[jwbrent]

Forgot to mention, I would say minimum 100 hours, but some digital gear definitely benefits from much longer play time. When I bought my first AK240 six years ago, it took about 400 hours of play. This unit had a defect after a month, so iriver swapped it out with a new unit and sure enough, the new unit sounded very bright out of the box. Once I got some extended play time on it, the brightness that was bothersome was no longer present. I went through this same process when I bought my AK240SS five years ago.

High quality capacitors go through what is called a forming process once signal starts passing through them. Initially, signal is absorbed by the dielectric of the capacitor and then re-released back into the main signal flow thus causing a smearing of transients resulting in a bright, edgy sound. As the capacitors form, this dielectric absorption lessens.

 

[JerryHead]

Given the R5’s use of premium capacitors, I would expect there to be a change in sound with more time on it. We’ll see if I’m right about this, but as is the R5 does everything I hoped it would. Quite happy, especially about the fit and finish.

Me too. Fits so perfectly in my hand with the leather Dignis case. Are you primarily using the native HiBy Music app to listen to tracks?

 

[JerryHead]

Forgot to mention, I would say minimum 100 hours, but some digital gear definitely benefits from much longer play time. When I bought my first AK240 six years ago, it took about 400 hours of play. This unit had a defect after a month, so iriver swapped it out with a new unit and sure enough, the new unit sounded very bright out of the box. Once I got some extended play time on it, the brightness that was bothersome was no longer present. I went through this same process when I bought my AK240SS five years ago.

High quality capacitors go through what is called a forming process once signal starts passing through them. Initially, signal is absorbed by the dielectric of the capacitor and then re-released back into the main signal flow thus causing a smearing of transients resulting in a bright, edgy sound. As the capacitors form, this dielectric absorption lessens.

Very cool. I was solely listening to Sony DAPs before I discovered the R5. Both have their strong points, but I find I’m loving the sound signature of the R5.

 

[jwbrent]

Me too. Fits so perfectly in my hand with the leather Dignis case. Are you primarily using the native HiBy Music app to listen to tracks?

I’m initially going to use it purely for streaming from my favorite internet radio stations, but I plan on buying a 512GB micro SD card at some point so I can fit all my hi-res albums, including MQA albums. Since my reference DAP, the AK240SS, uses the previous generation top line DACs from Cirrus Logic, it will be interesting to hear how close a $400 player recently released with the new top line CL DACs compare to a five year old player that sold for 3K. Digital gear gets better and better each year, so I wouldn’t be surprise if the R5 fairs well in the comparison.

 

[jwbrent]

Sometimes I’m too quick with my replies and don’t address a question posed ... initially I’ll use the HiBy app, especially since I’m not going to use an external DAC, but I may play around with some of the others that have been recommended in this thread.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Oh, my unit did have a protective screen on the back underneath the one you pull off, but there was no screen under the pull off one for the front. I wonder if this was done this way to address some of the comments about unresponsive taps.

That might just be due to you thinking the front gel cover IS the front glass... or am I up to date on this issue?

 

[Interceptor69]

That might just be due to you thinking the front gel cover IS the front glass... or am I up to date on this issue?

I believe the up and down arrows are an Android feature and indicate the wifi is active and it is both receiving (down arrow) and sending (up arrow) data.

 

[bonz]

You won’t be disappointed. The R5 really packs a punch. Any bugs are heavily outweighed by the power output and features. Never knew a DAP could have so any sound enhancements. UAPP is a must so buy it along with the plugins. I’m enjoying it more than my Sony ZX300 which was twice the price.

I'm sure I will be fully jazzed by this piece. I am still using a fifth gen ipod as my portable. It is scheduled for delivery today.

 

[JerryHead]

I'm sure I will be fully jazzed by this piece. I am still using a fifth gen ipod as my portable. It is scheduled for delivery today.

Then be sure to invest in some good iems, with a 4.4mm balanced cable. Will make all the difference.

 

[MW68]

Wifi, BT, Spotify, none of the rest of it. But I've been running like this for months and this is the first time I've had battery issues.

It seems to be blinking fairly rapidly, faster than 60bpm, when idling now. Actually the only setting I changed right before the battery issues started was to disable the idle light, so I just turned it back on on the off chance that somehow that was the cause.

Damn, I have no apps except for UAPP, Spotify, and a metronome. I just granted Play Services full permissions so maybe that will help.

The battery life is still decent -- it runs for about a day before needing a charge. But previous to this it was amazing and I could get by charging like every three or four days while playing mostly bluetooth, unless I listened a whole lot on any particular day.

Do you have the 'Night Light' enabled and set to 'Turns on from sunset to sunrise' ? I found that will stop the R5 from sleeping and leave the status light blinking, it drains the battery about 5% and hour without any other use. Set to 'None' the battery can last days.

 

[bonz]

Then be sure to invest in some good iems, with a 4.4mm balanced cable. Will make all the difference.

I do have a few pair of okay iems. blon bl-03, kzzs10pro , tin t2 and 1more triple drivers

 

[jwbrent]

That might just be due to you thinking the front gel cover IS the front glass... or am I up to date on this issue?

I looked closely thinking this may be, but I can assure you there was no screen protector like there was on the back panel. No biggie, I like my DAPs naked!

 

[hellnick]

Poweramp users.

Just wondering if any R5/Poweramp users have any tips on getting the control buttons (pause, prev, next) to work when the screen is off and Poweramp is running. I thought it was working fine but I might have been dreaming. Does it work for anyone else?

Many thanks.

 

[jwbrent]

I’ve read a few posts that with streaming apps like Amazon Music, the R5 side control buttons don’t function, so I wanted to report that with the Radio Paradise app, these buttons do function.

So far, I’m liking what I hear ...

 

[JerryHead]

Okay, so I don’t get how to use the R5 as a wired DAC for my iPad mini(?) I don’t want to use Bluetooth or WiFi, I just want to connect the two with a cable and then listen to Movies from Netflix or amazon prime or Tidal from IPad using the DAC in the R5. How do I do this? Just a simple lightening to usb c cable? Or do I need the Apple camera connector?