How to fix RU-vid alerts? What's on my shirt? Why use a DAP instead of a phone? And more in the audience Q&A 👉 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IkUIhVLZ788.html
I've owned mine for 9 months and it is by far my favourite digital audio player I've owned in 20 years of experimenting (I've never spent more than $500 though). No quibble I have rises above the level of "minor" and I have very few of them. Also, if you want to listen to the Chvrches albums in chronological order just create a playlist - may take you 5 minutes, but once it's created you'll never have to do it again (great musical taste by the way 🙂).
I think standby time is 50 days, not 50 hours. I like Hiby products , price to performance they are quite good. Thank you for the review Mark, I miss your DAP reviews this one was a nice suprise!
I had an original model, from the 2018 Kickstarter. Loved it to bits. Lost it on a bus 😢 I'm glad I caught this review, as I didn't realise the mid-budget DAP market is dead (again!). Will have to buy this model ASAP before they're EOL!
Excellent, comprehensive review 👌🏽. I'm in the market for an upgrade over my Walkman NWA55 and just bought a Shanling M1s which I'm actually not fond of at all. I don't listen to music on my cellphone, so I've always appreciated dedicated music players, and I used to own a Cowon Plenue D, but it broke down in 2021 after 3 years and ever since then I've been looking for something comparable, but just as you stated in your vid, the lane for DAPs is narrow, especially for budget DAPs. This review helped me a lot though, so gracias 🙏🏽❤. Love your hair btw 😁
I have this player and it is very good. The only issues are with the interface and are relatively minor. It has other minor bugs but overall it’s great, it sounds excellent and is very customizable and can easily drive any headphones. Moreover, they seem to be still upgrading the firmware so many of my previous complaints are fixed. I use the balanced mode to drive hd 650 headphones. Especially like it for metal. Believe it or not my favorite DAP is still the Pono player in balanced mode.
@@SuperReview Yes! You need to try it if you haven't. In balanced mode to HD 600s the sound can't be beat at that price point. You can buy the Pono balanced cables from Surf. It would be awesome to hear your thoughts about this old relic that didn't quite get its due.
I am new to DAP's. Don't own one. Right now all my music comes through my iPhone 14 Pro Max. Typically via Bluetooth. I have been looking and researching (endlessly) at the R3 Pro 2022, Hiby R5 Gen II, Shanling M1S and Shanling M3X. The R3 2022 seems like the right choice but Im not sure? Also, I know there are arguments that just suggest iPhone users use the 3.5mm dongle and call it a day. Also, I went through a few different sets of over ear headphones. Ultimately I decided on the Bowers and Wilkins Px 7 s2. Im told, by B&W that the Px7 s2's have a built in DAC. In the end I understand I need to make the call on my own but just looking for some advice or suggestions. Great reviews btw. You've been most helpful during my research period.
All Bluetooth headphones/earphones have the DAC and amp built into the headphone, which means they will sound the same regardless of what they're connected to (assuming equivalent Bluetooth codecs are being used -- 99% of Android devices can do Aptx and LDAC). IMO the reasons to get a DAP are (1) to have buttons, and (2) to have a separate device for music. If just concerned about audio quality, a $9 Apple dongle will be almost impossible to differentiate from a DAP. That said, of the DAPs you listed the Hiby R5G2 is my personal pick, the battery life is awesome and loading it with Poweramp and my personal music library makes it an awesome device.
@@SuperReview Thank you very much for your time and thoughts. I cannot seem to find a definitive answer but I am trying to figure out if the 14 Pro Max will output to 192khz/24 bit? It seems, from what I have found, that it will only do 44.1khz/16 bit. But then there is the even more important (and probably extremely debatable) question. Will an amateur like myself even be able to tell the difference anyways? I sincerely thank you again for your time and input.
@@qazwsx80 I will tell you that personally, as someone who spends most of my free time listening to audio equipment, I do not hear a difference between regular 16-bit/44 and Hi-Res audio of higher bit / sample rates. I have gone down that rabbit hole and decided that (at least for me) it's a waste of time.
Found it struggling when connected to TWS setup and doesn't hold the Bluetooth signal well. OS and laggy interface experienced on this model. Sold it finally
NIce review. So, if you have a 4000 titles database like yours and add one or two albums via Wifi or USB, you'll have to wait 7min for a database update to see them appears? Or will it detect the new titles right away like any android smartphone?
@@SuperReview That's good to know. Do you think that processing speed could be related to the performances of the microSD card or it's related to CPU speed alone?
@@SuperReview Just checked with Hiby app / Samsung Evo Select micro sd card / Galaxy S10, scanning 1500 new files is 20 seconds as a comparaison. Did you see an important drop in battery after scanning 4000 files? I want that dap, as my phone has terrible battery life but haven't thought about that scanning process time before coming to your review. Is it the same amount of time when adding new songs via wifi?
@@SuperReview Yes it keeps playing though you whole library, oldy this isn't the case with the HiBy when playing by artist I check that and it keeps playing one álbum. If you play through albums it keeps playing though.
Hope these grow in popularity as people ditch smart phones- it’s what got me here imo, was never into “audiophile” stuff, but knew I wanted to ditch my phone but couldn’t deal without a music player. Obviously having an android audio player defeats the “no smart phone” agenda haha these devices are honestly a compliment to a device like the lightphone. If more people are getting out of the phone thing, hopefully the demand for these dedicated players will coincide. Would be smart for these companies to work with dump phone companies in terms of promo imo- I have a hidiaz ap80pro x and it made ditching the phone an easy choice!
Hello, thanks for review. I wonder if I can browse my flac files by folders? I have a micro SD card with about 200 folders each folder containing about 15 songs (flac files) . So I wonder if Hiby allows me to navigate through my entire 200 folders collection just as I would do in Windows? I really don't care about playlists, artists, albums, genre because thats not how I organize my music. Just want to plug my micro SD and play music just like I would do in my PC. Thanks!!
I bought the Hiby R2 but the sound is not the best, I use it with a dongle dac and it´s fine but the R3 pro 2022 is now on stock 175 euros refurbished, I paid 65 euros for the Hiby R2, maybe I get it back and get the R3, or maybe I wait a little more and get a good one, with amplificacion class A A/B
Hi Marc. Is gapless playback working flawlessly for both FLAC and mp3 format? No reports of weird fade-in / fade-out for neither FLAC / mp3 similar to the Hidizs AP80 which you reviewed a while back?
You know that you can rotate the screen in settings so that you can essentially have the aux inputs on the bottom of the device once the screen is rotated?
Hi, I'm currently on a work assignment in China where most streaming services are blocked. Wondering if there's any workaround like installing VPN on the R3 Pro is possible? Or I'll have to stream from my phone/laptop that has access to VPN and to play on the R3 Pro via bluetooth connectivity?
0:50 I live in South Korea, and the last I heard Cowon is done with DAPS. There are retailers selling old stock daps going back 5 years, often at massive discounts, but Cowon seems to have pivoted to earbuds. Kinda sad.
Speaking about sound you know there is a channel called VIVIR DIGITAL which translate as “living in a digital (way of life)” which is quite popular in Mexico and Latin America audio world. The guy made binaural recordings with daps tempotec V6, hidisz ap80 pro x, shanling M6 2021, hiby RS2 and oh boy there are quite noticeable differences. Tempotec is warm and less resolving, Hidisz brilliant and clear, and shanling the most balanced followed closely by hiby . And if RU-vid could pick up the differences, so should you
I've got a few devices of this type, all from FIIO. I have a low end, mid-tier, and high end example. I would describe each one of them as effectively discontinued at the time of release. M11 Pro is the prime example, what updates did this get and were they meaningful? What android is it running? Android 8? Security updates? Streaming music from hi-res sources? Should this thing even have wifi? No... it shouldn't. These devices have features they shouldn't have, given that they lack the OS version, security, software and hardware capabilities to even partially realize those features.
Marc, as always a great review! It has this flow, very cool :) Have you considered pairing Hiby r3 with Chord Mojo 2? There are cool 3d cases, so that one can have a compact hifi powerhouse. I have heard that the original mojo with hiby are really good.
Funny, I just saw those cases yesterday when I randomly looked for a nicer case for the R3. I haven't tried it, no, I don't own any Chord products at the moment.
Congratulations for this video. You are quite right. Except for this and Hidisz Ap80 pro x there are not new sub 200 usd daps coming out recently. Candidates? Old FiiO m6 which no balanced output and oh boy with FiiO fd5 this sounds to me much better with balanced !! All new daps cost more than 450 usd. The missing link was shanling m3x but its new version is noticeable more expensive
Did you fell the 2.5 balanced output is more prone to break? I have Hidisz Ap 80 pro x and the 2.5 does not work ok any longer: it looses stereo if you leave the cable on its own. You have to hold the 2.5 connector in a certain way to get proper stereo sound. At first I thought it was my cable but the same happens with all my cables so I think it’s the device.
OMG I have the same issue with my ap80 pro-x, I even had to send it to Hidizs' China HQ for repair and when it finally came back, that issue was fixed for a while but in the last few days it started to happen again. Now I'm thinking of not getting any DAPs with 2.5mm output...
@@SteelyDanUnofficial You can do that, but remember a DAP is made to give you power boost. That’s the whole reason for not just the interface and the whole 9 yards. It’s the power they generate to push juice to high and IMS or headphones. You can listen to your phone, but it’s never gonna push that much so you’re not gonna get the full enjoyment out of your IMS. Yes I understand that this post is a year old.
It has problems with cue sheets, does not support wavpack, does not support some sacd iso (which the android version of hiby player in your phone does) and freezes if you fiddle with bluetooth. Other than that a decent player :).
problems about problems, battery charges in 12 hours only to 80%, integrated Tidal software does not run smoothly, the playlists are not found when the player is turned on the next time, connection via Bluetooth flawless but then plays only AAC and that I can then play with the phone right on the Tidal app and need only the headphones and not an additional player.
Why don't Android based DAP use more functions like rear and front camera and a GPS navigation chip since they are expensive it would drive in more sales.. the previous ipod did have a camera module why do these DAP running Android os not have them..or am i asking for too much...nice to see...👍
There's no usb output selection on this device to play audio via the USB cable????? What am I missing? Wish I would have known this before I purchased this. It's now a paper $200 paperweight for me.
I have had very mixed results with Hiby players. R2 suffered from a swollen battery and needs RTM to China (not worth it) and just had to return an R5 V2 due to stuttering playback.
I was looking at some e-ink products recently and saw the hisense Touch, its marketed as a hifi product, runs android. I'm guessing there is no shortage of products to review in the audio world, but I found it interesting so I thought I'd share.
Your example of chvrches in the library browser is my biggest pet peeve with most audio browsers. I will stick with android for the player options to use uapp and poweramp
At about 8mins you hit upon something which irritates me immensely. I used to have a Cowon F2, which (in 2006!) had a 'dynamic playlist' feature which would let you add whole albums or single tracks, then play the list. Since 2015 I've had a Cowon X9 which can do the same thing via the 'favourites' system, you just have to clear your 'favourites' when you want another playlist. That these more modern players cannot do this relatively simple and obvious thing is a deal breaker for me. Thanks for helping me avoid a purchasing mistake.
For those who wish to judge the Ibasso DX300 by its volume knob I must say the knob is the worst part of that mighty DAP so it is all up hill from there. In fact, by other measures, the DX300 very nice. For those who might want a DX300 but don’t like the knob, the new DX320 is very much the same but you can probably guess what one of the changes is.
Can see that being annoying. I've maintained my library so that Artist and Album Artists are the same to avoid problems like that, kinda annoying they're not treated consistently.
I just received the R3 Pro and I can't figure out how to listen to Qobuz. I have a micro sd card loaded and I'm getting a fair amount of static on songs and the unit freezes frequently. I may return it but the return policy that Hiby has is pretty restrictive.
As a shuffle listener, I don't mind the album and artist sorting issue. But I'm worried about Tidal logout problem... hmmmmm.. Can it shuffle on my Tidal playlist? But it seems like it doesn't support tidal offline download play.. Hmmmm.. Maybe it's not for Tidal users...
I thought about it but I'm not comfortable with their tidal port breaking every other month and them taking ages to fix it, eventually this kind of company completely abandons supporting their device from a software point of view, could be in 2 weeks or in 2 years. So I would just ignore it and buy it for local playing, in which case the hidisz ap80-pro has much better battery and power for the same price, looks better, and the company has a long history of making products that measure outstandingly well.
I have read about Tidal problems with the old version of r3 saber. But with this? I bought Hidisz ap80 pro x which came out before this and regret the purchase because that does not include WiFi which I find important for airplay
Will never understand why people choose dac instead of this dap when price is the same. The audio card the same. But you have the option of not using the phone and with screen .
I only got into these devices to get away from my phone in the first place. I prefer owning music and having a library- nice to take my CDs on the go even though my phone is a potato
I may buy this when I have the money. Props to Hiby for continuing to make relatively affordable devices. Lately I’ve started to feel priced out of my favorite thing. One question: my Hiby R2 has a habit of not registering my touches. Did you ever encounter this on this device?
I’m glad people are having a good experience with this product. Unfortunately, I did not have a good experience with the Hiby R3 Pro. I recently returned some things on Amazon and used the money to buy an R3 Pro. But, I didn’t foresee that not having a micro SD card or a microSD reader (I’m a Mac user) would be a problem. I was hoping to use the Import Music over Wifi feature to transfer my CD files. That didn’t work, and I tried multiple times. I tried transferring via USB, and that didn’t work either. Then I tried to access Tidal to see if I could even stream, and that didn’t work (appreciate that MR brought that up). I didn’t really care to use the Hiby as a USB DAC or Bluetooth dongle because I didn’t buy it for those features. So, for my use case, the device was functionally useless, unless I wanted to plug in my IEMs and listen to the faint noise floor. I wanna reiterate that if you have this product and love it, power to you, I’m sure it’s great for some people. But I personally was left pretty disappointed. This was my first step into the world of DAPs and might be my last, if I’m honest. Just wanted to warn people who are thinking about buying this thing and expect to be able to use it without a microSD card or for streaming.
What specific issues did you run into with USB and WiFi? FWIW, I'm a Mac user as well, though my primary method of getting music onto the device is using a small Micro SD card reader.
@@SuperReview The USB just charged the device, it wouldn't show up on my computer (and I switched between Storage and other USB modes). Using the Import through WiFi feature involved connecting the Hiby to the same WiFi network as my computer, and entering a URL. The URL didn't take me anywhere. I tried two other times, and the page still wouldn't load. I probably could have just purchased a microSD card reader and a microSD card, but this experience just left a really bad taste in my mouth, so I decided to just return the Hiby. Thankfully, I got my refund almost immediately and used the money to preorder the IE200.
Yeah sounds frustrating. I just tried USB, initially I had the same issue as you...then I realized I didn't have a memory card in the player, so I inserted the card and it worked. The wifi transfer is useful in a pinch, but I wouldn't rely on it to transfer my whole library.
All the “minor’’ “picky” little things you mention add up to at least a 1 star deduction in a 4 star rating for me. Think I’ll move on to something else. Maybe even more $$. Thanks!
I dont understand how people are listening music on their phones. The phones have the most horrible sound ever for music, even the cassettes sounds better
It's a pity that hiby still refuses to install a 4.4mm balanced socket in 2023 and until this adaptation happens, all hiby products are out of my consideration.
