Listening to my Stainless Steel R6 with the Massdrop x HIFIMAN HE4XX through a balanced cable and loving it!
Of course, a few things did take me by surprise even after reading a whole bunch of reviews. Maybe all of these were expected by reviewers because the're used to the DAP market, but this is my first Android DAP so I was taken aback by the following things:
- The default launcher doesn't allow you to create folders within the app drawer. Probably silly, but that's the first thing I tried to do and it left me scratching my head.
- Default launcher doesn't seem to let you create extra desktops. I haven't given up on it, but the truth is that if it's possible, it shouldn't be so difficult to figure it out. In the meantime, I downloaded Nova Launcher but since it doesn't support the HiBy Music App wallpapers, I have gone back to the default launcher.
- No accelerometer? Whoah, this was big. Doesn't rotate pages and apps automatically. Again, this may not be an issue to those used to the DAP market, but it has really taken a while to get used to it. I did download an app called "Rotation Control" to be able to rotate the screen when necessary, but that's not as convenient as having an accelerometer would have been.
- Very few options from the notification shade. There's only brightness, Wifi, Bluetooth, and Audio options. I suppose those are what really have any importance in a DAP, but it'd be nice to at least have a little shortcut to the Settings app and a quick toggle for the Line Out behaviour.
- No light sensor, so no autobrightness but that's not a very big issue.
- Wifi range is quite low. I thought the Nintendo Switch had a crappy Wifi antenna, but the R6 takes the cake. It performs fine when I'm in the same room as the router, but the signal quality goes south quick if I enter another room. All of my other devices maintain a good Wifi connection, but the R6 tends to lose it. Very disappointing in this aspect. Not sure if this is an issue with the stainless steel body (though the glass back should allow the signals to go through without an issue).
Now, these details may not be important for those that went in thinking DAP only and are more experienced with DAP's than I am. I just got into the audiophile hobby, and when I ran into the R6 I thought in Android terms first, so these details have really stood out to me and am surprised that I haven't run into a review that mentions these things (or maybe I missed them because I was too hyped).
Having said that, the following features have exceeded my expectations way beyond any reason:
- Screen quality. I knew it was an LCD, so I had certain expectations of it being a disappointing screen. However, it is actually a very bright screen that can hit eye-searing levels of brightness while keeping very high quality color reproduction and a very crisp presentation in regard to its resolution. It also has wonderful viewing angles; a big win altogether.
- Performance is amazing! I expected some jerkiness because the CPU in the device is not the latest Snapdragon, but I suppose the 3GB of RAM coupled with the smart Android distribution (no needless clutter here!) are a match made in heaven for performance!
- This is my first audio device with a 4-pole balanced connection and using it is lovely! Doing a great job pushing notes into HE4XX! Can't wait to get that balanced cable for my Sennheiser HD6XX to try them out with the HiBy as well!
At the end of the day, I am very pleased with my R6. Sure, I put more cons than pros there, but that's because I am listing the areas that are different from what I expected. At the end of the day, the R6 is an amazing device that I'm having a lot of fun with! I fed it some old Aerosmith and Michael Jackson DSD's and the quality was sublime. Unfortunately, I am not well-versed in the terminology so I can't provide any of those useful audio quality reviews as that is simply beyond my capability right now.