Hidizs H1 — wireless, better than beans

10% discount for any item at Hidizs store using our promocode: ZMCR10

TRW or wired? If bluetooth — what is the most convenient formfactor to go with…? I’ve been asking myself the same questions for past few weeks trying to find the best possible solution of having all time access to music, phone calls and videos despite of current activity or working place. Wired are still the best IEMs in terms of audio quality but staying connected all the time with a cable significantly reduces my mobility. What is more important — cable always stays connected to one particular source. I wouldn’t mind if a smartphone was the only working tool. But it is not. There is at least a laptop that also requires a connection. As to the formfactor — current TRW beans (as I name all that numerous, expensive and faceless products that have saturated the market) just do not seem to be comfortable enough, especially with no supports and when it comes to removing one of the beans which should than be placed into its cradle, which should be kept in a pocket, etc… Audio quality in such beans is also far from being astonishing.

Knowing all of that, I’ve been looking for another option that seems to be much more convenient and universal in terms of sound and fit: good, custom-like shaped IEMs with regular type of connectors and detachable bluetooth cable that would have all necessary controls, mic and aptX, at least. At the time when I was wondering which product to go with — Hidizs was watching after me  The search was over when they have provided me with the new product for the review — Hidizs H1 — neckband bluetooth IEMs.

Hidizs H1 is still absent at the official website during the time of writing this review since it is a sample unit that should get the initial feedback and hit the market very soon. (Updated: Hidizs H1 at official website) The specs are already known:

Hidizs H1 — Mermaid Series Bluetooth IEMs:

• Driver: signle dynamic, 10.2mm, dual magnetic circuit, dual cavities
• FR: 20Hz-40kHz
• StN Ratio: 95dB
• Sensitivity: 112dB
• Impedance: 20Ω
• Cable connection: 2pin, 0,78mm
• Weight: ~6g
• IPX5 dust, water, sweat resistant

Bluetooth cable:

• Cable:  silver plated OFC
• Bluetooth: 5.0 (Qualcomm QCC3005)
• Protocols:
  • AAC (16bit|44.1kHz_320kbps)
  • SBC (16bit|44.1kHz_328kbps)
  • aptX_LL (16bit|44.1kHz_352kbps)
  • aptX (16bit|48kHz_352kbps)
• Control protocols: AVRCPV1.2&SPPV1.2
• Call protocols: HFP, HFP1.5,HFP1.7,HSP,CVC

• Controls: +/-, play/pause buttons
• Mic: yes
• Ports: microUSB for charging
• Charging time: 1.5 hours
• Play time: 8 hours
• Weight: 13,6g

Packaging and design:

First of all, H1 packaging reminds me of TFZ products that usually come in very similar tall boxes. Plenty of item information, good printing quality, dense material, shiny logo — this box certainly deserves good score for its appearance.

The insides are well protected and look neat — couple of boxes with the accessories and a soft podium that has special cutouts for IEMs. The full list of included items:

• Hidizs H1 IEMs
• Bluetooth cable with soft velcro strap
• 3 pairs of silicone eartips
• soft pouch
• USB A -> microUSB cable
• couple of leaflets and user manual

Wondering why Hidizs has not included regular audio cable into this package… Why artificially limiting a potential demand for IEMs that are designed to be used with different types of 2pin, 0,78mm cables? Going little bit ahead — H1 have good sound quality but the full potential is released only in wired mode…

Hidizs H1 possess one of the most convenient design of the shells currently available on the market — custom like shape with very comfortable fit. Shells are made of resin with shiny particles to aid its look.

The design gets even more attractive due to the transparent material. Even black color shells totally disclose the insides. Aluminum alloy gold-plated output nozzles protrude quite significantly from the shells and glued at place. Both covered with the protective aluminum grills.

IEMs are equipped with 2pins, 0,78mm connectors with transaprent resin base, brand name and channel indicators. Just to point out is that H1 are based on Hidizs MS1 Rainbow series IEMs — same signle dynamic driver design, same specs…

Bluetooth cable is claimed to be twisted silver plated OFC, ending with flexible earguides, 2pin, 0.78mm connectors with transparent resin base and channel indicators.

Electronics consists of two separate parts: one is a battery box and another contains all physical controls, LED, mic and charging port.

Both parts are equal in size and shape and both have the same charcoal coating and rough surface feel. Length of this bluetooth cable is ~0.5m. Charging port is protected with a rubber cap.

As far as I understand this bluetooth cable is the next generation of Hidizs BT01 but with some advanced features i.e. bluetooth 5.0 (Qualcomm QCC3005) now and slightly different design. I might be wrong, but it seems that the new cable is also based on CSR8645 DAC chip with 20Hz-20kHz frequency response, -115dB SNR and 15mW (32Ω) power output.

Fit:

As already mentioned — H1 fit is perfect. Long nozzles, flexible earguides and custom-like shape dedicate much to the overall comfortable feel. This shape is much better than any TRW bean-shaped IEMs I’ve played with. There is absolutely no feel that H1 would get lost one day… Such an excellent fit finally results in better protection from outside noise and wider audible response range.

Hidizs H1 setup:

Initial setup means charging and pairing Bluetooth cable with the audio source. Mine came 70% charged and it took about 20 mins more to get the charge up to 100% using laptop USB port. Full charge would take ~1.5 hour which is quite fast.

There is a LED indicator at the front of the control unit that would stay RED during charge. Other LED statuses are:

• Constant green — fully charged
• Slowly flashing red — low charge
• Flashing red-blue — pairing
• Slowly flashing blue — connected bit not playing
• Constant blue — no connection
• Slowly flashing green — connected and playing music/call

There are also some automated functions worthy to mention:

• If powered but not connected -> would power off in 360 sec
• If pairing but not successfull -> would power off in 360 sec

Additional voice prompts:

• Power ON
• Power OFF
• Pairing
• Paired
• Pairing fail
• Headset is connected
• Headset is disconnected
• Battery low

Button functions:

• Play|pause 2s press -> power on or off
• Play|pause 5s press -> pairing mode
• Vol + | Vol — together -> clear pairing
• Play|pause short press -> answer call | hang up (in a call)
• Play|pause 2 sec during incoming call -> reject
• Play|pause short press druing music -> play | pause
• Vol + | Vol — long press during music -> previous | next track
• Vol + | Vol — short press during music -> volume
• Vol + | Vol — toghether + Play|pause during power off -> USB upgrade

Pairing with a smartphone or DAP doesn’t take long and the device gets recognized as H1 headset. My Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro is running Android 10 and shows H1 battery charge level / current audio codec as well. Furthermore, not having it listed among the supported functions, I’ve checked H1 multipoint ability — it can be paired and connected to 2 devices simultaneously which is very welcome.

Tested all controls — no problems here. Stock audio app and Hiby Music both respond to button presses. Mic works good during the calls, voice is clear. Although, in loud environement it lacks the noise cancelling feature and sometimes the other side would complain about that. Other drawback that I have faced is the connection distance — H1 gets disconnected or shows interruptions even at 5m but I would blame my Xiaomi smartphone for that — Note 8 Pro has known issue with Bluetooth | WiFi limited range and poor behavior. My laptop is keeping connection with H1 even at 12m away. DAP also holds better than the smartphone.

I have also tried HiBy Blue app from Google Play which shows current H1 audio quality, volume level and charge and found this app mostly useless unless there would be OTA or wired H1 FW upgrade that can be executed with this app. Or unless you are running old Android version that would not provide you with all necessary information about H1 state.

One more important test is the latency while watching videos — guess what — everything is perfect! No visible and audible lag between the picture and sound. This is absolutely great especially at the time when video is the most consumed media of all.

Sound quality: 

Tested with AP80Pro DAP, Redmi Note 8Pro with Bluetooth aptX

Lows and midbass:

Hidizs H1 deep bass extension is moderate with above average texture resolution. Deep bass lacks presence while the emphasis is on the midbass. H1 are definitely closer to dark sounding IEMs but lower portion still might have been better. Situation gets better while using audio cable instead of bluetooth — textures get more evident and lows get more extended.

Midbass shows good dynamics, power is appropriate for engaging drums. It is well balanced to mids and not accented to distruct even with low audio quality tracks.

Mids and vocals:

Quite impressive mids with very good performance. Resolution is quite high while the entire presentation feels linear. H1 doesn’t accent female vocals, not showing any signs of screaming notes here.  Instruments and vocals are  similarly rich and full bodied. Good level of separation in this range, nothing tends to mix at different volume levels. In overall, H1 mids can be described as warm, thick, quite smooth and well exposed.

Treble:

Here comes another portion which depends of the type of connection. Bluetooth audio even over aptX lacks the clarity and extension making H1 darker than it is. Quite good for regular listening but far from a standard when it comes to some high quality recording and habits. Treble is just what I call «bit dirty» to be pleased with. Getting wired changes the picture completely — treble gets the appropriate level of details, clarity and extension. In this configuration, Hidizs H1 are quite balanced IEMs that can easily compete with its class rivals from other well known brands. Sorry for that folks, but treble is still the most affected range when getting rid of wires.

Sound summary:

Hidizs H1 sound should be evaluated with both connection options — bluetooth cable and regular audio cable. Sound quality greatly depends of that. Using regular audio cable connection the sound can be described as well balanced, with slightly exposed midbass, moderate bass extension, thick mids and clean treble. Sound signature is warm. Bluetooth connection type reduces resolution, cuts the extension of bass and treble and leaves H1 underestimated. Although, it does the trick for everyday use in all general tasks.

Conclusion: 

If you are looking for a good bluetooth IEMs product for everyday use but also willing to get high sound quality over the wire — consider Hidizs H1 as the very attractive option. Not only it allows to stay connected to several sources all day long, receiving calls, watching videos with no audio lag and listening to music but also it is capable of resolving high audio quality in wired mode. The fit is great, bluetooth features are up to date, versality is much higher than any bean TRW may offer. Just keep in mind to get the additional audio cable to release Hidizs H1 full potential.

10% discount for any item at Hidizs store using our promocode: ZMCR10

Hidizs H1 at official website

Official Hidizs Amazon store: LINK

Thank you for reading.

Stay tuned, more reviews to come!