I by no means appear to have sufficient USB ports at hand, so I take advantage of UGREEN’s Revodok Max 213 Thunderbolt 4 docking station with my machine, and just lately obtained Elgato’s USB Hub to hook up with my Stream Deck+, offering two further USB-C and two USB-A ports. Over the past two months, I used HiDock’s H1 alongside the Revodok, and whereas the H1 has 4 USB ports, that is not its greatest characteristic — removed from it.
The H1 is a USB-C dock with a distinction; it has a built-in speaker and mic that means that you can attend conferences, and the perfect half is that it leverages AI to routinely transcribe audio and supply summaries. The dock makes use of GPT-4o to transcribe, and HiDock touts background noise isolation, the power to report telephone calls, a number of speaker identification, and an entire lot extra.
I take advantage of distinct instruments to get most of those options, so the thought of all-in-one system is alluring. In case you’re considering a dock with built-in audio and AI, that is what you should know concerning the H1.
HiDock H1: Pricing and availability
HiDock unveiled the H1 on the finish of 2023, with normal sale beginning on the finish of Q1 2024. The H1 is out there for $269 on the model’s web site, and you may choose it up in Slate Grey or Platinum Grey colour variants, with the latter costing a further $20. There’s additionally an H1E mannequin that has restricted ports, and it’s retailing at $229.
To get probably the most out of the dock, you may have to take a Professional plan of the model’s HiNotes service. In that plan, 1200 minutes of audio transcribing and summarization will set you again $12.99, with 12000 minutes at $119.99. HiDock is now rolling out limitless quotas as properly, with the one-year plan at $199 and a three-year plan accessible for $599.
HiDock H1: What I like
The H1 is bigger than most docks, and that is due to the built-in speaker. The general design is fairly good, and it has a definite retro styling that I like. You get 4 chunky buttons with name controls, a knurled quantity knob, and a slider that allows you to regulate the extent of background isolation.
The speaker is angled towards you, and the built-in mic picks up sound even at a distance. HiDock is thought for its convention speakerphones, so it is not stunning that the H1 does a very good job on this regard. The sound high quality out of the speaker is respectable because of a 7W driver and 5W tweeter, and you should utilize it to hearken to music along with conferences.
A singular addition is the removable earpiece, and it attaches magnetically to the best facet. The H1 is a USB-C dock, and also you get a wide variety of ports: there are twin HDMI ports, two USB-C ports, twin USB-A ports, SD/MicroSD card readers on the facet, and a couple of.5GbE Ethernet connectivity.
The H1 takes up a whole lot of room on the desk, nevertheless it does not appeal to an excessive amount of consideration. The construct high quality is respectable, and I did not run into any points within the two months I used the dock. You additionally get respectable USB PD charging; any linked pocket book may be simply charged at as much as 100W, and the USB-C port on the facet delivers 18W of cost. The side-mounted port is sweet sufficient to cost gadgets just like the Pixel 9 Professional XL and Samsung telephones.Â
Clearly, the most important speaking level of the dock is the AI integration; HiDock touts the H1 with “lifetime free” AI transcription, and that is broadly true, however there are just a few caveats. Shopping for the system routinely unlocks the Membership tier of HiNotes, the model’s notes service. The tier consists of limitless notes from cellular — albeit with a 10-minute restrict on audio transcribing — together with AI summaries and the power to export notes.
I largely used the H1 with my gaming machine, and it did a good job recording conferences and delivering summaries after the actual fact. HiNotes is out there as an internet app, and that is a very good transfer as you do not have to obtain something; all of the configuration modifications to the H1 and updates are dealt with through this shopper.
HiDock makes use of the GPT-4o language mannequin to transcribe audio, and it was adequate on this space; it did not choose up a whole lot of jargon that is utilized in briefings, however that is okay. The Professional tier unlocks speaker identification as properly, and it’s a welcome addition.
HiDock H1: What I do not like
Whereas the premise of the H1 is nice, the dock clearly has a whole lot of teething points. The USB-C ports are marketed as being 10Gbps, however that wasn’t the case once I plugged in storage drives to the dock — I obtained 5Gbps bandwidth as an alternative.
A bizarre quirk is that it wasn’t in a position to hook up with my Home windows machine through a USB-C to USB-C cable; I normally join all equipment through USB-C, however the H1 necessitated a connection through the bundled USB-C to USB-A cable. It is a minor factor, however when you’re seeing points whereas establishing the system the place the dock is not exhibiting up, you may wish to swap cables.
One other annoyance is the shortage of Thunderbolt 4 connectivity; positive, it will have elevated the price of the H1, however it will have made the dock a a lot better possibility total.
Whereas the audio high quality out of the speaker is fairly good, the identical can’t be stated of the earpiece. It’s tinny and the mic contained in the earpiece is not good, however the greatest subject is the match; I simply could not get a snug match, and I did not trouble utilizing it after just a few tries.
The dock has built-in background isolation, nevertheless it is not anyplace as efficient as my most popular answer (NVIDIA Broadcast). If something, Audeze’s Filter does a greater job on this space. Additionally, there have been situations the place urgent the recording button on the dock did not set off a recording, and I needed to reconnect the dock to begin over.
However the greatest limitation is the truth that you may have to get the Professional plan to unlock the perfect options. The default Membership tier means that you can add conferences of as much as 4 hours and get AI-assisted transcribing and summaries, however if you need all of the abstract templates or have to export notes in Phrase and PDF codecs, you may have to shell out a further quantity.
Background noise isolation is equally gated behind the Professional tier, as is speaker identification. These are helpful options that finally make a tangible distinction in how the H1 holds up, and having to pay a further payment is annoying.
HiDock H1: The competitors
The H1 is exclusive in that it combines a USB-C dock with a convention speaker, and there is not fairly one other product prefer it. In case you simply want a docking station, UGREEN’s Revodok Max 213 is a superb alternative. It has Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, all of the ports you want, and coming in at $299, it is not that a lot costlier than the H1 — albeit with none of the AI options.
HiDock H1: Do you have to purchase it?
You can purchase this if:
You want a simple strategy to transcribe meetingsYou desire a USB dock with good design and respectable port choice
You should not purchase this if:
You want Thunderbolt 4 connectivityYou do not intend to make use of the AI options
To HiDock’s credit score, the model obtained loads proper with the H1, however there are foibles that finally stop the dock from being an incredible product. The H1 is primarily a dock, nevertheless it has points with bandwidth, and I needed to reconnect the dock a number of occasions within the two months I used it.
The AI options are nice total; the power to transcribe audio and generate summaries of conferences is a novel addition. HiNotes is an effective utility, however it’s irritating to make use of on cellular, and you will have to select up the Professional plan to get probably the most out of the service.
There’s clearly potential right here, and if HiDock is ready to iron out the kinks, a second-gen H1 could be simpler to advocate.