Nice! I must say, the andoid 9 makes this one of the more tempting android daps for me
I’ve never owned any type of Android product, so it will be a bit of a learning curve. Looking forward to figuring out how to download content from Qobuz and Tidal onto a micro SD card for offline use.
The switch from apple to android shouldnt be too hard (I did it about a year and a half ago). I would recomend you look into USB Audio Player Pro instead of using the native tidal and qobuz apps though. It allows you to bypass androids automatic resampling. The UI isnt anywhere near as good as the native apps unfortunately, but there is a fairy noticeable SQ gap between the two IMO
Will do.
One of the benefits of the new R6 is it bypasses the android resampling as part of the voodoo HiBy built into the operating system. So according to Hiby that problem is solved regardless of what app you use. We will see.
Woah, I missed that. Now I am real curious about this dap.
Hey guys, any more thoughts on this player? Hows SQ? Eq? Space etc?
After a good 4 months of nearly daily use, I’m still quite happy with the R6. I primarily use it on its 4.4 balanced output with IEMs (FH7, SA6, CA Comets) but it has plenty of power to drive any full size cans you can name.
The sound quality is excellent. I’m not much into EQ, but HiBy’s MSEB feature is pretty cool. You can save settings for different headphones using this if you want. I used it a lot at first but now I just leave it set to the factory defaults. I now let each headphone simply play as it was tuned by it’s manufacturer. As far as soundstage depth, air, instrument separation, etc. I’m not sure my hearing is good enough to really comment like a reviewer but I find it very enjoyable to listen to with no discernible deficiencies to complain about. I haven’t listened to any higher end players but I would imagine you would need to spend well north of $1,000 USD to get even better sound. This makes the R6 an excellent value.
For me the R6 has all the features that I wanted in a DAP. I enjoy transmitting LDAC to other Bluetooth devices from the R6 as well as connecting it via 3.5 LO to my portable MINIRIG speakers. Add an SD card and you can save a bunch of songs from any streaming service for offline playback. These are all things I couldn’t do with any of my iOS devices.
Yep the R6 is a solid choice and does many things well. It seems to me that the new FiiO M11 Plus LTD is a competitor to consider if I was shopping for a new “mid-fi” DAP today. Either way I don’t think you could go wrong. The R6 remains (imho) a top choice.
On sale for Memorial Day at MusicTeck if you’re interested…
I actually purchased a used unit. If that sale was a little earlier maybe i could of used it to bargain down the price
Have you had any issue with the battery of yours? Mine seems to charge slow but i had it plugged into my pc. Ive had it plugged into the pc with its light on for a few days and it was at 100 last i checked. I unplug it today to use for the first time and its dead. Its now connected to the fast charge wall outlet but its barely moving.
Hmmm 
… I’ve only charged mine plugged into a wall outlet and via an Anker power bank. It shouldn’t take a day (or days) to fully charge.
I just can’t remember if it took longer to charge initially when I unboxed it. I don’t have any issues with it charging now… don’t know what I can say to help.
Some quick thoughts as I got everything working as it should and gave it an hour or two. Also warning I wrote this late so excuse the errors I will never correct.
Headphones: Ultrasone HFI-780, very fun can that gives things a good realistic “touch”. SLO Cable mod flattens out the V a little though it is slight. Maybe one day ill make these balanced but everything is SE for now.
DAP form factor: It’s nice! It fits well in my big palmed hands and I had no issues touching parts of the screen. Materials seem pretty good, buttons are sturdy, finish doesnt have any issues and is a nice brushed black metal with a gold alps rotary knob that has a good feel. It’s a bit more square than a cell phone and thicker. It is a few hairs light of hitting the hefty category. Only issues here is the preinstalled screen protectors don’t go to the corners and every here and there the touch screen seems to not register.
UI: If you know how to use a cell phone you can use this without any issue. Its quick and responsive. It boots up quick, responds quick, and it doesn’t get in the way of itself or frustrate me. It’s a 1080p screen so at times text can be smaller than you expect but the android can scale it up and its never too tiny to click on or read. One thing i do not like is the physical buttons will always control the hiby player, even if its closed and youre un UAPP, it will open the hiby player and start playing whatever was on it last.
Sound: NOTE: I currently am fighting allergies. Ear pressure, ear itch, gook on gook. I am constantly popping my ears and trying to open it all up but currently it is what it is. So Sound… This is the most important part of a DAP for me. I don’t use the device much outside of travel, commute, and daily walks so this is where it’s at.
Overall Signature: Things here are neutralish with a dab of thickness. I am going to say really more of a U shape. Maybe a little bit more of a backwards J where bass adds thickness and treble is welcomingly present, not piercing yet not overly smoothed.
Bass: Pretty good, and it keeps things in check. A good quantity of bass from sub to mids, and not much bloat. It’s not the hardest hitting or fastest but it it passes for me. I dont like bloaty unrealistic bass.
Mids: Well much better than the M11, there is space here and vocals are nice and easy to hear. There is some layering its not insanely deep but voices sound like they should and instruments are engaging.
Treble: Finally a player i dont need to turn the treble up on. Smooth and present and it has a little bit of touch. With the help of the DSP/EQ they can get sparkly and crispy but more on that later.
Soundstage and Placement: The stage here has a decent size. Bigger than the NYC basement jazz club of the Cowon J3, waaaaay bigger than the small ball the m11 offered. Placement didnt seem over exaggerated and was leaning more towards realistic than holographic. I mostly listed to some daft punk alive so i cant say too much here.
Dynamics: I am not great on Micro vs Macro but there is good overall dynamics. This gave everything a good musicality that you wanted to move to and added to the feeling of depth. Compared to the M11 which i listened to last, this thing is a blast.
Timbre and Texture: Adequate. Texture was decent especially in the bass. Timber could be better. The sound of the crowds moving and clapping sounded like they recorded a light rain fall and put it in. It could be worse but wasnt a standout for me
Detail: Good. Details are good. But a lot can be uncovered with the DSP/EQ which leads to…
EQ & DSP:
EQ: So i actually didnt touch this, but its not a PEQ. It did pass the first test, when you put it on it didnt alter the sound or volume! WHY DO SOME PLAYERS DO THAT! Also the EQ only works in the hiby player and for some reason is not system wide like the MSEB.
DSP: Hiby calls this MSEB, It lets you tweak things by “explaining” rather than giving you a frequency that you - or +. (ie: Female vocals is one option to change and it can be “intoxicated” or “detoxed”.) You can adjust it between -100 and 100 with 0 being default. I used this to add a little bit more sparkle and crispness to the highs which brought out a lot of detail in that area. That same water drop crowd from before took more shape and i swear i heard someone open a candy wrapper, and now sliding fingers on guitar strings had that sizzle to it. This all needs to be used extremely conservatively. Going more than say 25 points in each way starts to mush the sound and blurs things. The other thing is unlike an EQ that will just cut or boost one thing, I think each option here changes multiple values. When i add to the highs i have to evaluate if its worth the change to the mids and the bass.
Extras: I havent tried streaming or the hiby link or anything like that. I also think much of this is subjective to each person
Overall and Notes: I like the player and its finally an upgrade to my Cowon J3. It had my foot tapping and I only stopped listening to it today as I needed to eat dinner. Musical, engaging, whatever else you want to call it, it has it. It is not a be all end all but it is not severely lacking in anything for me. I will also note some said the sound quality of the default hiby player was lacking. I dont think its lacking but I prefer the UAPP and comparing the two it seems the hiby player was slightly thicker/fuzzier sounding where the UAPP was leaner.
Some more thoughts:
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The hiby player is definitely lagging behind UAPP. It keeps things cluttered much more in the mids and is a bit mushier
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UAPP needs to connect to wifi to check its license before playing? Learned this the hardway on my daily walk and I started the player outside wifi range. A bit troublesome if this will be a travel dap where i wont always be near a connection.
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the rubber case makes it very hard to turn the volume knob
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there is a lot of mid bass in that 200-350hz range. This is a range that puts a lot of pressure on my ears very quickly and it feels like you hit high altitude and they need to pop. MSEB can help this but a system wide eq really is needed.
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dynamics and depth are a little lesser than first impressions led on. Not bad by any means.
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the unit is very particular with how it charges. Talking to support to see if this is a quirk or a feature.
So my unit is getting sent back for warranty and im a little annoyed. It drops charge fast when off and will drain 50% or more per day if its plugged into a pc usb even though it says charging. I bought it used and now i might as well bought it new with the return shipping.
An update. The unit was sent back to Musicteck and deemed to need warranty work. They normally send you an open box in return as the repair is worked on or sent back to china, and you keep that unit. I really dont like this as for your new unit you get someone elses used return, but i did buy this used so i guess its ok here.
What i dont like is they only had a silver player on hand and i went out of my way to grab the black which imho looks better. I either wait over a month for mine to be sent out and returned from china, wait for a return for a black unit with a ? timeline, or accept the silver.
I spoke to the seller if he would be willing to refund me if i return the og black unit to him. He didnt seem too keen on this but did agree to send me a partial refund to cover shipping so the warranty claim would not cost me much. This was fine and im going to just take the silver unit.
When speaking to musicteck they stated issues with hibys are pretty uncommon but he has seen some issues with the battery supplier they used since the pandemic. These things happen, though we all hope to avoid it.
To update:
I went with a new unit under warranty and there have been no issues.