[MichRT]

Mini Hiby M300 Review!
The DAP to hopefully change DAPs

Pros:

• Clean and mostly stock Android 13. Few built in apps and each can be uninstalled or disabled. Great job!
• Good USB DAC support (It supports an A&K DAP in USB DAC mode, so it’ll support most anything lol)
• Great UI and overall app performance
• Really fun EQ tools. More on this later
• Compact form factor. Screen can be force rotated so HP jack can be at top or bottom
• Massive number of volume steps - Huge positive that’s sometimes overlooked
• Built-in 3.5mm output: Sound is fine. A bit mid forward compared to my other portable devices.
• Cost - you get a lot of stuff that matters for your money

️ Nitpicks:

• Side button arrangement could be better. Play/Pause has a 1sec delay - could be to facilitate double pressing but even so it can be obnoxious. Perhaps set the double tap delay to milliseconds instead?
• When set to “Key lock”, the Fn Switch only prevents the playback buttons from working. The power button still turns the screen on and the display is fully functional. I anticipated it would function more like iPods and other older players that blocked all interactions when “locked”
• Screen touch sensitivity is odd. Scrolling lists needs more pressure than I’m used to, otherwise it’ll register a touch/tap instead of scrolling
• Built-in 3.5mm output can sound a bit thin with some compression and smearing in the treble region

Cons:

• Headphones emit an audible “pop” when connected and disconnected, even when volume is set to minimum and no music is playing
• MicroSD performance is subpar. File browsing, searching, and media discovery can be slow on larger libraries
• Default EQ isn’t system wide, being restricted to the Hiby app without installing other EQ or player software
• The SRC/resampler situation has been hashed a few times throughout this thread with good information. It would be nice however to have sample rate conversion bypassed at least through USB output to an external DAC

You get a whole lot of good for $200. It is so very close to incredible, but there are a few small things that are personal deal breakers for me. Even so, I can see a lot of folks really enjoying the M300 - it’s a relatively inexpensive DAP with good performance for once. I’m glad Hiby brought this to market, and excited to see what they do next!

 

[shirleywhite]

Hi all. Just a quick review 're the m300 case. I bought one on jan27 through Amazon uk. I got a despatch email saying arriving March 12. It arrived Feb 7th!! Not bad all the way from china.
The case itself arrived very very (over?) packaged. In a padded box, inside various soft bags etc. I am guessing it's the packaging used for delicate electronic devices rather than a chunk of silicon(?).
The case was firmer than I expected. The player slots in with a little gentle stretching at one end. All controls/ports are accessible except for the sdcard. Changing cards will need player removing from case. One of my reasons for getting the m300 was the tiny/ thin form factor. This case obviously adds a little to the size.....but imho it is still one of the smallest out there and I like to have cases for all my devices. Overall a very well made custom case. Highly recommend for those wanting to protect the m300.
PS. I paid 12.83 GBP for the case. Not cheap but imho worth it. Regards to all headfiers.

 

[VishnuKare]

Hi all. Just a quick review 're the m300 case. I bought one on jan27 through Amazon uk. I got a despatch email saying arriving March 12. It arrived Feb 7th!! Not bad all the way from china.
The case itself arrived very very (over?) packaged. In a padded box, inside various soft bags etc. I am guessing it's the packaging used for delicate electronic devices rather than a chunk of silicon(?).
The case was firmer than I expected. The player slots in with a little gentle stretching at one end. All controls/ports are accessible except for the sdcard. Changing cards will need player removing from case. One of my reasons for getting the m300 was the tiny/ thin form factor. This case obviously adds a little to the size.....but imho it is still one of the smallest out there and I like to have cases for all my devices. Overall a very well made custom case. Highly recommend for those wanting to protect the m300.
PS. I paid 12.83 GBP for the case. Not cheap but imho worth it. Regards to all headfiers.

Can you please post a pic of the case+DAP

 

[shirleywhite]

Can you please post a pic of the case+DAP

Can you please post a pic of the case+DAP

Hi vishnukare. Attached is a pic of the case plus dap. ( sorry it is a very poor picture) The side showing on top shows the on/off and play buttons which you press "through" the case if you see what i mean. The function switch however is an actual cutout on the case to access the switch direct. You can maybe also see the increased thickness.......still leaving a pretty neat combo ( imho).....
Once again apologies for the lousy photo......hopefully others who have the case may be able to add more?! Regards.

 

[Saraguie]

Can you please post a pic of the case+DAP

This is the one I have on order. I believe it is the same one as the HiBy website is selling.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CT2P5HP5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[sensei.russ]

Hi, my M300 has just developed an issue where the screen is completely black and blank.
In a dark room you can see a slight blue sheen and that the backlight is very slightly activated, however nothing is visible on screen.

The unit is definitely powered on, because I still get haptic feedback when holding the power button. If I hold the power button down I also see a brief flash on the screen as if it's trying to turn the screen on.

I wanted to try and restart it, but holding down the power button does nothing (vibration aside) and despite searching online, I can't seem to find instructions on manual restart/reset aside from holding power button.

I updated to the latest firmware a few days ago, and the unit seemed to have become a little unresponsive/laggy just prior to this happening yesterday.

I've contacted HIBY support but they are currently out of office until after 17th February (Chinese New Year period).

Any help/ideas please? I was hoping the unit would run out of battery and I could then recharge and possibly restart, but 24hrs later it still has charge so will have to wait.

Thanks

 

[Colin5619]

Maybe the Screen Brightness got turned down to its lowest setting. I’ve had this happen on phones, use a torch to look at the screen to find the brightness settings and try turn it up

 

[sensei.russ]

Thanks for your reply.

That did cross my mind, and I have tried a few times to adjust the brightness setting blindly (swipe down twice and then from left to right) but it hasn’t worked

When holding down the power button the screen takes on a slight dark blue sheen, which I guess is the backlight activating to some degree. A torch doesn’t help unfortunately.

 

[Saraguie]

Hi, my M300 has just developed an issue where the screen is completely black and blank.
In a dark room you can see a slight blue sheen and that the backlight is very slightly activated, however nothing is visible on screen.

The unit is definitely powered on, because I still get haptic feedback when holding the power button. If I hold the power button down I also see a brief flash on the screen as if it's trying to turn the screen on.

I wanted to try and restart it, but holding down the power button does nothing (vibration aside) and despite searching online, I can't seem to find instructions on manual restart/reset aside from holding power button.

I updated to the latest firmware a few days ago, and the unit seemed to have become a little unresponsive/laggy just prior to this happening yesterday.

I've contacted HIBY support but they are currently out of office until after 17th February (Chinese New Year period).

Any help/ideas please? I was hoping the unit would run out of battery and I could then recharge and possibly restart, but 24hrs later it still has charge so will have to wait.

Thanks

How’s the internal memory ? I developed all kinds of problems when it was too full.

 

[sensei.russ]

Hi Saraguie,

I have all my audio on the micro sd card, haven't used the internal storage aside from adding poweramp and a handful of other apps.

 

[Nick24JJ]

For those interested, the latest update of UAPP added HiRes support for the M300

 

[Olly1]

Looking at the possibility of purchasing either the HIby R3 II or M300. I can see the SD card capacity of each of these but is there a limit on the number of songs that can be added - accepting the SD Card limit. Thansk for any advice.

 

[rlw6534]

Looking at the possibility of purchasing either the HIby R3 II or M300. I can see the SD card capacity of each of these but is there a limit on the number of songs that can be added - accepting the SD Card limit. Thansk for any advice.

I'm pretty sure the R3 II has a 20,000 track limit for metadata. You can still play by folder though. I don't know for sure on the M300, but I wouldn't expect the limit on an Android player.

 

[XTF1]

I'm pretty sure the R3 II has a 20,000 track limit for metadata. You can still play by folder though. I don't know for sure on the M300, but I wouldn't expect the limit on an Android player.

Per Headfonics:

I believe there is a similar comment somewhere from @Joe Bloggs that it has been upgraded for the R3-II.

I have ~13,000 tracks on mine, so not even close…. Also, I’m not sure if this 50k limit applies when you browse by folder.

As for the M300, I believe the limit, if any, depends on which player you use. No limit from Android, but each player app may have its own limits depending how they structure and define the music scan database.

 

[rlw6534]

Per Headfonics:

I believe there is a similar comment somewhere from @Joe Bloggs that it has been upgraded for the R3-II.

I have ~13,000 tracks on mine, so not even close…. Also, I’m not sure if this 50k limit applies when you browse by folder.

As for the M300, I believe the limit, if any, depends on which player you use. No limit from Android, but each player app may have its own limits depending how they structure and define the music scan database.

Cool. Glad to hear they finally fixed the 20,000 limit.