Joe Bloggs
Sponsor: HiByMember of the Trade: EFO Technologies Co, YanYin TechnologyHis Porta Corda walked the Green Mile
Hi all,
I'm here to re-introduce the HiBy FC6 to the head-fi community.
https://store.hiby.com/products/hiby-fc6
First introduced early this year, it immediately found favour from AndyEF of DongleMadness, making its way to #1 of his top dongles list over hundreds of contenders in one swell swoop. It was a decision based pretty much on sonics alone, as the price of the unit is unremarkable, and features such as high drive power or balanced output were lacking. It was later also found somewhat lacking by another reviewer in terms of e.g. frequency response flatness measurements,
but I have isolated the reason why the FC6 was so preferred by AndyEF among others subjectively, and it has something to do with a measurement result that was generally objected to. These factors have been distilled and all instilled into the new Darwin Ultra filter introduced at the turn of this week. It contains all the factors that make a filter (or, indeed, an NOS system) subjectively preferable (for better or for worse in terms of measurements), while functioning fully as an oversampling AA filter, complete with all the advantages that brings to fidelity. In short, it's going to be a filter that sounds as good as can be for analog-lovers while measuring as well as that permits.
But before that, we ran into other practical problems with the FC6, in the form of USB receiver incompatibility with some smartphones (where it was determined that the smartphones in question didn't actually adhere to the USB audio standard fully, but guess what, if you point fingers at Qualcomm, you'd get them turned back to point at yourself after every bone on your fingers have been broken, right?). Also some problems with the HDR module for OS mode on a certain member's earphones. (HDR improves dynamic range / accuracy at low signal levels at audible frequencies, but sometimes at the cost of extra ultrasonics, which may become audible through IMD depending on the earphones).
Herewith I would like to introduce the release of the first firmware update aimed at addressing all of the technical issues given.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/rpvs...date.zip?rlkey=qicpr2z2jiiszb6l63wgpqgyw&dl=0
(update: I've been told that an older version of the DFU installer actually works better. I have repackaged the firmware with that version as an option below. The firmware itself, is of course the same.)
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/btbs...ller.zip?rlkey=lmm6wpzoowhbhomtfpne4ff5q&dl=0
Changelog:
0. Updated installer settings for DFU and flash tools. DFU now defaults to English, flash tool now opens with all files ready to go, no need to dig in folders.
1. Fixed issue where click-sounds occurred at intervals when using FC6 in non-exclusive USB mode on Snapdragon 8 smartphones.
2. Providing on/off switch for HDR (which was fixed to on for OS in previous firmware), which may be used in both NOS and OS modes for maximum flexibility. Default setting (which are given every time the OS / NOS is toggled) is off for NOS, on for OS. (this should fix @povidlo 's problems)
3. OS filters have been updated to v1.6beta (so not quite v2 yet, Darwin Ultra hasn't made it onto the list yet. But that's ok, because Darwin Ultra was modelled on several aspects of how the FC6 sounded by itself anyway Makes for a bit of a practical problem in terms of fully labelling a next version FC6 firmware fully v2 certified actually)
Let me know how it goes. I will be closely monitoring this thread as well as pm's for any issues both with the installer (which I have optimized) and with the firmware itself.
With any luck, the FC6 with this and the next firmware (which should come soon; the full v2 filters have already been adapted for the FC6, just waiting for some new programming which should be quite simple) will fully shake off its teething bugs regarding usability and simply sound ******** awesome (if measuring with some quirks which should optionally be eliminated in the next release), period.
I'm here to re-introduce the HiBy FC6 to the head-fi community.
https://store.hiby.com/products/hiby-fc6
First introduced early this year, it immediately found favour from AndyEF of DongleMadness, making its way to #1 of his top dongles list over hundreds of contenders in one swell swoop. It was a decision based pretty much on sonics alone, as the price of the unit is unremarkable, and features such as high drive power or balanced output were lacking. It was later also found somewhat lacking by another reviewer in terms of e.g. frequency response flatness measurements,
but I have isolated the reason why the FC6 was so preferred by AndyEF among others subjectively, and it has something to do with a measurement result that was generally objected to. These factors have been distilled and all instilled into the new Darwin Ultra filter introduced at the turn of this week. It contains all the factors that make a filter (or, indeed, an NOS system) subjectively preferable (for better or for worse in terms of measurements), while functioning fully as an oversampling AA filter, complete with all the advantages that brings to fidelity. In short, it's going to be a filter that sounds as good as can be for analog-lovers while measuring as well as that permits.
But before that, we ran into other practical problems with the FC6, in the form of USB receiver incompatibility with some smartphones (where it was determined that the smartphones in question didn't actually adhere to the USB audio standard fully, but guess what, if you point fingers at Qualcomm, you'd get them turned back to point at yourself after every bone on your fingers have been broken, right?). Also some problems with the HDR module for OS mode on a certain member's earphones. (HDR improves dynamic range / accuracy at low signal levels at audible frequencies, but sometimes at the cost of extra ultrasonics, which may become audible through IMD depending on the earphones).
Herewith I would like to introduce the release of the first firmware update aimed at addressing all of the technical issues given.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/rpvs...date.zip?rlkey=qicpr2z2jiiszb6l63wgpqgyw&dl=0
(update: I've been told that an older version of the DFU installer actually works better. I have repackaged the firmware with that version as an option below. The firmware itself, is of course the same.)
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/btbs...ller.zip?rlkey=lmm6wpzoowhbhomtfpne4ff5q&dl=0
Changelog:
0. Updated installer settings for DFU and flash tools. DFU now defaults to English, flash tool now opens with all files ready to go, no need to dig in folders.
1. Fixed issue where click-sounds occurred at intervals when using FC6 in non-exclusive USB mode on Snapdragon 8 smartphones.
2. Providing on/off switch for HDR (which was fixed to on for OS in previous firmware), which may be used in both NOS and OS modes for maximum flexibility. Default setting (which are given every time the OS / NOS is toggled) is off for NOS, on for OS. (this should fix @povidlo 's problems)
3. OS filters have been updated to v1.6beta (so not quite v2 yet, Darwin Ultra hasn't made it onto the list yet. But that's ok, because Darwin Ultra was modelled on several aspects of how the FC6 sounded by itself anyway Makes for a bit of a practical problem in terms of fully labelling a next version FC6 firmware fully v2 certified actually)
Let me know how it goes. I will be closely monitoring this thread as well as pm's for any issues both with the installer (which I have optimized) and with the firmware itself.
With any luck, the FC6 with this and the next firmware (which should come soon; the full v2 filters have already been adapted for the FC6, just waiting for some new programming which should be quite simple) will fully shake off its teething bugs regarding usability and simply sound ******** awesome (if measuring with some quirks which should optionally be eliminated in the next release), period.
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