HiBy R1 $85 CS43131 DAP Released!

[abitdeef]

You have to get the m300 or R4 to get android. Or the new fiio coming out. These teeny tiny players don't usually have android, would probably run horrible with the ingenic chip. You've got drawbacks with android too, in my experience stuff never runs as smoothly as on a phone and standby drain can be bad. Especially on a smaller dap with smaller battery capacity. Fortunately myself I don't mind hiby music, the newer versions are pretty good imo. I still think Sony player is one of the most thought out and logical to use. I'm buying this because it's cute, tiny and cheap probably will sound good, easy to use and easy to throw in a pack or pocket.

 

[Turbodub]

Could you post any photos of what the interface for Tidal looks like?

 

[abitdeef]

Fun fact, hiby said this dap had the longest development to release cycle of any of their daps. Maybe because of the new UI? Who knows.

 

[Escudos999]

How To Unlock the Volume Lock of the HiBy R1​

VIDEO TUTORIAL: (coming soon)

Due to regulations in EU and China on audio/visual communication devices, HiBy has locked the volume of the R1 (and other music players) to just 54. Most people who listen at a reasonable volume should find the volume adequate, but this will not be enough for high volume listeners

Thankfully, I found a way to unlock this by unlocking the developer’s option of the DAP

In order to unlock the volume;

STEP 1: Head to the About Section of the R1​

STEP 2: Spam the HiBy logo until it says that you’re a developer​

STEP 3: Go back to the main page​

STEP 4: Go to the settings​

STEP 5: Scroll down until you find developer settings and press it​

STEP 6: Untick the volume lock​

You should be able to go beyond 54 volume on your R1 freely.

Enjoy your high-volume listening! (please take care of your ears)

Does the player not have a physical play/pause button...has to be done on screen?

 

[minhdelsol]

I really appreciate the fact that you've been very active on giving information about this little device on all platforms. Do you have any idea on how many songs does this support? Also does it have a virtual keyboard popping up if you want to search for something?

 

[Twizzle]

As much as it pains me, no you cannot scrobble with this device. It's a non-android HiByOS and is just a pure music (and txt reader) device, so no poweramp

That was my guess. Thanks for the response. Have started following your YouTube channel - will YouTube doing a full review of the R1 on there soon?

 

[Twizzle]

You have to get the m300 or R4 to get android. Or the new fiio coming out. These teeny tiny players don't usually have android, would probably run horrible with the ingenic chip. You've got drawbacks with android too, in my experience stuff never runs as smoothly as on a phone and standby drain can be bad. Especially on a smaller dap with smaller battery capacity. Fortunately myself I don't mind hiby music, the newer versions are pretty good imo. I still think Sony player is one of the most thought out and logical to use. I'm buying this because it's cute, tiny and cheap probably will sound good, easy to use and easy to throw in a pack or pocket.

Thanks. I already have an M300, which I absolutely love. It's a little tricky exporting and updating my iTunes playlists and music on there, but I have a workflow that's reliable now. I've very protective of my M300 (trying to avoid cracking the screen etc.), and am looking for a smaller, cheaper device I can use when out and about cycling instead of my ageing iPod Nano, which has rubbish battery life now. Thinking the R1 might fit the bill if it can index my 28,000+ tracks and it lets me drag and drop my exported iTunes playlists onto it. Looking forward to reading/watching some full reviews of it very soon.

A shame it won't be able to Scrobble though. It'd be great if HiBy can add a feature request to HiByMusic player to have an option to Scrobble tracks.

Anyone know when the R1 might be available to buy in the UK?

 

[abitdeef]

Yep, I'm buying another one to replace my brother's ipod nano that I gave him. I've already been through the multi thousand dollar daps stage but my hearing is not what it used to be, so I use eq. I've got a simple setup and have been messing about with dongles but always end up going back to my Sony. So this little gem will be an active use dap and maybe transport. If I ever find a dongle I like better than the 306.

 

[kesobie]

That was my guess. Thanks for the response. Have started following your YouTube channel - will YouTube doing a full review of the R1 on there soon?

Yep! I'm sharing my first impressions first then give myself a few for the full review

 

[JackFlash]

What do the EQ settings look like?

 

[kesobie]

HiBy R1 FEATURES AND UI​

The R1 has a couple of tried and tested features that you’ve seen in their previous DAPs, but a couple of new ones added and a few removed due to the cost. I’ll only mention new ones and the ones removed. I’ll also include some features that many people have been asking about but I won’t include all in this post for time. I’ll include it in my full review, however.

Firstly, you get a new look at HiByOS. I’m not entirely sure if they call this something, but it’s very different from every other HiBy DAP I’ve tried. The layout is largely the same. Unfortunately, this new UI does not feature dark mode yet and it might not have one for quite a while. However, you can change the theme of the icons and accents in the theme setting.

Next, you get a new drop-down menu where they finally place the brightness bar instead of the volume bar. You can’t customize it from here anymore, but you can still customize it in the system settings.

You also get this new soundfield filter that allows you to “increase” the sound stage through audio. Think of this as a somewhat nerfed version of Dolby Atmos.

Unlike the R2 II and R3 II, you cannot use this AS a dongle DAC or Bluetooth transmitter. While this seemed like a downgrade on first look, I realized that literally no one does this but me and it makes it cheaper by disabling this feature.

Thankfully, you can still use this WITH a dongle DAC. If you’re wondering why I put emphasis on that is because I want to ensure clarity that you can use this WITH a dongle DAC but not AS a dongle DAC.

My current unit does not have HiBy Link, but the marketing material states that this should include HiBy Link so I can only assume that it will be included in future firmware.

The last thing I want to point out is the fact that this is a non-Android device running on HiByOS based on Linux. This means that this cannot download any kind of application unto the device. This something that I think I need to continue to clarify as the R1 is not only the cheapest DAP that HiBy has ever produced, but also the least feature-rich due to its limitation.

Anyways, that’s all of the features that I could fit into this post. Let me know if you have any other questions you’d like to ask in the comments!

 

[SussyTofu420]

101mW of power? I guess it's for very sensitive IEMs only, not a lot of room for a negative pre-amp. Neat device either way.

 

[abitdeef]

Most of the tiny daps aren't android, so that's not really a surprise. And I'm confused, this thing is supposed to transmit all Bluetooth codes except aptx? Also says usb dac in the description. Maybe you've got beta software?

Let's hope they add dark UI option, that white hurts my eyes

 

[SapphicSweetheart]

I'm really surprised to hear you say that it can't be used as a USB DAC, because that seems to go against the marketing material! Like in the pictures in the Audio Componentry section, under MSEB and Streaming Platforms Support is lists USB DAC. This might be good to ask HiBy about?

I'm currently looking for a cheap DAP and am choosing between the R1 and the R3 II.
Are there any major downsides to the R1 compared to the R3 II, besides the obvious that it doesn't have a Balanced output, and is made of plastic rather than metal? Is the audio quality on the 3.5mm output particularly worse than the R3 II, or are they about the same?

 

[abitdeef]

Think maybe it's the way he worded it, -dongle dac? So it works as a USB dac, but not a dongle dac. I think lol. I mean it's a dap with a screen, battery etc, so? And you can do ldac if you want to stream from your phone. Otherwise dongles are a dime a dozen.