[Blasterinn]

True the iBasso and Hiby are both on Android 9 so should get more updates, although Fiio and A&K have always updated and provided work arounds for music apps. As long as iBasso continues to update it definitely is running the more current Android. I personally am an AKM dac fan so iBasso’s cheaper dac (same as the old cheaper A&K sr15) plus the weird amp power at higher ohms made it a no go for myself but it’s definitely one of the nicest looking.

I do wonder about the interchangeable amp modules. Anyone heard anything about what to expect?

 

[Blasterinn]

I do wonder about the interchangeable amp modules. Anyone heard anything about what to expect?

I have been reading up on the hiby r6 2020, and i like it! Thanks! I find it probable that it might be the one.

 

[pkcpga]

I have been reading up on the hiby r6 2020, and i like it! Thanks! I find it probable that it might be the one.

I was very tempted by the HiBy R8, but was unable to try it and HiBy as a company has mixed reviews about quality control. But the R8 definitely is spec’d the best, the r6 2020 has a modern ES dac and a 750mW at 32 ohm and 240mW at 300ohm amp. So a little less powerful then the m15 or R8 and ES instead of AKM dac. Wish there was a place in my area that I could have tried the R8 it was very tempting on paper but an expensive gamble. The R6 2020 is definitely a better price point.

 

[Blasterinn]

I was very tempted by the HiBy R8, but was unable to try it and HiBy as a company has mixed reviews about quality control. But the R8 definitely is spec’d the best, the r6 2020 has a modern ES dac and a 750mW at 32 ohm and 240mW at 300ohm amp. So a little less powerful then the m15 or R8 and ES instead of AKM dac. Wish there was a place in my area that I could have tried the R8 it was very tempting on paper but an expensive gamble. The R6 2020 is definitely a better price point.

I agree, cannot justify the R8, not if i am going to expand my iem collectio hehe.

 

[Blasterinn]

I have purchased the hiby R6 2020! And the Fiio FH7 too. I will acquire some balanced cables as soon as i have made my mind up what to get.
Thanks pkcpga for the help.

 

[pkcpga]

I have purchased the hiby R6 2020! And the Fiio FH7 too. I will acquire some balanced cables as soon as i have made my mind up what to get.
Thanks pkcpga for the help.

Good luck, hopefully everything matches well. The m15 is a good dap, but definitely not the A&K sp2000. But I did something similar went with the m15 and bought the zmf pendant tube amp, instead of just getting the sp2000.

 

[Blasterinn]

Good luck, hopefully everything matches well. The m15 is a good dap, but definitely not the A&K sp2000. But I did something similar went with the m15 and bought the zmf pendant tube amp, instead of just getting the sp2000.

That is interesting! Perhaps you could give me an honest opinion on the m15? I just needed to go with the hiby as otherwise this would be too much since I really wanted the Fiio too. H@ve not heard about the zmf, checking now.

 

[Blasterinn]

That is interesting! Perhaps you could give me an honest opinion on the m15? I just needed to go with the hiby as otherwise this would be too much since I really wanted the Fiio too. H@ve not heard about the zmf, checking now.

Goddamn! That zmf pendant is a monster!!! And beautiful i must say!

 

[pkcpga]

Goddamn! That zmf pendant is a monster!!! And beautiful i must say!

Thanks I have ZMF Verite Closed and love them so really wanted to try a tube amp since that’s the original way I heard them.

The Fiio m15 is a good sound dap for its price. I really like AKM dacs, every one I’ve heard has a very smooth clear presentation that follows more of the Harmon curve. Which the m15 definitely does, it’s biggest down fall is dynamics. With standard quality music like cd quality flac from tidal or purchased it sounds very detailed, warm, smooth and good layering. It just isn’t as dynamic as the A&K with the same dac, that offers more excitement with bass that’s more felt and more variance in soft to loud. To me the m15 does everything as clean and well rounded as can be just a little less excitement then the A&K sp2000, which is $3,500. So really not a fair comparison. With Qobuz higher res flac and Tidal MQA and DSD I have the m15 becomes more dynamic and has better bass impact. So the m15 becomes very bias to recording quality, which my old A&K 380 was not, but it had an older AKM dac in it. The m15 UI is very easy to use like my old A&K, wish Tidal and Qobuz played in its direct music player side but I guess with the old Android that probably couldn’t be done. For its price with the powerful amp it has, its a good buy. The A&K sp2000 was better overall but it’s also almost 3 times its price. And like you by stepping down a little I got something I wanted as well.

 

[Blasterinn]

Thanks I have ZMF Verite Closed and love them so really wanted to try a tube amp since that’s the original way I heard them.

The Fiio m15 is a good sound dap for its price. I really like AKM dacs, every one I’ve heard has a very smooth clear presentation that follows more of the Harmon curve. Which the m15 definitely does, it’s biggest down fall is dynamics. With standard quality music like cd quality flac from tidal or purchased it sounds very detailed, warm, smooth and good layering. It just isn’t as dynamic as the A&K with the same dac, that offers more excitement with bass that’s more felt and more variance in soft to loud. To me the m15 does everything as clean and well rounded as can be just a little less excitement then the A&K sp2000, which is $3,500. So really not a fair comparison. With Qobuz higher res flac and Tidal MQA and DSD I have the m15 becomes more dynamic and has better bass impact. So the m15 becomes very bias to recording quality, which my old A&K 380 was not, but it had an older AKM dac in it. The m15 UI is very easy to use like my old A&K, wish Tidal and Qobuz played in its direct music player side but I guess with the old Android that probably couldn’t be done. For its price with the powerful amp it has, its a good buy. The A&K sp2000 was better overall but it’s also almost 3 times its price. And like you by stepping down a little I got something I wanted as well.

Really like what you are doing. Wish we had qobuz here, heard good things.
No shipping yet but i am calm, no hurry.

 

[pkcpga]

Really like what you are doing. Wish we had qobuz here, heard good things.
No shipping yet but i am calm, no hurry.

The sound quality is good, I’m in my 30 day free trial, was deciding if I want to keep it over Tidal. Probably won’t Qobuz UI is very glitchy and their search engine is terrible. I like the album info that comes up but it really is a pain to use. Can’t download to app to play later offline if you haven’t already played the song. Not sure why, keep trying to but won’t seem to allow me. With Tidal I can select 30 songs quickly by making a playlist, select download and 5 minutes later use it offline. If I could figure out how to select a playlist quickly with playing each song in order to save and download them I’d consider it since it’s cheaper and really very similar sound quality.

 

[Blasterinn]

So, why is it so popular then? Just for sound quality?

 

[pkcpga]

So, why is it so popular then? Just for sound quality?

It has high res flac over MQA which requires specific players, cheaper then Tidal and the new game in town. I guess see what happens a year from now when the newness settles. And who knows maybe the UI will become better and Qobuz will have more albums available.

 

[Blasterinn]

It has high res flac over MQA which requires specific players, cheaper then Tidal and the new game in town. I guess see what happens a year from now when the newness settles. And who knows maybe the UI will become better and Qobuz will have more albums available.

Growing pains. I reached out to them trying to get to use their services but no luck. They were polite and rather quick to get back to me so i will try once they get to this isl@nd.

 

[pkcpga]

Growing pains. I reached out to them trying to get to use their services but no luck. They were polite and rather quick to get back to me so i will try once they get to this isl@nd.

I’ll probably try it again later once people review that the UI is better, definitely if you pay by the year it’s like 40% less then Tidal in the US.