The HB1 is packed with features. As well as being a standard high-resolution DAC/headphone amp for wired connections to phones, tablets and PCs, it also supports UAC 1.0 for wired use with gaming consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Even though the new UAC 2.0 has been around for years, these gaming machines still rely on UAC 1.0, which few audiophile-grade DACs support.
The HB1, on the other hand, supports voice audio in two ways: it has a built-in Knowles microphone for people using in-ear monitors (IEMs) without an in-line cable microphone (or using the 4.4mm balanced output), and a 3.5mm connector that uses a four-pole design compatible with headset microphones or wired headphones with in-line microphones.
When it comes to its usual audio features, the HB1 is very complete: thanks to its ESS ES9281AC PRO DAC, it supports native DSD256 and lossless audio up to 32-bit/384 kHz, including up to 8x rendering of MQA tracks if Connect the HB1 to an MQA decoding device/app such as the Tidal client running on an iPhone or Android phone.
The HB1 comes with USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to Lightning adapter cables so you can work with virtually any device and platform. There is also a companion app for iOS and Android that allows you to configure several of the HB1's settings.
In terms of Bluetooth, you get Multipoint support, so the HB1 can connect to two source devices simultaneously, and there's built-in high-resolution audio codec support with LDAC and aptX HD. Cleverly, the HB1 can be configured to prioritize Bluetooth, so if you're connected via USB and the DAC detects a new Bluetooth session, it will automatically switch.
There are also options for how the DAC is recharged via USB, the HB1's battery life has been set at six hours if using the unbalanced 3.5mm port or 5.5 hours if using the balanced 4mm port. .4 mm, at 50% of the volume.
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