as a dedicated power input so we could use a small, slim, pocketable smartphone-sized rechargeable 10,000mAh USB Power Bank as a "clean" PSU.
Yes, that would somewhat defeat the minimalist/portable aspect, but if your portable source unit's battery dies quickly while using this, well, you're "dead in the water" so to speak without gaining very much listening enjoyment.
Do any of these small, portable and good-performing DAC/Headphone Amplifier units offer a separate power input jack? ...like the Apple Camera Connection Kit dongle or most USB to HDMI output dongles?
I'm looking for a new, small USB DAC/Headphone Amp to combine with my *Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0* GSM/LTE cellular 8" Phablet (# SM-T715Y). This combination would function as my Car Audio Source or "Head Unit".
Preferably, the DAC/H-P Amp would have a ~4v Balanced Output to feed into the multi-channel *miniDSP C-DSP 8x12 DL* processor that I use in one of my "high-end" car audio systems (I'm a long time follower/internet buddy of Erin Hardison).
I use the Android *USB Audio Player Pro* app on the Samsung Phablet. These types of USB DAC/Headphone Amps really kill the battery quickly in your portable Smartphone or Tablet if you don't have a way to simultaneously charge them!
You could get cables that separate the power line from data and then feed them that way. Problem is that you could create ground loops due to inclusion of another power supply. And at any rate, performance would not improve.
If you have a wireless charging capable phone you can pair it up with a wireless charging powerbank.
Have you reviewed the Shanling UA 2? It's also very good. Your reviews are real science. Very nice.
Hi Amir! Just purchased this little DAC to compare with my Audioquest dragonfly red on hd650. I came across a review you wrote on a graph that compares SINAD and found the red in tier 3 or 4 :(. I also read something from the net that there's a difference between balanced and true balanced in how it works (especially on ps audio where paul explains how balanced works). I am a bit confused. Can you enlighten me a bit? and also how does the balanced work on this particular DAC. I heard hd650 has a wider soundstage using balanced. (according to z review I think. ) Very much appreciated.
ua-cam.com/video/N1lJCL5OCxM/v-deo.html
Amir video on balanced gear
I just ordered the Pro version and it's rated at 200mw @ 32Ohm. Thanks for all the data.
The S9 or Tempotec Sonata HD Pro if I only use Moondrop Blessing 2 IEM's and Yamaha HS8 active monitors with it?
I would like to know what you ended up using. I've got the Dusk.
I have purchased the Tempotec sonata HD pro after reading the review of Hidizs S8.Really happy with its performance.Unfortunately when using with Android phones,I simply cannot bypass the Android audio control/driver- whatever that thing is called.With laptop it sounds great when combined with Fiio K5.I tried Hiby music app,but was disappointed with audio quality.
Thanks for all the hard work you put in.
Download uapp from playstore and try again on your android
Yes, the *USB Audio Player Pro* app replaces the built-in Android audio Kernal in your Android smartphone (which up- or down-samples all digital music files to 16-bit/48kHz) with it's own proprietary Audio Kernal to provide bit perfect Hi-Res, non-resampled digital output. Well worth the price of the app.
Thanks for the suggestion. If I am not mistaken,doesnt Hiby music app perform the same function as UAPP
@@texmo42 yes
Fantastic review!
Better performance from the Hidizs S9/S9 Pro, or from the Topping NX4 DSD?
I would like to see review of the most populat one, the Dragonfly Cobalt
He's reviewed other members of the Dragonfly range. The results weren't pretty ... in fact they were abysmal.
Dragonflys are overpriced and use ESS Dac chipset which doesn’t to sound good, IMO.
Archimago has a very detailed review. It is not pretty.
I'll save you some time and money. Stay away from Audioquest.
@@iowaudioreviews how about audioquest cables that John Darko loves so much.
i bought it yesterday i wanna say this is the best tiny dac i have ever owned thank you so much for your recommendation
Great video! i wonder if adapter like these affects microphone quality?
Now Im going to need to buy one.... have you reviewed the BRT5 ? that my fav at the moment
I'm also searching for measurement tests of the BTR5, I have ome, and it sounds really good, energetic, but I'm not sure how it performs to other budget portable DACs. Hope to see some tests soon!
When fiio btr5?
Hey!
I have been experiencing popping and sometimes crackling noise when I pause or play music.
I am afraid of damaging the headphones (Audeze LCD-2C).
Any help is much appreciated.
The analyzes are surprising, but what about the noise of the PSU of a PC? Being a dongle, where are the filter/reserve capacitors, are they really needed?
please help me with an answer and tell me why hidizs s9 pro does not connect to my phone, did I miss something?
Would love to see a review of earmen eagle and ikko zerda compared to this for balanced output performance.
Thanks for this great review.
I have tested some earman products.
@@AudioScienceReview I thought I just seen the sparrow on there
Great review. Is the S9 compatible with the upcoming Apple Lossless format?
Thank you for a fantastic review 🙏
Thanks for the video. I am very new to this category and still trying to learn. I have an iPhone and as you know Apple Music now supports lossless and hi-res lossless. I recently purchased
the $9 Apple lighting 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter. It includes a built in DAC. Have you done a review of this adapter? If yes, do you feel it is a great value for $9 and a good choice for an iPhone-Apple Music user?
Apple dongle doesn’t do hi resolution.
Amir, pls test E1DA 9038D - unbalanced version of 9038S you’ve tested some time ago
I think he has sent me one and I have been remiss in testing it.
E1DA 9038D and 9038S (latest version) test would be appreciated! Thanks for great video Amir!
These dongles are very underrated. 3 years ago you had to spend 100-200$ to get decent sound quality on PC. Apparently we only needed to get rid of 3.5mm in smartphones so that manufacturers would start making cheap decent dacs. Now it only takes 10$ to get transparent dac+amp+mic input with -85 thd+n. Some still pretending that they are only for mobile use or they are just an "adapters". But i think even 0.5V would be enough for many headphones on the market to get 100-110dB and some dongles have nearly 2V undistorted output. Not to mention state of the art projects like E1DA
Please do a review on the E1DA 9038D!
I just got one of those last week and am astonished at how good it is, even with my LG V40 which most folks agree has an excellent DAC for a smart phone. Certainly the E1DA drives all my planar phones and moderately hard to drive Beyerdynamic T90s without difficulty. The volume implementation is fiddly, however, and I have nearly blown my little ears off a couple of times but generally a great buy.
Too bad it looks so diy
@@eiffe Hi, are you talking about right product? E1DA 9038S is somewhat sleak looking. I wouldn't describe it as diy
@@Lamanka85 The USB stick shape and the amateurish logo make it look so unnecessarily cheap that I don't want it on my table. But taste is subjective... I won't fault you for choosing the superior internals of the E1DA!
Think he did it website article only..
If I get a Hidizs S9, I would be plugging into a desktop PC. Is there a benefit to using a USB 3.2 port instead of the USB 2 or original USB ports ?
For the price and convenience I would like to have MQA support as well, you know, for Tidal Master listening.
MQA is not what they say....The theory is ok, the fact anything but!
@@TheJmsbrown I am getting the same vibe in MQA - more of a marketing/money making than passion for sound quality.
Hi. Your review vlog is next level, very comprehensive and i really appreciate it. I finally received the S9 about a week ago. was very happy with it up until a few minutes ago. It won't come on whereas all the times I used it up until now it came on just fine by itself. Is there anything I can do to get it to work again? Any reason it would just up and stop functioning?
Will this drive a Fostex T50rp? Fulla 2 isn't quite cutting it.
does the volume you listen at impact what level of performance you should pay for in a source when you do not want to spend anymore than you need?
I'm rural ontop of a mountain in the woods with a passive pc etc etc so my listening room has a background noise level of 13db which makes like 75db sound loud as hell and even before I lived here I never really listen loud. Does this mean the thresholds for what is considered strictly transparent change? if so which ones
Nice testing-methods I have to say, thx for that;
I whould love to see audio-tests for my
Denon AH-D 5200 Headphones and
IPOD SHuffle 1First Generation.
As I remember right, they say, the IPOD Shuffle 1G was the best of the best at the time in terms of audio-quality..., but was it?
I use it until today, and I still like it very much! But is that objektive or subjective?
Bought one now after seeing your video
Please compare dongles u reviewed with Shanling UA2 Dac/Amp
How does it compare with E1DA 9038S?
I have a dumb question - most of your tests were in "balanced" mode. Would the performance be the same in unbalanced mode?
REALLY enjoying this Channel. Sadly..... I've had to order this little device. Couldn't resist!
Hehe. :)
Can you measure the effect of placing a doorstop on top of a DAC? For the memes, please please please
... or ok, vibrations in general, shake it, hit it with a [rubber] hammer during measurement ...
Would this be sufficient to drive a pair of Audeze LCD-2 classics?
Welp, already returning mine. It cracks and pops, as well as has some sort of buffering issue where it occasionally drops samples and causes a hitch in the audio. Other than that it's a noticeable upgrade over my current piece-of-crap DAC/amp, but the quality issues naturally overshadow the sonic performance. I noticed quite a few Amazon reviews complaining about QC issues like this.
Is this review the S9 with the AK4493EQ or the S9 PRO one with the ESS9038Q2M DAC chip? I see both for sale.
Nevermind. I missed it when he said it.
The facts nothing but the facts ...... Delightful!
Is there a chance you'll be reviewing Shanling UA2 usb dongle? nice video btw keep the work up
what about latenc, no info given on that topic
Sir s9 pro or btr 5 for best audio quality?
I have a question for you: does using European equipment (designed for 220V) in the US (using a step up-down converter to 220V) make sense or does the converter degrade performance?
This device doesn't care. If you mean power amplifiers, it can because our outlets in US deliver half the power that you get in Europe.
@@AudioScienceReview Thanks for your reply, it's a stereo integrated amplifier, a Harman Kardon HK 970 to be precise
Very useful recommendation. I will try this with my Aeon 2 Noire, but have to make a balanced cable first.
Could I share l share this over a USB-C hub between phone and PC?
is it an upgrade to the hidizs s8?
Cant find a solution for getting this to be recognized when plugged into the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G - every other device i plug it into works immediately, every other USB C cable is recognized just not the S9 Pro DAC......and yes ive tried enabling developer mode, USB debugging etc. Contacted Hidizs ....still no help!
Isn't that just the classic case for Hidizs of needing to plug your headphones into the dongle first, and only then the dongle into the phone?
In what world the apogee groove is huge?
I am confused on the use of this device. I have an ipad Air4 with usb C socket. I use a usb to 3.5mm adapter for headphones. If I use this device instead of my adapter what exactly does it do? Surely to use the DAC in this device the output from the ipad needs to be a digital stream not just audio that normally powers headphones?
The adapter you’re using and the S9 are in the same product category. They are external DACs with headphone jacks that both bypass the iPad’s internal DAC to process and output the sound.
@@juliuso1 Thanks. I had assumed the $20 adapter I am using was a simple usb plug wired to a 3.5mm socket and did not contain any electronics. So, if I use the S9 when streaming from Spotify or Tidal then the flac or ogg file will stream from the ipad usb?
@@geoff37s38 That $20 adapter has a DAC inside it, a very small one. Since USB-C is a digital interface, it cannot directly output an analog signal. So it's not a dumb adapter that turns a USB-C connection into a headphone jack. It's also performing Digital-Analog conversion. An easy way to think about it is when you plug the S9 or that adapter into your iPad, the internal iPad DAC shuts off, and your external DAC turns on and does the work.
@@juliuso1 many thanks forthe info.
Thanks Amir. I bought this based on your review.
However, I cant figure out how to connect this to iphone 12...
i bought a small cable with lightening one end and usb c other end didnt work (the part that goes into the DAC needs to be longer than normal)... I tried my charging cable with usb c and lightening also didnt work. I bought a small attachment with female usb c to lighterning in order to use their usb c cable... also didnt work.
Can anyone recommend me a cable or attachment to use this to listen on iphone 12?
Thanks
You need the camera/USB adapter from Apple.
@@michaelzoppo534 No you dont. I saw this reply so many times and seems like people keep pasting what they read.
you need to buy Lightning to Type-C DAC OTG Cable:
www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002015389662.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.7c894c4dgPxBiw
@@butcherredalert1013 I have this device and the adapter I identified for you works perfectly. You’re welcome for the help though.
@@michaelzoppo534 i got that and it didnt work for me. Thanks though
I got one that faulty, with the audio clipping, stuttering. Hidizs sent me a new one, hope it works well.
I had a stuttering problem too. Just sent it back for a refund rather than replacement. Hopefully we'll get some more budget dac/amp reviews, or confirmation that Hidizs has fixed the problem.
Good video... hope you make other USB dac's review..
I do a lot of testing of them. So more will come.
Had mine for a few weeks driving my hifiman Anandas it sounds just as good as my E30 + smsl sp200 desktop setup.
But reduces bass considerably?
They changed the DAC chip to ES9038Q2M instead of the AKM (fires suck).
Mine's arriving tomorrow
I suspect it might have the same problem as the Apple USB-C adapter has for me which is it gets too loud too quickly for low impedance phones like IEMs, when used on Windows 10. Key phrase here is "when used on Windows 10." I know it's meant for phones.
Hiby FC3?
will you ever get around to reviewing network streamers?
I have reviewed and measured a few. Will do more in the future.
:( still sad the meizu hifi pro disappeared so quickly, one of the best for the price
PS: this is great too but almost three times the price
Lucky I was pouring over ASR when Amir reviewed it and bought one then. This is still tempting... Oh why?
@@noliyoshida7486 yes I got it too thx to Amir's review but I wanted to buy a couple more for spares and gifts aaaaaaaaaand... they were gone :(
@@MasterControl90original just like the gpus
Amir I hope you will forgive me posting a bit off topic but I wanted to say something about the measurement/ golden ears argument and this is your most recent video. You often use an analogy with medicine when arguing for a purely evidence based approach, one with which I mainly agree.
However..
I have been a physician for 35 years. When I started in medicine beta blockers were contraindicated in heart failure. The evidence we had at the time suggested they killed people by reducing the hearts capacity to pump forcefully and efficiently.
Now one of the first drugs we reach for when we diagnose someone with heart failure is a beta blocker. They are invaluable and save lives.
Turns out we had an incomplete understanding of the mechanism of the ailment and the way the drugs worked. There are many other areas where medicine has evolved as the science and our understanding evolves. Areas where we were completely wrong but for the very best reasons.
It is likely that the physical science of signal production, transfer, conversion and music reproduction will evolve too and that there is stuff going on which we don't understand and can't measure. Yet.
All that before you bring psychoacoustics into the equation. I am all for relying on the best evidence available and debunking marketing nonsense but perhaps we need to be more willing to admit we may only be seeing part of the picture.
Of course the companies building stuff are working with the same level of scientific understanding you are so challenging unsupported claims is entirely legitimate.
I don't mind your question but answering it takes a lot more than a comment here. Let me just say that we are like 40 years into realization that we need to have controlled testing before we believe efficacy of any audio product. In your domain, I am pretty sure no one is advocating that we throw out controlled testing and everything you have learned in medical school and your profession, and believe anyone who is selling anything. That is the world of audio we are living in. People literally selling little stickers smaller than a postage stamp that you put on your walls and supposedly improves the sound! It has become wild west with zero regards to engineering, science, research and even common sense. I am sure nothing remotely like that exists in proper medical field.
Our instrumentation today absolutely can tell if the signal is changed. There are no ifs and buts about it. It is like me telling you that you can't measure my blood pressure because as a lay person, I can't figure out how anyone can do that.
I absolutely agree about testing and it's importance and we can only work within the limitations of our current knowledge base. I simply think it's important to acknowledge that both what we can measure and our interpretation of those measurements are subject to change as our understanding advances. I guess it is a plea for humility from those people on all sides of the argument.
Having said that I am learning an enormous amount from your UA-cam channel. I always felt that the website, especially the forums, quite naturally assumed a great deal of pre-existing knowledge but your excellent demonstrations and explanations are proving invaluable in filling in the gaps, for me at least.
Thanks for this Amir. I actually bought one of these last night just before this review was posted. Seems like it was a good decision based on the measurements.
Was it not possible to do a linearity test?
It is because my analyzer can't generate the signal without noise being added to it for this class of device. I can only run "static" test signals which I play with my audio player which doesn't allow "sweep" type tests like Linearity.