Following up on the debut of the SD2 Dongle DAC and ST2 PRO USB-C IEM Headphones at CES 2024, HIDIZS has unveiled the new S8 PRO Robin Dongle DAC Headphone Amp which is being shown at the Bristol HiFi Show this weekend.
Users of large planar magnetic headphones will need to look elsewhere, but the $99 asking price and rather compact design certainly makes this one to consider if you are looking for something small to drive headphones and IEMs with a friendly impedance and high-sensitivity rating.
Has the Dongle DAC market become overly saturated? Without question.
But our experience with some recent products from both HIDIZS, iFi, and FiiO below $200 in the category makes us rather bullish on the S8 PRO Robin.
Tip: The HIDIZS SD2 Dongle DAC and ST2 PRO USB-C IEM Headphones announced at CES 2024 are also being shown at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show.
What the HIDIZS S8 PRO Robin Offers
The HIDIZS S8 PRO Robin is an affordable, compact portable USB Headphone DAC/Amplifier designed to provide an excellent solution for improving your headphone listening from various sources including iPhone 15, PC, Mac, portable gaming devices & more at a very low price.
The diminutive S8 PRO Robin incorporates dual flagship Cirrus Logic CS43131 DACs, which support up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and native DSD256 Hi-Res audio files.
For maximum flexibility with different types of headphones, the HIDIZS S8 Pro Robin includes both Single-ended (3.5mm) and Balanced (4.4mm) headphone outputs. The outputs support offer a frequency response of 20Hz-45kHz.
The rather minimalist design features a CNC machined aluminium body and only physical controls for volume adjustment and filter selection. A sampling rate indicator is positioned on the side of the chassis allowing users to confirm PCM and DSD playback.
The HIDIZS S8 PRO Robin works across multiple devices and platforms, including Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, and Harmony OS.
Specifications:
- DAC: Dual 32-bit Cirrus Logic CS43131
- PCM Audio Support: Up to 32-bit/384kHz
- Native DSD Audio Support: Up to DSD256
- 3.5mm Single-ended Output: Yes
- 4.4mm Balanced Output: Yes
- Chassis: CNC Aluminium Alloy Integrated Molding
- Frequency Response: 20Hz-45kHz
- Physical Buttons: Power, Volume +/-, Filter Selection, Sampling Rate Indicator
- Distortion: 3.5mm: 0.0005% / 4.4mm: 0.0006%
- SNR: 3.5mm: 125dB / 4.4mm: 125dB
- Separation: 3.5mm: -74dB / 4.4mm: -110dB
- Output Power: 3.5mm: 80mW+80mW @32Ω / 4.4mm: 160mW+160Mw @32Ω
- Selectable Digital Filters
- High Pass
- NOS (Non-oversampling)
- De-emphasis
- Fast and Slow
- Low-latency and Phase-compensated
- Wideband Flatness Mode
Availability and Pricing
The HIDIZS S8 PRO Robin will be available from March, priced at £79, €79, and $99 from Authorized Retailers.
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