Hiby r3 II DAP review/walkthrough: Great sound, good hardware, mediocre UI & software (30/10/23)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 29 жов 2023
- My review/thoughts on the Hiby r3 II DAP
The following is covered:
NO GAPLESS playback (yet...)!
File, format (FLAC, AIFF) compatibility
Battery life
Power
Ergonomics, weight, portability
How well it drives my IEMs, HD600
Noise floor/hiss (it is silent)
UI/Navigation/Menus/Settings
Album art slow to load
Screen quality
Great sound quality
Airplay not working (for me)
Hiby software isn't great
Comparisons to Sony A55, other Hiby devices
Pros and cons
•• EDIT: Hiby put out a firmware update date on 1/11/23 which has sped up Album artwork loading times. STILL NO GAPLESS playback though ••
Gear mentioned/used/compared:
Fiio FH3/JD7/FD5
Sennheiser IE600, HD600
Sony A55, Hiby r5 Gen II, Hiby r6 pro II
Airplay and dlna work as a receiver not a sender unfortunately.
That would explain it.
À very complete review. Thanks a lot.
Thanks for the review. Mine is in the mail but the Hiby R3 Pro Saber is my favourite DAP of all time through nearly 25 years, so I'm pretty excited (it replaced my A55 which I also rated very highly).
A couple of other reviews have said it does have gapless as long as the sample rates of the tracks are the same, and my Pro Saber certainly does, so your experience is interesting. I really, really want gapless playback...
Hiby software doesn't do gapless at all with AIFF via CD rips that have an identical kbps of 1411 Kbps for every track. All my AIFF CD rips have 1411 Kbps. Gapless not working with AIFF is the case for all of their software across multiple devices. I've tried their App on an android phone, their app on their android based player (r6 pro ii) and now their non android r3 ii. I'm not sure it is true about gapless working if the sample rate, by which I assume you mean Kbps, is identical because on FLAC rips the Kbps varies track to track. On the Kali Uchis Album I mention in the video the Kbps of the FLAC rip is different for every track. I don't think FLAC rips are capable of identical of Kbps. Have never seen it.
If you are referring to the Khz sample rate then that is identical on any specific FLAC rip, including the gapless track albums I've tested on the r3 ii. For me gapless is not working at all on hiby OS. My Sony has the same problem not doing gapless with AIFF but it does work with FLAC. The same rips and SD card that does gapless on the sony doesn't work on the hiby. I can't speak for anyone else but for me gapless doesn't work on the Hiby.
@@PerputuallyCensored I have never owned an AIFF file so wouldn't know. All of my files are FLAC or MP3 and I haven't had any issues with gapless on the R3 Pro Saber, but I'll wait until the R3 II arrives; I'm hoping it has the same gapless capability as the previous model.
As for the sample rate and what I meant, I was simply quoting the review. I have no idea what they were talking about.
@@markjamie4002 Fair enough. Time will tell.
Gapless works fine with my cd rips
I've found this will drive all my dongle DACs which allows changing audio profile. The 2 I prefer are my periodic audio rhodium and helm audio bolt mostly due to their demure size and wider stage
Hello, does this DAP hiby R3 II mount on a Mac like a external hard drive? The Shanling does it, it's very practical, but the FIIO does not do it and it's a real problem to macusers them to transfer the files to the DAP Thanks for your good video !
Thanks for that great review! Tell me please does it have same "plugins" menu section like in software Hiby player? I really need to know.
No. Menus are slightly different. I can find no "plugins" option on the r3 ii.
@@PerputuallyCensored thanks a lot! Sad 😢
Great review. Just ordered the Hiby R3 11 on Black Friday. Have tried dongles and phone but keep coming back to DAP-S. Love the small form factor allied to the power and sound quality of the Hiby. What cable are you using on the Sennheiser ie 600? Just bought one. Fantastic iem but not liking the cable and need a replacement. Thanks.
Linsoul cables will do. Via Amazon or their direct site. Or just an Amazon sold cable. The ones that have a little red (right) circle where it connects to the IEM you'll need to remove that little plastic part otherwise it won't connect to the IE600. The Tripowin Solstice is a specific IE600 compatible cable so you won't have to remove anything to connect it.
Spot on, many thanks.T.@@PerputuallyCensored
In your experience, which one is better for you? nw-a55? or this Hiby R3 II.....I have doubts if it is worth taking that leap, since I have nw-a55 and I would like to know if it is a good enough difference to buy the Hiby R3 II, thank you
I prefer the A55 as it has much better battery life and UI. The Hiby has a better (lower) noise floor and better volume.
Thanks for the detailed review of the UI. It seems hard to imagine that a player released in 2023 plays album tracks in alphabetical order, and also doesn't tell you who made the album when you're browsing the album list. I'm assuming it's not just the files you have; it's hard to believe no other reviewers have mentioned this... There's no option to fix it?!
Unfortunately I have kind of abandoned the r3 II so I can't answer your questions. Generally I didn't like the Hiby UI/OS anyway.
@@PerputuallyCensoredWhich DAP would you reccomend in this price range? I was thinking of getting this, but from this review I might be able to bump up my budget a little bit.
It depends on your criteria. My personal favourite is the A306 but it has the lowest power/volume compared to the Hiby DAPs.For most the M300 should do the job@@metatwo
You spent a lot of time on gapless playback issues but what about the sound? Is it better then the earlier r3? What kind of sound signature does it present? Should I upgrade from my r3 sabre, or is it actually an upgrade? What dac does it use? What is the amplifier architecture? What is the power output single and double ended? Etc. Etc.
You've made the mistake of projecting your wishlist/requirements/questions onto me. I simply don't care about anything that you've mentioned, which is why it is omitted. My review covers what I want to, not what you would like it to. I couldn't care less about "amplifier architecture", "what dac does it use", etc. Also, I've never used the "earlier r3" so I can't tell you what decisions to make regarding your "upgrade".
thank you... all this superfluous details.. but he leaves out the meat and potatoes... incredible.... - yes what dac chips.. what array? single ? duel? sound signature - is it warm, cold or clinical or neutral??? come on man who gives a s*&t about gapless this and that.. get with it...
@@thedar7164 I have the R3II and can tell it is on the very warm side making the mids and layering tame.
You have however the option to correct its tone with the included EQ and MSEB settings that are noticeably working.
Out of the box I prefer the sound of my LGV20 paired with the Hype4 iem, the output of the V20 being more flat and revealing, but that's on another form factor.
Do you know if it mount like a hard disk on a Mac ? Because I have problem with my fiio m 11 it is very difficult to send files . Shanling does it well
Yes it does.
Si può collegarlo via cavo al Mac, e vedere il contenuto, ma per trasferimento di grosse quantità di file, soprattutto pesanti come i flac, diventa lentissimo il trasferimento e si blocca spesso. È consigliabile collegare direttamente la Micro SD via porta USB e copiarci dentro i file.
Are u able to advise how fast it loads library on a full 1TB card? I currently have a Sony NW-A45 which takes so long to update database everytime u switch on or change files it is practically useless....
I don't have one so no. I have a 512 card. I can't speak on/compare to the A45 either. Never used it.
8000 songs on 512 gigs 300 gigs used flac file, eta 2 min updating database
I'm planning on writing up/uploading a review about this device but for now I can say that since the update they released I have not had issues with the gapless playback. HOWEVER, the sorting system they use for the albums is not great. If there is an album name shared between two or more unrelated artists they will be lumped into the same album... very odd and just kinda lazy programming imo. Would not be hard to add a check to make sure that the artist is the same while organizing the albums. Lastly, if an album has multiple discs and you organize it in your music library as such, then when you sort through Artist > Album > "Tracks You Want to Play", then it will not separate out the disks in the correct order and all tracks that are associated with track #1 (regardless of disc #) will show up at the top, etc. VERY annoying for albums with a large number of "disks" like the 6 disks of The Beatles White Album (Super Deluxe Edition).
My device is not turning on. It heats up i throw it in the trash
I ordered the Hiby but does it really work well with Tidal? I would like to get the Tidal offline songs on this DAP
You can't do that. If you want streaming get the M300
@@PerputuallyCensored but the R3 ii can stream!
Not smoothly without the signal/wifi dropping out, at least not via Qobuz@@motivationmore7025
You figure out how to stream on r3 Ii? How do u get music file?
@@jamesharden90210 I just stream, it works. But can only download Tidal songs if I get on of those illegal downloaders. Not worth it.
Can I chulffle play al of my songs at the same time?
No idea. Sold the device a while ago. You might be able to.
Correct, AIFF files sound the best. for PCM. Uncompressed, lossless
most of those stuff are pure placebo, if you do blind teast, especially for anything that is not classical music, with a 320 bitrate file compressed in mp3, i'm sure you would notice only few nuances, so... is fine 🙂
AirPlay is made for at least one of the devices to be an Apple product. So hiby to Sonos is a no go
I got mine today and am disappointed not in the quality or the sound quality but... I bought this because I listen to long lectures in MP3 that are each a couple of hours long. My iBasso Audio keeps my place in my lecture when I turn off the player, so when I turn it back on I am right where I left off. I got this player to be a take on the go work player so my expensive iBasso Audio player doesn't get lost or damaged and it does not book mark or stop and recover from where I left off in the lecture. As a music player I'm sure it's fine but for my purposes it is a paperweight. Maybe I will see if one of my kids want it.
That's a shame
È sufficiente metterlo in pausa e poi in Stand-by temporaneo invece che spegnerlo completamente, e lo ritrova dove l’aveva lasciato.
There’s option to resume where you left in the settings….
HIBY OS linux is lots of bug, better android dap
Hiby DAPs might sound good but the batteries they use are really shit!