Hill Audio S8 Review – Affordable Boutique Earphone For Everybody
Pros — Wonderful, well-rendered midrange with a natural timbre; spacious soundstage; small and round enough for comfortable fit; classy understatement design; great value.
Cons — Mid bass is a matter of taste; hard to get.
DISCLAIMER
I was made aware of the Hill Audio S8 by the review of David Hahn from Chi-fiear (where I occasionally publish a second opinion), became interested, and asked Vincent Yeoh, owner of Hill Audio via the Hill Audio Facebook page for a review unit, which he kindly sent me from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Thanks Vincent.
As always, I tested the Hill Audio S8 with a cross section of music that provided a broad coverage of the frequency spectrum, including naturally generated sounds such a voices and classical instruments. My playlist is still growing and improving along with my technical abilities. New is that I am creating my own measurements with the REW software.
The measuring coupler was two pieces of plastic tubing on the end of a Dayton iMM-6 microphone. No compensation or smoothing was applied. These measurements should not be directly compared to other measurements except those done on the same device, for example the ones I will be posting in the future.
INTRODUCTION
You may not have heard of Hill Audio and neither had I a while ago. They are a Malaysian online audio dealer, established in 2016. Hill Audio mainly sell budget earphones to the domestic market but they also partner with OEM & ODM under their own brand name: the Hill Audio S8 is an example. Hill Audio communicate mainly through Instagram and Facebook and don’t have their own website – and they
only sell directly. I saw the same earphone under a different name (Magaosi/HiLisening HLS-S8) in a different packaging and with a lower-end cable at a 50% higher price. You find a competent review of it here.
- Product Name: Hill Audio S8 Hybrid Brand: Hill Audio
- Model: S8 Hybrid
- Earphone Type: In-ear
- Drive Unit: 2 BA +1 DD [2 custom Balanced Armature from China Armature (AMT) + 1 10 mm grapheme Dynamic] hybrid
- Impedance: 16Ω
- Sensitivity: 100 +/- 1 dB
- Rated power: 1mW
- THD: < 2%
- Frequency range: 20 – 20000Hz
- Plug Type: 3.5mm TRS
- Cable Length: 1.2m
- Cable Connector: MMCX
- Remote/Mic: No
- Price: $60 (at the time of the review; including registered
- Malaysia airmail shipping worldwide)
Purchase Links: challenging…
Shopee
Email: hillsonicaudio@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hillsonicaudio
Whatsup: +601136329018
PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES
There was no branded packaging at all. Within the small parcel you will find a pouch containing 3 pairs acoustic filters + silicon eartips set (S/M) + memory foam tips set (S/M/L).
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE, HAPTIC, AND BUILD QUALITY
The earpieces are made of polished aluminum alloy and look and feel very well made. The cable appears to be well constructed, too.
The shells are rounded without any corners and quite thin, with aerodynamics similar to Formula 1 cars. This results in a good fit and comfort but only soso insulation for my specific ears (results may vary).
I listened with the iphone 5S with the audioquest dragonfly black attached to it. The largest included white to semi-transparent tips worked well for me.
TONALITY
The Hill Audio S8 come with three pairs of acoustic tuning filters resulting in three different sound signatures: Blue for reference sound; silver for bass boost; black for treble boost. I discuss the sound with the factory-installed blue reference filters. The sound is also strongly tip dependent (when used with my ears; mileage may vary).
Frequency Responses of the S8 with the Different Filters
The slightly warm sounding Hill Audio S8 has a rather smooth frequency response with no narrow peaks and dips. Consequently, there is no pierce, hardness, harshness, or sibilance: smooth sailing across the whole spectrum.
Frequency Response with the Blue Reference Filters.
The Hill Audio S8’s low end focuses on the bottom end of the bass sensu stricto [commonly referred to as “mid- bass”…but hey, where are the lower and upper bass?] with the sub-bass being slightly rolled off. The DD produces a gentle low end that is not as tight, focused, and impactful as a BA could. The 55 – 90 Hz hump may be a bit overwhelming to some ears at higher volumes whereas is it quite pleasant at quieter levels. Adding narrow-bore tips brings out the sub-bass while preserving the midrange and sacrificing a bit of the soundstage. They transform the S8 into bass rockets as it adds low-end energy to bass-heavy tracks such Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s dead” and Queen’s “Another one bites the dust”.
The midrange is a bit recessed but less so with the wide-bore stock tips. In terms of quality, it is absolutely stunning: I have no earphone in my collection in this class with voices so beautifully rendered and with such a natural timbre (the narrow-bore tips move the voices a bit back but they are reasonably intimate with the wide bores). Mids are clean and clear and therefore a bit lean, but not in a bad way. String quartets also sound great and best with the included wide bore-tips: organic with great depth. Most of this kind of music happens in the midrange and treble both of which transition smoothly into each other. The midrange is the star of the earphones and may as well catapult them into competition with higher-priced earphones.
The treble is smooth, reasonably well extended and devoid of unpleasant sonic surprises. Soundstage is spacious with a good depth, and instrument separation and layering are impressive.
I also love the single DD Focal Sphear (~$130), which is also technically less capable than the S8. Adding narrow-bore tips, the S8 rivals the iBasso IT01(~$100) at the low end but is much cleaner and clearer in the midrange.
Here the frequency responses of most of the above mentioned earphones.
I am still generally struggling with assigning monetary value to sound.Therefore, if you are lucky, the Hill Audio S8 may beat your $200 reference – it is in your own eyes. The S8 simply is what it is – and it is quite impressive.
The Hill Audio S8 Hybrid is a stylish, well-built, great sounding earphone that may not be so much of a “hard sell” rather than a “hard buy”. It could be a 5-star contender if it had a slightly drier bass and more forward mids….but this is subjective and, in the end, lies in the eyes of the beholder. With three different filter sets it is quite versatile and caters to a broad range of tastes. Sound sensitivity to the tips used offers another method of fine tuning. I particularly like that the manufacturer found a good balance between the number of drivers and shell size, which results in excellent fit and comfort. The elegantly understated and purist looking S8 is reminiscent of a gemstone on a pearl neckless which makes it also optically appealing to me (I’m a geologist).
In the end, the Hill Audio S8 is its own fukubukuro: as a minimum you get the value for the money you paid, but you may even do much better. Highly recommended!
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