Hiby M300

Music enthusiasts surely want to be able to listen to Hi-Res music anywhere and anytime. But when faced with many limitations, we still have to adjust to what the market offers. Enter the M300 from HibyDigital, which is surprisingly comfortable but...

Coming from the habit of listening to music from a laptop + DAC/AMP that is "sufficient" in terms of power and sound quality (iFI Gryphon and Fiio Q15), and being someone who is extremely averse to fussing over many details, it's very difficult to find an audio device that is portable, doesn't bother you, and still offers Hi-Res sound quality.

I had thought of buying an old Samsung phone to use as a DAP, but it still felt too big and had a lackluster audio chip. Then HibyDigital (still related to Hiby) released the M300. Let's discuss...

==DISCLAIMER==
All impressions and reviews are subjective and follow the belief of "I buy, I try, I feel, I review, I don't care.". Agree? Okay. Different opinion? Okay.

==FOR THOSE WHO ARE CONFUSED BECAUSE==

• What is the HibyDigital M300 like?
• What's the new, small, android-based DAP that has just been released?
• Just want to read a review.

==MY PREFERRED DAP==

• Small, light, not bulky
• Fast Android with a good screen
• Supports Music Streaming YT Music and Spotify
• Better DAC chip, like ESS or AKM
• Both SE and Balanced ports

==DEVICES AND LISTENING TOOLS==
Youtube Music
M300
Symphonium Meteor
Symphonium Crimson
Symphonium Soara
Sennheiser IE600

==DIVING IN==
Unboxing:
The box is small, nothing fancy.
Contents:

• M300 DAP
• USB A to USB C cable
• Manual

Physical:
For a device at this cost, this feels really nice to hold. The finishing is good, feels nice in the hand, good weight, but a bit slippery. For me, as a portable dap, it's really nice to carry and hold.

Buttons, Slots, Inputs:
Power and lock button
Previous and Next song buttons
Volume up and down buttons
FN switch (can be set to what you want).
There's a slot for micro SD up to 2TB
3.5mm SE Jack
USB C port.
The rest, read it yourself on Google or check YouTube wkwkwk.

Sound Impression:
As a user of FIIO Q15 and IFI Gryphon, which are super nice, listening to this is definitely a downgrade. There's no such thing as refined and wow details, or fast speeds like in the Q15 and Gryphon. But there's one thing that stands out to me, which is the forward sweet vocals and great black background noise. The bass here is more focused on the midbass but it's just enough and tends to be restrained. Compared to the bass, the treble here has a bigger portion but it's not too piercing although it's somewhat dry. My sound impression is because I'm used to listening to the Q15 and Gryphon. If you guys are used to just listening to the Apple dongle, then just skip this part.
Use Crimson on this DAP is not as resolving as dedicated DAC/AMP but even with "okay" output power the enjoyment of listening music is pleasant especially when you mobile.

==CONCLUSION==
There's no perfect DAP, when you look for something that's really portable, the downside is either in terms of sound or performance. in the case of the HibyDigital M300, it's the sound that's sacrificed. I'm sure the M300 will be the first stone that will pave the way for other small DAPs that will enter the market. Can't wait for the breakthroughs from audio brands and hopefully stores in Indonesia will not only sell the products but also the accessories.

That's it.
Trust your ears.
Bye.

Review​

Wow... how do I describe this thing? Kind of cool, compact, lightweight.
As snappy as you'd like it to be, really cool 4" screen.



A DAC I do not mind at all, the solid Cirrus Logic CS43131.
(Huge fan of Cirrus Logic components)

Very cool factory applied screen glass protector...

A lot of standard features almost any audiophile would expect: HiRes audio sound, and quality certificate.
Very cool things such as DSD256 support, amongst the standard MP3 files, FLAC, etc... and a USB C port. Wowzers!

Branded to be for "Gen Z"?
Let me tell you as a Gen Z'er. STAY CLEAR AWAY! (Unless you like gambling your money, which... is a tempting gamble)

As an enthusiast that enjoys quality time with my beloved music, this DAP checked all the boxes that I needed. The ability to use external storage for expansion, when I'd run out of the 32GB onboard storage. The ability to use music streaming apps over wifi such as Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal... other HiRes sources. Something that claims to have a 2000mAh worth of battery. Android 13 OS. All of the goodies any one would want on a very affordable DAP. Heck, this thing has features some higher end ones lack.

Let me break the news to you, I am utterly disappointed in this thing. So much so, I am here writing to inform you to please, and I mean please. Stay away from this thing.
Upon the first 24 hours of owning this thing, I was stellar, ecstatic, and frankly over the moon. The color options on this thing are fairly tasteful, and I opted for the white version. Secondly, I bought the silicone case to have added protection for a DAP I planned to use for travel, sleep, and work. I was fairly skeptical of this thing based off many of the Amazon reviews that seemed like complainers for an already affordable piece of Hifi equipment. But, I regret not listening to them more.

A very big flaw of this DAP, is that regardless how many times you charge this thing to 100% it will never ever get there. Even if you charge it fully, the second you take it off the charger it will show 97%. I read multiple people having battery problems with this thing, which is alarming given how new of a device it is. The first 10 minutes I took setting up the DAP, the battery quickly declined from 74% to 60%. The battery chemistry in this device is not quality, cheap, and frankly junk. To mildly conserve your battery it is recommended you totally avoid using wifi or bluetooth capabilites on this thing (bummer). The maximum listening time, and usefulness I got out of it was 8 hours with wifi off, and low brightness. Outside of that, the 29+ hour uptime and 15 day standby claim is extremely falsified, and snake oil.

The most disappointing thing with this device for me was the 3.5mm output that is unbalanced, it wasn't a breaking point for me initially... but when listening to music I really wished it had it. The sound at times sounded gritty in headphones I've used plenty of hours. (Grado RS1i)

The playback buttons are responsive when they want to be, and most times do the opposite of what you want. Hey, I'd love to pause this song, or skip it. Nope, let us just skip 2 or 3 songs forward. Maybe not even respond... crud! Sometimes taking up to 5 seconds to even see what happened. It is quick when it wants to be, and extremely stubborn all other times.

I never planned on returning this DAP with the bad footing I already had with this device, but figured I'd keep giving it a proper burn-in period. Well, that was a mistake. Let me just warn you, the second you open the box, there is a seal on the button that says you cannot return this once broken.

Unfortunately, I opted to use my Grado SR125x on this device for a much needed sound profile change, and when I did the device suddenly did not output to its 3.5mm. And shortly after, the screen thereafter never worked again. I've tried several power cycles, solutions from Hiby, my unit is dead with less than a couple of days use. I read past all these reviews with people having extreme problems with their units, and let me warn you, do not make the same mistake. Most of these units, if not all are junk. They need to vetted by more audiophiles first, adhere to a more rigorous quality checking standards. Disappointed is an understatement, I am upset, and feel charmed by all these reviews that led to false truths.

Thankfully, I purchased this via Amazon and still have a window of return. If you purchase directly from Hiby, you may not have that luxury.

Do. Not. Purchase. (You've been warned.)


(Dead unit within a few days old, RIP)

Introduction:-


Hello guys today I will be sharing my review on the Hiby M300.

You might know Hiby from their different types of DAP and also dongle dac’s. So Hiby opened a new company called “Hiby Digital” for making stuff for Gen Z or younger generations. I am a Gen Z’er , so lets see how this Dap is.


I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.




This review will be a bit different from my usual reviews and i won't be following in particular format rather I will talk about the specs and physical appearance a bit and then talk about the dap in general and how it sounds


The M300 is a very unique dap as it is a compact android dap at a sort of an affordable price of $199 and it as the same processor used in the more expensive android dap’s which is the Qualcomm Snaprdragon 665, 3gb ram, 32gb internal storage expandable via micro SD card upto 2tb and android 13.


The M300 reminds me of the Fiio M6, which was released about 6 years ago I guess and it ran android 6. I always wanted a compact android dap which can play my audiobooks, podcast and music. And the hiby does that with m300 over here. This goes one step beyond and adds some other features too which I will talk about later in this review.


You can buy the Hiby M300 here


Would like to say a big thanks to Hiby for sending me this review unit, all the thoughts and opinions you are about to hear are my own.

I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.

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Review:-


1. It has a glass display on which a screen protector is already applied, which is awesome. Generally its hard to find a screen protector for a new device like this, so its nice its included in the box.


2. The overall frame is made out of aluminium and the back is glass too, although it feels a bit cheap to hold when compared to holding a smartphone but remember the price point and it is a dap.


3. It has lanyard hole and also a FN button which you can customise in the software. For example disabling all the physical buttons except the power button or immediately starting a voice recording.


4. It has power button, volume up and down, play and pause, next and fast forward but no previous track button or rewind button which is very odd.


5. Also the button positioning is very weird as there are two buttons the top one being play/pause and the down button is fast forward/next. Generally it is 3 buttons with the top button being previous/rewind, middle button being play/pause and the down button being fast forward/next.


6. Hiby supports SRC, and rather than me talking about it I will leave a detailed reply form hiby about SRC below

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hib...discussion-thread.970428/page-2#post-17816663


7. The player is very pocketable as it is only about 113 mm tall and only 15mm wide and it weighs about 136gms. The screen is only 4 inch and the resolution is 640x1280. It has only a 3.5mm jack which outputs about 103mw ( I will be coming back to this later) and has a CS43131 dac. It supports playback upto DSD 256 and PCM 32bit.



8. Although I cannot find differences in sound that much but A-B ing with various sources which I have it does feel like it has a warm sound signature a mild v shape. Quite analogue sounding and listening to it is very enjoyable, now this is very good as this is made for people when they are out and I want something fun sounding when out and about.


9. The battery capacity is 2000mah and the battery life Is claimed to be about 29 hours on a single charge by Hiby, I did some test and I got around 34 hours with some mods I applied which I will talk about in a future video when I share some tips and tricks about it and 22 hours when using it in stock mode. I played the music at around 35% volume and screen was off, also the iem used for testing was the moondrop chu 2


10. The player has a microphone for voice recording which is quite good, I will play a small sample one from me talking to it like a mic and other keeping it on the table.


11. This also has a speaker but sadly, the speaker in my unit isn't working and hiby was kind enough to replace it and give me a new unit. But due to the high shipping cost and the lengthy process required I skipped it. Hiby assured me that since this was a pre-production unit hence the issue, production unit won’t be having it and they are already working on rectifying the problem in the manufacturing process if there were any.


12. It also has FM radio and it supports FM recording



13. I know many people don’t like the idea of an android daps, specially one which has FM radio, speaker and a mic. But I love this idea, if this isn't something you like you can look at an alternate model called the hiby r3 ii


14. the stock hiby music app is quite good, and it is ok for everything I do. Although it doesn’t support play all the albums of an artist. But then again it doesn’t matter you can use any music player of your choice, I personally used UAPP during the testing and it worked flawlessly. You can also use poweramp


15. The USB port is USB 3.2 Gen 2, which Is awesome it’s something you don’t see on $1000+ smartphones. Here it makes more sense as we can transfer huge amount of data easily from your pc.


16. It has BT 5.0 and it supports aac, ldac, sbc and Aptx support will be added via an update as of this review it doesn’t support aptx. I tried using aac and ldac and the range was standard and I was quite happy with it.


17. Talking about the power when connected via the headphone jack, it has OK power in my opinion. It drove all my iems quite well and I had no issues iems like the BGVP P05, 7hz Timeless AE and the Tanchjim Kara had to be pushed a little hard. Also if you buy this, its is very important that you remember this that they are two volumes one is master volume and other is a listening volume. I made a mistake first where my listening volume was full and I thought it wasn't supplying enough power to my iems. But you have to max out the master volume and then use the listening volume accordingly. The master volume is of 15 steps and the listening volume there is 100 steps.


When using the bluetooth devices the listening volume stops working and only the master volume works. So be careful when using it.



18. I personally have been using this device a lot to listen to audiobooks and podcasts and also some occasional music and it has worked great. It not having sim slot or camera has kept me quite without any distraction when listening to my audiobook or podcast and working.


19. I know many work places doesn’t allow smartphone but people need something for music or their audiobooks or podcasts. This is a great device specially if pair it with a bluetooth earbuds.


20. Thats my review of the Hiby M300, I personally really like this device. I am exactly the target audience for this, but I do understand as to what some hardcore enthusiasts would want probably more power and a 4.4mm. The dap itself is not powerful (Although it drove my iems without any issues) , but in my opinion thats ok. Because it isn't trying to be the best sounding device out there it is trying to balance portability along with a decent audio output. Now if you want something like that this is great if not the Hiby R3 ii is where you should look at the same price point or probably an more expensive android DAP.

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If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.

Again a big thanks to Hiby for making this review possible.

Have a great day ahead