[Auricon]

I'm not saying that no one likes R8 II. I was merely speculating that it might not be as great a release as some of their other DAPs like the RS8 for eg. which still is a masterpiece from what I have heard, bar the problems with heating and so on.

Like I said, I wasn’t going to discuss anymore because it’s an endless discussion. It wasn’t all speculation. I’ve read every single review and opinions of users who got it so far. None of them had the “wow” factor in it which one would expect from a flagship €2k DAP.

 

[nioh]

Good that you pointed that out.
In other words, it means it’s half speculation and half based on information available in this forum and elsewhere.

 

[gLer]

 

[TomKorn]

Like I said, I wasn’t going to discuss anymore because it’s an endless discussion. It wasn’t all speculation. I’ve read every single review and opinions of users who got it so far. None of them had the “wow” factor in it which one would expect from a flagship €2k DAP. There were also comments like “it’s not impressive” or “midrange is recessed” and so on.

Nevertheless I just want to say I couldn’t care less about what dealers and reviewers have to say, unless the review came from someone who actually bought the device, unlike from people who get review samples.

Again, I mentioned about classifieds because people who were all praises for the DAP ended up selling it as quickly as they bought it. I understand gear rolling but selling something that costs nearly 2k within a month for me is not gear rolling, it’s more of dissatisfaction or buyer’s remorse. Of course there are many reasons for this and I did not say anything about the DAP’s sound. All I said was that for whatever reason its being sold off.

Last but not least, this is a discussion forum and everyone has the same right to discuss what they feel as long as the discussions are civil. If you don’t like what someone says, you are free to ignore them and move on.

I only expressed my opinion that speculating is not helpful. You are free to give your opinion of course! I'm simply questioning the merit of an opinion that is based on reading this thread and not your very own experience with any product.

I had products in the past that I did not like and ended up selling quickly after purchasing them. Yet I know there are people that are very happy with those products and that's great. If someone asks me about my opinion on those products I will tell them. What I never do is give my opinion on something that I haven't tested/owned because I don't know.

Maybe that's due to the fact that I have been working as a user experience designer for a long time and user testing was the most basic and essential thing to do. We never based our decisions on speculation or hearsay but only on real people testing products. Anyways, my reply was not specifically targeted at you but more of a general statement/thought.

If I offended you, I apologize.

 

[nioh]

I only expressed my opinion that speculating is not helpful. You are free to give your opinion of course! I'm simply questioning the merit of an opinion that is based on reading this thread and not your very own experience with any product.

I had products in the past that I did not like and ended up selling quickly after purchasing them. Yet I know there are people that are very happy with those products and that's great. If someone asks me about my opinion on those products I will tell them. What I never do is give my opinion on something that I haven't tested/owned because I don't know.

Maybe that's due to the fact that I have been working as a user experience designer for a long time and user testing was the most basic and essential thing to do. We never based our decisions on speculation or hearsay but only on real people testing products. Anyways, my reply was not specifically targeted at you but more of a general statement/thought.

If I offended you, I apologize.

Sorry, I just felt like I was being attacked by everyone for merely pointing out that people are selling the DAP within such a short time.

I understand what you mean. Perhaps the way I pointed out about the classifieds could have been better. A DAP is not just all about the sound. There could be other reasons why people don’t like to keep them.

For eg. the huge size or even as simple as the Alcantara back which a lot of people here did not like from the beginning. For sure this opinion could change after experiencing it in person but deciding whether to spend 2k is also a challenge and for me all the signs so far point to a “may be” and not “yes“. Again it’s just my opinion. Others may have different opinions and that’s perfectly fine.

My apologies as well if I offended you.
Nevertheless point taken. In future I’ll try to voice my opinion in a way that doesn’t sound like I’m bashing the product which might offend everyone who owns the product as well.

 

[DietmaR]

For me R8 II is already perfect. They nailed the sound they were looking for. But not only that, because it's DARWIN, it's fully configurable and upgradeable at the hardware level. Can't do that with an off the shelf DAC chip. Kudos to HiBy for taking the risk to make their own DAC platform. And if you don't like the stock sound, it's so easy to change with filters, MSEB, and very soon, system wide PEQ.

I read there are beta firmware versions for R6PII and confirmed with R6 III available with system wide PEQ.
Perhaps for R8 II too?

BTW, awesome looking DAP.

 

[TomKorn]

Sorry, I just felt like I was being attacked by everyone for merely pointing out that people are selling the DAP within such a short time.

I understand what you mean. Perhaps the way I pointed out about the classifieds could have been better. A DAP is not just all about the sound. There could be other reasons why people don’t like to keep them.

For eg. the huge size or even as simple as the Alcantara back which a lot of people here did not like from the beginning. For sure this opinion could change after experiencing it in person but deciding whether to spend 2k is also a challenge and for me all the signs so far point to a “may be” and not “yes“. Again it’s just my opinion. Others may have different opinions and that’s perfectly fine.

My apologies as well if I offended you.
Nevertheless point taken. In future I’ll try to voice my opinion in a way that doesn’t sound like I’m bashing the product which might offend everyone who owns the product as well.

No offense taken on my side. Btw. from a user experience point of view, the Alcantara actually helps holding the DAP safely in your hand which I find a plus. I can see that Hiby think about user experience and are actually willing to take risks too. They also improved the performance of the Android system which some might consider another plus. If they manage to release a new and improved Hiby Music App at some point, I would be very happy as the app has been around for quite a while now. Of course on an open Android, you can install whatever app you like... I am not allowed to express my personal opinion on the sound quality or price/performance out anything else unfortunately. You can read it in our own blog though if you're interested.

P.S. Also, I would never attack anyone for their opinion.

Cheers

 

[nioh]

No offense taken on my side. Btw. from a user experience point of view, the Alcantara actually helps holding the DAP safely in your hand which I find a plus. I can see that Hiby think about user experience and are actually willing to take risks too. They also improved the performance of the Android system which some might consider another plus. If they manage to release a new and improved Hiby Music App at some point, I would be very happy as the app has been around for quite a while now. Of course on an open Android, you can install whatever app you like... I am not allowed to express my personal opinion on the sound quality or price/performance out anything else unfortunately. You can read it in our own blog though if you're interested.

P.S. Also, I would never attack anyone for their opinion.

Cheers

Having Alcantara at the back does sound like it improves the grip and also feels more premium. My only concern is that Hiby didnt say anything to my question about how easy it is to replace if it gets dirty, damaged etc. I‘m definitely not using that ugly clear case that comes with it, no matter what anyone says. Originally I also had concerns about heat but reading the opinions so far it doesn’t seem like a problem.

Anyways these are minor concerns. For me, most important points are portability, a more warm, musical sound, preferably latest Android etc. So my preference of a DAP would be in the likes of R6P2, Zx707, N7 etc. and I have some of these DAPS, one which I purchased from you even

 

[TomKorn]

Having Alcantara at the back does sound like it improves the grip and also feels more premium. My only concern is that Hiby didnt say anything to my question about how easy it is to replace if it gets dirty, damaged etc. I‘m definitely not using that ugly clear case that comes with it, no matter what anyone says. Originally I also had concerns about heat but reading the opinions so far it doesn’t seem like a problem.

Anyways these are minor concerns. For me, most important points are portability, a more warm, musical sound, preferably latest Android etc. So my preference of a DAP would be in the likes of R6P2, Zx707, N7 etc. and I have some of these DAPS, one which I purchased from you even

Then let me thank you for being a customer and be assured I will always tell you my honest opinion on any product!

Also, I have several headphones with Alcantara headbands and earcups and so far they look like new.

 

[Neweymatt]

I’ve read every single review and opinions of users who got it so far. None of them had the “wow” factor in it which one would expect from a flagship €2k DAP.

I know you've said you're not keen to keep discussing this, and yet you do keep discussing this, but maybe you missed these posts from ppl who definitely paid for the device themselves...

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hiby-r8-ii-hibys-new-high-end-dap.970808/post-17887572

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hiby-r8-ii-hibys-new-high-end-dap.970808/post-17911504

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hiby-r8-ii-hibys-new-high-end-dap.970808/post-17913028

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hiby-r8-ii-hibys-new-high-end-dap.970808/post-17912637

For $2k, I do believe this is among the best price/performance pieces of gear in this hobby.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Like I said, I wasn’t going to discuss anymore because it’s an endless discussion. It wasn’t all speculation. I’ve read every single review and opinions of users who got it so far. None of them had the “wow” factor in it which one would expect from a flagship €2k DAP. There were also comments like “it’s not impressive” or “midrange is recessed” and so on.

Nevertheless I just want to say I couldn’t care less about what dealers and reviewers have to say, unless the review came from someone who actually bought the device, unlike from people who get review samples.

Again, I mentioned about classifieds because people who were all praises for the DAP ended up selling it as quickly as they bought it. I understand gear rolling but selling something that costs nearly 2k within a month for me is not gear rolling, it’s more of dissatisfaction or buyer’s remorse. Of course there are many reasons for this and I did not say anything about the DAP’s sound. All I said was that for whatever reason its being sold off.

Last but not least, this is a discussion forum and everyone has the same right to discuss what they feel as long as the discussions are civil. If you don’t like what someone says, you are free to ignore them and move on.

If I go by reading and theorizing, I have it on very good authority that all these players from $199 and up have frequency responses that are identical to all intents and purposes, noise floors that are inaudible (otherwise you have nothing lose from changing up to some earphones that are less voltage sensitive, high impedance and hence less amp dependent), distortion levels that are inaudible, and books from learned scholars stacked from floor to ceiling agreeing that when these conditions are all satisfied, all players sound the same, also, jitter is reclocked out of existence even in a $5 DAC and is never audible. When I feel like abiding by their teachings, I plug my $9.99 single driver Philips SHE3580 IEMs (that still measure with less distortion than many kilobuck offerings today) into my $199 M300 and go away happy that I'm hearing the same things as on the R8 II. Then I load my own custom correction + spatialization convolver onto the M300 to get a leg up even on that and smile at audiophiles across the street lugging a bomb squad's worth of equipment smugly in the knowledge that my sleeper set sounds better than anything they can throw out. And I can play Candy Crush at the same time as I play any music and can listen to both at the same time because the M300 uses a standard resampling software architecture (albeit clocked up to 192kHz)--which again has inaudible impact on sound quality, according to housefuls of scholarly tomes.

So of course everyone's going to get buyer's remorse buying the R8II when they could have just bought the M300. And if they bought the Xoe in a bundle for $9 extra I have customization convolvers and other software for it waiting for them to make their $208.99 bundle sound better than anything money can buy on the market, just like my personal M300 and $9.99 Philips SHE3580.

When I feel especially like rubbing it in their faces, I take a $10 TWS Bluetooth set off Walmart, put each side into my ear coupler to measure their FR, then press a button to generate a custom convolver to even out any channel imbalance (we can be talking 10dB for these cheap sets) as well as nail them to the Harman target, as well as apply my vaunted spatialization convolver to the mix. I like to see audiophiles' faces melt into a puddle when they put these on connected to my $199 Xiaomi phone running Viper4Android and can't help but agree that they sound worse than anything they've heard, except they also sound better than anything they've heard once I flick the On switch on Viper4Android.

 

[Z_Showmaster]

If I go by reading and theorizing, I have it on very good authority that all these players from $199 and up have frequency responses that are identical to all intents and purposes, noise floors that are inaudible (otherwise you have nothing lose from changing up to some earphones that are less voltage sensitive, high impedance and hence less amp dependent), distortion levels that are inaudible, and books from learned scholars stacked from floor to ceiling agreeing that when these conditions are all satisfied, all players sound the same, also, jitter is reclocked out of existence even in a $5 DAC and is never audible. When I feel like abiding by their teachings, I plug my $9.99 single driver Philips SHE3580 IEMs (that still measure with less distortion than many kilobuck offerings today) into my $199 M300 and go away happy that I'm hearing the same things as on the R8 II. Then I load my own custom correction + spatialization convolver onto the M300 to get a leg up even on that and smile at audiophiles across the street lugging a bomb squad's worth of equipment smugly in the knowledge that my sleeper set sounds better than anything they can throw out. And I can play Candy Crush at the same time as I play any music and can listen to both at the same time because the M300 uses a standard resampling software architecture (albeit clocked up to 192kHz)--which again has inaudible impact on sound quality, according to housefuls of scholarly tomes.

So of course everyone's going to get buyer's remorse buying the R8II when they could have just bought the M300. And if they bought the Xoe in a bundle for $9 extra I have customization convolvers and other software for it waiting for them to make their $208.99 bundle sound better than anything money can buy on the market, just like my personal M300 and $9.99 Philips SHE3580.

When I feel especially like rubbing it in their faces, I take a $10 TWS Bluetooth set off Walmart, put each side into my ear coupler to measure their FR, then press a button to generate a custom convolver to even out any channel imbalance (we can be talking 10dB for these cheap sets) as well as nail them to the Harman target, as well as apply my vaunted spatialization convolver to the mix. I like to see audiophiles' faces melt into a puddle when they put these on connected to my $199 Xiaomi phone running Viper4Android and can't help but agree that they sound worse than anything they've heard, except they also sound better than anything they've heard once I flick the On switch on Viper4Android.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

The above was not entirely written to poke fun at @nioh . It does puzzle me why "proven" research results like the above (excepting some of the taller stories at the end) are never taken seriously (good thing I'm not in charge of marketing???) while opinions of buyers, reviewers, sellers, shills pretending to be buyers, spies pretending to be sellers, (not pointing at anyone owning / formerly owning the R8II, for sure) and everything in between, can always be counted on to go into the blender and come out as some authoritative consensus on how one player sounds compared to another. And if you know me, you know that I write from experience not "speculation" for some of the above technologies. I will admit that the audience reactions are pure fantasy excepting some vaguely similar reactions to one or two rubbish or not-so-rubbish sets of IEMs I played with 10 years ago...

I will say, I do believe that a DAP with a CPU more powerful than the one that took people to the moon should have more to do with how the music sounds, than "how the amplifier is voiced" (recessed mids??) or whether some synthetic lining on it is replaceable or not. And I do feel regretful that paragraphs expressing the utility of DSP sound processing for audio quality can blend in completely with the satire...

 

[Z_Showmaster]

The above was not entirely written to poke fun at @nioh . It does puzzle me why "proven" research results like the above (excepting some of the taller stories at the end) are never taken seriously (good thing I'm not in charge of marketing???) while opinions of buyers, reviewers, spies pretending to be buyers, shills pretending to be sellers, and everything in between, can always be counted on to go into the blender and come out as some authoritative consensus on how one player sounds compared to another. And if you know me, you know that I write from experience not "speculation" for some of the above technologies. I will admit that the audience reactions are pure fantasy excepting some vaguely similar reactions to one or two rubbish or not-so-rubbish sets of IEMs I played with 10 years ago...

I definitely didn't read that as a diss, more a true assesment on the state of play nowadays.

Makes me feel luckier that we have some of the best, most measured and logical minds on Head-Fi on this thread.

 

[leylandi]

Good that you pointed that out.
In other words, it means it’s half speculation and half based on information available in this forum and elsewhere.

The R8 II is a huge improvement over the R6 Pro II. I bought both.