R5, a new Android DAP by Hiby

[antdroid]

Just got a used R5, great little DAP. Mine only comes with the DAP itself, no accessories. Is the plastic case worth getting or should I get the leather case? Thank you.

I think the leather hiby case is really nice and feels great.

 

[NewEve]

I think the leather hiby case is really nice and feels great.

The one from Dignis is also excellent albeit more expensive.

 

[originalsnuffy]

I am wondering if anybody has any tips for managing SD card memory on this device. It seems like the unit is not clearing up memory properly. I have two kinds of music on the device; sideloaded SACD ISO files and FLAC files; and then music downloaded via Amazon Music. Neither seems to be reporting to the device the correct amount of memory being used. I deleted the Amazon App and freed up quite a bit of memory; but the remaining sideloaded music for HiBy app usage is reporting about twice as much music as is really on the device.

Right now my main option seems to be to simply reformat the storage entirely. That seems rather drastic. Are there utilities to manage the memory properly? Thanks.

 

[sechsterangriff]

I am wondering if anybody has any tips for managing SD card memory on this device. It seems like the unit is not clearing up memory properly. I have two kinds of music on the device; sideloaded SACD ISO files and FLAC files; and then music downloaded via Amazon Music. Neither seems to be reporting to the device the correct amount of memory being used. I deleted the Amazon App and freed up quite a bit of memory; but the remaining sideloaded music for HiBy app usage is reporting about twice as much music as is really on the device.

Right now my main option seems to be to simply reformat the storage entirely. That seems rather drastic. Are there utilities to manage the memory properly? Thanks.

How are you getting this information?

 

[Cyberthingy]

Just got a used R5, great little DAP. Mine only comes with the DAP itself, no accessories. Is the plastic case worth getting or should I get the leather case? Thank you.

The Clear TPU case is ok but it's cheesy looking and feels well, plasticky. The leather one from Hiby is a decent case and feels nice to the touch but it has a small downside in that it tends to slip down occasionally. In the end I prefer the leather case.

 

[originalsnuffy]

How are you getting this information?

The information comes from the storage section of "settings" for the system. But it is clear there is a problem; I know roughly how big my files are and they don't add up to the number reported. And Amazon music gave an error message stating that there is no more space way before other devices I have that have way more music downloaded. The memory card worked just fine in my Shanling M2S. I am probably going to reformat the card but I have my doubts this will fix the issue.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

The information comes from the storage section of "settings" for the system. But it is clear there is a problem; I know roughly how big my files are and they don't add up to the number reported. And Amazon music gave an error message stating that there is no more space way before other devices I have that have way more music downloaded. The memory card worked just fine in my Shanling M2S. I am probably going to reformat the card but I have my doubts this will fix the issue.

Perhaps you needed to clear your downloads in the amazon music app before uninstalling it?

 

[originalsnuffy]

Perhaps you needed to clear your downloads in the amazon music app before uninstalling it?

Good point.

The good news is that it seems that when I reinstalled the Amazon music app it seemed to detect the correct amount of space used by other music on the system. Since my "killer app" for this unit is in fact Amazon music, if I can get that to work properly then all is good. To put it another way; I bought the unit to use "Music as a Service" and for me that boils down to Amazon Music. If that works smoothly then I am a happy camper. I am also loading music into the device more sparingly; songs based rather than full album based in many cases.

In others news.....

I find it interesting how many reviews of this unit talk about a recessed high end. I would suggest that the sound signature of this unit is pretty much neutral. I perceive it as simply giving you what its getting; no more and no less. I suppose most DAP users prefer something other than neutral. Somewhat similar to IEM evaluation, some want something close to Harman but most want something that is warmer or fun. I will admit that I am fiddling with MSEB a bit to add a bit more bass "oomph" so I am not really into pure flat response either.

General musings.....

The only unit in the mid priced marketplace that I would consider other than this right now is the Shanling M6 but at the moment it uses a fairly antiquated version of Android and the native music player can't handle SACD ISO yet. The others that are available all seem to get complaints about wifi connectivity or noise with bluetooth. Not that the wifi on this could be called "robust"; I have to restart downloads form Amazon music all the time due to connectivity issues. That may just be a "feature" of Amazon Music at this time.

thoughts on wifi.....

One thing about Android wifi in general that I find trying is that it has a hard time with connections that don't need passwords but want the user to agree to various things like privacy before connecting. Like the wifi in a coffee shop for example. If anybody has suggestions on how to work with this I am all ears.

user manual stuff.....

is there an online manual somewhere? I like accessing pdf or html files to make the diagrams larger.

right now I am interested in pointers in turning off various lights at various times. Like no more green or blue lights when going to sleep with the unit on. Must be there but not sure where.

 

[el_monkey]

Price is down to $299 on the Hiby site https://store.hiby.com/products/hiby-r5 and Amazon https://www.amazon.com/HiBy-Portable-Music-Player-Adaptor/dp/B07W3PG2N3.

 

[originalsnuffy]

$299 is quite the deal for this unit. I can only presume it is not selling a well as hoped given the rapid price adjustments. At this price sales might get revved up.

I am liking the impact of MSEB on Amazon Music. I set it to a tad warmer and a tad more bass extension and things sound pretty good. I think most people are used to buying somewhat warm devices and are not used to a fairly neutral tuning. But the MSEB can fix that for FLAC type files. I hope over time HiBy comes up with a way for MSEB to work with DSD and inputs when in DAC mode.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

right now I am interested in pointers in turning off various lights at various times. Like no more green or blue lights when going to sleep with the unit on. Must be there but not sure where.

That would be in Settings->Display (advanced)->Keep pulsar light on when powered on. Unfortunately that toggles the light for all occasions not just sleep

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Good point.
thoughts on wifi.....

One thing about Android wifi in general that I find trying is that it has a hard time with connections that don't need passwords but want the user to agree to various things like privacy before connecting. Like the wifi in a coffee shop for example. If anybody has suggestions on how to work with this I am all ears.

I've run into this problem myself, the app "WiFi Portal Opener" claims to solve this problem but I need to try this at the mall next time and report back

 

[originalsnuffy]

Thank you Joe. Your support is appreciated.

Anybody use the unit with Amazon HD? Lately I am running quite often into a scenario where Amazon wants to "phone home" to see if the unit is authorized. Sometimes more than once per day. This can be an issue on airplanes! Love to hear what others are experiencing.

 

[JacuzziJoe]

Thank you Joe. Your support is appreciated.

Anybody use the unit with Amazon HD? Lately I am running quite often into a scenario where Amazon wants to "phone home" to see if the unit is authorized. Sometimes more than once per day. This can be an issue on airplanes! Love to hear what others are experiencing.

i Hope that will be fixed ASAP. As well as the not working skip button in sleep mode....
I ordered the R5 for 299 only because it is an official amazon HD player so it better works properly...

how fast is hiby with the firmware updates?

 

[Mouseman]

Thank you Joe. Your support is appreciated.

Anybody use the unit with Amazon HD? Lately I am running quite often into a scenario where Amazon wants to "phone home" to see if the unit is authorized. Sometimes more than once per day. This can be an issue on airplanes! Love to hear what others are experiencing.

I haven't noticed this happening, and I use the app a lot on the R5. I'll try downloading some music and I'll report back, since so far I've just been streaming.