[gLer]

What made me love head-fi less was because there is less talk about sound. They discuss anything: screen, performance, firmware, build quality, cases, etc., but not the sound quality. It's like I'm on a smartphone fan forum.

So, I'll try to remind everyone what we're all here for: how good does R6 III sound? Which IEMs have good synergy? How good is the R6 III compared to the competition? Thanks.

Of course sound is ultimately the most important, but in the Android DAP world, so are features, functions and other factors like size and build. Otherwise just get a headless DAC/amp for less money and don't bother with DAPs.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Fair enough. Yeah you only need any cable with similar connectors (3.5mm one side and coaxial the other). The 3.5mm would go in the Line Out (3.5mm) on the Hiby Player (the line out supports coaxial - so no other cabling needed, it's plug and play). The other end would go into the input Coaxial for the SMSL. That's it done, you can use the output on the SMSL to your speakers and magic. You only want a single ended coaxial though, as the SMSL only has one coaxial input which is not balanced (this would need two coaxial inputs).

The Hiby cable is built for usb-c input devices (so don't need that in this case - or if you already have one you can get additional adapters). But a rule of thumb is to minimise the number of "extra" components that can hamper the signal. So you ideally don't want to stack adapters on each other.

Um... no.

1. Only the original R6 ever had a 3.5mm combo line out / coaxial digital out.
2. None of our 3.5mm line outs (edit: other than on the original R6) serve double duty as coaxial out.
3. The cable he pointed to from us, takes coaxial digital output that's a special part of some of our Type-C ports and puts it out on the 3.5mm plug on the other end. It's a 3.5mm plug, because that's what most portable DACs have, a 3.5mm jack to take coaxial (or, simply take USB audio, in which case what you want is a USB to USB cable of some sort).

Unfortunately I know of no clean 3.5mm to RCA adapter other than this one: https://www.selby.com.au/rca-plug-to-2-5mm-mono-jack-pj1608.html

I happen to live within 10km of the company. Perhaps I should start a little business of my own reselling it outside of Australia (they don't)? At $2.95 ea I'm sure to make a fortune in no time

*then again, since it's meant to be a mono converter, I don't know if it'll work on the pinout of the particular 3.5mm pinout of the HiBy cable. This may be a safer bet:

https://www.amazon.com.au/UGREEN-Female-Smartphones-Tablets-Theater/dp/B00B2HP1FY/

Not only does it export both pins (so it'd work either way) but it also extends the cable

 

[DaveStarWalker]

What made me love head-fi less was because there is less talk about sound. They discuss anything: screen, performance, firmware, build quality, cases, etc., but not the sound quality. It's like I'm on a smartphone fan forum.

So, I'll try to remind everyone what we're all here for: how good does R6 III sound? Which IEMs have good synergy? How good is the R6 III compared to the competition? Thanks.

Agreed..

 

[carlosedp]

Um... no.

1. Only the original R6 ever had a 3.5mm combo line out / coaxial digital out.
2. None of our 3.5mm line outs (edit: other than on the original R6) serve double duty as coaxial out.
3. The cable he pointed to from us, takes coaxial digital output that's a special part of some of our Type-C ports and puts it out on the 3.5mm plug on the other end. It's a 3.5mm plug, because that's what most portable DACs have, a 3.5mm jack to take coaxial (or, simply take USB audio, in which case what you want is a USB to USB cable of some sort).

Unfortunately I know of no clean 3.5mm to RCA adapter other than this one: https://www.selby.com.au/rca-plug-to-2-5mm-mono-jack-pj1608.html

I happen to live within 10km of the company. Perhaps I should start a little business of my own reselling it outside of Australia (they don't)? At $2.95 ea I'm sure to make a fortune in no time

*then again, since it's meant to be a mono converter, I don't know if it'll work on the pinout of the particular 3.5mm pinout of the HiBy cable. This may be a safer bet:

https://www.amazon.com.au/UGREEN-Female-Smartphones-Tablets-Theater/dp/B00B2HP1FY/

Not only does it export both pins (so it'd work either way) but it also extends the cable

Thanks Joe, I imagined so when looking at the other answer here and looking into the manuals.

Hiby should create a simple USB-C -> RCA cable to make things easier

 

[kfotheringham]

@photosynth Funny you mention this. I just noticed the exact same thing over the weekend. It does correct itself (when Wi-Fi is on) but without it, (which is why I have never noticed before), I see the same thing.. well it defaults to 04:14am 5th Jan 2023 on mine

@Joe Bloggs is there an area on the Hiby website to report this issue? It is very easily reproducible, almost as if the RTC inside the R6 Gen III isn`t running (to keep time), so when the unit is powered down, then back up later, it defaults back to the time of the last FW update i.e. 04:14 am, 5th January (repeatedly) - Unless Wi-Fi is on, whereby I assume it does an ntp_server call for an update.

Where I think this has a noticeable effect is mainly with music apps - when copying music over to the system Music directory - expecting it to be recognised as "recent" on the UI. They aren`t.

 

[photosynth]

Where I think this has a noticeable effect is mainly with music apps - when copying music over the Music directory - expecting it to be recognised as "recent". They aren`t.

Exactly this. Only Hello@hiby.com for support?
I'll send them an email with the issue, hopefully some others will do the same.

I would love to give an in-depth description of how it sounds but when I'm on the London Underground and all my tracks are skipping because I have to remember to manually set the time after I switch it on, it's a bit of a distraction, similar to the blinding blue/cyan screen.

However, it sounds great - brilliant separation between layers, lovely transparency. Could do with more body, but maybe that's the EQ I have set-up on Amazon Music or the MSEB settings I'm using, or the Sony XBA-N3 I wear - I'll iron it out. I would recommend the Sound field Plugin for a nice tweak.
In terms of comparing it to other devices, it's not like I can walk into a shop and try all DAPs available at once and I'm not a collector, I have one at any time. The last DAP I had was a Hiby R5 Gen 1 and I sold it before I could A/B it with this R6 III. What I will say is that the R5 Gen 1 was awful slow and is the reason I sold it. Hi-Fi separates are not slow and don't necessarily have screens, so traditionally, lots more focus to be had on sound. If there was a Hiby forum, I would have gone there first over head-fi to chat about my experience. However, I really quite like the majority of discussion regarding Hiby from the members here.

I know you can save MSEB settings locally and then I suspect you will be able to export them? Would love a separate thread to share those...

 

[Zaghamkarim]

Um... no.

1. Only the original R6 ever had a 3.5mm combo line out / coaxial digital out.
2. None of our 3.5mm line outs (edit: other than on the original R6) serve double duty as coaxial out.
3. The cable he pointed to from us, takes coaxial digital output that's a special part of some of our Type-C ports and puts it out on the 3.5mm plug on the other end. It's a 3.5mm plug, because that's what most portable DACs have, a 3.5mm jack to take coaxial (or, simply take USB audio, in which case what you want is a USB to USB cable of some sort).

Unfortunately I know of no clean 3.5mm to RCA adapter other than this one: https://www.selby.com.au/rca-plug-to-2-5mm-mono-jack-pj1608.html

I happen to live within 10km of the company. Perhaps I should start a little business of my own reselling it outside of Australia (they don't)? At $2.95 ea I'm sure to make a fortune in no time

*then again, since it's meant to be a mono converter, I don't know if it'll work on the pinout of the particular 3.5mm pinout of the HiBy cable. This may be a safer bet:

https://www.amazon.com.au/UGREEN-Female-Smartphones-Tablets-Theater/dp/B00B2HP1FY/

Not only does it export both pins (so it'd work either way) but it also extends the cable

You definitely know more than me on this - I was running off the description on hifigo, which lists coaxial output features for the line out in the specs of the R6G3. They might not be correct in that case - copying across features from the older version perhaps? So it's only from the usb-c output you get coaxial? Doesn't that restrict coaxial output to single ended though - as previously both 3.5mm and 4.4mm outputs would have had coaxial capability. Is it because balanced coaxial is phasing out - you do get XLR balanced inputs on most DAC's nowadays.

 

[Narrative]

Of course sound is ultimately the most important, but in the Android DAP world, so are features, functions and other factors like size and build. Otherwise just get a headless DAC/amp for less money and don't bother with DAPs.

I respect the other point of view, but with this logic, you can also immediately advise a headless DAC / amplifier, because if you really need streaming, a high-quality screen and a fast chipset, then smartphones will be out of competition here. As you can see, it works both ways.

P.S. Just want to hear more feedback on the sound before I can get to it myself.

 

[carlosedp]

Um... no.

1. Only the original R6 ever had a 3.5mm combo line out / coaxial digital out.
2. None of our 3.5mm line outs (edit: other than on the original R6) serve double duty as coaxial out.
3. The cable he pointed to from us, takes coaxial digital output that's a special part of some of our Type-C ports and puts it out on the 3.5mm plug on the other end. It's a 3.5mm plug, because that's what most portable DACs have, a 3.5mm jack to take coaxial (or, simply take USB audio, in which case what you want is a USB to USB cable of some sort).

Unfortunately I know of no clean 3.5mm to RCA adapter other than this one: https://www.selby.com.au/rca-plug-to-2-5mm-mono-jack-pj1608.html

I happen to live within 10km of the company. Perhaps I should start a little business of my own reselling it outside of Australia (they don't)? At $2.95 ea I'm sure to make a fortune in no time

*then again, since it's meant to be a mono converter, I don't know if it'll work on the pinout of the particular 3.5mm pinout of the HiBy cable. This may be a safer bet:

https://www.amazon.com.au/UGREEN-Female-Smartphones-Tablets-Theater/dp/B00B2HP1FY/

Not only does it export both pins (so it'd work either way) but it also extends the cable

Adding a bit to this, just found out a report that the cable below (that can be used on other DAPs) work:

https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/cable-usb-c-to-spdif-coax.22340/post-1146824

It doesn't list R6 as "compatible" but since Hiby cable works on both R5 and R6, the pinout must be similar... It's the same as Cayin DAP cables.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000589035319.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.64ce38daApZdsI&mp=1

It's not cheap but maybe a solution.

 

[Fantomax]

Just received my R6III since a couple of weeks and used it extensively with a few of my IEMs (T3 Plus, P1 Max and Olina SE) and a pair of headphones (SHP9500 and ATH-MSR7b)... It sounds incredibly well, with a detail that I hadn't known before, but it's also my first DAP, so I'm a newbie. I come from DX3 Pro+ with Beyerdynamic DT 990 BSE and some dongles, including Cayin RU6 (which I sold because I couldn't hear all this ‘vinyl’ wonder and it couldn't drive the 250 Ohms of the Beyers) and HiBy FC4, which I find exceptional and powerful, able to drive up to 250 Ohms without any problem.

The R6 III is truly remarkable and I love the ability to make any track crystal clear and powerful, with great warm basses, especially thanks to the tuning that MSEB can handle. And here comes the problem that I can’t solve. I've also tried searching for this topic and contacting HiBy, but they couldn't figure out how to reproduce it so I'm asking you.

Basically: MSEB in the master audio settings (it can be done also using MSEB in the HiBy app, but the issue doesn't change, it’s the same) is set and saved with my 'P1 Max' configuration (for instance). If I listen to 44.1kHz FLAC tracks in the HiBy app, no problem. Playing to other 44.1kHz tracks and no problem. But if I then switch to 96kHz or 192kHz Hi-Res tracks, that's no longer the sound I set. I hear it, it's different, flatter, not the same. So I go back to MSEB in the master audio settings and the 'P1 Max' setting kicks in. That's the sound I want and I set! And I would like it applied to all tracks, both Hi-Res and not! Why does it change? Damn, it drives me crazy... and if I continue to skip between Hi-Res tracks, it remains the same... But then if I play on another 44.1kHz it's different again! So I go back to MSEB, select 'P1 Max' and here is my setting...

it's really annoying, i don't know how to fix it.

And I'm sure it happens to you too, pay attention to it, because it also happened to me with the HiBy app on my smartphone connected to FC4.
Maybe it's just a trivial setting to click and not a bug... but if anyone knows how to help me, please let me know.

Last things: I would also like to know if for R6 III the HiBy app updates itself or if there is a way to do it without logging to PlayStore (I'm not talking about system updates) and if you know how to open the HiBy app directly in the ‘Album' section or 'Artist'...

Thank you if you had the patience to read my novel!

 

[Joe Bloggs]

You definitely know more than me on this - I was running off the description on hifigo, which lists coaxial output features for the line out in the specs of the R6G3. They might not be correct in that case - copying across features from the older version perhaps? So it's only from the usb-c output you get coaxial? Doesn't that restrict coaxial output to single ended though - as previously both 3.5mm and 4.4mm outputs would have had coaxial capability. Is it because balanced coaxial is phasing out - you do get XLR balanced inputs on most DAC's nowadays.

Coaxial digital *is* a single-ended signal electrically. There's only the ground pin and then the signal pin. The signal pin transmits ones and zeros electrically that are decoded to actual digital ones and zeros on the receiving end. There's no "balanced" version of this.

Just received my R6III since a couple of weeks and used it extensively with a few of my IEMs (T3 Plus, P1 Max and Olina SE) and a pair of headphones (SHP9500 and ATH-MSR7b)... It sounds incredibly well, with a detail that I hadn't known before, but it's also my first DAP, so I'm a newbie. I come from DX3 Pro+ with Beyerdynamic DT 990 BSE and some dongles, including Cayin RU6 (which I sold because I couldn't hear all this ‘vinyl’ wonder and it couldn't drive the 250 Ohms of the Beyers) and HiBy FC4, which I find exceptional and powerful, able to drive up to 250 Ohms without any problem.

The R6 III is truly remarkable and I love the ability to make any track crystal clear and powerful, with great warm basses, especially thanks to the tuning that MSEB can handle. And here comes the problem that I can’t solve. I've also tried searching for this topic and contacting HiBy, but they couldn't figure out how to reproduce it so I'm asking you.

Basically: MSEB in the master audio settings (it can be done also using MSEB in the HiBy app, but the issue doesn't change, it’s the same) is set and saved with my 'P1 Max' configuration (for instance). If I listen to 44.1kHz FLAC tracks in the HiBy app, no problem. Playing to other 44.1kHz tracks and no problem. But if I then switch to 96kHz or 192kHz Hi-Res tracks, that's no longer the sound I set. I hear it, it's different, flatter, not the same. So I go back to MSEB in the master audio settings and the 'P1 Max' setting kicks in. That's the sound I want and I set! And I would like it applied to all tracks, both Hi-Res and not! Why does it change? Damn, it drives me crazy... and if I continue to skip between Hi-Res tracks, it remains the same... But then if I play on another 44.1kHz it's different again! So I go back to MSEB, select 'P1 Max' and here is my setting...

it's really annoying, i don't know how to fix it.

And I'm sure it happens to you too, pay attention to it, because it also happened to me with the HiBy app on my smartphone connected to FC4.
Maybe it's just a trivial setting to click and not a bug... but if anyone knows how to help me, please let me know.

Last things: I would also like to know if for R6 III the HiBy app updates itself or if there is a way to do it without logging to PlayStore (I'm not talking about system updates) and if you know how to open the HiBy app directly in the ‘Album' section or 'Artist'...

Thank you if you had the patience to read my novel!

Thanks for the feedback, I should definitely be able to hear this if it's an issue also on the RS6 I have on hand, let me try it.

You update HiByMusic on the player by going to the About menu in HiByMusic, which is located inside the main menu, which you access by tapping the dummy profile picture to the upper left.


Cheers,
Joe

 

[GodEmperor]

hiby please gives us PEQ
MSEB is fun and all but some of us want to use specific PEQ settings. we know you can do it

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Just received my R6III since a couple of weeks and used it extensively with a few of my IEMs (T3 Plus, P1 Max and Olina SE) and a pair of headphones (SHP9500 and ATH-MSR7b)... It sounds incredibly well, with a detail that I hadn't known before, but it's also my first DAP, so I'm a newbie. I come from DX3 Pro+ with Beyerdynamic DT 990 BSE and some dongles, including Cayin RU6 (which I sold because I couldn't hear all this ‘vinyl’ wonder and it couldn't drive the 250 Ohms of the Beyers) and HiBy FC4, which I find exceptional and powerful, able to drive up to 250 Ohms without any problem.

The R6 III is truly remarkable and I love the ability to make any track crystal clear and powerful, with great warm basses, especially thanks to the tuning that MSEB can handle. And here comes the problem that I can’t solve. I've also tried searching for this topic and contacting HiBy, but they couldn't figure out how to reproduce it so I'm asking you.

Basically: MSEB in the master audio settings (it can be done also using MSEB in the HiBy app, but the issue doesn't change, it’s the same) is set and saved with my 'P1 Max' configuration (for instance). If I listen to 44.1kHz FLAC tracks in the HiBy app, no problem. Playing to other 44.1kHz tracks and no problem. But if I then switch to 96kHz or 192kHz Hi-Res tracks, that's no longer the sound I set. I hear it, it's different, flatter, not the same. So I go back to MSEB in the master audio settings and the 'P1 Max' setting kicks in. That's the sound I want and I set! And I would like it applied to all tracks, both Hi-Res and not! Why does it change? Damn, it drives me crazy... and if I continue to skip between Hi-Res tracks, it remains the same... But then if I play on another 44.1kHz it's different again! So I go back to MSEB, select 'P1 Max' and here is my setting...

it's really annoying, i don't know how to fix it.

And I'm sure it happens to you too, pay attention to it, because it also happened to me with the HiBy app on my smartphone connected to FC4.
Maybe it's just a trivial setting to click and not a bug... but if anyone knows how to help me, please let me know.

Last things: I would also like to know if for R6 III the HiBy app updates itself or if there is a way to do it without logging to PlayStore (I'm not talking about system updates) and if you know how to open the HiBy app directly in the ‘Album' section or 'Artist'...

Thank you if you had the patience to read my novel!

The issue with the MSEB has been communicated properly to engineering and should be fixed in the next update or two. Actually, it's been fixed before but a regression has bit us in the back, but if we've fixed it once...

 

[CouryT]

I have an R5 gen 1 that I like quite a bit, except for the small screen and slow system, so I’m thinking of upgrading. Has anyone gone from the R5 i to the R6 iii and would be willing to describe the SQ differences?

Also: At only $50 more, the R6 iii looks like a far better DAP than the R5 ii. So what’s the point of the R5 now?

 

[forashortime]

So I paired my Bower and Wilkins P7s2 Bluetooth into the r6 III and the volume at 100 percent is still low. Anyone have any remedy for what seems to be a volume limiter in the R6 III for bluetooth? Sounds gr8 wired, change setting to high gain and plenty of volume.