[rlw6534]

If it had sent the low samplerate stream, it would have showed up at the top as the low sample rate.

That does make sense...

Maybe Amazon will get their app sorted soon and remove any remaining doubt.

 

[Q Mass]

How has the functionality been with this player and Spotify? I'm looking for a player that would be able to play *downloaded* Spotify files so that I don't have to take my phone out of my pocket every time I want to change songs, artist or album. Has the experience with playing albums that have been downloaded to the player through Spotify been smooth?

Spotify is the only way I've been using my R5 since I received it, ages ago.
This works excellently, barring the occasional hiccup that new Spotify updates seem to cause in any device.
I had some issues where Spotify would just stop by itself randomly, and this lasted for....I want to say a week, or two...but this was ages ago and hasn't re-occured.
Sometimes, when the player has been left on overnight, and I wake it up by bringing it back into wifi range, or pressing the power button, I find that the automatic updating of offline playlists and tracks stalls, and requires me to restart the player to resume downloading properly.
It works as it should once restarted though, so it's only a minor inconvenience for me.

I still absolutely love my R5, and have been finding that even when limited by the sound quality ceiling imposed by Spotify it can take advantage of better and better iems and headphones and the differences between all my different 'phones are clearly audible, and I can enjoy the best of them without feeling the need to go back to Tidal (which I do find sounds slightly better than Spotify).
The recent price drop to £9.99 for Tidal has me curious though, especially as the plans Spotify had for lossless this year seem to have been abandoned.
I've just been too lazy to check how many of my Spotify tracks are available on Tidal now (I think I lost about 10% last time I migrated from S to T).
The only DAP that's remotely interested me since I got the R5 has been the R5S. I really hope that Hiby are working on a successor to the R5 that's the same physical size. It wouldn't even have to be better sounding to get a purchase from me, just a rotary volume knob, and maybe slightly faster startup of apps and speedier responses to commands that a newer processor might bring. Maybe a bit more battery life?
No one else makes a comparable DAP in this size with these features and sound quality.
I'm not in a hurry to 'upgrade' to newer version of the R5, but I'm hoping Hiby has one in the works as eventually apps will stop receiving updates which will work on this version of Android (hopefully that's a long way off yet anyway).
@Joe Bloggs, any chance you could ask Hiby if there's likely to be another DAP at this size/price sometime in the future?

 

[rlw6534]

Spotify is the only way I've been using my R5 since I received it, ages ago.
This works excellently, barring the occasional hiccup that new Spotify updates seem to cause in any device.
I had some issues where Spotify would just stop by itself randomly, and this lasted for....I want to say a week, or two...but this was ages ago and hasn't re-occured.
Sometimes, when the player has been left on overnight, and I wake it up by bringing it back into wifi range, or pressing the power button, I find that the automatic updating of offline playlists and tracks stalls, and requires me to restart the player to resume downloading properly.
It works as it should once restarted though, so it's only a minor inconvenience for me.

I still absolutely love my R5, and have been finding that even when limited by the sound quality ceiling imposed by Spotify it can take advantage of better and better iems and headphones and the differences between all my different 'phones are clearly audible, and I can enjoy the best of them without feeling the need to go back to Tidal (which I do find sounds slightly better than Spotify).
The recent price drop to £9.99 for Tidal has me curious though, especially as the plans Spotify had for lossless this year seem to have been abandoned.
I've just been too lazy to check how many of my Spotify tracks are available on Tidal now (I think I lost about 10% last time I migrated from S to T).
The only DAP that's remotely interested me since I got the R5 has been the R5S. I really hope that Hiby are working on a successor to the R5 that's the same physical size. It wouldn't even have to be better sounding to get a purchase from me, just a rotary volume knob, and maybe slightly faster startup of apps and speedier responses to commands that a newer processor might bring. Maybe a bit more battery life?
No one else makes a comparable DAP in this size with these features and sound quality.
I'm not in a hurry to 'upgrade' to newer version of the R5, but I'm hoping Hiby has one in the works as eventually apps will stop receiving updates which will work on this version of Android (hopefully that's a long way off yet anyway).
@Joe Bloggs, any chance you could ask Hiby if there's likely to be another DAP at this size/price sometime in the future?

Yes, an R5 replacement with Android 10 and a system-wide 10 band parametric equalizer would immediately get my money.

 

[originalsnuffy]

Spotify is the only way I've been using my R5 since I received it, ages ago.
This works excellently, barring the occasional hiccup that new Spotify updates seem to cause in any device.
I had some issues where Spotify would just stop by itself randomly, and this lasted for....I want to say a week, or two...but this was ages ago and hasn't re-occured.
Sometimes, when the player has been left on overnight, and I wake it up by bringing it back into wifi range, or pressing the power button, I find that the automatic updating of offline playlists and tracks stalls, and requires me to restart the player to resume downloading properly.
It works as it should once restarted though, so it's only a minor inconvenience for me.

I still absolutely love my R5, and have been finding that even when limited by the sound quality ceiling imposed by Spotify it can take advantage of better and better iems and headphones and the differences between all my different 'phones are clearly audible, and I can enjoy the best of them without feeling the need to go back to Tidal (which I do find sounds slightly better than Spotify).
The recent price drop to £9.99 for Tidal has me curious though, especially as the plans Spotify had for lossless this year seem to have been abandoned.
I've just been too lazy to check how many of my Spotify tracks are available on Tidal now (I think I lost about 10% last time I migrated from S to T).
The only DAP that's remotely interested me since I got the R5 has been the R5S. I really hope that Hiby are working on a successor to the R5 that's the same physical size. It wouldn't even have to be better sounding to get a purchase from me, just a rotary volume knob, and maybe slightly faster startup of apps and speedier responses to commands that a newer processor might bring. Maybe a bit more battery life?
No one else makes a comparable DAP in this size with these features and sound quality.
I'm not in a hurry to 'upgrade' to newer version of the R5, but I'm hoping Hiby has one in the works as eventually apps will stop receiving updates which will work on this version of Android (hopefully that's a long way off yet anyway).
@Joe Bloggs, any chance you could ask Hiby if there's likely to be another DAP at this size/price sometime in the future?

If you have Amazon prime, the price is well below Tidal. I think it might be lower even without prime. I don't stream, just download. But the Amazon app clearly is playing HiRes (UltraHD) when it should. Not all hires track sound hugely better than redbook, but on the albums where hires is "a thing" the R5 sounds great playing those UltraHD tracks.

I know Tidal gets a lot of love for supporting MQA and if you are into MQA that is your best option. Personally I think MQA is a scam. Its really a very good lossy compression scheme. Not that I can necessarily hear it, but why fool with compression when its not needed?

 

[14christ]

If you have Amazon prime, the price is well below Tidal. I think it might be lower even without prime. I don't stream, just download. But the Amazon app clearly is playing HiRes (UltraHD) when it should. Not all hires track sound hugely better than redbook, but on the albums where hires is "a thing" the R5 sounds great playing those UltraHD tracks.

I know Tidal gets a lot of love for supporting MQA and if you are into MQA that is your best option. Personally I think MQA is a scam. Its really a very good lossy compression scheme. Not that I can necessarily hear it, but why fool with compression when its not needed?

I hear what your saying about MQA as I used to think the same thing. To my ears though, Tidal is superior. I cant explain why or how from a technical standpoint, its just better quality to my ears hence the reason I pay such a premium for the service.

 

[originalsnuffy]

I hear what your saying about MQA as I used to think the same thing. To my ears though, Tidal is superior. I cant explain why or how from a technical standpoint, its just better quality to my ears hence the reason I pay such a premium for the service.

At the end of the day it is your enjoyment of the music that matters.

 

[Nellie75]

If it had sent the low samplerate stream, it would have showed up at the top as the low sample rate.

But it doesn't. If I play a song that is only available in Standard definition (below 16bit/44.1khz) the Hiby is reporting 192khz in the notification bar at the top. For example, I listen to this album "Albatross"by Big Wreck alot. It has NEVER been available on Amazon Music above standard definition. R5 says it is 192khz. Amazon is not sending Ultra HD of this song, it doesn't exist!

 

[Joe Bloggs]

But it doesn't. If I play a song that is only available in Standard definition (below 16bit/44.1khz) the Hiby is reporting 192khz in the notification bar at the top. For example, I listen to this album "Albatross"by Big Wreck alot. It has NEVER been available on Amazon Music above standard definition. R5 says it is 192khz. Amazon is not sending Ultra HD of this song, it doesn't exist!

Well Amazon must be doing something very wrong with their app then, if they reckon our player can't do anything above 44.1kHz yet insists on sending everything as 192kHz. Our player has no problem playing anything else 44.1kHz as 44.1kHz, you can easily verify this yourself, by downloading practically any other music app.

 

[Q Mass]

If you have Amazon prime, the price is well below Tidal. I think it might be lower even without prime. I don't stream, just download. But the Amazon app clearly is playing HiRes (UltraHD) when it should. Not all hires track sound hugely better than redbook, but on the albums where hires is "a thing" the R5 sounds great playing those UltraHD tracks.

I know Tidal gets a lot of love for supporting MQA and if you are into MQA that is your best option. Personally I think MQA is a scam. Its really a very good lossy compression scheme. Not that I can necessarily hear it, but why fool with compression when its not needed?

I dunno, I tried Amazon and wasn't impressed.
As far as MQA is concerned I tried it a fair bit and thought I could hear a slight improvement over Hifi, but there was little of my catalogue available in it, so it was just Tidals Hifi tier that I was a fan of (the SQ).
Ultimately the catalogue coverage of Spotify trumps the better sounding services (for me at least) as the SQ differences aren't night and day. But it's a close call.
It's been a while since I checked how much of my 'collection' is available on Tidal. It's just such a ball-ache to do that I keep putting it off.
In the meantime Spotify is doing the trick.

 

[Nellie75]

Well Amazon must be doing something very wrong with their app then, if they reckon our player can't do anything above 44.1kHz yet insists on sending everything as 192kHz. Our player has no problem playing anything else 44.1kHz as 44.1kHz, you can easily verify this yourself, by downloading practically any other music app.

I don’t discount that the Amazon Music App is not playing well with the R5 and that their latest update has caused these problems. I’ve tested other services like Tidal and they are working just fine on the R5. With that said, Ive also found no problems with the Amazon App playing 192 kHz songs on my other devices and reporting accurate information. However, you insist that the only reason the R5 reports 192khz is because the Amazon Music App must be sending a 24bit/192khz stream to the R5. I showed earlier that the R5 is reporting 192khz for all songs, even songs that are only available at standard mp3 quality. Songs that are not even available anywhere at 44.1khz. Other posters on here have reported similar problems with their R5 and Amazon Music UltraHD tracks not playing correctly. Denying that there is no problem on the R5 or even a handshake problem with the R5 and Amazon Music currently, does not give customers much faith in this product or company. Progressive companies listen, investigate, innovate and look for solutions not point fingers.

 

[rlw6534]

I don’t discount that the Amazon Music App is not playing well with the R5 and that their latest update has caused these problems. I’ve tested other services like Tidal and they are working just fine on the R5. With that said, Ive also found no problems with the Amazon App playing 192 kHz songs on my other devices and reporting accurate information. However, you insist that the only reason the R5 reports 192khz is because the Amazon Music App must be sending a 24bit/192khz stream to the R5. I showed earlier that the R5 is reporting 192khz for all songs, even songs that are only available at standard mp3 quality. Songs that are not even available anywhere at 44.1khz. Other posters on here have reported similar problems with their R5 and Amazon Music UltraHD tracks not playing correctly. Denying that there is no problem on the R5 or even a handshake problem with the R5 and Amazon Music currently, does not give customers much faith in this product or company. Progressive companies listen, investigate, innovate and look for solutions not point fingers.

I have several DAPs and Amazon Music always outputs 192 kHz if the "device capability" is detected as 192 kHz. It's been assumed that Amazon is upsampling lower bitrate tracks for whatever reason. The R5 of course is different because it doesn't show the "device capability" as 192 kHz but yet the status bar says that. I have no idea what it is actually doing.

 

[Mouseman]

IMHO, Amazon's app has been buggy for a while. I had lots of random issues with it on the R5. Thankfully when Apple rolled out HD music, I was able to stop paying for Amazon. Between that, my Synology player and UAPP, I'm all set.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I don’t discount that the Amazon Music App is not playing well with the R5 and that their latest update has caused these problems. I’ve tested other services like Tidal and they are working just fine on the R5. With that said, Ive also found no problems with the Amazon App playing 192 kHz songs on my other devices and reporting accurate information. However, you insist that the only reason the R5 reports 192khz is because the Amazon Music App must be sending a 24bit/192khz stream to the R5. I showed earlier that the R5 is reporting 192khz for all songs, even songs that are only available at standard mp3 quality. Songs that are not even available anywhere at 44.1khz. Other posters on here have reported similar problems with their R5 and Amazon Music UltraHD tracks not playing correctly. Denying that there is no problem on the R5 or even a handshake problem with the R5 and Amazon Music currently, does not give customers much faith in this product or company. Progressive companies listen, investigate, innovate and look for solutions not point fingers.

Please, don't view me as the final authority on this from HiBy Music as I am not invested in this particular issue. I tried reproducing your issue, but could not get to the screen in question. I could ask HiBy HQ about this, where others have been working much deeper into this than I had, but you can probably tell me more quickly how I can access that particular screen.

I was hoping to take some recordings to see if >22kHz frequencies were being played or not.

 

[originalsnuffy]

I would agree that its worth finding out if there in fact is a problem with Amazon Music HD and if so come up with some kind of solution.

 

[rlw6534]

Please, don't view me as the final authority on this from HiBy Music as I am not invested in this particular issue. I tried reproducing your issue, but could not get to the screen in question. I could ask HiBy HQ about this, where others have been working much deeper into this than I had, but you can probably tell me more quickly how I can access that particular screen.

I was hoping to take some recordings to see if >22kHz frequencies were being played or not.

Just press the "HD" text box on the now playing screen. I believe it is yellow text. Of course it says "UltraHD" if it's a high-res track, "Standard", "Atmos" etc...