[steakikan]

If anyone interested, I do a size comparison between M1S and R2 on M1S thread.

I don't have many HP/IEMs with inline remote/mic. I tested the (free) Loki sent with my R2-II as well as an older Fidelio S2 and could not make it work with my iPhone. Same thing with the R2. I believe that, although the R2/R2-II support multiple audio codecs (SBC, AAC, aptX, LDAC, UAT), they haven't implemented the bluetooth HSP, HFP, AD2P and AVRCP profiles needed for cell phone-headset communication (at least support of some of these profiles is needed). I don't have an Android phone, but I suspect it is the same story.

Some observations about the R2-II:

I was reading a review of the Shanling M0 Pro on Heafonics where they say, as a comparison, that the R2-II can't be used while charging. This is somewhat incorrect: you can't use the R2-II if you connect it to a PC USB for charging. In that case, it is seen either as a mass storage or a DAC (configurable in the settings). But if you plug the R2-II onto a regular USB charger or power bank, you can absolutely use it, and have all the functionalities available while charging.

Hiby has added an "Album Artist" option in the Music screen... Great !!!:

.........Except that when I select an "Album Artist", the list of albums from that artist that I was expecting to see next is not there... instead, what I get is a list of all the tracks from that album artist, sorted by album/track number........???..... The "Artist" option is unchanged and does show the list of albums where the selected artist has at least one track. So, with that new "Album Artist" option, IMO the two behaviors should be reversed: 1/ "Artist" > list of "Tracks" from that artist, sorted alphabetically. 2/ "Album Artist" > list of "Albums" for that album artist, sorted alphabetically (or by Year?) > list of "Tracks" for that album, sorted by track number.

The R2-II body is plastic... good quality... but still plastic! A big downgrade from the R2 IMO.

Subjectively, the R2-II appears much bigger than the R2, closer to the R3 than the R2.

The volume pot is an encoder (infinite rotation, 100 "clicks" to step from 0 to max. volume). It is great, but I keep pressing it expecting to turn the screen on & off,, or to get some other menu shortcut. Feels like a missed opportunity.

Edit: Added picture of the "Music" screen.

Also forgot to mention the Wifi: the R2-II has much better reception than the R2, but it is 2.4 Ghz only! The R2 had support for both 2.4 and 5 Ghz.

A bit sad as M1S can actually charge while using it with PC (Mass Storage mode), not sure why they disable it as it doesn't affect much I suppose?
For portability plastic do seems nice as it has less weight, but it does feel cheap even compared to M0 Pro. The wheel, if only they designed it like M0 pro it will be much easier to use single hand.

 

[XTF1]

If anyone interested, I do a size comparison between M1S and R2 on M1S thread.


A bit sad as M1S can actually charge while using it with PC (Mass Storage mode), not sure why they disable it as it doesn't affect much I suppose?
For portability plastic do seems nice as it has less weight, but it does feel cheap even compared to M0 Pro. The wheel, if only they designed it like M0 pro it will be much easier to use single hand.

It does charge when connected to a PC, but you can’t use the DAP features: depending on the settings, it is seen as mass storage or external sound card (DAC).
Ideally I’d like settings for the USB com (mass storage, DAC, or in the other direction, transport, read mass storage) to be independent from the USB charging settings (charging, no charge, or in the other direction, full current output, limited current output).

I agree with you on the plastic housing, it’s actually perfectly fine, but it just feels cheap and I was spoiled by the R2 OG feel.

I actually like the wheel, feels very natural to use, just wish for an additional press-the-wheel function.

 

[tomaster]

 Just got mine delivered, plastic build doesn't effect me since I will put it in included case anyway.

 

[happyblack]

True, that is something I want to know how it works. Would be nice if it had offline play. Seems a bit too much to be true, in a dap in this price bracket.

My R2 II was delivered today!
Sadly, no way to play Tidal offline, but its support is pretty robust and, what's most important, fluid and smooth.

It lets you search for tracks / artists / albums or pick anything you've saved in your library and play it via WiFi.
Fast forwarding tracks is supported. I have not experienced any drop-outs or stutters.

Sure, it's not a native Tidal app, but IMHO it's faster than running the Android version on HiBy R5 III.

 

[rocketron]

My R2 II was delivered today!
Sadly, no way to play Tidal offline, but its support is pretty robust and, what's most important, fluid and smooth.

It lets you search for tracks / artists / albums or pick anything you've saved in your library and play it via WiFi.
Fast forwarding tracks is supported. I have not experienced any drop-outs or stutters.

Sure, it's not a native Tidal app, but IMHO it's faster than running the Android version on HiBy R5 III.

Can you not off line tracks to the SD card?

 

[happyblack]

Can you not off line tracks to the SD card?

I'm not entirely sure I get what you mean.
Sure, you can have some audio files on the SD card and listen to them at your will, but I have never heard about downloading Tidal data to some portable storage and trying to force the app to use them. I doubt something like this would work.

 

[Carpet]

Can you not off line tracks to the SD card?

I'm not entirely sure I get what you mean.
Sure, you can have some audio files on the SD card and listen to them at your will, but I have never heard about downloading Tidal data to some portable storage and trying to force the app to use them. I doubt something like this would work.

If offline Tidal content were unencrypted. Then we would have seen people REALLY busy with their free months trial to save ALL their music to devices, then leaving! Should you leave a device offline. I'm sure you will find a timeout that will occur, for not verifying that the subscription is current (ie. no favorites list for five years in airplane mode either).

 

[tomaster]

So my unit is draining battery completely when it's turned off, anyone deal with that issue before?

 

[happyblack]

So my unit is draining battery completely when it's turned off, anyone deal with that issue before?

How much of a drain during what period of time are we talking about?

Do you turn it off completely or leave it in a standby mode? What about Bluetooth /WiFi?

 

[tomaster]

How much of a drain during what period of time are we talking about?

Do you turn it off completely or leave it in a standby mode? What about Bluetooth /WiFi?

Going from full to zero overnight when turned off, Wi-Fi and BT off, just tried standby last night and that didn't drain battery.

 

[happyblack]

There are no problems like these on my end.

I turned off my copy (no BT, no WiFi, just 3.5 mm IEMs plugged in), let it stay for over 24 h and I don't think it lost more than 1% of battery.

 

[kalibur]

Any further reviews or comparisons for the R2 II vs M0 pros?

 

[steakikan]

Any further reviews or comparisons for the R2 II vs M0 pros?

I still prefer M0 Pro for compact size and stability. Sound wise R2 II is a bit better, seems a little bit more detailed but the UI is slow and crash more often so far.

 

[InvisibleInk]

I still prefer M0 Pro for compact size and stability. Sound wise R2 II is a bit better, seems a little bit more detailed but the UI is slow and crash more often so far.

Do you think you might improve performance if you got a faster SD card? Might be worth looking into.

 

[kalibur]

I still prefer M0 Pro for compact size and stability. Sound wise R2 II is a bit better, seems a little bit more detailed but the UI is slow and crash more often so far.

Were you comparing the R2 II's 3.5mm to the bal 3.5mm output of the M0? How about battery life?