Hiby R2 / R3 Pro Saber Overview: Compact DAPs, Big Featureset 

Good to hear your voice and see your still active in the industry! Great content as always

Thanks for the review. Was extremely bizarre seeing someone with identical music tastes as me lol

This video just played on an automated playlist, but I literally dropped what I was doing to double check I was hearing this right. Good to hear you're still working in the audiophile world! Definitely miss your reviews!

I have a R3 Pro and ist’s a great unit in my opinion. 😊

Nice review of a competent pair of players. However, you missed the downsides. I can't comment on the R2, but I do own the R3 Pro Saber. And while I am impressed with the audio quality, the rest of the unit is a disappointment. Here is a list of the shortcomings: • The Hiby player software is very basic: Unable to select by composer or album artist Track and artist text does not scroll to see all the data Bluetooth playback clicks and pops Album view limited to 4 albums per screen Alpha selection at right of screen does not work Supposed to be able to control with Hiby player on phone - can’t get it to work • Takes inordinate amount of time to update database whenever a few new tracks are added (6 minutes for 3,300 tracks) • White balance of screen is way off, warm (yellow) color cast • Instruction sheet is very basic and almost useless • Online video tutorials are 2+ years old and use a previous version of firmware • No ability to expand with other apps (streaming limited to onboard Tidal/Qobuz only) • Snap-on case is cheap plastic and fairly slippery I also own a FiiO M6. I find the FiiO superior in just about every way other than sound quality, where it lags ever so slightly behind the Hiby. If Hiby added a PowerAmp-like player to the R3 it would be a killer device (I realize there is no Linux version of Poweramp). As it is, I end up reaching for the FiiO most of the time.

nice and quick one

The moment I saw you playing Evangelion music was the moment I realized this would be a great review.

I bought the original R3 through Hiby’s initial Kickstarter - it was such a great player before I moved exclusively to streaming services.

MageSound 8-ball (MSEB): 1 -- Overall Temperature is tilt of whole line to treble(cool) or bass(warm) 2 -- Bass extension 70Hz and below 3 -- Bass texture 100Hz (medium) 4 -- Note thickness 200Hz (wide) 5 -- Vocals 650Hz (very wide) 6 -- Female overtones 3kHz (tight) 7 -- Sibilance LF 5.8kHz (medium) 8 -- Sibilance HF 9.2kHz (medium) 9 -- Impulse response 7.5kHz (very wide) 10 - Air 10kHz sloped all the way to 20kHz

I've been trying to find new bluetooth headphones for like 1/2 year now,and i've watched countless bluetooth headphones,most of these reviews point me to 3 headphones,The Sony xm3(Highs are muddy),the Bose 700 and QC 35 ii(Both compressed and a bit unbalanced) So i decided to joined the r/headphones discord server,i asked a couple of people and they all led me to one bt headphone,the AKG N700nc M2,they seem a lot more balanced than the others and nearly no one has realised in the YT community it,it seems like a hidden gem waiting to tower over the xm3's(or maybe i'm overreacting lol) I'm getting these at christmas and it would be the world to me if you made a review about it... PS:Loving the videos and keep up the good work!!!

First of all, I've found this video very informative, thank you! I bought a R2 last week to replace my broken Hidizs AP 80. The sound of this device is awesome for me, but It has some issues: apart from several random reboots, I found skips at the beggining of each song and gapless playback is simply impossible. I returned it, but I would buy it again if someone told me it's fixed with a new version of the firmware.

Just got the R3 Pro Saber. This thing need some serious firmware rework. So far here are some problems. 1. Random reboots when just browsing around. 2. Extremely loud hisses randomly occur even when volume is turned down to 0. Require reboot. 3. No option to browse Album Artist. Huge oversight. 4. No option to update library by scanning for ONLY newly added or newly modified files. Everytime new music is added the library update scan the entire library from scratch. In my case it takes 25 minutes each time. (13,000 tracks) 5. Files limited to 20,000. Why put a cap on the number of files? This force people to break up their library into multiple cards which is a huge problem everytime you swap cards ---> See #4. 6. Battery life is no where near advertised. Just scanning the database by itself drained the battery by a whopping 7% in just 25 minutes. 7. When browsing by genre it is S L O W as molasses. Everytime you change genre it takes 10 seconds, yes 10 seconds, for albums to show up.

I'm gald you made this video! I really needed to know if it would be capable of driving the hifiman he-x4.

I bought a R3 Sabre when it first came out. Everything works and it sounds fantastic. The notes are tight and clear. I bought a second r3 saber on Black Friday 2021 direct from hiby and it sounds completely different from the first one I bought. The notes are 3D and wider and are not precise and impactful. It is not a good sound. I do not know what hiby did but either the internals were changed or they tuned it differently. I would be very suspectful of buying another hiby product. Buyer beware of hiby products as they may do a bait switch once they get all the good reviews in.

I had the regular Hiby R3 pro and loved it until I listened to my brother's Fiio M3K ($59) and realized how much detail the R3 pro was lacking. I sold it and got the Fiio M3 Pro which costs about half of the Hiby R3 Pro. I just ordered the R3 Pro Saber now since it has the famous ESS Saber DAC which is the same one that is in my cheaper Fiio M3 Pro. I'll compare the two when the Hiby arrives. Hopefully, it sounds as good or better than the Fiio M3 Pro, or else I'm not getting another Hiby again. The construction and software can be great, but it becomes a deal-breaker when it can't resolve the amount of detail a player half the cost can. I already have the Hiby R2 which I immediately noticed wasn't nearly as detailed as the M3 Pro and can sound quite boring, so that one was a disappointment, I'm hoping it is different with the R3 Pro Saber.

Nice review! While I was not on the original Kickstarter, I did get the original R3 early on and now have the follow-up R3 Pro (dual-Cirrus version that preceded this Sabre version) and that made some minor but welcomed improvements on the original. I'd bet this one is a bit more dynamic/detailed compared to those two but I'm still loving the original Pro and glad these are still being made in some variation. Cheers!

how is this device as a usb dac amp? output from my laptop jack is really weak and was thinking of getting this partially to use it as an amp? is it worth it?

soooo its like a 2009 ipod +? but has built in drivers to push high(er) quality headphones?

review that fiio m3 pro!

The R2 and R3 have the Tidal app so im god without android.

Salve amigo, muito interessante. Então uma dúvida: as músicas baixadas no tidal não tocarão offline? Você recomenda algum mp3 player com preço de até 80 ou 90 dólares e que toque spotify ou tidal offline? Agradeço

Can any of these record audio from a regular stereo TRS audio connection?

Does this play music out aloud? I’m looking for a mini MP3 player that plays music without headphones. Even a watch style would be great.

Bought an r3 pro saber with the 2.5mm input. The instructions warn not to use this for anything other than 'balanced' headphones. Can you not use this with a 2.5 male to RCA amplifier cable? Will it damage the player/amp? I have already purchased such a cable for my amp as I read that the 2.5mm input had better sound quality....

How do I delete a song from playlist?

a very few android music player apps support next to tempo tuning also per percent pitch frequency tuning. Im looking for any player that supports this feature. Would love some recommendations from experts

I like my r3 pro saber, but am not able to get it to stream Qubuz. I see my music, but it gives an error when attempting to play it.

Any posibility to play Audiobooks direct from the micro sd , without pairing and streaming from a other device ?

It is worth saying that the R3Pro supports Airplay, which is a big deal: if you use Apple products, you have wireless lossless transmission (better than LDAC).

when is Hiby R5 Saber review?

Does Minidisc have issues with the batteries expanding on these models? That is something that happens..

Do they have EQ?

Is it open android?

Chi-Fi will cost much more in America due to the import tariffs.

Can it play m4a format?