Happy new years my friends!
After quite some time off I wanted to do a real check-in with you all, and share some impressions I’ve had over the last two months. I’ve been insanely busy, traveling for work, plus my documentary feature film that I have been working on for six years is now done, and I’m super excited for it to be released early next year. I had quite a few 14 hour days towards the end there. I also wanted to take some time off HF, to spend some time away from the constant reminder of new gear, checking the cooler multiple times a day, I just needed a break. Now my whole family is sick with the flu, and I’ve been forced to stay home, finally having the time to write some of my thoughts. I do cherish this community of likeminded crazies, you’re all awesome, and I feel like a real part of this thriving community. It’s good to be back! I had the chance to hear some new stuff and I meant to share earlier, but I was trying to formulate my thoughts into a coherent and justified discourse. This will be a bit long as there is a lot to cover, so I hope that my experiences can be helpful to those who might be interested. Please keep in mind that these are just my personal feelings, and in now way do I want to dissuade or challenge anyone’s feelings, as always YMMV.
HIBY RS8 - I had really high hopes for this machine. After toying with the idea of selling my precious LP6 AE, mostly for financial reasons, and more mental reasons; having a $6k DAP made me really rethink my life
So when I received a very good offer to buy my AE, I thought the RS8 was worth a try, and maybe it could be good enough, especially with all the impressive specs. A real TOTL R2R DAP with Class A, amazing battery life, and full android streaming - sounds like a dream no? People were even saying that it was performing on or even above the LP6 which I found quite shocking. I was at the very least skeptical, but interested and excited nonetheless.
When it arrived I opened the box like a toddler on Christmas, and was immediately disappointed. It is huge, and ridiculously heavy. I had heard it was heavy, but this was quite a shock. Having owned the N8ii and finding it pocketable enough in my back pocket, however calling the RS8 portable is a big nope in my opinion. I have larger hands and I felt uncomfortable holding it. I think it’s really designed to be more of a desktop machine, and in this mindset it could even be called small for all the features it possesses, so that’s a plus for many. Buyers just be aware that it’s really big and heavy, you can definitely bring it with you, but probably not in your pocket unless you want your pants down by your ankles. After turning it on and and playing with the basic settings for just a few minutes I found that the titanium was already stained with dark brown fingerprints, apparently from my hands which I cleaned right before opening the box. It took me 20 minutes to carefully clean off the back, and install the extra screen cover as
@gLer recommended. Why they chose to make the titanium so matte and porous I’ll never know. Not a great start.
Onto the sound. Booting up, the DAP is very fast and responsive, the screen is bright and lovely. There is endless options for sound tweaking, and I think HiBy did a great job here. The whole UI and general usability is top notch. Streaming works great, MSEB is awesome if you need some adjustments. Kudos there. Battery life is unbelievable, more than 25-30 hrs using locsal files, very impressive. I will admit that when I first hit play with my usual test tracks I was not impressed. It is clean and clear, and yes there is good sense of timbre and R2R natural voicing, but it felt fairly uninspired, lacking a sense of musicality or emotional depth to go along with its clarity. Based on initial impressions, people were lauding it as the greatest DAP they ever heard, but I was not hearing that being honest. Yes, it does have great bass reach with nice rumble, and an airy and sparkly top end. Good layering and space between instruments, with nice detailed mids. Hugely wide stage, absolutely. But I just felt no connection at all, it had no personality, no character. I’m not speaking about color or warmth, but down to earth mojo and goodness. That perfect balance of technicalities and musicality. When I switched to class A there was basically no change in tonality, which was a disappointment as that was one of the main reasons I wanted one - and a major selling point to boot. A friend told me he felt the RS8 sounded like a “flat pancake” and this sums it up perfectly for me. I want to make it clear, the RS8 is a great full featured DAP, sounds good, and is a phenomenal statement of what can be done with a transportable R2R player. Kudos again on all they have achieved here. I know R2R takes quite a bit of break-in, so I put 125+ hours on it, and I felt it didn’t really improve, at least in the ways I was hoping it would. I was frustrated, trying my best to love it as much as people were hype-training it up in the first days. I read multiple people say this was the best DAP they ever heard, what was I missing?
It came to my mind that most people may have not heard a true TOTL R2R flagship player. I will admit that I am smitten with the L&P sound, having owned the P6 Pro and LP6AE, and that could be affecting my feelings about the RS8 for sure. The RS8 is a great DAP, far and away the best HiBy has ever made, but somehow putting it in the same league as the R2R big boys felt unrealistic to me. The L&P sound is dense, impactful, gorgeous, detailed, natural, with wonderful note weight. Effortless. Natural and crystal clear, without a shred of digital glare and heaps of analog timbre. Top notch technicalities while oozing musicality. This is not what I was hearing with the RS8, despite my best efforts. Based on the price point the RS8 is positioned to battle the P6 Pro, a fair comparison in many ways. Both use R2R Ladder DACs, similar power output, both with a more neutral clean tonality compared to the warmer and more colored LP6. While they both sound great, what struck me was the large difference in dynamic range. The P6 Pro has about 15db of difference, and I can certainly hear it, feel it even. Based totally on SQ and sonics in this comparison I personally prefer the tonality and vibe of the P6 Pro. It’s small and pocketable, never gets even warm, and has fantastic sonics. It can be had new for roughly the same price as the RS8, buying used you can even get one around $2k. That is a bargain for true TOTL R2R sound. But, and its a major but, the user experience between the two cannot be fairly mentioned in the same sentence. If we compare usability only; UI, streaming, configurability, and battery life the RS8 wipes the floor with all R2R DAPs I’ve tried, hands down. The battery life is ridiculously good, everything is fast and smooth, streaming works great, you can use any apps you want etc etc. The L&P stuff has horrendous battery life, buggy and limited software, a small and low res screen, and minimalistic UI at best. But what you get for sonics is mind-blowing. Sonically,
in my deeply personal opinion, calling the RS8 the HiBy flagship is fair, but calling it TOTL in terms of its competition, I would
carefully say that I don’t agree. And that’s the P6 Pro, the fact that people were comparing it to the LP6 is, well… I began to really regret selling the AE at this point.
***A quick post script - my RS8 arrived with big light leaks on the bottom of the screen and had to go back regardless. When Andrew at MT gave me the option of replacement or refund I went for my money back. I did however spend some time with the RS8 and my Aroma A100TB stack, and this was a pleasant surprise. It sounded really great! Fatter, more musical, more energy and musicality. Heightened magic factor, more of the magic for sure. But the Aroma makes everything sound better, and the idea of such a large DAP needing an amp to be listenable didn’t make sense to me. If you already own the RS8, the Aroma stack receives my highest recommendations, and for the price cannot be beat***
I hope that my impressions here don’t hurt anyones feelings, or cause anyone to feel different about their gear. If you love it, that’s all that matters. If you’re interested in it, go for it, but maybe demo it first if you can. I had very high of expectations and I just didn’t vibe with it in the end. It has a lot of amazing qualities, and I’m sure that many might prefer it over what I like, so enjoy!
SONY WMZ1M2 - Thanks to
@Doug2507 for generously lending me his M2 in my time of need after the RS8. I was without a DAP and feeling a bit lost. I had heard great things about the M2, but having never heard a Sony DAP I was intrigued but once again expecting a lot. The M2 is an amazing DAP, hands down. It’s big and heavy, but I found it pocketable in my jacket or back jeans pocket. The curved shape of the back makes it easier to hold, and I was surprised that I found the gold finish quite beautiful, despite my usual aversion to anything shiny. Nice screen, amazing battery life, and it wins my award for best UI ever, I just loved using it, kudos go to Sony this time.
It sounds great as well! Warm and full, relaxed and groovy. While the technicalities are not at the forefront, it has great tonality, detail and extension. Nice deep sub bass rumble, airy top end and great mids. The stage is on the smaller size, more intimate and spherical, but I can dig that. I like the Sony sound for sure, warm and inviting, easy on the ears and sounds great with any kind of music you throw at it. Streaming is fabulous, especially when you select the HD streaming option. I would confidently say the M2 is the best streaming DAP you can buy now, at least of those I have tried. This is a really great DAP, fabulous sonics and a great warm analog vibe. While I did really like the sound, I was not in love with it. A friend told me that the Sony sound doesn’t hit you over the head immediately, it grows on you and I am inclined to agree. The more I listened the more I liked it, but I never quite fell in love. For me it was just a bit too smooth and polite. It lacked some energy and punch. It seemed a bit underpowered, on high gain with the Jewel I was up around 70-80 on the volume, and I felt the lack of headroom. I like my music loud, but this wasn’t anywhere near screaming loud and I was coming up on the tail end of the power band. Also, there is no LO, and as someone who really likes to amp my DAPs, especially when they are underpowered, this is unfortunate. I spend hours and hours with it, and I liked it more and more, but I found myself dreaming more and more about my AE. I missed the incredible sense of thunderous power, sweet yet explosive, raw but refined, warm but top class technicalities. So I sent the M2 back to Doug, not knowing what to do. If I am being honest, I could have just ordered myself an M2 and been a happy guy. It really is a great sounding player, and hard to really gripe about anything with it. But we all know that the search for perfection isn’t a short road.
The LP6 Ti AE - After my experiences with the RS8 and Sony M2 I was at an impasse. I needed a DAP, I had tried everything out there that interested me, I was stuck. Randomly the guy I sold my AE wrote me, asking some question about the Aroma A100TB he had bought on my recommendation. He’s a super nice guy, and we started chatting about all kinds of things, and in a moment of clarity I told him honestly how much I missed the AE. How nothing I tried compared, and for all its limitations and idiosyncrasies it was the best sounding DAP in the world. I was filled with regret. How surprised was I when he wrote me back a day later saying he would sell me the AE back if I wanted it! He said he loved it, but since I was missing it so much, and he could be happy with lesser gear, my AE came back to me. I was thrilled; being able to remedy a big mistake in this way, buying it back for what I bought it for, no money lost, that doesn’t happen often. What a nice guy
Kudos to him, well deserved.
I am listening to it now as I type and it is every bit as good as I remember it. Ridiculously good. Thunderous. Just wow. It’s also small, light and infinitely portable. Remembering my earlier feelings, questioning my life choices in needing a $6k DAP, I realized
it is worth it to me. While I can’t really afford it comfortably, I am willing to make the sacrifice. It powers the Jewel at like 6% power, with endless headroom. I have completely gotten used to the UI, and honestly I quite like the pure music DAP. Streaming is great, but this boots up in 5 seconds and all you can choose is which album you want to listen to. Like listening to vinyl, it requires your full attention. Bluetooth and wifi, never heard of them. I browse my collection, pick an album and listen all the way through, repeat repeat. I’m a purist, I prefer tech that goes for absolute SQ, forgoing some usability and weirdness as compromise. Adding in the Aroma stack if I feel so inspired, then it gets to earth shattering levels. The combination is lust worthy, and without question the finest sound I have ever heard in a portable setup.
BURSON OP AMPS - I already did a glowing review of the Aroma stack, and I did mention the op-amps a bit. So when Burton reached out and asked if I would like to try any of their op amps for free in exchange for impressions, I jumped at the opportunity. They sent me the V6 Vivid, and all I can say it they are freaking amazing. I already have the V5i, but the V6 is a huge step up in all aspects. Much larger stage, better separation and layering, way more details, extension, everything improved. They tighten the sound in a way I have never heard, it all becomes to taught, secure, punchy and controlled it’s thrilling! The only thing is they are pretty big and you have to leave the cover off with extensions. Moving the V5i to the input stage, V6 Vivids to the output, I jammed this way for a week or so, just loving the sound. I did wish I could bring it to my studio while I work, and leaving the cover off all the time made me somewhat uncomfortable. So in my flu soaked state I had the idea to make it all fit somehow. I only use the A100Tb with the PSU at all times, so I took out the battery leaving a good deal of space. I had some extra wire from a dismantled IEM cable, some pure silver that was just small enough to work. I have years of soldering experience, I used to wire up studios and guitar pedal boards for a living, but these wires are really tiny and I was nervous. So I spent quite a few hours making my own extensions, then carefully heating the wires with a heat gun and bending them so they would fit. It was difficult, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone that doesn’t have good soldering skills and a lack of patience, but it worked! There is
just enough space to fit them side by side, and I can put the cover on and enjoy the amp anywhere. The little black magic box is far more magic than ever before, an amazing upgrade for the relatively small cost. Iff you feel so inclined, PM me and I will do my best to help you do it yourself.
If anyone has the Aroma amp I cannot recommend the V6 Vivids more, they sound absolutely amazing. If you don’t mind leaving the cover off, then just get some extensions (Burson makes their own for ~20$) and call it a day. Just fabulous.
So, that’s all I have for now, it was a lot I know
I spent most of my words on the RS8, I don’t want anyone to feel like I am sh*&%$ing all over it, or unjustifiably being some kind of HiBy hater, or some L&P fanboy. I hope that those with the RS8, or anyone considering it don’t take my words too seriously. It’s a great DAP, with a lot of great features, it just wasn’t for me. I am sure many are enjoying it as much as I enjoy my setup. In the end I re-found my dream setup, albeit through a few hurdles along the way. But that is what this hobby is like, you win some, you lose others, regardless you learn something each time. What I have learned is go with what you love. What touches your heart. What knocks you over, brings you to tears. That’s all that matters.
Have a great new year my friends, I am happy to be a part of this community, especially the Cooler where all the homies hang out
