HiBy R8 User Impressions

[Vitaly2017]

I think we're at a point now where Andoid DAPs have reached a point of maturity and can compete directly with non-Android/mixed Android flagship DAPs for SQ. HiBy (and soon iBasso with the DX300) have also ramped up the underlying processing power and battery tech to the point where the package as a whole can comfortably deliver a combination of speed, stamina and sound to stay relevant for good few years, even beyond the next inevitable refresh cycle (I think Shanling missed a trick here with its dated SoC and Android 7 OS in the M8, and so the M8 is at risk of becoming redundant fairly quickly from a hardware perspective).

The R8 can do everything my smartphone can, and faster (because of its optimised OS), and since I have no plans on updating my phone for at least a few more years, I can see the R8 doing duty for at least that long. Of course DAC and amp tech is rapidly evolving, especially in the portable market, but since I consider the R8 on par with the LPGT sound-wise (and a few levels up in features), I'm quite happy that we're now at a point where powerful, reference-grade flagship Android DAPs have come of age.

Sorry to burst your bubble but R8 and M8 will be redundant the next time a new flagship android will be available...
Hence not long time ago N8,1z, lpgt, dx max,sp2k where top dogs now people are all jumping on new daps.... And forget the previous ones. Does that mean they are worst or underperformant? No.

Why sony releases daps every 5 years and all chinese daps every year?
Every year you have a new dap in each category in chinese daps realm...

So be ready for a new R8 successor next year same for M8 and Cayin.

I will say the worst one is fiio lol almost feels like they do a mew one every 6months?
Ibasso is also quick on their legs and make one new regular dx each year....
I slightly feel hiby done the same last few years.

I only now got my interest into R8 and M8 as this is their first steps getting into serious closer to flagship territory game. I am sure they will catch up and next flagship androids will finally be like a real flagship dap. For now I see R8 and M8 as a very high end mid high dap im between mid and flagship.

Also I think there is war being going on with competition. Ibasso and fiio are always competing. Shanling they follow their own path a little but dont have the same popularity as fiio and ibasso.
Cayin got striked by competition hard, no one looking at N8 and n6ii got over throned hard as R8 and M8 simply are leaps a head...
Now cayin need a new dap release to compete those 2 as I feel the n6ii was a dap to compete against dx220...

There is fiio m15 and now that fiio is being quiet for some time waiting to see what competition is releasing they will slam a new dap release to beat them....
See this is a war going on lol and what will fiio implement new in the new flagship dap? There is no new akm... Will they go ess sabre now? Surprise surprise.... But they have to impress and make us run and buy the new dap right?

 

[GiullianSN]

Sorry to burst your bubble but R8 and M8 will be redundant the next time a new flagship android will be available...
Hence not long time ago N8,1z, lpgt, dx max,sp2k where top dogs now people are all jumping on new daps.... And forget the previous ones. Does that mean they are worst or underperformant? No.

Why sony releases daps every 5 years and all chinese daps every year?
Every year you have a new dap in each category in chinese daps realm...

So be ready for a new R8 successor next year same for M8 and Cayin.

I will say the worst one is fiio lol almost feels like they do a mew one every 6months?
Ibasso is also quick on their legs and make one new regular dx each year....
I slightly feel hiby done the same last few years.

I only now got my interest into R8 and M8 as this is their first steps getting into serious closer to flagship territory game. I am sure they will catch up and next flagship androids will finally be like a real flagship dap. For now I see R8 and M8 as a very high end mid high dap im between mid and flagship.

Also I think there is war being going on with competition. Ibasso and fiio are always competing. Shanling they follow their own path a little but dont have the same popularity as fiio and ibasso.
Cayin got striked by competition hard, no one looking at N8 and n6ii got over throned hard as R8 and M8 simply are leaps a head...
Now cayin need a new dap release to compete those 2 as I feel the n6ii was a dap to compete against dx220...

There is fiio m15 and now that fiio is being quiet for some time waiting to see what competition is releasing they will slam a new dap release to beat them....
See this is a war going on lol and what will fiio implement new in the new flagship dap? There is no new akm... Will they go ess sabre now? Surprise surprise.... But they have to impress and make us run and buy the new dap right?

Well said. That's exactly my thinking. Even AK is falling into this war now. Sad but true.

 

[CharlyBrown]

Would you experienced DAP users consider A&K better in any way then the Chinese “flagships“? (I mean other than looks of the HW or UI)

And why is non-Android / partial Android better? We are moving more an more into Streaming music (I for one do nothing else anymore). With a current Android version you can rest assured that a DAP will last for a couple years considering streaming options. AFAIK e.g. Tidal and others support all down to Android 7 now. So a full Android DAP with version 9 like the R8 should be good to go for a long time now. Well at least 2-3 years.

 

[gLer]

Well said. That's exactly my thinking. Even AK is falling into this war now. Sad but true.

I don't agree at all. If you think a DAP is redundant just because a new DAP (even from the same manufacturer) has been released, then you've drunk too much of the marketing cool-aid.

Now, of course it's cool to have the 'latest and greatest', and in that regard DAPs are changing positions on the totem pole far more often than IEMs right now, but unless a new DAP offers significant benefits over a previous model, there's really very little reason to simply ditch the old one and get the new one.

What I was saying about DAPs like the R8 reaching maturity is that they're at a point now where an 'upgrade' would have to be substantially beneficial, or else there's no reason to switch. Up to now, we've had DAPs rapidly climbing the performance ladder with faster SoCs, more storage, better batteries and more modern Android versions.

We're at a point where, with performance akin to modern smartphones and a fresh Android platform (Android 9), you can buy a DAP in the knowledge that it'll be fast enough and fresh enough to withstand an upgrade cycle or two before dipping back into the market will yield significant benefits.

That's why I used the phone analogy. I'm not the guy who upgrades his phone once a year just because a new one is out. My 3-year-old smartphone is fast enough, with a camera that's good enough, to not make me want for a single feature of the newer smartphones, and that's where I expect I'll be with the R8 this time next year and possibly even the year after that.

Sound-wise the R8 is at summit-fi level in my experience, has the ideal signature for my preferences, and considering that's number one criteria for a DAP, the fact that it's powerful enough feature-wise for the foreseeable future makes it a good buy, even at the price (and one of the best value flagships on the market today).

PS. The R6 Pro, HiBy's previous flagship, will be 3 years old this year, so you're probably looking at another 2 years or so before the next flagship cycle.

 

[gLer]

Would you experienced DAP users consider A&K better in any way then the Chinese “flagships“?

Depends whether or not you prefer the sound quality/signature. Because the R8 has eclipsed even the most expensive non-Chinese flagship feature-for-feature and since it sports a full open Android, the UI is your oyster, so to speak, in terms of look, feel and configurability (plus the fact that I consider UAPP to be the best music player app available on any mobile platform).

And why is non-Android / partial Android better?

It's not, in my opinion. In years gone by Android DAPs were hamstrung by poor high-res driver support and battery life issues. This is no longer the case. They also used slower, older SoCs, again not the case. The R8 is the fastest DAP on the market as far as I can tell, alongside the new R6 and upcoming DX300 (the M8 uses a previous generation Snapdragon SoC used by circa-2016 Android DAPs).

The advantage of non-Androind DAPs is that they tend to outlast Android revisions, but as you point out, with Android 9, you can expect the R8 to be relevant and compatible with the majority of apps well into the future.

With a current Android version you can rest assured that a DAP will last for a couple years considering streaming options. AFAIK e.g. Tidal and others support all down to Android 7 now. So a full Android DAP with version 9 like the R8 should be good to go for a long time now. Well at least 2-3 years.

Quite right.

 

[CharlyBrown]

Thank you for your PoV, gLer. Much appreciated! My 2c for the UI - I think you shouldn’t care too much about it because mostly you will see just the face of the streaming app which is not really interchangeable, leaves the stock app for those who listen mostly or only to classic file collections. If UAPP is among the best, and I think this is the general consensus, this counts also for local files.

I think I should try UAPP anytime in the next days. Is it any good for streaming music, also? I am using Apple, Spotify mostly and currently try out Amazon but will probably stick with the first two in the long run. I think Amazon makes great suggestions, though, via the „start station„ feature.

 

[davidmolliere]

There's a Freudian slip in your reply

Oh my there is!

Should have read "can't" !

 

[gLer]

Thank you for your PoV, gLer. Much appreciated! My 2c for the UI - I think you shouldn’t care too much about it because mostly you will see just the face of the streaming app which is not really interchangeable, leaves the stock app for those who listen mostly or only to classic file collections. If UAPP is among the best, and I think this is the general consensus, this counts also for local files.

I think I should try UAPP anytime in the next days. Is it any good for streaming music, also? I am using Apple, Spotify mostly and currently try out Amazon but will probably stick with the first two in the long run. I think Amazon makes great suggestions, though, via the „start station„ feature.

Very true, UI is quite app dependent, but if you're using an Android DAP you also want a home page, apps page and lock screen that work well together. This is very easy to do, and something you can't do at all with non-Android DAPs.

As for UAPP, it mainly integrates Tidal and Qobuz, so won't be useful to you if you're mainly streaming. For me streaming is a secondary function as I most exclusively use local files, but do stream from Tidal on occasion.

Edit: below are some screenshots of my R8 UI that illustrate how flexible and extensible it can be.

Home page:

Apps: (using Nova Desktop and Lines icon pack)

UAPP library:

UAPP now playing (UI takes in colour hue of album):

Plex (access to 4TB music library remotely from anywhere in the world):

Plex - not limited to music playback, can watch movies and TV in 1080P with automatic screen rotation):

Solid Explorer (full WiFi remote file management - copy and paste content from LAN, WAN and Cloud sources without ever connecting the R8 to a computer):

 

[CharlyBrown]

Extremely cool, thanks!

I played around with this a little bit and also installed Nova Launcher and the Lines Icon Pack & UAPP. So great you can do this with the R8!!

btw. I’m a huge fan of The Mandalorian!

 

[gLer]

Extremely cool, thanks!

I played around with this a little bit and also installed Nova Launcher and the Lines Icon Pack & UAPP. So great you can do this with the R8!!

btw. I’m a huge fan of The Mandalorian!

This is the way!

 

[twister6]

This is the way!

I have spoken!

 

[goodvibes]

Just glad they did all the R&D here to allow me to get an R6 2020 with the same sort of functionality and some of the audio tweaks in a smaller, lighter package that I'm willing to carry. I know it will be a bit leaner and less fleshed out but I'm not a warmth guy anyway. Was never sold on the android player profile but am liking Qobuz and UPNP streaming has also become worthwhile. Qobuz on the go will probably work fine with phone as hotspot.

 

[hAbIrAbI]

I have a question. Has anybody encountered am error when playing HiRes FLAC files in UAPP on the R8? I've just received the R8 and was doing some burn in since I wasn't using it anyway. For burn in I had just told UAPP to run through the shuffled library. At some point I noticed that it stopped playing. I reset the shuffle and started it. It happened again and I noticed that all the songs in this album cause the error "Error decoding". It is also reproducible.

I'd be interested if there is a solution to this problem.

Edit: the same album works just fine in Neutron

 

[gLer]

I have a question. Has anybody encountered am error when playing HiRes FLAC files in UAPP on the R8? I've just received the R8 and was doing some burn in since I wasn't using it anyway. For burn in I had just told UAPP to run through the shuffled library. At some point I noticed that it stopped playing. I reset the shuffle and started it. It happened again and I noticed that all the songs in this album cause the error "Error decoding". It is also reproducible.

I'd be interested if there is a solution to this problem.

Edit: the same album works just fine in Neutron

Maybe share one of your files here and one of us with an R8 can test it. Haven't had any issues with any of my files with UAPP so far.

 

[hAbIrAbI]

Here I've put one of the files in Onedrive. Thanks for the assist.