HIDIZS S8 PRO Robin Dongle DAC AMp Review – Geometrically Equal HiFi Mass
HIDIZS S8 PRO Robin is a $69 USD DAC AMP Dongle designed by HIDIZS for the portable music lovers, with Dual 32-Bit CS43131 DACs, Hi-Res support, and both 3.5mm single ended and 4.4mm balanced headphone outputs. Today we will review and explore S8 PRO Robin and how it sounds.
Introduction
HIDIZS is one of the most popular Chifi / Entry Level companies that’s still mostly a standalone company promoted both through Linsoul but also by themselves. HIDIZS is known for offering strong support for their customers and reliable products, but they have a short life cycle for their products, as they launch many models, often within the same price range, bringing innovation right to your doorstep. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to HIDIZS for providing us with the sample for this review.
PROs – Natural sound, with a beefy bass, strong resolution and plenty of driving power for IEMS. Good ergonomics, 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.
Cons – The volume wheel shaped button at the center is a button, not a wheel, don’t turn it. Limited driving power for the Single Ended headphone output, and poor Windows compatibility, you can’t really control the volume on Windows and PC in general, made only for smartphones.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3TAsXUJ
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmMrqBv
Build Quality/Aesthetics
We have reviewed most dongles available on the market ever since the idea started popping up, but HIDIZS S8 Pro Robin follows a very similar design to all the other HIDIZS dongle DACs available today, like S9 PRO Plus Martha and Tempotec Sonata HD V. Tempotec used to be the OEM behind HIDIZS products, but they switched to making their own designs and building their own products now.
At the heart of the S8 Pro Robin, we have a dual dac configuration running a combo of CS43131 DACs from Cirrus Logic, allowing S8 Pro Robin to have a driving power of 80mW per channel or 80mW + 80mW over the single ended output, and a driving power of 160mW per channel or 160mW + 160mW for the balanced headphone output, both for a 32 OHMs impedance.
My natural reflex would be to try and turn the button at the center, but that is not a volume wheel, it is a button. There are three buttons in total, volume up, volume down and the play pause button at the center. The overall symmetric design relies on an aluminum unibody, with an LED behind the logo to show the current filter setting, and at 17 grams, S8 PRO Robin is one of the lightest DAC/AMPs available on the market. To cycle through the filters, you have to press both volume buttons at the same time, and we have
Red – High Pass Filter
Green – NOS Filter
Blue – Deem Phasis Filter
Yellow – Fast And Slow Filter
Purple – Low-Latency and Phase-Compensated Filter
White – Wide band Flatness Mode
The logo actually stays lit in the color of the data rate provided to Robin, as it supports data rates up to DSD 256 and PCM up to 384 kHz. The technical data for the Balanced output is very good with a distortion as low as 0.0006%, and separation of -110 dB, for a SNR of 128 dB. The Single Ended output has a much less interesting performance, with a SNR of 125dB, Distortion of 0.0005%, but a Separation of -74 dB, which will audibly sound like a crossfeed filter is engaged.
Theoretically both Android and iOS, MAC OS and Windows are supported, but the lightning cable for iOS is not included and on windows you can only use the first 10% of the volume, as the entire ability of S8 PRO Robin is saturated there, with heavy distortion above. Subjectively, when using the HIDIZS S8 PRO Robin with a smartphone, everything works perfectly, it does not stutter, it plays music smoothly, with no interruptions, and control is excellent. There is no popping sound when you play and pause the sound.
Sound Quality
Pairings – To test the HIDIZS S8 PRO Robin, I have paired it with a collection of IEMs and Headphones, including Soundz Flame, Hiby x FAudio Project Ace, HarmonicDyne Eris, EPZ x Tipsy Star One, NF Audio NA2+, Sweear 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 DC07PRO 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 layers 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. I have generally used the balanced output only, using adapters or aftermarket cables if needed, as the single ended output has a low maximum power and low maximum volume compared to the balanced output. The aftermarket cable I have used the most is Eletech Azrael.
Bass – Starting with a beefy and warm bass, S8 PRO Robin has a wide, deep and somewhat slow bass that gives a boom / bombastic sound to each drum hit and synthetic bass in EDM and Pop. This kind of bass is deep and voluptuous, gives music body and precedence, it is downright enjoyable and I am willing to call S8 PRO Robin one of my favorite dongles for bass, it sounds really warm, thick, full, lush and the bass is extra boomy, filling the entire sound.
Midrange – With a warm bass comes a warm, wide and beefy sounding midrange that gives male voices warmth and depth, while female voices are fairly natural and crystalline. The sound seems to have some kind of dip right in the middle, but a wide peak around 1 kHz which is inherently an extension from the strong bass. Guitars sound wide, warm and have a strong texture, while micro details are evident thanks to the compact layering that brings everything in pretty much one layer.
Treble – To top things off, S8 PRO Robin has a fairly crisp but not aggressive treble, presenting music with a good amount of sparkle and brightness, but no fatiguing elements and no issues in the sound. The treble is generally enjoyable, the impulse response is on the quick side, creating a rather dry treble, but the quantity is low enough that it never feels aggressive nor fatiguing.
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 above 10% of volume, which seems to correspond to 100% on the Android. Happily, on Android distortion is very low, to none, even at maximum volume.
Dynamics / PRaT / Textures – With a quick impulse response in general, the sound is quick, has a high resolution and strong revealing ability. The dynamic range depends a lot on the volume, at low volumes, the sound has a high dynamic range, while at high volumes, the dynamic range is compressed and the sound gets really punchy, but also forward and in your face.
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 iFi Go 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.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3TAsXUJ
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmMrqBv
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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