HiBy R5 Gen 2 is here!!
Well, to start it off, the player sounds musical and smooth. It has a beautiful presentation that attracts instantly with its tonality. In this budget, I have previously tried Shanling M3X, also one of my favorites but this sounds more musical and smooth while the M3X had a neutral to very slight bright touch to its sound.
Pros:
>Tonally it's very good.
>Bass comes out to be attractive.
>Class A amplification sounds wonderful and adds a sense of tonal heft or tonal body to the sound.
>Three-level gain mode, also the power is very good. Drives most IEMs easily.
>Supports all three mainstream headphone connections,
>Comes with a leather case included.
Cons:
>Sounds a little lean when Class A amplification is turned off(or is it due to the fact that Class A sounds better bodied?).
>Class A battery life is way less compared to the standard mode(Standard states 35 hours, Class A marked at 10 hours).
>UI is sluggish, more so if you are used to high-end DAPs like A&K, HiBy R6/RS6.
It's not any flagship killer, I have had the pleasure to own the RS6, AK SE100, have heard AK SP2K briefly, R5 Gen 2 doesn't beat them by any means in resolution or clarity. But for the asking price, I find the R5 Gen 2 to sound phenomenally good. I would have loved it even more if the UI was a bit more smoother.