[jmills8]

Incredibly early/amateur impressions so take it for a grain of salt:

R8 is tuned pretty neutral to me, definitely a bit hissy with the Erlkonig (this is a deal breaker for me tbh), it’s only noticeable on quiet passages but for the tracks I listen to that do have some quiet bits, it’s annoying. No hiss with the A18s at all. Haven’t gotten around to using the M5 yet.

Bass is neutral, I find the Max to have more thump and body in the lower end, Mids are revealing. if I had to choose between the presentation of the mids on the R8 or the Max, I prefer the Max as they have more body to them to my ears but I have no complaints about the R8. Treble is nice and extended. Overall just a neutral sounding DAP to me without much added color or body for that matter. I think it sounds great, but I think the Max is still another beast all together especially where staging is concerned. I haven’t heard anything come close to the Max staging (from android daps). So far from a pure SQ standpoint I think the Max is on another level still, but I’ll update that within the next few days.

I’ll keep listening over the next few days and post any changes I hear with burn in over time.

The speed of the DAP is seriously insane, I haven’t seen track scrolling on Spotify like this on anything except for my iPhone.

Compared to something like the M15, the R8 is not as warm, and I’d argue the R8 actually makes the M15 feel a bit sluggish even though that DAP is considered quite quick for Android DAP standards.

Hope those random impressions help.

edit: listening done on high gain with turbo mode, turning to low gain/turning off turbo mode did reduce the hiss a small amount, nothing crazy though.

Yikes , then pass.

 

[jmills8]

The hissing is pulling me away from this dap. My two already his with one of my IEMs, so hissing is a deal breaker. I think that leaves Lotoo and AK. Not sure about the Luxury Precision P6, that probably has a black background too.

You havnt bought any dap for about a year right ?

 

[vkenz]

You havnt bought any dap for about a year right ?

Why do we still have a hiss on a 2020 release DAP? Can't they just make it great again?

 

[DarginMahkum]

Why do we still have a hiss on a 2020 release DAP? Can't they just make it great again?

Or why do we still have IEMs that cost 3X the price of an expensive 2020 DAP and still hiss? And why do we use those IEMs in configurations suitable for full sized HPs and expect that it will work perfectly?

 

[newworld666]

I was wondering if the R8 could be a good way to go for my rather difficult to drive Heddphone .. but I also need the R8 to be perfect with a Z1R .. I hate a DAP to be worse than a WM1A with a hiss as background sound in Balanced mode.
I am afraid that the R8 won't be the way to go in my case.

 

[DarginMahkum]

I was wondering if the R8 could be a good way to go for my rather difficult to drive Heddphone .. but I also need the R8 to be perfect with a Z1R .. I hate a DAP to be worse than a WM1A with a hiss as background sound in Balanced mode.
I am afraid that the R8 won't be the way to go in my case.

I wrote about the hiss before:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hiby-r8-snapdragon-660-android-p-4g.917733/post-15792230
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hiby-r8-snapdragon-660-android-p-4g.917733/post-15792313

But what you have written is two contradicting issues: Having a DAP powerful enough to drive HEDDphone (if you check the past posts, you will also see that I have tried both MAX and M15 with HEDDphone and results were not really satisfactory) and having hiss-free balanced outputs.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hiby-r8-snapdragon-660-android-p-4g.917733/post-15708397

Balanced output on a portable device serves most and foremost the power hungry transducers. And high gain and turbo modes on top of that are also exactly for that. If you connect a sensitive IEM in this configuration which is the highest possible power delivery, you will get a hiss.

 

[gLer]

I wrote about the hiss before:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hiby-r8-snapdragon-660-android-p-4g.917733/post-15792230
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hiby-r8-snapdragon-660-android-p-4g.917733/post-15792313

But what you have written is two contradicting issues: Having a DAP powerful enough to drive HEDDphone (if you check the past posts, you will also see that I have tried both MAX and R8 with HEDDphone and results were not really satisfactory) and having hiss-free balanced outputs.

Balanced output on a portable device serves most and foremost the power hungry transducers. And high gain and turbo modes on top of that are also exactly for that. If you connect a sensitive IEM in this configuration which is the highest possible power delivery, you will get a hiss.

Not if you use IEMs that don't hiss (cough 64 Audio cough).

 

[vkenz]

I wonder how the R8 will compare to the N8?

 

[DarginMahkum]

I wonder how the R8 will compare to the N8?

Sound: N8 > R8
System performance and features: R8 >>> N8

 

[mwhals]

You havnt bought any dap for about a year right ?

I bought the QP1R when it was released a few years ago. The QP2R was bought in July 2019.

 

[gLer]

Sound: N8 > R8
System performance and features: R8 >>> N8

N8 in tube mode or SS? Balanced vs balanced?

 

[subguy812]

Just tried this track on the R6 Pro with the Tia Trio. Can't hear any hiss - though if I really strain, maybe the very faintest hiss.

This is my experience. I have to try to hear it. Even if I am hearing it it is super faint.

 

[DarginMahkum]

N8 in tube mode or SS? Balanced vs balanced?

I used N8 95% of the time in tube single ended mode.

 

[gLer]

I used N8 95% of the time in tube single ended mode.

Then it's an apples vs oranges comparison. SS vs tube. SE vs balanced.

 

[DarginMahkum]

Then it's an apples vs oranges comparison. SS vs tube. SE vs balanced.

It has a nice full non-fatiguing sound with a very clean background, which I liked very much independent of what the tech behind is. But I don't like its design (that volume control!!!), software and system performance (single core MIPS processor - come on!).