I can’t compare the Hiby to the two phones you mentioned, but over the past 18 months I’ve tried out the Hiby R3, fiio m7, fiio m9, fiio m11, iBasso dx160, Hiby r5 and the A&K s15. At £269, this player for me, is a no-brainer purchase. I did buy it when it was £499, but returned it as I was still in the early stages of finding the dap for me.
I’ve been using my Shouer Tapes through the 2.5 balanced and my tin hifi p1 through the 3.5. Both sound very good. It’s also good that you can change the tonality of the player in the settings. I chose to go with ‘tube amp’ and it gives my iems a warmer sound. The screen is fine for me for YouTube but it is a bit small. I wouldn’t use it as my main YouTube viewer but good enough for on the go. Can’t comment on Bluetooth as I don’t use it.
if I remember rightly from my first unit I bought, Wi-fi was a bit weak. However, I’ve had no issues on this one. I have however had some BT Wi-fi extenders since, so can’t attribute it to either that or a firmware upgrade.
The deal breaker for me is the price! I wouldn’t hesitate to buy at that price, especially with Amazon’s return policy. I would suggest pulling the trigger and getting some hands on time with it to judge yourself. If it doesn’t work out, return it... but it may be one of the best dap bargains out there at the moment.