HIDIZS S8 Pro Robin Review - Audiophile Heaven

HIDIZS S8 PRO Robin Dongle DAC AMP Review

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PROs - Natural sound, with a beefy bass, strong resolution and plenty of driving power for IEMS. Goodergonomics, and it looks cool, two headphone outputs, both balanced and Single Ended, and it has a generally natural tuning that pairs well with all the IEMS I tested it with. Strong Value.

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At the heart of the S8 Pro Robin, we have a dual dac configuration running a combo of cs43131 DACs fromCirrus Logic, allowing S8 Pro Robin to have a driving power of 80mW per channel or 80mW + 80mw over thesingle ended output, and a driving power of 160mW per channel or 160mW + 160mW for the balancedheadphone output, both for a 32 OHMs impedance.

Sound Quality

Pairings - To test the HIDIZS S8 PRo Robin, I have paired it with a collection of lEMs and Headphones including Soundz Flame, Hiby x FAudio Project Ace, HarmonicDyne Eris, EPz x Tipsy star One, NFAudio NA2+, Sweat He-Live5, Soundz Avant, Sennheiser Ie900, and ZiiGaat cincotres. The maximum driving power is limited for large headphones, but the background noise level is very low too, so the experience with IEMs is rather excellent, With the volume set to zero but music playing, I cannot hear the background noise level at all. While I commented in my review exploring the iBasso Dco7PRo and DX180, both using the same DAc, although in different numbers, that the sonic filters have a huge impact on the sound, I am not hearing the same impact with S8 PRo Robin, and the filters do not change the sound much.

Overall signature

HiDIZS never respected a company house sound, and subsequently each product is a surprise that you have to explore, with s8 PRo Robin having a natural, beefy and powerful sound, with a lot of variation in tuning and presentation relative to the volume, and with a forward soundstage that projects all instruments in-your-face and gives you all the lavers presented in one wide, but shallow wave of music excellent for most music as it renders the details well and the sound has a quick impulse response that shows details really well. 

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Volume Control

S8 PRO Robin has one of the lowest volume controls I have ever seen, it sounds really different across volume steps, having a different tuning, different detail level and just generally sounding different, At low volumes, it is detailed, natural and extended, but the sound gets dynamically compressed quickly as you increase the volume, bass increases in presence, and the treble rolls off the more you push the volume, Most of the usable volume with IEMs can be found early on, and on Windows Pc, you cannot go above10% of volume, which seems to correspond to 100%% on the Android. Happily, on Android distortion is very low to none, even at maximum volume.

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Soundstage

The soundstage is presented as a wave of sound, it is wide, and can be impressive, but everything, middle ground, foreground and background is compressed into one layer, so you hear far more detail than with most dongles, but the foreground layer is also all in your face, and there is very limited depth

Value and conclusion

HIDIZS provides a strong value once again, and while S8 PRO Robin does not get a high driving power like ifiGo Bar, it is much cheaper, and consumes little power, does not get hot during usage, and is generally versatile for IEMs, the sound being plenty detailed and fun.

At the end of the day, if you're looking for a beefy sounding dongle DAc AMP, with a strong resolution, detail and clarity, and with excellent punch in the sound, HIDIZS S8 PRo Robin is one of the best there are, and comes at a very low price.

BUY NOW: S8 Pro Robin

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