[HiFiHawaii808]

I am not a fan of the rotary volume control. It's too hard to use as you need to hold it at the perfect angle to adjust volume. I much prefer the touch screen volume control. That works great. The only problem I have is that the only way I can figure out how to use the screen volume control is by first moving the rotary dial. Is there another way to activate it?

 

[Silverlinings]

That's fine, I don't bring that player anywhere. I have an the old R6 or the Ibasso DX160 to bring out with me for portablibility.

Just wondering if there would be any benefit in sound from it.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I thought there was a way to flip the screen 180 degrees so that the connections could be at the top. Unless I'm mistaking.

On another note, does anyone here think it would serve any benefit to the sound if I got an Ifi Hip Dac to use with the new R6? I use the the R6 with the Focal Elegia. When I put the R6 on medium gain it adds a slight hint of grain to the sound which I don't care for. I used a 4,4 balanced connection and I know that the Hip DAC/Amp has a 4.4 and is inexpensive.

It completely depends on what sounds better. I am planning on using my R6 2020 for android features and apps via a coax connection to my Hugo 2. But that's because the Hugo 2 sounds a lot better than the R6 2020.

If you need to connect a $799 DAP to a $149 DAC/Amp to make it sound better, then you bought the wrong DAP. You would be better off returning the R6 2020 and purchasing and R2 or R3 and connecting it to your Ifi Hip Dac.

 

[goodvibes]

Yah. not much grain here. You probably just prefer what the more damped sound of low gain does for your phones.

 

[Silverlinings]

OK, thanks for the advice.

 

[maricius]

I thought there was a way to flip the screen 180 degrees so that the connections could be at the top. Unless I'm mistaking.

On another note, does anyone here think it would serve any benefit to the sound if I got an Ifi Hip Dac to use with the new R6? I use the the R6 with the Focal Elegia. When I put the R6 on medium gain it adds a slight hint of grain to the sound which I don't care for. I used a 4,4 balanced connection and I know that the Hip DAC/Amp has a 4.4 and is inexpensive.

Based on the impressions noted here, it seems at least the DAC section of the Hiby R6 would be superior to that of the Hip DAC. Why not get an external amplifier for more power instead and not a DAC/amp. Lots of options for powerful portable amplifiers

 

[damintoell]

On another note, does anyone here think it would serve any benefit to the sound if I got an Ifi Hip Dac to use with the new R6? I use the the R6 with the Focal Elegia. When I put the R6 on medium gain it adds a slight hint of grain to the sound which I don't care for. I used a 4,4 balanced connection and I know that the Hip DAC/Amp has a 4.4 and is inexpensive.

The R6 2020 has a more powerful balanced output than the hip-dac (750mW at 32Ω for the R6 2020 vs. 400mW at 32Ω for the hip-dac). Also, as mentioned, the DAC in R6 2020 should be superior to the hip-dac, so you'd be downgrading yourself both in output power and digital processing. If you want to stick with an ifi product, maybe consider the Zen CAN amp, which will give you more power (there don't seem to be specs for balanced output for the Zen CAN at 32Ω, but it gives 1890mW at 64Ω) without a DAC you don't need and for about $20 more than the hip-dac.

 

[davidmolliere]

The R6 2020 has a more powerful balanced output than the hip-dac (750mW at 32Ω for the R6 2020 vs. 400mW at 32Ω for the hip-dac). Also, as mentioned, the DAC in R6 2020 should be superior to the hip-dac, so you'd be downgrading yourself both in output power and digital processing. If you want to stick with an ifi product, maybe consider the Zen CAN amp, which will give you more power (there don't seem to be specs for balanced output for the Zen CAN at 32Ω, but it gives 1890mW at 64Ω) without a DAC you don't need and for about $20 more than the hip-dac.

I confirm Zen Can is a good pairing with the R6 2020, the amp is fairly transparent you won't loose the R62020 signature and you can tweak it a bit with xBass and/or 3D (hardware) effect if you're so inclined... 1890mW at 64 ohms should mean 3780mW at 32ohms which is plenty of power to drive anything but the highest impedance lower sensitivity planars and those are corner cases.... Zen Can has 4.4 balanced line in so you can use 4.4. LO on R6 2020 and run it fully balanced.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I confirm Zen Can is a good pairing with the R6 2020, the amp is fairly transparent you won't loose the R62020 signature and you can tweak it a bit with xBass and/or 3D (hardware) effect if you're so inclined... 1890mW at 64 ohms should mean 3780mW at 32ohms which is plenty of power to drive anything but the highest impedance lower sensitivity planars and those are corner cases.... Zen Can has 4.4 balanced line in so you can use 4.4. LO on R6 2020 and run it fully balanced.

Interesting. So, the Zen Can can act like an extra amp module for the R6 2020 if you need a little extra power.

 

[GodEmperor]

does anyone have the r6 2020 and the sony w1ma? please compare.. I'm coming from an r3 pro saber and i really like the sound of it and love the form factor, both r6 and w1ma seem warmer? i'm planning to drive b2/dusk and laylas with it.

 

[NYanakiev]

To my surprise the Hiby can just barely drive my Focal Utopia (single ended);

I was sitting at 95% volume on high gain yesterday so definitely not powerful enough for that purpose.

Luckily I don't take the headphones out of the house so I won't be using that combo much. Unless I get a balanced cable, that is.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Been spending more time with my R6 2020, I am getting used to the form factor and how it works. I am starting to see the wisdom of the design. It works very well for walking around. You hold it in one hand and you can control the play/pause button without looking and you can change tracks either forward or backward. And, you just use your other hand to change the volume. Then, you don't need to activate the screen to do much in that use case.

I also got a 512G Samsung micro SD card. I was very surprised that there isn't any instructions anywhere for how to load the card, format and install it. Fortunately, the card can only insert in one way and you just search the various settings to format and add it to internal disk space. Then, I downloaded about 110G worth of music in several hours. All it needs is a sim card and it can replace my phone. It wouldn't be that hard to do. I am surprised nobody does it. Maybe they should just put a data card in and then you can stream to it while you are out and about. That would be a killer addition to this DAP. Then, if you really wanted, you could take a VoIP call via an app line LINE.

Now, this little device is involved in many of my use cases. It can control my desktop set up with Tidal Connect. I can walk around with my IEMs while having lots of music with me. I can connect it to my Hugo 2 as transport to get better sound and do EQ with any number of applications. I haven't had a chance to A/B test this product vs my Chord Mojo/Poly, but I see this slowly replacing it. The music player works way better than a DNLA application and it's a bit lighter and easier to carry around. Chord needs to implement Tidal and Spotify connect otherwise, the Mojo is indeed going to be obsolete.

 

[NYanakiev]

Been spending more time with my R6 2020, I am getting used to the form factor and how it works. I am starting to see the wisdom of the design. It works very well for walking around. You hold it in one hand and you can control the play/pause button without looking and you can change tracks either forward or backward. And, you just use your other hand to change the volume. Then, you don't need to activate the screen to do much in that use case.

I also got a 512G Samsung micro SD card. I was very surprised that there isn't any instructions anywhere for how to load the card, format and install it. Fortunately, the card can only insert in one way and you just search the various settings to format and add it to internal disk space. Then, I downloaded about 110G worth of music in several hours. All it needs is a sim card and it can replace my phone. It wouldn't be that hard to do. I am surprised nobody does it. Maybe they should just put a data card in and then you can stream to it while you are out and about. That would be a killer addition to this DAP. Then, if you really wanted, you could take a VoIP call via an app line LINE.

Now, this little device is involved in many of my use cases. It can control my desktop set up with Tidal Connect. I can walk around with my IEMs while having lots of music with me. I can connect it to my Hugo 2 as transport to get better sound and do EQ with any number of applications. I haven't had a chance to A/B test this product vs my Chord Mojo/Poly, but I see this slowly replacing it. The music player works way better than a DNLA application and it's a bit lighter and easier to carry around. Chord needs to implement Tidal and Spotify connect otherwise, the Mojo is indeed going to be obsolete.

I also own the Mojo/Poly combo (and Hugo 2/2Go)- the R6 2020 sounds better indeed. Had it not been for the Chord's usefulness as a Roon endpoint, I would be thinking about selling it. Now, the Hugo 2 is head and shoulders above the Hiby but that is a different form factor altogether.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I also own the Mojo/Poly combo (and Hugo 2/2Go)- the R6 2020 sounds better indeed. Had it not been for the Chord's usefulness as a Roon endpoint, I would be thinking about selling it. Now, the Hugo 2 is head and shoulders above the Hiby but that is a different form factor altogether.

I've concluded what you have as well. I did test the Hugo 2 and it sounds a lot better than the Hiby. I haven't tested the Mojo/Poly yet, but I'll take your word for it. I also have a 2go and I think the R6 2020 is going to replace it as I will be connected to it via coax.

 

[NYanakiev]

Yeah, I see the virtue in that approach. I hate cables and barely used my Hugo 2 prior to 2Go's arrival.
Sadly, Hiby doesn't go around Android's resampling so lots of apps like Roon don't use the internal hardware of the R6.