[MichaelHWinn]

I ended up just buying off from MusicTeck. I've been adding a little bit off each paycheck into a savings account for this thing, but I thought it would of been released a lot sooner--end of decemberish. I guess what it came down to is that even if it was 100 dollars off due to the promotional price, I'd rather just fork out the extra 100 + 9 bux (2-3 day shipping) to just have the dumb thing in my hands instead of continuing to wait. Since MusicTeck already has it, I'd wager the official release will be right after Feb. 11

 

[Luke Thomas]

I have only listened to one review. Is this what most are judging their purchase on?
Seems like a lot of money for minimal reviews. Or is this by far the best under $1000 dap?

 

[FunctionalDoc]

I have only listened to one review. Is this what most are judging their purchase on?
Seems like a lot of money for minimal reviews. Or is this by far the best under $1000 dap?

I have friend that has R6 and I actually got to listen to it and play with it at a recent headphone meetup and was impressed by R6. He claimed he had no issues with WiFi or Bluetooth . I aslo another another person with R3 and he is also pleased.

I really believe in Hawaiian Bad Boys Reviews because he is very honest and he said it sounds great and works great . Best overall DAP under $1000.

I wanted a newer Android with better hardware over my Onkyo DXP-1a which sounds great but its power to drive in balanced mode is limited to easy headphones.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I didn't even mention how they treated Joe.

To be fair they didn't treat me badly at all. I was simply unfit for work for a period and had requested my own removal at the time.

As for the rest of the comments, I'll simply say that, they really don't have enough stock to go around for the whole world, certainly not before and during the Chinese New Year factory shutdown and probably not even afterwards, and logistically it is much more expensive to service an international sale than one in China--think shipping fees, import taxes, customer service enquiries made at higher frequencies than in China per user and in languages that can only be serviced by a few special members of the staff... I think, not having a crowdfunding campaign, not officially launching internationally at the same time and not launching at the same price are all smart moves by HiBy to limit the number of international customers for both financial sake and because of the customer service situation. (If there are fewer such customers they can be better served) Where they dropped the ball was the Hong Kong pricing for the international version, that's literally a glitch in the matrix...

 

[cuspess]

I have only listened to one review. Is this what most are judging their purchase on?
Seems like a lot of money for minimal reviews. Or is this by far the best under $1000 dap?

Well, for me the R6Pro strikes a great balance for portability, cost, and performance.

Like I mentioned earlier, I came from the era when Shure E500 and UE TF10PRO was the norm. I was rocking SE420 & SF5Pro, both still are my favorite IEM (but they are nothing compare to what IEM can offer nowadays). Better or worse, I bought my first pair of over-ear headphone, Shure SRH840, and realise for the same money I spent on IEM, I could get so much better performance on over-ears. Since then I pretty much only listen to over-ears. Then come the trend of DSD file music, as well as the myth that my headphones aren't driven well with direct plug to my old school Cowon A2. So I was struggling for awhile whether to get a portable amp for my player, or getting a desktop amp. After some thought I decided that carrying a player, a portable amp and a pair of over ears is just too much for on the go, so I went with a Fostex HP-A8 desktop amp in the end, which has superb bright and clean signature, as well as DSD file support as bonus. I have been happy with it for quite some year and not lure to any new audio gear.

Some time ago I did get interested in the Opus 1 when it first came out, but DAP and portable amp in those days are simply not powerful enough, which is also my main reason opting for my HP-A8 instead of getting a Pioneer XPA-700 to go with my player. Not anymore! 2 weeks ago I accidentally stumble upon the original R6 aluminum version which is on some kind of clearance sale. That output power playing DSD files to my Sennheiser HD25i-II is just phenomenal. I was so emotional that finally I can take my headphones on the go, having it driven like I have been at home. Obviously I then went and do some research and found out R6Pro has just launched at a not too steep price difference. There I went and pay my money and take my baby home.

So, the R6Pro is basically what I have been looking for throughout the year. With my limited knowledge, I would say it is the most powerful DAP I ever encountered. Even more powerful than Sony's flagship NW-WM1Z & NW-WM1A (obviously sound signature and quality may vary here, but it is still half the price of WM1A, and 1/5 of the WM1Z). That price tag and player DSD on the go for me is a worthy big smile already. There are short comings about the R6Pro too, but I will discuss them later to keep this short!

 

[SciOC]

I have only listened to one review. Is this what most are judging their purchase on?
Seems like a lot of money for minimal reviews. Or is this by far the best under $1000 dap?

I have the R6. They added power and fixed the output impedance issue....

Sold.

 

[Luke Thomas]

I have the R6. They added power and fixed the output impressive issue....

Sold.

. Someone mentioned that the R6 might not be good for low impedance headphones like my Focal Clears at 55 ohms. 2 questions. Is this true? If so would the new pro model work better with low impedance headphones. Thx

 

[davidmolliere]

. Someone mentioned that the R6 might not be good for low impedance headphones like my Focal Clears at 55 ohms. 2 questions. Is this true? If so would the new pro model work better with low impedance headphones. Thx

Yes it would be better, because the R6 has an output impedance of 10 ohm and the rule is OI should be 1/8th of the headphone impedance or less... This wouldn’t be dramatic with the clear (55 ohm is not that low), especially since it’s a big dynamic driver but IEMs especially with balanced armature and low impedance will see their signature altered greatly so safer to go with the R6 Pro and it’s under 0.3 ohm output impedance.

 

[cuspess]

To be fair they didn't treat me badly at all. I was simply unfit for work for a period and had requested my own removal at the time.

As for the rest of the comments, I'll simply say that, they really don't have enough stock to go around for the whole world, certainly not before and during the Chinese New Year factory shutdown and probably not even afterwards, and logistically it is much more expensive to service an international sale than one in China--think shipping fees, import taxes, customer service enquiries made at higher frequencies than in China per user and in languages that can only be serviced by a few special members of the staff... I think, not having a crowdfunding campaign, not officially launching internationally at the same time and not launching at the same price are all smart moves by HiBy to limit the number of international customers for both financial sake and because of the customer service situation. (If there are fewer such customers they can be better served) Where they dropped the ball was the Hong Kong pricing for the international version, that's literally a glitch in the matrix...

I wouldn't call "not having a crowdfunding campaign, not officially launching internationally at the same time and not launching at the same price" a smart move. Rather, information are too easily spread across the globe nowadays that we often take buying goods from the other end of the world easily & equally for granted. Hong Kong is quite unique with its identity; it is right next to China, aka the "world's factory". It has the advantage of zero import/export tax and sales tax. These are the glitch in the matrix, and it is not limited to Hiby but many electronic product has the same "problem" as well. That is also why many exported goods are going through Hong Kong to US or Europe, so profit still can be made after all those handling fee, import tax, shipping cost are incurred.

While factories in China usually work 7 days a week non-stop, Chinese New Year is like the Christmas in western countries which they can finally rest for 2 weeks or so in a row. I think it is fair to give them time to breath. After all you want these lovely workers refresh themselves and continue to produce quality DAP, not half sleeping when they assemble your R6Pro.

 

[SciOC]

. Someone mentioned that the R6 might not be good for low impedance headphones like my Focal Clears at 55 ohms. 2 questions. Is this true? If so would the new pro model work better with low impedance headphones. Thx

To be honest, you definitely should not have any problem with the single driver 55 ohm clears on the original R6. Most of my, much more efficient, phones were perfectly fine on the R6.

Single drivers are not usually affected much, if at all since they have flat impedance curves. It's generally multi driver BA or hybrid sets with drivers with mismatched impedance curves that have a problem.

55 ohms is actually my least efficient set, tfz king pro, and I have zero issues with that.

What might not be great is the SE power from the original R6 to power them, but something like the fiio A5 could easily correct that if you wanted to stack.

 

[battosai]

. Someone mentioned that the R6 might not be good for low impedance headphones like my Focal Clears at 55 ohms. 2 questions. Is this true? If so would the new pro model work better with low impedance headphones. Thx

I have the R6 and can't find any fault with my 20ohms IEMs when I compare it to my other gear. Maybe lower impedance earphones would sound weird but no way a 55ohm headphones would be a problem.

 

[Luke Thomas]

I listened to the only review again as im wanting to pull the plug. Maybe someone could set me at ease. The reviewer said the Pro has somewhat of a boring sound. He also didn't comment on if he thought the Pro was better than the R6. Any comment to ease a $800 purchase

 

[Dobrescu George]

I listened to the only review again as im wanting to pull the plug. Maybe someone could set me at ease. The reviewer said the Pro has somewhat of a boring sound. He also didn't comment on if he thought the Pro was better than the R6. Any comment to ease a $800 purchase

With almost no review units, it is hard to advice for or against it at the moment...

 

[SciOC]

I listened to the only review again as im wanting to pull the plug. Maybe someone could set me at ease. The reviewer said the Pro has somewhat of a boring sound. He also didn't comment on if he thought the Pro was better than the R6. Any comment to ease a $800 purchase

The great thing about the hiby is the MSEB. I certainly hope the pro is neutral when no EQ or mseb settings are engaged, so I can use mseb to make it sound exactly how I want it to sound rather than relying on stock tuning.

The r6 was neutral with a ton of detail and an awesome feature set, and I'm basically hoping for the same with more power and no impedance issues.

Basically, the pro is what the r6 should have been in the first place so it's hard to see how it could go wrong given the major issues seem to have been fixed.

 

[Mirimar]

I listened to the only review again as im wanting to pull the plug. Maybe someone could set me at ease. The reviewer said the Pro has somewhat of a boring sound. He also didn't comment on if he thought the Pro was better than the R6. Any comment to ease a $800 purchase

Take a look back at post #518 by @davidmolliere in this thread. It has some impressions on the R6 Pro sound.