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NEW HiBy R4
Apr 15, 2024 at 11:24 PM Post #122 of 242
gLer said:
Yes
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THIS IS EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE HIBY R4!​


WATCH IT HERE:

I just made a video detailing the features and attributes of HiBy’s latest and most affordable budget DAP, the R4. If you’d like to know everything you should know about the R4, consider watching my video on it! And if you liked it, hitting that like button and subscribing to my channel would be greatly appreciated! Thank you and have a great day!
 
Apr 16, 2024 at 10:26 PM Post #123 of 242

HiBy R4 vs HiBy R3 II vs HiBy R6 III​



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I noticed a lot of people were curious on how the R4 compared to its little brother, the R3 II and its older sibling, the R6 III. I’ll make this short for now as I plan to do a more thorough comparison later down the line, but here it is

vs R3 II​

Fundamentally speaking, the R4 is the direct upgrade to the R3 II in almost every way except for the battery which makes perfect sense considering the form factor. The fact that the R4 runs on Android means you get much more use out of the device compared to the R3. This includes streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and other applications. Sound-wise, I also think that the R4 is marginally better than the R3 II, but not by a long shot. The R3 II has slightly better detail and crispness in the overall sound, but the R4 has a more neutral tone and a more transparent sound. But as mentioned, the biggest deal breaker for an R3 II user might be the battery as the R3 II has to do fewer calculations than the R4, plus the R4 also has a higher output (525mw on 4.4mm BAL R4 vs 380mW on 4.4mm BAL R3 II) and uses Class A amplification which guarantees considerably more power draw. This is a pretty common drawback between Android and non-Android DAPs, so it ends up coming down to whether you want functionality or longevity.

vs R6 III​

This is a comparison I know a lot of you want to see because some of you feel ripped getting the R6 III and seeing the R4 having very similar specs. Well, I’m here to tell you that your purchase of the R6 III was not in vain as the R6 III is still a fundamentally better device than the R4. First and foremost, the R4 only comes with 3gb of RAM and 32gb of internal storage, compared to the R6 III’s 4gb of RAM and 64GB of storage. The R4 also uses a much inferior chip, the ES9018C2M compared to the R6 III’s ES9038Q2M. And while power might be better on the R4 (525mW on 4.4mm BAL R4 and 405mW on 4.4mm BAL on R6 III), the R6 III also comes with Class A and Class AB which means a longer battery life for the R6 III. The R6 III also features LO on both 3.5mm and 4.4mm, which means you can stack amplifiers with the R6 III which you can’t do with the R4.

I hope you guys learned a little something between the 3 devices compared today! The R4 is absolutely fantastic for the price of $249 with what it offers and I would confidently recommend it to anyone looking for a portable DAP that blends functionality with fidelity. Let me know if you guys have any other questions!
 
Apr 17, 2024 at 2:58 AM Post #124 of 242
kesobie said:

HiBy R4 vs HiBy R3 II vs HiBy R6 III​




I noticed a lot of people were curious on how the R4 compared to its little brother, the R3 II and its older sibling, the R6 III. I’ll make this short for now as I plan to do a more thorough comparison later down the line, but here it is

vs R3 II​

Fundamentally speaking, the R4 is the direct upgrade to the R3 II in almost every way except for the battery which makes perfect sense considering the form factor. The fact that the R4 runs on Android means you get much more use out of the device compared to the R3. This includes streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and other applications. Sound-wise, I also think that the R4 is marginally better than the R3 II, but not by a long shot. The R3 II has slightly better detail and crispness in the overall sound, but the R4 has a more neutral tone and a more transparent sound. But as mentioned, the biggest deal breaker for an R3 II user might be the battery as the R3 II has to do fewer calculations than the R4, plus the R4 also has a higher output (525mw on 4.4mm BAL R4 vs 380mW on 4.4mm BAL R3 II) and uses Class A amplification which guarantees considerably more power draw. This is a pretty common drawback between Android and non-Android DAPs, so it ends up coming down to whether you want functionality or longevity.

vs R6 III​

This is a comparison I know a lot of you want to see because some of you feel ripped getting the R6 III and seeing the R4 having very similar specs. Well, I’m here to tell you that your purchase of the R6 III was not in vain as the R6 III is still a fundamentally better device than the R4. First and foremost, the R4 only comes with 3gb of RAM and 32gb of internal storage, compared to the R6 III’s 4gb of RAM and 64GB of storage. The R4 also uses a much inferior chip, the ES9018C2M compared to the R6 III’s ES9038Q2M. And while power might be better on the R4 (525mW on 4.4mm BAL R4 and 405mW on 4.4mm BAL on R6 III), the R6 III also comes with Class A and Class AB which means a longer battery life for the R6 III. The R6 III also features LO on both 3.5mm and 4.4mm, which means you can stack amplifiers with the R6 III which you can’t do with the R4.

I hope you guys learned a little something between the 3 devices compared today! The R4 is absolutely fantastic for the price of $249 with what it offers and I would confidently recommend it to anyone looking for a portable DAP that blends functionality with fidelity. Let me know if you guys have any other questions!
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Thanks for the breakdown as I am very interested in the R4. Looking at pricing you have the R3 II at $179 the R4 at $249 and the R5 II at $349 currently. Not much of price difference between them. My assumption was the R4 is replacing the R5 II since they both have a Class A amp and the R5 II is 2 years old. The R3 II isn't that old and I am assuming Hiby is not abandoning their Linux based DAP's. The R4 with the quad DAC chips and Class A amp I was hoping it would be a bigger step up in sound vs the R3 II. Obviously with only a $70 price difference between them the R4 gives you much better bang for the buck than the R3 II. If the R4 is replacing the R5 II I would have thought Hiby would have priced the R4 a little higher so as not to steal sales from the R3 II.

Now I am kind of curious about how the R4 compares to the R5 II in terms of sound signature. The R5 II has a more premium look and it did go on sale on Valentine's day for $199.00. Assuming it is being discontinued and it goes back down to this price or lower would it not be a consideration as well? Looking forward to seeing more details on the R4 and how much has improved since the R5 II. I would consider the R5 II as I have no interest in streaming so Android version means nothing to me and not a big reason to choose the R4 instead.

Then again, Hiby has not yet ported their Linux OS to at least the Ingenix X2000 like Shanling did with the MTouch DAP's. Maybe this does spell the end of Linux Based DAP's going forward, otherwise why not port it to run a faster processor? How much can they improve the R3 II and R2 II without upgrading the SOC at some point?
 
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Apr 19, 2024 at 4:36 AM Post #125 of 242
Cross post from discovery

o0genesis0o said:
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0A87CC17-6EC7-47FE-B148-07F124253913.jpeg

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It’s here. Some quick impressions:
  • Awesome form factor. It feels good and looks very cool. A part of the back plate actually lights up. Again, can’t get over how cool the whole design is. It’s mostly metal and glass.
  • Smaller than what I expected. Every buttons are easy to reach and the DAP fits well in the palm.
  • The screen is likely where the cost cutting is. It’s 720p and is less colourful than what I expect coming from the beautiful screens on R6 Pro 2 and R8. But because of how small it is, videos are still sharp and enjoyable to watch.
  • Software highlights: MSEB, the plugin system, and SYSTEM-WIDE PEQ! If you want to experiment with tuning, this DAP is an invaluable tool. Just need to find an easy to EQ IEM, like the plain old Blessing 2 and you can also learn about tuning and make your own profile (or just use the autoEQ tool embedded in graphtool website like mine to generate a profile).
  • No software issue so far. Connection to my local media server (Jellyfin) is stable without any playback problem.
  • Preliminary sonic performance impressions: the stage is flatter than my W4 (not happy), the upper frequencies feel less refined, a bit “splashy” (not happy), but the dynamic is VERY good (very happy). Every transient feels snappy and the volume swings are large. The sound is somewhat aggressive and fun, reminding me of FiiO M17.
All impressions are based on U12t.

This DAP uses one pair of ESS DAC for PCM and one pair of DSD. The DSD seems to roll off more aggressively than the PCM. I think the ability to switch between these circuits is a future promise, not something available now.

Now, time to find and load up @Joe Bloggs ’s DSP plugins on this bad boy.

Edit: light up backplate

9BEB8265-6D51-4898-88A5-CBDD85535EF8.jpeg
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Apr 19, 2024 at 7:17 AM Post #127 of 242
swmmix said:
The backplate have a light?! that cool. Might get one soon
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Yeah, those stripes in the black square are light. I didn’t know they were there until preparing to put the device away.
 
Apr 19, 2024 at 8:16 AM Post #128 of 242
Apr 19, 2024 at 9:33 AM Post #129 of 242
Safeinthemountains said:
Hi, did you experienced the battery life ? If yes what is your opinion vs listening conditions ?
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Battery dropped from 71 to 55% after around 1h45 minute of streaming FLAC from my local server via wifi, using the U12t at low gain, around 40/100. I mean it’s not as epic as the R8II (obviously), but it seems okay enough. I’ll do more battery drain tests later.
 
Apr 20, 2024 at 4:25 AM Post #132 of 242
o0genesis0o said:
Battery dropped from 71 to 55% after around 1h45 minute of streaming FLAC from my local server via wifi, using the U12t at low gain, around 40/100. I mean it’s not as epic as the R8II (obviously), but it seems okay enough. I’ll do more battery drain tests later.
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in my experience if its on its first full load that doesnt mean much. batteries sometimes react weird in their first up to 5 loading cycles
 
Apr 20, 2024 at 3:49 PM Post #134 of 242
sofastreamer said:
in my experience if its on its first full load that doesnt mean much. batteries sometimes react weird in their first up to 5 loading cycles
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The battery may react weird, but it’s mostly the “gauge” feature that needs to be calibrated: if it only measure the battery voltage, it needs to “calibrate” that discharge curve to the battery capacity percentage… and the only solid reference it has are 0 (just died), and 100 (fully charged): that’s why a few complete charge/discharge cycles help calibrating the %charge feature.
 
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