[Safeinthemountains]

Your last statement is the problem, when you live in a country like Canada where only 10% of the products are available here, try before you buy isn't an option. The only DAP I might be able to try locally is the M5 Ultra once it arrives and most headphones aren't available here either. Even amazon.ca hardly carries any DAP's I can order to try out.

In most cases the audible differences between DAP's in the same price range are to minor to worry about. What I am looking for most in a review are any glaring issues that make it a bad option for me or a bad match for my headphones. When the reviewer said the mid-bass sounds hollow I take note of that and see if this opinion is shared by others.

Until last few months, Hiby products were not available through resellers in France, neither in Europe, and even the Hi-Fi shop in town has Mainly Fiio at display.
So out of Fiio's most sold DAPs, you're forced to buy online (either EU or CN), or find it on the used market... More or less the same than in CA.

I never expect any SQ issues from a DAP, but I am more concerned by a poor battery life, poor wifi range, sluggish interface... Where the reviews are of great use before buying

 

[fish1050]

Until last few months, Hiby products were not available through resellers in France, neither in Europe, and even the Hi-Fi shop in town has Mainly Fiio at display.
So out of Fiio's most sold DAPs, you're forced to buy online (either EU or CN), or find it on the used market... More or less the same than in CA.

I never expect any SQ issues from a DAP, but I am more concerned by a poor battery life, poor wifi range, sluggish interface... Where the reviews are of great use before buying

Well the R4 is very well reviewed by headfonia for the UI and usability so as long as the audio is good it should be a very solid DAP.

User Experience​

The HiBy R4 is an Android 12-based device that offers a fast and responsive experience. It is user-friendly and has a solid battery life, a common feature in HiBy products. The design, software, and overall user experience of the HiBy R4 are refined and well-executed.

The player has a responsive HD IPS screen, providing a fairly good user experience. Although the resolution is not the best by today’s market standards, it is still more than enough, especially considering the device’s price tag.

 

[Somafunk]

Just finished reading the headfonia review, a bit of a mixed bag as far as the sound goes.

https://www.headfonia.com/hiby-r4-review/

The new R4 has a capable sound performance for the price, especially in neutral sound reproduction, speed and clarity. It has a neutral but clear character. It doesn’t sound very musical or full, and it is a faithful device to the recording. There are also very high technicalities for the price, a good amplifying power for most IEMs and not hard-to-drive headphones.

the presentation feels close and in front, providing a dynamic feel but not roomy and spacious. The layering performance isn’t great either, but that is expected from the price and the DAC chips inside.

When it comes to bass, the R4 has good speed and resolution. It has quite a quick attack & decay, which makes it dynamic for faster genres. but it lacks the kick and rumble that some users may prefer. The mid-bass section is hollow and lacks fullness, while the sub-bass is timid.

It will be interesting to read some posts hear about the sound once people get them in their hands.

Reads like utter subjective nonsense/bollocks and there is a number of contradictory statements throughout such as……..

Neutral sound reproduction, - that’s good, we all want neutral/natural sound reproduction don’t we?

doesn’t sound very musical or full, - wait a minute……you just said it is neutral/natural?

faithful device to recording - how the **** would they know how faithful it is to recording?, were they in the studio when it was recorded?

very high technicalities - what does this mean?, I’m lost?

presentation feels close and in front - I’m losing the will to live……..utter word salad

dynamic but not roomy and spacious - hang on a minute…..when used, terms like roomy/spacious is entirely due to how the music is mixed/recorded and mic placement

performance isn’t great but expected for price/dac chip - Oh really? Utter bull.

good bass speed and resolution - What does this mean?, how can I relate to this?

quick attack and decay - Ok…..I admit I’m running out of ideas now

dynamic for faster genres - again…What does this relate to?………so if I play 150bpm techno I’m fine but if I play a 60bpm chill out track I’ll be unsatisfied?

lacks kick and rumble - compared to what?, a kick in the nuts from a charging wildebeest?

mid bass is hollow and lacks fullness - my ****ing head is now hollowed out from reading this review

sub bass is timid - hang on……..you mentioned it had dynamics?…..these ****s are just plucking words from a thesaurus.

An utter abomination of a review that is meaningless, if I was Hiby/joe bloggs I’d be ****ing pissed off with such utter crap being written about the R4.

 

[ybbobserrot]

Reads like utter subjective nonsense/bollocks and there is a number of contradictory statements throughout such as……..

Neutral sound reproduction, - that’s good, we all want natural sound reproduction don’t we?

doesn’t sound very musical or full, - wait a minute……you just said it is natural?

faithful device to recording - how the **** would they know how faithful it is to recording?, were they in the studio when it was recorded?

very high technicalities - what does this mean?, I’m lost?

presentation feels close and in front - I’m losing the will to live……..utter word salad

dynamic but not roomy and spacious - hang on a minute…..when used, terms like roomy/spacious is entirely due to how the music is mixed/recorded and mic placement

performance isn’t great but expected for price/dac chip - Oh really? Utter bull.

good bass speed and resolution - What does this mean?, how can I relate to this?

quick attack and decay - Ok…..I admit I’m running out of ideas now

dynamic for faster genres - again…What does this relate to?………so if I play 150bpm techno I’m fine but if I play a 60bpm chill out track I’ll be unsatisfied?

lacks kick and rumble - compared to what?, a kick in the nuts from a charging wildebeest?

mid bass is hollow and lacks fullness - my ****ing head is now hollowed out from reading this review

sub bass is timid - hang on……..you mentioned it had dynamics?…..these ****s are just plucking words from a thesaurus.

An utter abomination of a review that is meaningless, if I was Hiby/joe bloggs I’d be ****ing pissed off with such utter crap being written about the R4.

Nice comments. So if you were to review this gadget, what words would you choose to describe your experience?

 

[Somafunk]

I’d list the tracks/sample rates and iem’s/headphones used, post the objective measurements and talk about the functionality of the device over the period of time I used it.

Then I may give a few lines to talk about my subjective impressions, whether or not I’d use it.

 

[UnderwaterB0i]

There are a lot of terms I personally don’t understand. Note decay, speed, thin vs. full. As a newb I’d probably need someone with experience to A B test with me and point out what they mean when those terms are used.

 

[ybbobserrot]

There are a lot of terms I personally don’t understand. Note decay, speed, thin vs. full. As a newb I’d probably need someone with experience to A B test with me and point out what they mean when those terms are used.

Yeah man, I agree with you. All reviewers will be subjective when it comes to describing sound quality because we each hear different obviously. The elaborate words they use also don't help. I personally believe that you've got to hear it for yourself before you can judge appropriately. All the other things reviewers say about build quality, user experience, interface, can be verified visually.

 

[Somafunk]

There are a lot of terms I personally don’t understand. Note decay, speed, thin vs. full. As a newb I’d probably need someone with experience to A B test with me and point out what they mean when those terms are used.

Its all utter bollocks, the differences between devices are so minuscule that they're not worth bothering about, you couldn't tell the difference in a blind test.

Buy on features you want, and power requirements.

 

[fish1050]

Reads like utter subjective nonsense/bollocks and there is a number of contradictory statements throughout such as……..

Neutral sound reproduction, - that’s good, we all want neutral/natural sound reproduction don’t we?

Some prefer warmer sound to neutral so not everyone wants neutral!

doesn’t sound very musical or full, - wait a minute……you just said it is neutral/natural?

You can have musical and warm as well like my A55 with mrwalkman firmware it is not limited to neutral

faithful device to recording - how the **** would they know how faithful it is to recording?, were they in the studio when it was recorded?

I think he means the sound isn't colored

very high technicalities - what does this mean?, I’m lost?

presentation feels close and in front - I’m losing the will to live……..utter word salad

means limited soundstage

dynamic but not roomy and spacious - hang on a minute…..when used, terms like roomy/spacious is entirely due to how the music is mixed/recorded and mic placement

performance isn’t great but expected for price/dac chip - Oh really? Utter bull.

again how would you know if you haven't heard it!

good bass speed and resolution - What does this mean?, how can I relate to this?

quick attack and decay - Ok…..I admit I’m running out of ideas now

dynamic for faster genres - again…What does this relate to?………so if I play 150bpm techno I’m fine but if I play a 60bpm chill out track I’ll be unsatisfied?

lacks kick and rumble - compared to what?, a kick in the nuts from a charging wildebeest?

sounds like you've been kicked in the nuts a few times based on this rant!

mid bass is hollow and lacks fullness - my ****ing head is now hollowed out from reading this review

pretty sure it was hollow before you read the review

sub bass is timid - hang on……..you mentioned it had dynamics?…..these ****s are just plucking words from a thesaurus

An utter abomination of a review that is meaningless, if I was Hiby/joe bloggs I’d be ****ing pissed off with such utter crap being written about the R4.

Talk about utter crap!! you sound like an infant throwing a tantrum. He reviews gear for a living and you pontificate while saying absolutely nothing coherent or helpful.
He has actually listened to the device have you? Maybe you should try reading a thesaurus if you can't understand what he is saying.

Tell you what, you buy it and then right a review and we'll see what utter nonsense you spew out!

 

[Somafunk]

Tell you what, you buy it and then right a review and we'll see what utter nonsense you spew out!

There have been numerous attempts at ABX testing of amplifiers under carefully level matched scenarios and no one has reliably been able to identify a statistically significant amount of correct differences.

Buy on features you want, anything else is waffle and confuses those who are new to the hobby

 

[rlw6534]

My son makes a living doing reviews of various products (while he writes his novels), and I don't envy anyone trying to review items that only have minuscule differences...

But, you gotta say something or you don't get paid...

The audio world has been like this as long as I can remember, which is a long time... It's a shame that it's this way but I don't expect it to change. Unfortunately, It does make it difficult to know when a product is actually superior...

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Reads like utter subjective nonsense/bollocks and there is a number of contradictory statements throughout such as……..

Neutral sound reproduction, - that’s good, we all want neutral/natural sound reproduction don’t we?

doesn’t sound very musical or full, - wait a minute……you just said it is neutral/natural?

faithful device to recording - how the **** would they know how faithful it is to recording?, were they in the studio when it was recorded?

very high technicalities - what does this mean?, I’m lost?

presentation feels close and in front - I’m losing the will to live……..utter word salad

dynamic but not roomy and spacious - hang on a minute…..when used, terms like roomy/spacious is entirely due to how the music is mixed/recorded and mic placement

performance isn’t great but expected for price/dac chip - Oh really? Utter bull.

good bass speed and resolution - What does this mean?, how can I relate to this?

quick attack and decay - Ok…..I admit I’m running out of ideas now

dynamic for faster genres - again…What does this relate to?………so if I play 150bpm techno I’m fine but if I play a 60bpm chill out track I’ll be unsatisfied?

lacks kick and rumble - compared to what?, a kick in the nuts from a charging wildebeest?

mid bass is hollow and lacks fullness - my ****ing head is now hollowed out from reading this review

sub bass is timid - hang on……..you mentioned it had dynamics?…..these ****s are just plucking words from a thesaurus.

An utter abomination of a review that is meaningless, if I was Hiby/joe bloggs I’d be ****ing pissed off with such utter crap being written about the R4.

Probably written by AI seeing alot of that lately

The R4 did clearly have two distinct sound signatures for me it presented More analog sounding on DSD Files and uncolored on flak or streaming.

 

[Somafunk]

Probably written by AI seeing alot of that lately

The R4 did clearly have two distinct sound signatures for me it presented More analog sounding on DSD Files and uncolored on flak or streaming.

See ^ is how you express such small differences as the file itself, especially with DSD and how it is decoded may make a very subtle difference.

You don't need paragraph after paragraph of contradictary flowery prose to pad out the review, I'm sure the manufacturers of such products would benefit and agree.

ToneDeafMonk : found your channel a while ago and just subscribed, I appreciate the succinct and to the point subjectivity you express in your vids

 

[FishTownFunk]

Reads like utter subjective nonsense/bollocks and there is a number of contradictory statements throughout such as……..

Neutral sound reproduction, - that’s good, we all want neutral/natural sound reproduction don’t we?

doesn’t sound very musical or full, - wait a minute……you just said it is neutral/natural?

faithful device to recording - how the **** would they know how faithful it is to recording?, were they in the studio when it was recorded?

very high technicalities - what does this mean?, I’m lost?

presentation feels close and in front - I’m losing the will to live……..utter word salad

dynamic but not roomy and spacious - hang on a minute…..when used, terms like roomy/spacious is entirely due to how the music is mixed/recorded and mic placement

performance isn’t great but expected for price/dac chip - Oh really? Utter bull.

good bass speed and resolution - What does this mean?, how can I relate to this?

quick attack and decay - Ok…..I admit I’m running out of ideas now

dynamic for faster genres - again…What does this relate to?………so if I play 150bpm techno I’m fine but if I play a 60bpm chill out track I’ll be unsatisfied?

lacks kick and rumble - compared to what?, a kick in the nuts from a charging wildebeest?

mid bass is hollow and lacks fullness - my ****ing head is now hollowed out from reading this review

sub bass is timid - hang on……..you mentioned it had dynamics?…..these ****s are just plucking words from a thesaurus.

An utter abomination of a review that is meaningless, if I was Hiby/joe bloggs I’d be ****ing pissed off with such utter crap being written about the R4.

I thought the same thing. Is he reviewing the IEM he has it hooked up to? Like what the hell man!

 

[Ynot1]

The thing that gets me about reviews is the reviewer refuse to do any comparisons with the gears I already have. It is pure none sense the experts don't even do their homework on what people already own and use. I consider the ipod shuffle the starting point of the very basic bottom of the barrel performance and feature as compared to recent releases. I know, it's too easy.