[ongbenghui]

Hey guys, my full review of the HiBy R6 III is now online here.



Feel free to ask questions by PM or on this thread. Enjoy!​

Ahha... somehow, you seems to use the exact set of app on my set. Solid Explorer, Nova, Neutron & USB Audio Player Pro.

 

[gLer]

Ahha... somehow, you seems to use the exact set of app on my set. Solid Explorer, Nova, Neutron & USB Audio Player Pro.

Yes those are my go-to apps for most Android DAPs (except for Neutron).

 

[invisiblekid]

Last couple of messages bring up a question I've had for a while: are there any DAPs of this nature that support Android Audio?

My ancient Sony NW-NX1 did, no idea if new Sony models do.

I was hoping Android 12 (albeit customised) would be fine. But the messages that are being displayed seem to point Android Auto needs to be installed at a manufacturer level.

 

[gLer]

My ancient Sony NW-NX1 did, no idea if new Sony models do.

I was hoping Android 12 (albeit customised) would be fine. But the messages that are being displayed seem to point Android Auto needs to be installed at a manufacturer level.

I believe it also needs Google-certified devices, which none of these DAPs are.

 

[invisiblekid]

I believe it also needs Google-certified devices, which none of these DAPs are.

Yes. I mentioned that a while back. I assume they need to pay Google (per unit sold) for the certification, and submit the device and OS, which they evidently don’t do.

 

[gLer]

Yes. I mentioned that a while back. I assume they need to pay Google (per unit sold) for the certification, and submit the device and OS, which they evidently don’t do.

I'm pleasantly surprised Google lets them use Play Store, otherwise they'd be bricked. A bit pointless getting a capable Android device without Play Store, so kudos to HiBy, Cayin, FiiO, Sony et al.

 

[phillevy]

I'm thinking of replacing my ageing Fiio M11 with this DAP. Has anyone with it used Roon Arc and if so what does it run like? Is bit perfect playback implimented with this app?

 

[Qualitas]

Has anyone with it used Roon Arc and if so what does it run like? Is bit perfect playback implemented with this app?

Interesting question. My understanding is that yes, any app that is design to run bit perfect (like Roon Arc) will run bit perfect on any current gen Hiby player. This is because they all bypass Android's system-wide resampling. Someone else will correct me if I'm off base.

I'm curious to hear more about your use case though. If you have your local music files in your Roon library--rather than using Roon Arc to access them remotely why not load the files onto your DAP? I image that would be a better user experience with less latency, and the huge added benefit of having all files always accessible without internet connectivity.

I can only assume it's a matter of having a library so large that it won't fit on a 2TB micro SD (and not wanting to constantly swap cards)? Or perhaps preferring the Roon Arc UI to other apps?

 

[phillevy]

Interesting question. My understanding is that yes, any app that is design to run bit perfect (like Roon Arc) will run bit perfect on any current gen Hiby player. This is because they all bypass Android's system-wide resampling. Someone else will correct me if I'm off base.

I'm curious to hear more about your use case though. If you have your local music files in your Roon library--rather than using Roon Arc to access them remotely why not load the files onto your DAP? I image that would be a better user experience with less latency, and the huge added benefit of having all files always accessible without internet connectivity.

I can only assume it's a matter of having a library so large that it won't fit on a 2TB micro SD (and not wanting to constantly swap cards)? Or perhaps preferring the Roon Arc UI to other apps?

I will have my local Roon files on the player as well, but the way Roon integrates everything along with Qobuz as well as all the discovery features makes using Arc very appealing when I've got a good internet connection.

 

[rlw6534]

I will have my local Roon files on the player as well, but the way Roon integrates everything along with Qobuz as well as all the discovery features makes using Arc very appealing when I've got a good internet connection.

Roon Arc is only bit perfect on Android with an external USB DAC. They haven't implemented that for the internal DAC on Android DAPs yet. Generally, it will play at whatever the last bitrate in use was, but it doesn't change to match content. It is being looked at.

 

[gLer]

Roon Arc is only bit perfect on Android with an external USB DAC. They haven't implemented that for the internal DAC on Android DAPs yet. Generally, it will play at whatever the last bitrate in use was, but it doesn't change to match content. It is being looked at.

I was going to say this but you beat me to it. Roon ARC and the Roon Android app don't support bit perfect hi-res playback on any Android device as far as I'm aware. Once they do, I might actually consider Roon for my use case. Until then, Plex + UAPP is better and free.

 

[rlw6534]

I was going to say this but you beat me to it. Roon ARC and the Roon Android app don't support bit perfect hi-res playback on any Android device as far as I'm aware. Once they do, I might actually consider Roon for my use case. Until then, Plex + UAPP is better and free.

The exception here is "Roon Ready" DAPs such as those from A&K and FiiO which work perfectly (but not remotely).

 

[gLer]

The exception here is "Roon Ready" DAPs such as those from A&K and FiiO which work perfectly (but not remotely).

Correct, but that's a different setup to the standard Roon apps.

 

[phillevy]

I was going to say this but you beat me to it. Roon ARC and the Roon Android app don't support bit perfect hi-res playback on any Android device as far as I'm aware. Once they do, I might actually consider Roon for my use case. Until then, Plex + UAPP is better and free.

I was of the understanding that the R6 III was able to bypass the android limitation across the whole system - is this not correct?

 

[Qualitas]

I will have my local Roon files on the player as well, but the way Roon integrates everything along with Qobuz as well as all the discovery features makes using Arc very appealing when I've got a good internet connection.

Ah, that is a very good point. I'd never thought to use Arc on a DAP in this manner, but I think I might just start. I tend to use the standalone Qobuz and Tidal apps on my DAP, as that lets me offline music (which is not allowed in Arc) and I am mostly using my DAP in situations without internet access. Then when I do have connectivity I mostly use Spotify for music discovery, simply because their catalog is so large. But more recently I've been using my DAP in situations with connectivity much more often, and for those situations Arc does make a lot of sense. Thanks.

Roon Arc is only bit perfect on Android with an external USB DAC. They haven't implemented that for the internal DAC on Android DAPs yet. Generally, it will play at whatever the last bitrate in use was, but it doesn't change to match content. It is being looked at.

going to say this but you beat me to it. Roon ARC and the Roon Android app don't support bit perfect hi-res playback on any Android device as far as I'm aware. Once they do, I might actually consider Roon for my use case. Until then, Plex + UAPP is better and free.

Interesting. Thanks for correcting my misunderstanding. So just to clarify, on Hiby DAP's (and most other DAP's that bypass Android system wide resampling), for the avoidance of doubt:
- Native music player app (Hiby Music, etc) - bit perfect
- 3rd party music player apps (Neutron, UAPP, mconnect) - bit perfect
- 3rd party streaming apps (Tidal, Qobuz, etc) - bit perfect
- Roon Arc - not (yet) bit perfect?