Hi folks, I new here and wanted to contribute to the discussion with my comments about the R6 Pro VS Mojo/Poly. Shout out to Bloom Audio, 46 Audio and Musicteck who helped me fuel my passion with good advice and service.
So to start, I’m 54 yr and a music junkie....there I said it. My journey began over 35 years ago when in college I came across a great Stereo store in Evanston, IL— AudioConsultants. Sadly they just recently closed their doors. I started out with a modest system I used all through college and have intermittently updated/upgraded and laid to rest many 2 channel components. I was never a huge headphone guy but did have Walkmans, Sony D6C (remember that?) and of course iPods. Fast forward to getting a career and family started and as you can imagine music took a backseat. I finally am back in a position to resurrect my passion. To this end I began the process of upgrading my 2 channel system only to find that my wife and family’s passion for late night listening sessions didn’t coincide with their sleep— go figure. So with that long intro I am came to head-Fi for advice and took the plunge to explore headphone listening.
I have always believed that superb sound begins with excellent source equipment and after many hours of online research I decided to try a Chord Mojo. Holy crap, I never knew music could be so palpable / engaging and soulful coming out of my iPhone. The music had body, pace and connect me to the artist in a way my old iPods never did. My wife and family made fun of me as I danced around the kitchen listening to music in a way I hadn’t done before with headphones. Life was good, but the only issue I had was portable use. I worried about the wired connection via lightning while walking around in town or while doing chores around the house, so I decided give the Mojo / Poly combo a try. Yes, despite all the bad press I took the plunge and frankly, I didn’t have any of the connectivity issues reported. Seems that the new firmware fixed all that. It is hard to believe that a streaming device can improve the sound but it does. Music was even more relaxed and engaging. I don’t know how the combo “measures” but whatever it does, does not matter to be because it is so darn musical! Used as a Roon endpoint I was blown away with the combo on upsampled music. Oh headphones include HD598, Drop HD5xx, Beyerdynamic Aventho wired, Shure E1Cs, and CA Polaris II. The big issue was being tethered to an iPhone / iPad to control the Mojo/Poly and the issue with WiFi coverage which brings me to the HiBy R6 Pro.
I had an issue spending a lot of cash on a glorified iPod and was planning to do the R3 Pro, but because of being out of stock (and being impatient) I started looking at other options. I still can’t justify spending upwards of $1000 on DAP which I will be carrying w/ me everywhere and potentially drop/lose so that’s where Hiby R6 came in.
I read about the issue eg: RFI above, but decided to take the plunge. In general, I think the choice was correct. Sound from the R6 Pro is excellent, the Mojo/Poly still is more resolving and magical, but the R6 holds its own. Specifically the Spotify and Qobuz download feature is great, I can download 16/44k quality albums and listen in areas with out Wifi. On the SD I have 160GB of old MP3 files (yeah I know...) and using the HiBy music works great. I am not a big fan of the MSEB, to me it seems that augmenting one aspect of the sound results in degradation of another and hence a constant tail chasing. The “warm” filter seems to agree w/ my ears the best. I do have the RFI issue as above but if I don’t keep the R6 in the same pocket as my phone, no issues. I don’t have the restart issue noted above. One big dissapointment is the Roon app. I cannot seem to get it to work. I can get the R6 to recognize my Core, but I cannot select a zone...more to come. The R6 solved my desire to have an all in one solution with excellent sound quality that doesn’t break the bank and allows me to move around without fear of damaging a $1k plus device.
So I know this is a long post but wanted to share my thoughts, journey and experience so that hopefully someone will find it useful. Thanks!
So to start, I’m 54 yr and a music junkie....there I said it. My journey began over 35 years ago when in college I came across a great Stereo store in Evanston, IL— AudioConsultants. Sadly they just recently closed their doors. I started out with a modest system I used all through college and have intermittently updated/upgraded and laid to rest many 2 channel components. I was never a huge headphone guy but did have Walkmans, Sony D6C (remember that?) and of course iPods. Fast forward to getting a career and family started and as you can imagine music took a backseat. I finally am back in a position to resurrect my passion. To this end I began the process of upgrading my 2 channel system only to find that my wife and family’s passion for late night listening sessions didn’t coincide with their sleep— go figure. So with that long intro I am came to head-Fi for advice and took the plunge to explore headphone listening.
I have always believed that superb sound begins with excellent source equipment and after many hours of online research I decided to try a Chord Mojo. Holy crap, I never knew music could be so palpable / engaging and soulful coming out of my iPhone. The music had body, pace and connect me to the artist in a way my old iPods never did. My wife and family made fun of me as I danced around the kitchen listening to music in a way I hadn’t done before with headphones. Life was good, but the only issue I had was portable use. I worried about the wired connection via lightning while walking around in town or while doing chores around the house, so I decided give the Mojo / Poly combo a try. Yes, despite all the bad press I took the plunge and frankly, I didn’t have any of the connectivity issues reported. Seems that the new firmware fixed all that. It is hard to believe that a streaming device can improve the sound but it does. Music was even more relaxed and engaging. I don’t know how the combo “measures” but whatever it does, does not matter to be because it is so darn musical! Used as a Roon endpoint I was blown away with the combo on upsampled music. Oh headphones include HD598, Drop HD5xx, Beyerdynamic Aventho wired, Shure E1Cs, and CA Polaris II. The big issue was being tethered to an iPhone / iPad to control the Mojo/Poly and the issue with WiFi coverage which brings me to the HiBy R6 Pro.
I had an issue spending a lot of cash on a glorified iPod and was planning to do the R3 Pro, but because of being out of stock (and being impatient) I started looking at other options. I still can’t justify spending upwards of $1000 on DAP which I will be carrying w/ me everywhere and potentially drop/lose so that’s where Hiby R6 came in.
I read about the issue eg: RFI above, but decided to take the plunge. In general, I think the choice was correct. Sound from the R6 Pro is excellent, the Mojo/Poly still is more resolving and magical, but the R6 holds its own. Specifically the Spotify and Qobuz download feature is great, I can download 16/44k quality albums and listen in areas with out Wifi. On the SD I have 160GB of old MP3 files (yeah I know...) and using the HiBy music works great. I am not a big fan of the MSEB, to me it seems that augmenting one aspect of the sound results in degradation of another and hence a constant tail chasing. The “warm” filter seems to agree w/ my ears the best. I do have the RFI issue as above but if I don’t keep the R6 in the same pocket as my phone, no issues. I don’t have the restart issue noted above. One big dissapointment is the Roon app. I cannot seem to get it to work. I can get the R6 to recognize my Core, but I cannot select a zone...more to come. The R6 solved my desire to have an all in one solution with excellent sound quality that doesn’t break the bank and allows me to move around without fear of damaging a $1k plus device.
So I know this is a long post but wanted to share my thoughts, journey and experience so that hopefully someone will find it useful. Thanks!