[CrystalGipsy]

I recently switched my working from home computer from Windows to a Mac. Using the R5 in DAC mode I get stuttering during playback, which I didn't get before. Anyone got around this issue?

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I recently switched my working from home computer from Windows to a Mac. Using the R5 in DAC mode I get stuttering during playback, which I didn't get before. Anyone got around this issue?

What sample rates were you streaming at?

 

[CrystalGipsy]

Its in exclusive mode via Roon as my source so what ever the source is 44.1/16 to 192/24 it happens on all of them.

 

[MRSallee]

My review of the Hiby R5 Saber:



(I haven't used the non-Saber edition, so can't make comparisons there.)

What I like:

• Awesome industrial design -- Hiby really excels at this where a lot of DAP manufacturers are kinda cringe TBH. Good hand feel, button placement, aesthetics, etc.
• It's Android, with Play store. I can run Drive Sync to keep my music library up to date.
• Performance is generally solid. Some quibbles, but mostly it's pretty performant, at least with Hiby Music app, Sony Music Center, Bandcamp, and YouTube Music.
• Plenty of power, ~150mW @ 32 ohm on SE, and over 500mW on BAL.
• Battery is pretty solid, I go about 3 days between charges.
• Sounds good -- neutral, no coloration, and no audible noise floor on 3.5mm (BAL has sliiiiightest audible noise floor on my K5s)

My quibbles:

• UI is pretty small on this 4-inch screen.
• Sometimes the device won't wake with the play button, have to turn on the screen for audio to start playing.
• Would be nice for these Play-enabled Android DAPs to have biometrics for unlocking -- has my Google account, so security matters, and typing in a password is kinda annoying for a DAP.

 

[CrystalGipsy]

What sample rates were you streaming at?

It's also the same using a Raspberry Pi as source. I want to use this for Roon as the app on the Hiby is not bit perfect as they force sample it to what Android system audio reports. Shame it's so bad via USB really could do with finding out why.

 

[JelStIy]

Is the R5 supposed to work with Hiby Link? My iPhone doesn’t see it in the Hiby Music app, although it sees all my other bluetooth devices (and the neighbors’, too). Is there a mode the R5 should be in for the Link to work?

EDIT: Never mind, found directions at

 

[CrystalGipsy]

Is the R5 supposed to work with Hiby Link? My iPhone doesn’t see it in the Hiby Music app, although it sees all my other bluetooth devices (and the neighbors’, too). Is there a mode the R5 should be in for the Link to work?

EDIT: Never mind, found directions at

Yes but it's a bit hit and miss I find.

 

[CrystalGipsy]

I have this problem too, so I'm glad (in a way) that I'm not alone. It occurs about once a minute - it's like the DAC drops a little bit of data, and instead of playing silence in place of the missing audio data, it plays whatever the next data is immediately instead. Like if the data is received 1-2-3-4 and the audio is played back 1-2-3-4, in the instance of the missing packet (or whatever it is) the data is received 1-2-<missing>-4 and instead of me hearing 1-2-<silence>-4 I hear 1-2-4.

It basically makes listening to music in USB DAC mode a paranoia-inducing exercise, because you're constantly waiting for the next instance where a drum beat will come in slightly too soon and break the rhythm.

I use Foobar with my R5 for my USB DAC playback, and I've tried every combination of buffer settings in both Foobar and the TUSB DAC driver (which is unsigned and dated 2012, can Hiby not afford to get a newer version of this driver?) and nothing seems to remedy the problem. I've tried this with FLACs of almost every sample rate and bit depth (16 and 24 bit, 192, 96, 88.2, 48 and 44.1khz sampling rates) and the problem occurs with all of them, but seems to be more noticeable the lower the bitrate. The problem also doesn't seem to be tied to anything happening in the tracks themselves, because if I rewind the track and play the "problem area" again, the 'skip' doesn't occur in the same place. The problem also occurs when I'm just using the R5 in USB DAC mode as my default Windows output device, ie for playing music from YouTube for example.

This is exactly the symptoms I am getting on Mac and Linux. Doesn't matter what buffer setting I use I cannot stop it from doing this. As you mentioned it also seems worse at 44.1/16 but exhibits it on all sample rates to some degree. @Joe Bloggs has anybody at Hiby looked at this properly as its a real flaw in an otherwise great product.

Also noticing that for some reason the Hiby is reporting incoming rate at 44.1/24 for 44.1/16 material. Roon is showing it as 44.1/16 to the DAC and I can confirm this is what it is on another DAC. So there is something odd here.

 

[Lillie]

Yep there are charges. I paid £15.00 and a few pence. That was £7.00 duty and £8.00 Royal Mail fee. Not too bad. You may be lucky and not get any charges. I get mine delivered on Monday. You will have to pay it online. Mine took about 2 weeks from China to Mondays delivery.

Did you not get charged UK VAT ? Only ask as I’m thinking of buying currently £399 from Amazon obviously much cheaper to import but not by much if you add on 20% vat.

 

[dharmasteve]

Did you not get charged UK VAT ? Only ask as I’m thinking of buying currently £399 from Amazon obviously much cheaper to import but not by much if you add on 20% vat.

For a few weeks Chinese suppliers, through, Aliexpress have charged UK customers about 10% extra Duty. Whether they then give that to UK Customs is dubious. I paid about £200 from the HiBy store on AliExpress, but quite it was some time ago. £399 is a lot but of course you will not have to send it back to China if it goes wrong.

Check https://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/
Yo can get a 15% discount until 15th March with the code MUM21. They are a Scottish company. I don't know if they do the HiBy R5 but they do the iBasso DX160 and others too, all with 12 months guarantee.

 

[Lillie]

For a few weeks Chinese suppliers, through, Aliexpress have charged UK customers about 10% extra Duty. Whether they then give that to UK Customs is dubious. I paid about £200 from the HiBy store on AliExpress, but quite it was some time ago. £399 is a lot but of course you will not have to send it back to China if it goes wrong.

Check https://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/
Yo can get a 15% discount until 15th March with the code MUM21. They are a Scottish company. I don't know if they do the HiBy R5 but they do the iBasso DX160 and others too, all with 12 months guarantee.

Thanks for your reply. I believe you’re correct looks like aliexpress now take 20% vat on sales.
Have looked at amp3 but they don’t sell Hiby. Have looked at iBasso but poor WiFi and Bluetooth putting me off. My choice will be either the r5 saber or the new Shanling m3x although it looks to be not as powerful.

 

[dharmasteve]

Thanks for your reply. I believe you’re correct looks like aliexpress now take 20% vat on sales.
Have looked at amp3 but they don’t sell Hiby. Have looked at iBasso but poor WiFi and Bluetooth putting me off. My choice will be either the r5 saber or the new Shanling m3x although it looks to be not as powerful.

Yep the iBasso DX160 has poor Bluetooth, I had two of them, but returned them. My HiBy R5 has reasonable Bluetooth and WiFi, but many on this very thread complain that Bluetooth on their HiBy R5 is poor too. When I used to complain about Bluetooth on the IBasso DX160, some responded that their Bluetooth was fine. It seems that it's more to do with luck and good fortune if Bluetooth works well on a DAP.
Although £399 (it is often £299 on Amazon in the sale periods) is a lot for the HiBy R5 at least if BT is poor, you can return it on Amazon.

 

[CrystalGipsy]

£399 is too much for the R5. Get it from Ali express I got mine for about £230 with import duty of about £15 was a bargain.

 

[londere]

Hi everyone, which is the highest sample rate and bit depth of Hiby R5 as USB DAC? 32B/384Khz?

 

[CrystalGipsy]

Hi everyone, which is the highest sample rate and bit depth of Hiby R5 as USB DAC? 32B/384Khz?

Or DSD256 but that depends on the OS used