[twister6]

My god is that a website that needs serious help!! I'll have to find some more user friendly sites to read about it, but that is closing in on a $6000 Canadian DAP so not exactly inexpensive, unless I have the price incorrect. Intriguing for sure, I'll have fun reading about it.

And don't forget, it plays only WAV files, no display, and you only have controls to change volume and skip tracks/album, and it has high output impedance (10-11 ohms)

 

[514077]

And don't forget, it plays only WAV files, no display, and you only have controls to change volume and skip tracks/album, and it has high output impedance (10-11 ohms)

Too much money for too little, unless the sound is out of this world.

 

[jasonho]

Too much money for too little, unless the sound is out of this world.

Even if the sound is out of this world, its still not worth. From what I gathered, Hifiman had been releasing new firmwares but that didnt fix even basic usage issues. DAP can get hang for no reasons. IMO, If a vendor can't even figure how to make a DAP to perform basic user functions, then there's no reason why customers should even pay a dollar (let alone USD2500) for it.

PS : For those who are adventurous enough, you can already find used units selling for almost 80% of the RRP.

 

[Sonic Defender]

And don't forget, it plays only WAV files, no display, and you only have controls to change volume and skip tracks/album, and it has high output impedance (10-11 ohms)

Yes, I was seeing that and having a hard time understanding it's value proposition unless it was bringing to light a new and previously unknown dimension of audio reproduction. I'm a bit of a pain in that I believe everything needs to be evaluated with blind listening before any opinion of value can be made. Still, for those with that kind of money and who enjoy it, whatever floats your audio boat right?

 

[twister6]

but anyway, let's get back to R2R2000 topic

@jasonho : is your comment about 80% off RRP and fw issues related to R2R2k DAP? Are we talking about the final fw or still beta?

 

[jasonho]

but anyway, let's get back to R2R2000 topic

@jasonho : is your comment about 80% off RRP and fw issues related to R2R2k DAP? Are we talking about the final fw or still beta?

@twister6
Yes of course I am talking about the R2R2k DAP. And its the latest fw Hifiman released to all users.

Do take note I am talking about 2nd hand used units (screenshot taken 10 mins ago) :





PS : I personally tried the unit and I love the sound. If Hifiman can get their acts together and fix all the issues (basic user function + battery life), I am sure this will be a great DAP to own. The size & design is one of the best (among the DAP i tried) I have come across.

 

[omniweltall]

So I assume the theory here is that R2R DACs sound better than non-R2R DACs? Still, even if that isn't a universal opinion, as I'm sure it isn't, those who prefer an R2R implementation finally have something portable so that is great news!

This is way way too general. There are good/bad R2Rs and there are good/bad DS. I have heard bad R2Rs. They are prob even worse than bad DS.

For audio products, I notice the easiest way for manufacturers to hide and give excuses for insanely-priced products is "sound quality". This is because sound quality is the most subjective part of the product. And people are subject to a lot of biases and hype.

Not even a premium brand like Apple can get away with the kind of pricing like audio products. For USD2.5k, you can do a lot better than this DAP.

 

[musicday]

And don't forget, it plays only WAV files, no display, and you only have controls to change volume and skip tracks/album, and it has high output impedance (10-11 ohms)

What's matter most is the: sound quality.
Still, try to find one and hear for yourself and you will be incredibly surprised.

 

[Mimouille]

Dear all,

I finally found time to meet up with my friend who owns the R2R2000, he actually bought number 8 out of the first batch of 100.

First of all some context. This player is apparently still a bit "beta". Many things need to be improved on the firmware side, and also there are apparently some hardware glitches. My friend had his recalled to change some capacitators to improve battery life (which is apparently crappy at this stage), and now that his player is back, the 3.5 TRS jack doesn't work.

On the other hand, the player had very good exterior build quality, and is freakishly small. Like many one third of the volume of the WM1Z.

It is very nice to hold and very light. The firmware is simplistic, and only the power part of the screen is touch, but I didn't get any bugs during my short use. There are apparently still some bugs on track allocation.

I didn't get to try the features like USB DAC, or Bluetooth (incoming only). Apparently they work super well, and if you have a Huawei phone, you can stream high-res over Bluetooth with their new protocole.

Now to what you have all been waiting for, sound. I tested my tracks on the SE5U, IE800s, Empire Ears Phantom and LH Stella (their new TOTL dynamic driver), all in balanced through the 4.4 Jack, and tested low and high gain, comparing with WM1Z balanced.

First of all, once thing to be noted, there is a serious hiss problem with sensitive BAs. In low gain, the Phantom is unlistenable. Just as I am leaving the meeting with my friend and writing this from the car (can you see the dedication I have for my fans) , they apparently put out a new firmware to solve this. I would need to test again.

Now if you listen with the right pairing, less sensitive BAs like the SE5U or dynamics, the R2R2000 can shine. It doesn't sound AT ALL like I was expecting. Since the only R2R I know is the Tera, I was expecting smooth and analog. Well you can throw that thought out the window. The key work here is RAW and TRANSPARENT. It feels like it is a very unforgiving window into the music. But not because they boosted some frequencies to make the sound more clear or sparkly, more because it is completely raw. It doesn't have peaking highs or screech mids...unless your music does. Compared to the WM1Z, the level of layering and details are comparable, the WM1Z sound slightly warmer, smoother, and fuller. The Hifiman player has good depth, less width than the WM1Z. The overall presentation is significantly.more forward and aggressive, but my friend tells me it is less fatiguing than the LPG IF you listen to well recorded music. Power wise, it seems to have gobs of it waiting to be unleashed.

In conclusion at this stage I would say I am split. The player is really impressive sound wise compared to its size. The design is also quite nice and handy. Plus this player has a personality, Fang Bian is really trying to do something here. A small high end player with tons of functions, that is 100% revealing of your music and headphones.

Now the negative is that because of the hiss, firmware bugs and uncertainties on the hardware, it feels that they rolled it out too fast. Also, this take on sound, transparency over musicality (the opposite of the WM1Z somehow) is something that will not please everyone, especially if you listen to a lot of modern music.

As a side note, I briefly tried the Stella which is a priori, interesting...seems to be the IEM equivalent of the R2R2000 soundwise. Don't much like the form and fit though.

 

[Lunatic]

Dear all,

I finally found time to meet up with my friend who owns the R2R2000, he actually bought number 8 out of the first batch of 100.

Wow you're really fast in typing up this quick review! I bet you wrote it while I was flashing the R2R2000 to today's firmware which was released moments after our meeting ended. A firmware update file for the R2R2000 is only about 10MB and the update process only takes a few seconds before the player deletes the update file and shuts itself down. I don't have any BA IEMs with me so I cannot test for myself whether the hiss with ultra-sensitive BA IEMs has been tamed or fixed with this version but the changelog does list this as its #1 change so we definitely need to test it thoroughly.

Other changes in today's 6/13 firmware release include improved compatibility with larger-capacity MicroSD cards but I am not able to test this as all my cards are Sandisk ones (64/128/200/256GB) and the R2R2000 works fine with all of them. For me right now the main remaining unsolved issue is some filename sorting and file access problems which I am told by Dr. Bian is still being fixed. Since last previous 6/6 release filename sorting has improved a lot and with today's release it should work better.

As someone who has been using the R2R2000 for over a month all I can say is that HiFiMAN's software engineers have been working hard to roll out firmware updates to address issues reported by early users and things have been improving steadily with each release. As of today the firmware is still called Beta and that's the main reason I haven't written any posts regarding my experience so far. HiFiMAN wrote the OS from the ground up so we can expect there will be areas that need a lot of work, especially related to the file system. As a USB DAC or Bluetooth receiver/DAC the R2R2000 is already working super well. I can't stop telling people how satisfying it is for me to be able to ride the subway, put the R2R2000 in my shirt pocket, put on my favorite IEMs, and start streaming whichever music I love via 4G on the Qobuz or Tidal app on my iPhone. The tiny form factor and Bluetooth feature of the R2R2000 make this happen and this alone could be a strong selling point for a lot of people after they have experienced it.

Now for the sound, I concur with Michael here that the R2R2000 has a kind of RAW sound but in a good way. When I first heard it with my familiar music I was very surprised by how artifact-free and distortion-free it sounded. It's almost like layers of veils have been lifted and you're seeing the real thing for the first time. I kept wanting to turn up the volume because I don't fear that the sound will turn bad beyond certain volume level. This kind of sound signature is not forgiving if the source files or the headphones or the headphone amps are bad. With a great match of headphones though you'll be in hi-fi heaven. I mainly listen to classical music and I use acoustic instruments in music halls as my reference and I find the R2R2000 to be able to present a truly faithful and authentic sound image if the recording quality is of good quality. If the recording captures superb dynamic range of the piano it is here; if the recording captures the trumpet soaring high it is here. I could feel myself seated in the front row of Carnegie Hall, jaw dropping upon hearing Harry Belafonte for the first time. I could feel myself pinpointing Bud Herseth's trumpet out of the whole brass section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of Mahler's 5th symphony... This could go on an on.

So to sum it up, the R2R2000 is a game changer product not only because it manages to put two PCM1704K R2R DAC chips into such a tiny body, but also because it's forward-looking and puts itself into the future of cloud-based music streaming. You could almost get away by stating that the local playback feature is a just bonus feature of the R2R2000 and that many of its lucky owners will be using it in Bluetooth mode more often.

I will keep everyone updated as future firmware updates arrive but in the mean time I am motivated to listen to music more often than before.

Happy listening,

Lunatic

 

[proedros]

Just as I am leaving the meeting with my friend and writing this from the car (can you see the dedication I have for my fans) , they apparently put out a new firmware to solve this. I would need to test again.

this is why Mim is one of my fav members here , great humor wins me everytime

 

[soundblast75]

The whole thing is a joke..
Once again.
New dap released and talks of Teras and r2rs.
We are all so desperately hopeful

 

[audionewbi]

I always thought hissing is linked to hardware than FW.

 

[Ike1985]

Looks cool but without a modern touchscreen that displays album art just not interested in buying. Hope to hear it some day though.

 

[Sonic Defender]

This is way way too general. There are good/bad R2Rs and there are good/bad DS. I have heard bad R2Rs. They are prob even worse than bad DS.

For audio products, I notice the easiest way for manufacturers to hide and give excuses for insanely-priced products is "sound quality". This is because sound quality is the most subjective part of the product. And people are subject to a lot of biases and hype.

Not even a premium brand like Apple can get away with the kind of pricing like audio products. For USD2.5k, you can do a lot better than this DAP.

I know mate, for sure there are good and bad implementations of any DAC architecture. I was being deliberately general out of laziness and not wanting to type out a bunch of text. Now look at me, I did it anyway!