Disclaimer: The Hidizs DH1000 was provided free of charge for this review. Hidizs is not a site advertiser. Many thanks for the generosity!
About Hidizs
Hidizs was founded in 2009 with the pursuit to create affordable and great sounding portable electronics. Their first product, the AP100, was introduced in 2014 at CES and has been recognized by the community for its good price to performance value. With ongoing time Hidizs has gained more popularity, especially with their latest products. Just last year Hidizs has introduced the AP60, which was reviewed here on Headfonia. Their AP200 flagship DAP, their first Android player, has been funded via a Kickstarter campaign that raised the needed funds with ease.
About DH1000
The DH1000 is a fully balanced portable DAC/Amp, which officially offers file support for PCM up to 24bit / 192kHz and DSD128. Though Roon tells me that this little bugger can also decode PCM up to 384kHz sample rates. It uses a dual setup of ESS9018k2M DAC and ESS9601 amplifier chips. It offers two inputs, micro USB and USB A.
The micro USB input can be connected to a smartphone or PC/Laptop, while the USB A input is to be used with Apple devices, such as an iPhone or iPad. This enables the DH1000 to be freed of the Camera Connection Kit when it comes to hooking it up to iDevices. This feature I find very nice, as I like to use external DACs with my iPad from time to time. A second micro USB input is for charging. DH1000 is said to run ten hours off a single charge, which comes close to what I experienced.
Output wise it offers a single ended 3.5 Millimetre stereo and a balanced 2.5mm output. The balanced output (150mW into 32Ohms) is slightly more powerful than the single ended (120mW). It supports impedances of 8 to 600 Ohms. Channel separation is rated at 120dB, it measures 117dB of Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise and has an SNR of -122dB. Those numbers count for both the single ended and balanced output alike. The unit is 121mm long, 68mm wide and measures 13 Millimetres in height. Its weight comes in at around 140g. A tiny LED on front, above the Hi-Res Audio sticker, tells you about its battery-charging status. Sadly it doesn’t warn you when you’re about to run out of battery…
DH1000 will be sold at an MSRP of 269$, though currently you can can still hop on the kickstarter campaign and get yourself a good deal for a DH1000:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/873263862/hidizs-dh1000-worlds-first-truly-dual-balanced-amp
Package
My DH1000 sample came in a simple and small cardboard box. Open the top and you will be greeted by the DAC/Amp in a plastic bag. Under this layer you will find the included accessories. One USB A to micro USB cable, one approximately ten Centimetre long micro USB OTG cable and one roughly 15cm long USB C to micro USB cable. Also in the packaging you will find a quick start guide, a warranty card and a quality control certificate. In my opinion you can’t possibly complain about the packaging at this price. Some people might find it lacking a Lightning cable, but keep in mind: your iDevice definitely came with a charging cable, you can just as easily use this one…
Build Quality
The DH1000 is made of an stainless steel – aluminium alloy and covered on front and back with a 2.5D tempered glass. When I first met the DH1000 I was impressed by the great looks. Say what you want, but the tempered glass indeed does add a layer of luxury. The device itself is made very well, with no CNC marks or scratches anywhere. All sides close perfectly well and the unit feels very good in hand. The inputs are located at the bottom end of the DH1000 while outputs and power button are on top. The volume buttons are to be found on the left hand side.
Looks aside, I would have opted for something different than a glass front and back. I don’t like screens covered with fingerprints and for a device that doesn’t even have a real screen I think it is overkill to offer tempered glass. In my opinion a rubber cover would’ve sufficed, plus then it would not have been as slippery on all surfaces as it is.
In total I was sent two pre-production units from Hidizs. My first sample had a very tight balanced output, which made it impossible to connect 2.5mm plugs to.
More about DH1000 after the jump!