[adultbaby]

Tried Bluetooth for the first time today with the xm4 buds. Works great with ldac. I’ll definitely be taking this on my next flight

 

[MRSallee]

I reviewed the Hiby R5 Gen 2.



Complaints:

• Still Android 8.1
• Uses the same Snapdragon 425 that was in the R5s -- same exact performance
  • Performance for the Hiby app is good; for streaming apps, it gets a bit chunky

Quibbles:

• Finger print magnet -- does not appear to have oleophobic coatings, and it's glass front+back
• The screen is not as bright & vibrant as the screen on the R5s
• I prefer the size of the R5s
• The case covers the buttons, which makes the device harder to use without looking

The good stuff:

• Nice feeling hardware -- Hiby does good with build quality
• Amazing battery life for an Android DAP -- this is the first Android DAP I've used that makes no compromise on battery versus traditional players.
• Sounds great, but I'm not one to go on about how sources sound. The important stuff:
  • Output impedance appears to be low, no tonal shift on my sensitive BA sets
  • Almost inaudible noise floor, even on BAL + high gain + sensitive IEMs
  • Powers my HD 600 on low gain no problem; plenty of power for my use (though it is less power than R5s)
• Google Play store out of the box; this seems to be standard now, but not long ago it was kinda rare

Overall I'm quite happy with the R5 Gen 2. Hiby heavily promote the Class A amp mode, but it's not interesting to me -- it sounds a smidge louder than standard amps, which might make it sound a bit better, but I really don't hear a difference. Not worth the battery penalty. Which means the battery is the #1 headline feature here IMO, and it is indeed awesome.

 

[originalsnuffy]

Just got my unit in and still in learning mode.

The battery life is indeed a fine feature. My biggest beef with the original R5 is that I had to power it down because it drained fast, even with screen off and noting playing. So constant waiting for a reboot and then restarting Amazon.....it got to be slow. With this machine, turn it on and you are ready to go.

I tested class A but with older firmware. I just downloaded the new firmware so I will see how things change. With older firmware there was more heft to the low end; it was very tight.

The sound profile seems neutral to me. At first I set Mage Software EQ (MSEB) to mildly warm, and have been trending back to neutral over the last day. My two other units are slightly warmish so it takes some time acclimating to neutrality. I have a dongle DAC called the Ztello for my iphone and it also uses a ESS chipset but somehow the DAC is much brighter (cooler) than the R5 Gen 2. I have heard that ESS has moved to a more neutral sound profile and perhaps we are seeing the results of that.

I do love having 2.5 and 4.4 balanced.

 

[psikey]

I reviewed the Hiby R5 Gen 2.



Complaints:

• Still Android 8.1
• Uses the same Snapdragon 425 that was in the R5s -- same exact performance
  • Performance for the Hiby app is good; for streaming apps, it gets a bit chunky

Quibbles:

• Finger print magnet -- does not appear to have oleophobic coatings, and it's glass front+back
• The screen is not as bright & vibrant as the screen on the R5s
• I prefer the size of the R5s
• The case covers the buttons, which makes the device harder to use without looking

The good stuff:

• Nice feeling hardware -- Hiby does good with build quality
• Amazing battery life for an Android DAP -- this is the first Android DAP I've used that makes no compromise on battery versus traditional players.
• Sounds great, but I'm not one to go on about how sources sound. The important stuff:
  • Output impedance appears to be low, no tonal shift on my sensitive BA sets
  • Almost inaudible noise floor, even on BAL + high gain + sensitive IEMs
  • Powers my HD 600 on low gain no problem; plenty of power for my use (though it is less power than R5s)
• Google Play store out of the box; this seems to be standard now, but not long ago it was kinda rare

Overall I'm quite happy with the R5 Gen 2. Hiby heavily promote the Class A amp mode, but it's not interesting to me -- it sounds a smidge louder than standard amps, which might make it sound a bit better, but I really don't hear a difference. Not worth the battery penalty. Which means the battery is the #1 headline feature here IMO, and it is indeed awesome.

Nice review, for a cheap DAP WiFi speed is fine as is BT to a good BT device. I'm on a 500/75 fibre connection so no way it can handle all that.

As a comparrison, my fairly old now S10+ is double the Hiby WiFi speeds.

I hear as good as no background hiss even with my 8 ohm SE846's. Class A nice and black too for a powerful amp.

I do hear more dynamic sound and better across the range, especially since last update but tiny for my easy drive IEM's and not worth giving up battery life. It will come into its own with Headphones so its higher power is a selling point then.

Give it Android 10 and a bit faster CPU and its perfect, as it is now, I paid £310 direct import from Hiby making it a bargain DAP. With my use I'm charging once a week!

 

[Narrative]

Give it Android 10

Everything you can get with Android 10 on the DAP, you will get with Android 9 too.

 

[rlw6534]

Everything you can get with Android 10 on the DAP, you will get with Android 9 too.

Yeah, the ability to use apps like Wavelet and Poweramp Equalizer (DynamicsProcessing effect) was added in Android 9. I do think it works better in Android 10 though based on my FiiO M11 Plus ESS.

 

[dougms3]

Took my r5g2 during lunch time to enjoy some tunes. Its been stuck like this since i tried to power it on. For about 2 hours now.

Anyone know what to do?
@Joe Bloggs

 

[3Putter]

Mine has done that 3x. Press and hold power button. Logo should disappear. Release power button. Wait about 30 seconds then turn on and hopefully, it works. Twice I had to do this a few times before it took.

 

[dougms3]

Mine has done that 3x. Press and hold power button. Logo should disappear. Release power button. Wait about 30 seconds then turn on and hopefully, it works. Twice I had to do this a few times before it took.

Lol What that was scary. I thought it bricked. It wasn't responding at all.

The first couple times it didn't work, maybe i didn't hold it long enough. Had to hold power button for about 30 seconds.

 

[3Putter]

I figure it’s an Android thing. My first time I worried it was gonzo, too. Glad it worked.

 

[psikey]

Lol What that was scary. I thought it bricked. It wasn't responding at all.

The first couple times it didn't work, maybe i didn't hold it long enough. Had to hold power button for about 30 seconds.

I've had this twice. Posted about early on in the thread.

 

[dougms3]

I've had this twice. Posted about early on in the thread.

I must have missed that. That is a scary thing to happen lol.

Well I hope they fix that in a future firmware update.

 

[Cabalsoljea]

Ooo something to note of then... For the record, I've not have that issue before.

If useful, the only installed apps on my device is Spotify and Deezer.

 

[psikey]

Ooo something to note of then... For the record, I've not have that issue before.

If useful, the only installed apps on my device is Spotify and Deezer.

All I've installed is Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music, UAPP. I found after the firmware update the buttons don't work in Amazon. Just have Spotify, Tidal, UAPP on for now.

 

[Scarpad]

Received my R5 gen 2 today , listening from the sd card, via the Hiby app, I notice the music drops out in places. Anyone have this issue ?