[dougms3]

Could you, by any chance, tell us a bit more about how BTR5 in wired mode compares sonically to this DAP? I've swapped my BTR5 for a Shanling M3X for better convenience and "usability" some time ago, but sonically it prooved to be a downgrade (subjective, at least) for me. I'm somewhat disappointed by what the mid-range DAPs seem to offer in terms of sound, going by the M3X, and quite a bit hesitant to give them another chance as a result. M3X is the only DAP I've listened to, so obviously it's not like my sample pool is very representative of what this form-factor may be able to provide. Can't afford to make another mistake in times like theese, though.

Thank you in advance.

I have the first gen btr5 and the shanling up4.

It's not even worth comparing, the hiby blows them away.

 

[psikey]

And above 2 posts is why its pointless asking anything and you have to listen for yourself.

Lot of placebo in this hobby.

Also depends what your driving too.

As a DAP used purely for music that can handle your own files great, trouble-free bit perfect streaming & MQA at a sensible price*, size, weight with great battery life and sound quality its hard to beat and best DAP I've had yet on this basis.

*Early bird from Hiby direct only cost me only £325 to import to UK. Bargain

 

[Photoman]

And above 2 posts is why its pointless asking anything and you have to listen for yourself.

Lot of placebo in this hobby.

Also depends what your driving too.

As a DAP used purely for music that can handle your own files great, troublefree bitperfect streaming & MQA at a sensible price, size, weight with great battery life and sound quality its hard to beat and best DAP I've had yet on this basisI have plenty of Daps

And above 2 posts is why its pointless asking anything and you have to listen for yourself.

Lot of placebo in this hobby.

Also depends what your driving too.

As a DAP used purely for music that can handle your own files great, troublefree bitperfect streaming & MQA at a sensible price, size, weight with great battery life and sound quality its hard to beat and best DAP I've had yet on this basis.

I had plenty of Daps in my life time. I think I'm going to hang in there on this one (R5 Gen2) for a while. It does and sounds great with outstanding battery life for the value

 

[MRSallee]

The stock Hiby case is pretty nice, but all devices feel better without a case. But then I dislike setting down a caseless device on a table, especially devices with glass backs like the Hiby.

I found a shop on Etsy that makes adhesive leather backs for phones and they've made custom-sized backs for me for other DAPs. Just got in this leather back for the R5G2 and gotta say, it's awesome. Adds a bit of grip in the hand, and adds enough padding to the back that setting it on a table feels nice -- like setting down a good book -- rather than painful.

 

[marcusd]

Our review of the new R5 Gen 2 is now published. A good all-rounder mid-fi DAP with a nice Class A amp performance.

https://headfonics.com/hiby-r5-gen-2-review/

 

[JeanPaul Petrosyan]

On pure Sound Quality your not going to hear a big difference IMO, just a variation in tunning.

Hiby has a wider sound stage I'd say. I still consider my BTR5 one of the best value devices for Sound Quality for the money, especially as I got mine for £69. With the BTR5 its balanced is noticeably better than its 3.5mm IMO.

Yeah, I expected it to come down to the tuning for the most part. It can make a lot of difference, though, that can translate as a subjective upgrade. But I wonder if the Class A mode could be a step up over the BTR5, if not a huge one.

I share the same opinion regarding the latter. I've read/heard a lot about it's ingenious tuning, an almost perfect balance between macro- and microdynamics etc. And I feel exactly the same about it - listening to it's balanced output in wired mode with my lower-midrange head-/earphones made me wonder just how much better could it possibly get. It also led me to discover apodizing reconstruction filters and fall in love deeply with those.

Then I ditched it in favour of superiour usability and convenience of the M3X, simultaneously making a pretty big step up with my main earphones, and overall it proved to be a downgrade in my case.

I have the first gen btr5 and the shanling up4.

It's not even worth comparing, the hiby blows them away.

We are talking "wired (usb) mode" with those two, right? May I ask in which areas/aspects of sound reproduction do you feel there is the most noticable difference between those two and the Hiby?


Big thank you for your replies, good folks!

Spoiler

Both formfactors (DAP vs DAC/Amp) have their strenghts and weaknesses, obviously, and to me they are basically even in this regard. But after trying out both I've come the conclusion that I do, in fact, prioritize pure "sound quality", after all. Even if Hiby R5 Gen. 2 is an ultimate DAP in it's niche, which seems to be the case at the moment, this doesn't mean that it's an optimal choice for me. Shanling M3X seems to be a bad reference due to its specific tuning which is not my preference, but regardless of that, I think I might have learned a few problematic (for me, at least) things that may be universal for Android based DAPs. Sadly, the choice is quite limited in this price range with both DAPs and DAC/Amps too. The upcoming BTR7 seems to be my strongest bet, but it seems like it will retain a lot of it's predecessors flaws. Theres also a new FiiO's midrange DAP coming soon, but it's going to be a bit pricier.

 

[adultbaby]

The stock Hiby case is pretty nice, but all devices feel better without a case. But then I dislike setting down a caseless device on a table, especially devices with glass backs like the Hiby.

I found a shop on Etsy that makes adhesive leather backs for phones and they've made custom-sized backs for me for other DAPs. Just got in this leather back for the R5G2 and gotta say, it's awesome. Adds a bit of grip in the hand, and adds enough padding to the back that setting it on a table feels nice -- like setting down a good book -- rather than painful.

This is great. What did it run price wise? And did you just message them to inquire about the custom size?

 

[MRSallee]

This is great. What did it run price wise? And did you just message them to inquire about the custom size?

They charged about $20, very reasonable. I gave them an Adobe Illustrator file with the dimensions, they could use the same template for anyone else that asks.

 

[adultbaby]

They charged about $20, very reasonable. I gave them an Adobe Illustrator file with the dimensions, they could use the same template for anyone else that asks.

Thanks!

 

[dougms3]

Yeah, I expected it to come down to the tuning for the most part. It can make a lot of difference, though, that can translate as a subjective upgrade. But I wonder if the Class A mode could be a step up over the BTR5, if not a huge one.

I share the same opinion regarding the latter. I've read/heard a lot about it's ingenious tuning, an almost perfect balance between macro- and microdynamics etc. And I feel exactly the same about it - listening to it's balanced output in wired mode with my lower-midrange head-/earphones made me wonder just how much better could it possibly get. It also led me to discover apodizing reconstruction filters and fall in love deeply with those.

Then I ditched it in favour of superiour usability and convenience of the M3X, simultaneously making a pretty big step up with my main earphones, and overall it proved to be a downgrade in my case.


We are talking "wired (usb) mode" with those two, right? May I ask in which areas/aspects of sound reproduction do you feel there is the most noticable difference between those two and the Hiby?


Big thank you for your replies, good folks!

Spoiler

Both formfactors (DAP vs DAC/Amp) have their strenghts and weaknesses, obviously, and to me they are basically even in this regard. But after trying out both I've come the conclusion that I do, in fact, prioritize pure "sound quality", after all. Even if Hiby R5 Gen. 2 is an ultimate DAP in it's niche, which seems to be the case at the moment, this doesn't mean that it's an optimal choice for me. Shanling M3X seems to be a bad reference due to its specific tuning which is not my preference, but regardless of that, I think I might have learned a few problematic (for me, at least) things that may be universal for Android based DAPs. Sadly, the choice is quite limited in this price range with both DAPs and DAC/Amps too. The upcoming BTR7 seems to be my strongest bet, but it seems like it will retain a lot of it's predecessors flaws. Theres also a new FiiO's midrange DAP coming soon, but it's going to be a bit pricier.

Just a quick A/B comparison using my pc, the r5g2, up4 and ua2 streaming from spotify. All tested using my modded sony z7m2.

Theres more bass and better quality bass, sound is richer, more body, better 3d effect, decay and transients are improved when comparing the r5g2(class A / not used as a usb dac) vs up4 (usb dac).

ua2 sound quality is a little better than the up4 but only a small margin. r5g2 is better than both shanling devices, PC is much better than all but this is expected because I have alot of tweaks and filtering on the pc.

I didn't compare the btr5 because I keep it connected to my car audio sound system but I compared the btr5 and up4 many times in the past on my car, headphones and iems and they are similar but the tuning on the btr5 is neutralish and the up4 is V shaped, I would say the btr5 is better than the up4 though.

 

[LongNguyenHorn]

Have anyone try to compare this with Dx160 and Zx507. Which one do you think have better depth, layer in stage. Thanks.

 

[myromeo]

U.K. buyers… where would you recommend purchasing from? Preferably somewhere that either applies import and tax an checkout or otherwise doesn’t leave me with an unexpected bill on delivery?

Looking to upgrade my A105 and need more power, MQA (tidal streaming) and better battery. Think the R5-2 delivers from what I’ve read…

 

[rlw6534]

U.K. buyers… where would you recommend purchasing from? Preferably somewhere that either applies import and tax an checkout or otherwise doesn’t leave me with an unexpected bill on delivery?

Looking to upgrade my A105 and need more power, MQA (tidal streaming) and better battery. Think the R5-2 delivers from what I’ve read…

You might want to wait and see what the FiiO M11S brings to the table. It should be released this month.

 

[psikey]

U.K. buyers… where would you recommend purchasing from? Preferably somewhere that either applies import and tax an checkout or otherwise doesn’t leave me with an unexpected bill on delivery?

Looking to upgrade my A105 and need more power, MQA (tidal streaming) and better battery. Think the R5-2 delivers from what I’ve read…

Don't think any UK seller has it yet. I imported direct from Hiby (2nd time now) and got no extra duty/fees again. Only cost me £320 so even if Customs had hit it its likely still less than UK retail price will be.

I had a A105 and ZX507 and this is much better if you want proper bit-perfect streaming service music and without class A amp amazing battery life.

Sound different to Sony's but I like what I hear and just as nice if sound sig is to your liking. Taking price into account its the best DAP I've had overall. For pure SQ then the £3K+ Sony 1ZM2 still gets the win (not worth 10× the price though!).

 

[myromeo]

Don't think any UK seller has it yet. I imported direct from Hiby (2nd time now) and got no extra duty/fees again. Only cost me £320 so even if Customs had hit it its likely still less than UK retail price will be.

I had a A105 and ZX507 and this is much better if you want proper bit-perfect streaming service music and without class A amp amazing battery life.

Sound different to Sony's but I like what I hear and just as nice if sound sig is to your liking. Taking price into account its the best DAP I've had overall. For pure SQ then the £3K+ Sony 1ZM2 still gets the win (not worth 10× the price though!).

When I add to basket on hiby it automatically adds taxes taking the price from £360 to £425 or so