HiBy R4

[fish1050]

My strategy is to spend a bit more right now to avoid paying again in near future. Sound-wise, I would try to go for the R6 Pro2. However, that DAP has poorer battery than this R4.

Ideally, I would save up for R8ii, but asking someone considering R4 to go for R8ii is nut

If you are worried about battery life then its a Sony DAP or the R5 gen2 economy mode. Otherwise battery life will be a sacrifice to get everything else you want or need.

My nephew just ordered a Shanling M1S from amazon.ca with a 10% discount. He wanted something to take running and to the gym and I convinced him it was the best sounding option for him and he doesn't have to import it. So it looks like I will get the chance to try it out after all. Having that as a Shanling baseline I can see if the M5 Ultra is worth $500 more as I should be able to demo it at some point.

One of the nice things about buying in-store is the chance to haggle over the price. I really miss that having to buy pretty much everything online now. All of my headphones have been bought in-store and I have been able to negotiate a lower price especially if I pay cash so the dealer avoids the credit card processing fee.

 

[rlw6534]

OK, I'm far from being retired... But I think I see this hobby the same way; try to find the "sweet spot" of audio gear at a certain time (today) and stick with it as long as possible.
It is true that in the past I've been frustrated not to have this feature or this other one, and I made compromises. Then comes up a new device that has "more" than the one you're using; is it worth "upgrading" ? And most of the time there is a trade-off; you have to give up on some points...

I liked a lot my very first Android DAP, the R5, it is really compact, it is still supporting all the audio apps I need (Deezer, Vradio, Tunein, SomaFM, Bandcamp, SoundCloud...), the SQ is really good, the power (>500mW/32ohms) is more than enough, and battery life "was" great for such small and versatile device.
But il has always been sounding quite "dry" to my ears, at least in comparison with the R3 I have as well. And the Wifi range is really poor so that the streaming has some hiccups when I am at the 1st floor of the house, typically in the bedroom...

After 3.5 years of R5, last summer I first bought an M3U, hoping the sound will be a bit "warmer" and the wifi better; it sounds better to my ears, but the Wifi is not that different from R5, and battery life is not as good as promised. Still a great unit, anyway !
Then I bought a used R5G2; didn't like the design AT ALL, but on paper it was the perfect DAP for me; ESS9219 DACs, Class A/AB switch, fantastic battery life, and the Wifi is working a lot better, no suddent signal loss.
The only thing that worries me is the SD425 / 2Go / Android 8.1 combination. Although the OS is quite smooth and reactive, it shows some latencies with Deezer App (that is probably not optimized at all), and I think there will be some limitations with app support in a few years

The friend of mine that sold be the R5G2 is about to sell his R6III for 300€, which is a nice price. I will gain Android 12, SD665... but it is bulkier I'll end up with 10-12 hours of battery life... I also prefer volume buttons to volume wheel in general.

Then comes this R4; as with the R5G2 (and also the R6III) I don't particulary like the design, but it's a minor detail. For 250€, I could have recent chipset, Android12, good enough ESS DAC, Class A output... But at a cost; the real battery life will be at most 10 hours... and will degrade over time...

So, I think the best for me is to wait until they upgrade the R5G2, hoping they will stick with the outstanding battery life, or at least 15-20 hrs promised...

I still use my R5 regularly as a beater. What a nice, compact form factor. I have a brand new R5s as a spare...

 

[Safeinthemountains]

If you are worried about battery life then its a Sony DAP or the R5 gen2 economy mode. Otherwise battery life will be a sacrifice to get everything else you want or need.

My nephew just ordered a Shanling M1S from amazon.ca with a 10% discount. He wanted something to take running and to the gym and I convinced him it was the best sounding option for him and he doesn't have to import it. So it looks like I will get the chance to try it out after all.

I appreciate not to have to recharge the damn thing every 2 days, as I listen a lot in the evening, and at night sometimes during the week and anytime during the day. That said, 15 real and solid hours of battery life (so 18-20 promised...) is enough for me. So I don't really need the best of the best battery life, just a comfortable figure to start with

M1S could be a good DAP even for me, as the R3 is. But in terms of features and versatility (local files, webradios, streaming) it cannot really compare to an Android device.

BTW, on the go I use Qudelix 5k with my phone and FH3 iems; the lightest, most convenient solution for me. And in noisy environnements the SQ is far above my expectations...

 

[Safeinthemountains]

I still use my R5 regularly as a beater. What a nice, compact form factor. I have a brand new R5s as a spare...

YES ! Agree 100% with you. One of the smallest, if not the smallest open Android DAP, still with a good battery life, and quite useable despite the "small" 4" screen.
(fiio M6 was smaller, but quite limited, quite sluggish, whithout prev/next buttons... and battery life sucked...)
It's a pity that both smartphones and DAP have "blown up" and nothing really compact is available today. I guess it's not what "most of the customers" request...

 

[kgs51]

Will this be able to stream Amazon Music?

 

[UnderwaterB0i]

Will this be able to stream Amazon Music?

You can download and run any app in the Android app store, so I would think so

 

[Thieme]

Seeing as I ordered a R4 earlier today, I thought I would read up on this thread and what other people have to say, 22 pages was quite a lot!
Have there been people who played around with some plugins and settings to see if they could get more soundstage? I think I remember reading about it but that might have been in the discovery thread?

 

[XTF1]

It's a pity that both smartphones and DAP have "blown up" and nothing really compact is available today.

HiBy M300…

 

[JimiMack]

HiBy M300

Yeah, that is compact.... for me it was a little too small.

 

[leylandi]

https://www.headfonia.com/hiby-r4-review/

 

[Hypops]

It’s chonky

Comfortable in a pants pocket while walking, or strictly for table tops?

 

[o0genesis0o]

Comfortable in a pants pocket while walking, or strictly for table tops?

I put it in my trouser pocket with my A6 notebook from midori all the time.

 

[nioh]

Comfortable in a pants pocket while walking, or strictly for table tops?

A&K just announced this - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/astell-kern-at-high-end-munich-2024.972668/#post-18105383

The Activo P1 looks much more sleek and pocketable. We’ll have to wait till July to find the details though.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

As I said we haven't heard back from Roon about the device we have left with them for awhile and it's not really something we can do by ourselves on our end.

If anyone manages to get in contact with Roon ask them to email joe@hiby.com and/or pm me here. We've tried.

Hi, just an update on this front, we did in fact hear from Roon this year, they were saying they would complete their side of work this summer. Thank you Roon and sorry for any misunderstanding.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Seeing as I ordered a R4 earlier today, I thought I would read up on this thread and what other people have to say, 22 pages was quite a lot!
Have there been people who played around with some plugins and settings to see if they could get more soundstage? I think I remember reading about it but that might have been in the discovery thread?

If you mean more soundstage width, it could be with the Sound Field plugin which would counteract any unintentional crossfeed (esp. on the SE output) and replace it with *negative crossfeed* at high settings (L becomes more correlated with the *opposite* of R and vice versa)

If you mean more soundstage depth and / or more dynamics, that could be with the DRX10K or convolution plugin e.g.:

browse to these addresses and download these three files
a. Pure crossfeed--https://www.dropbox.com/s/25gfuztv46e3p37/Joe's%20lossless%20crossfeed%20v2-48k.wav?dl=0
b. With minor room-sim--https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/1f99p9szb6pa8epkyq414/Joe0Bloggs-clear-vivid-4ch-IRS-2020-48k-short.wav?rlkey=jextfjhjb0infikyk96r4rm8u&dl=0
c. With full room-sim--https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/lapakk780njyhl5c8usz6/BRIR20231115-hWider2-short.wav?rlkey=wt1q71u6k7loh1ibktu6xvob6&dl=0

then clear your applied plugin list and start over with adding plugins in this order (tap the bottom list one by one):
1. fixed sample rate
2. DRX10K dynamics
3. Convolution
then tap on fixed sample rate up top and select sample rate of 48000
adjust dynamics to taste
then tap on convolution and then the text box to load one of the files downloaded above