REVIEW - HiBy R6 Pro
Website
- HiBy
Specifications
Price: $799.
The HiBy R6 Pro unit here was arranged
by HiBy company together with MusicTeck, so credits to both for providing the product for the long review
time. On a side note, the review was planned to be uploaded a couple of weeks
earlier, so apologies for the delay.
Links:
Official HiBy R6 Pro page
MusicTeck store and on Amazon store
Note that MusicTeck are
including an extra 2.5mm to 4.4mm balanced adapter.
The HiBy R6 Pro arrives in
a simple and compact all black cardboard box. Nothing fancy on the outside with
just minimal specifications on the back part of the box. It is a hassle free
unboxing. The R6 Pro player is well placed on the upper box layer inside a
small clear bag. The section underneath is divided by single small boxes each
of them holding the included different accessories.
The package consists of
the standard and necessary items. A USB cable Type-C to regular USB (Type A), a
coaxial to 3.5mm cable, a pin to access the memory card tray, a translucent plastic
case (maybe of silicone or TPU material), extra screen protectors and extra
'Hi-Res' stickers if you want to feel even more high-end quality. Probably an
extra cable for line-out use would have been nice to have, and maybe extra
2.5mm to 4.4mm adapter (note that MusicTeck are including one on the price). As
for the included case, it is pretty much standard but yet works well covering
the borders and back part of the player. Even though, for the price, and as
flagship device, a full leather like case would be have been more appropriate
but then you can always get it for the extra ~$30.
Design & Build
Quality
The new R6 Pro model is
available exclusively in stainless steel finish, in opposite to the original R6
that arrived in two options, aluminum and stainless steel. This may or may not
change in the future, but for now the R6 Pro in steel material boast very high
build quality as a flagship should be. The silver metal material gives a shiny
finish to the whole player, though does also pick fingerprints easily.
Running on the last
Android 8 Oreo release, the R6 Pro doesn't look much different than any
advanced modern smart phone. The rectangular shape holds the right length and
width for a 4.2" display, so smaller than 5" and above phones, but
with noticeably thicker, and as expected, the steel alloy material adds even
more weight. The corners are nicely rounded and the whole body is smoothly
finished.
The layout of all the
buttons and input/output ports is well arranged. There are in total five
buttons on both sides of the player, all with a same round and concave shape on
them for better grip, with similar size and well distant of each other. On the
left side are the two volume buttons, and in the middle section a micro SD
slot. The micro memory slot is well concealed by the small metal tray which
should be opened with the included pin from the accessories' set. The device
holds place for only one memory slot, and in theory can read cards up to 2TB;
no issues with a 128GB Samsung EVO and small SanDisk cards so far.
On the right side there
are four buttons. At the top, the power button which as usual works to turn
screen on and off, and also features a small LED light that indicates the
charging level and playback, and more interestingly, changes depending the
music quality - blue on normal quality and green when playing hi-res files. The
LED can be turned off on the settings menu too. Right below there are the 3
playback control buttons, play/pause, next and previous track which also work
to fast forward and rewind through the playing track. All the buttons will work
on screen off as default and can be disabled by user preference.
The top part has three
audio ports, at the left a shared 3.5mm for both Line-Out and Coaxial output, a
standard single 3.5mm for headphones in the middle, and to the right the new Pentaconn
4.4mm balanced that replaces the 2.5mm on the original R6. A wise step to use
this new output as it is gaining more popularity and more companies are applying
it on the more advanced portable players. Worth mentioning that the 4.4mm port
has a much tighter grip to the headphone plug than the other two 3.5mm on the
R6 Pro.
The bottom section holds
only the USB Type-C port. It works for charging, data transfer and also
features quick charging. Moreover, it can be used as a DAC or connect to other
external DAC.
For the screen,
the R6 Pro maintains the 4.2" full touch screen. Just from the
specifications you may see the IPS display and Gorilla glass panel, supporting 16
million colors, pixel density of 320 and 768x1280 of resolution. These may be
just numbers but nonetheless the quality is impressive in definition, contrast
and sharpness, rich colors with good depth. Viewing angle is excellent and
screen brightness can reach a high level. It will be smaller than the new advanced
smart phones that arrive on wider screens of 5~6" or more, but quality is
still great and as any Android device will work nice enough for some games and
watching movies.
On the hardware side,
the R6 Pro continues to use solid components, starting with the same Qualcomm
Snapdragon 425 processor and 3GB of RAM. It may not be up there with top smart
phones, but is definitely a strong option to run everything efficiently enough.
The response is indeed very fast even handling multiple apps. Wireless quality
on both Bluetooth and WiFi navigation is very good with a decent range. The
internal storage is limited to 32GB of memory. While at least 64GB would have
been more appealing for the price and as an upgrade over the original R6, and
even with the micro SD slot you're still limited to just one card; not a major
issue, but probably some will find it as a con.
For the audio
components, there is the dual ES9028Q2M DAC with MUSES8920 (x4) op-amp chips, a
SSM6322 for Low pass filter and another SSM6322 as Amplifier.
User Interface &
Software
As an Android based
device the R6 Pro runs on the latest 8.1 Oreo platform. For a product of late
2018 and early 2019 it is still the more solid option to get right now, even
with the new 9.0 Pie release now available. So basically it looks and works as
any Android system with just the extra additional audio settings. The touch
screen response is very fast, accurate and sensitive enough, just like using
any good smart phone than just a complex Android DAP. Navigation is very simple
and most menus and settings options are self-explanatory.
Just to note, the unit
here is the international firmware version, 1.1G which has access to Google
Play store.
Upon first use, or after
every system reset, the device will ask for language and time-zone setting. It
starts on the main screen with a few tiles for most standard apps at the bottom.
Apart from the HiBy Music app there are no extra apps pre-installed, but can be
easily added by Google Play or Apk files.
As usual, below are some
of the multiple screens from the R6 Pro:
The main and most
complex application is effectively the own HiBy Music App. It has been
available for a few years already on both Android and iOS platforms, so those
who may want to be familiar can try it regardless the HiBy DAPs. It is quite
easy to use with the typical different categories to sort the music files, like
by album, artist or genres, and with a standard folders browser. It features a
different EQ presets and a wide range custom EQ options of 10 bands that run
from 31Hz to 16kHz and go from -12 to +12 dB. However, the most interesting
feature is the MageSound 8-ball DSP effects, or just MSEB in short, a rich
parametric equalizer that helps to tune and adjust the overall tonality of the
music.
To reach the HiBy Music
app settings simple touch the left most icon at the top. There can be found a
wide list of options, including the HiBy Link, MSEB and USB DAC settings.
And here below, the HiBy
Music multiple screens:
MageSound 8-Ball - MSEB
Battery
Like the R6, the R6 Pro
uses a same lithium polymer of 4000mAh capacity. The suggested battery
performance is up about 12 hours, though the results will vary depending on the
music files quality, screen use, wireless features (BT and WiFi), and of course
the headphones set used and their respectively volume level. On a normal day
with sensitive enough sets, wireless options off and random screen use, the
device does hold around 10~11 hrs from a mixed list of Flac files. Not a best
time, but still a fine record for a very dedicated audio player. Also, the
battery percentage indicator is quite accurate and there are no sudden drops.
The standby time is also very good, so no real need to turn on and off the
player every time.
The charging times will
depend on the charger in use, and as the R6 Pro features quick charging it can
be restored to more than half of the battery in around 1 hour. A full 100%
charging will take more time though, of around 2~3 hours.
Wireless features
The HiBy R6 Pro offers
both wireless features of Bluetooth and WiFi. The Bluetooth is a now standard
4.2 version supporting the higher audio formats including AptX HD, LDAC and
HWA. While the newer 5.0 BT version would have been a nicer upgrade in order to
compete with the last smartphones, for an audio player is still enough. More
importantly, the connectivity has excellent quality with a clean and solid
transmission even on a bit more crowded areas. I yet have to try it with some
LDAC headphones, but the AptX HD quality is very good. The R6 Pro cannot work
as a Bluetooth receiver so there is no option to use it as a portable wireless
amp/DAC. However, with the HiBy Link it can be controlled directly from a smart
device.
For WiFi, it has a
2.4/5G dual band, and works just as good any decent smartphone should, both for
audio streaming or web surfing. At home use it works pretty fast and smooth,
but naturally will drop in quality and speed if using a public wireless server.
DAC functionality
Apart from the coaxial
and lineout for external sources, the R6 Pro will also connect to an extra DAC
through the USB Type-C port. It can be also used as a DAC itself for any PC as
replacing the inner soundcard. The performance is pretty much flawless, and
just may be need to install extra driver depending on the computer OS.
Sound Quality
Main gears used: iBasso IT01s and IT04,
FLC 8N, Custom Art Fibae 3 and Black, Dunu DK-3001 & DN-2002, Periodic
Audio Be, Meze Audio 99 Classics, Master&Dynamic MW60, VE ZEN Lite (2.5mm),
Hifiman Sundara. Balanced 4.4mm output was used when available through a 2.5mm
to 4.4mm adapter.
While the R6 had a very
high output impedance of 10 ohm that would not match for sensitive sets, mainly
IEMs and specially multi-BA and hybrids, the Pro version apparently has fixed
this issue; there is practically no hiss to be heard with any of the above
listed gears, but then never found any of them to be particularly picky with
other sources. However, it is still quite a powerful portable audio device, and
on very sensitive IEMs the sound can be a bit too aggressive with a boost on
both bass and treble; a small impedance adapter might be helpful but not really
necessary. Moreover, the R6 Pro can get loud enough, so setting a max volume
limit is recommended. Also the jumps from each volume step can be a bit too
sharp when using IEMs. Unless using more demanding headphones, like the Sundara
planar here, the high and low gain options didn't mean more than a small
difference in the volume level.
Needless to say that the
sound description of any audio source will depend on the headphones used, but
going through a variety of gears on different signatures helps to give a
general idea of the characteristics, tonality and overall capabilities (or
limitations) of the device. While the HiBy R6 Pro features a few tonality
selections, the differences are not as noticed as when compared to all the MageSound
8-Ball (MSEB) effects. With all the algorithms, the MSEB can tune the sound
presentation to practically multiple signatures. Even so, for the sake of the
review, all the EQ options were turned off in order to describe the R6 Pro
sound in its 'pure' mode.
The R6 Pro tends to
present a very neutral signature with a kind of reference and highly detailed
presentation. It doesn't go completely flat but definitely very linear with
excellent balance and pretty much no added coloration on the sound.
Transparency is a strong characteristic too, though won't be too analytical;
this is a good point as dynamics and layering are impressive on the R6 Pro.
Despite the neutral tuning it gives a very natural weight to notes and superb
separation between instruments that still sound musical for most genres. Speed
and control really stand out, especially when paired with some fast multi
balanced armatures like the triple Fibae 3. It is also a very revealing DAP with
a strong sense of air and forward micro-detailing, and always too effortless.
In occasions it can sound just a bit cold, usually when using some warmer or
thicker sounding headphones, and despite
the overall fullness those looking for more some richer or more musicality
might find the R6 Pro a bit lacking in that regard (at least on the single
ended output). The sound stage is expansive, very spacious and wide yet very
coherent and with very accurate imaging.
Differences between
single ended and balanced outputs are not always noticeable on all portable
players. Some of them just bring a higher output power while others do show
notorious improvement on the overall presentation. Good news, the R6 Pro falls
into the second group, showing better sonic characteristics from the SE to the
new implemented 4.4mm balanced output. I yet have to try it with a real 4.4mm
terminated cable, but even with just a 2.5mm to 4.4mm adapter it is a worth
step over the 3.5mm port. It just simply sounds better.
The single ended output
brings a more neutral presentation with a most reference tuning. Sound is more
flat and pretty much linear from bass to mids and treble with a just tilt of
brightness towards the high frequencies. There is a high level of precision and
control with almost colorless tonality, and maybe a bit cool and analytical.
Bass is neutral in impact with no extra rumble added than what the headphones
should allow and it is very fast and tight. Treble has good attack but doesn't
get too aggressive as it mostly quite controlled. Extension is very good on
both ends, rather natural and effortless. Imaging is very coherent and the
presentation very spacious and airy, soundstage has good dimensions, width and
depth, but it is more about a greater positioning what the single output is
about.
The balanced output
keeps all the high sonic characteristics but with noticeable improvements and a
bit different tonality. Technically it has more output power which is well
perceived on the higher volume gain so usually it works on lower volume steps
than the single ended port. The sound is indeed more powerful and strikes with
more impact and depth. Speed is higher handling more complex tracks with more
ease. There is also extra weight and body on instruments and voices, and while
the balanced output seems to have a smoother and thicker tonality it
compensates with better layering and separation. The attack remains almost
unchanged though there is a fuller impact and more natural decay and depth.
Midrange is particularly nicer as the smoother character brings a richer
tonality and more importantly a more musical presentation. If the single output
was a bit cold then the balanced mode improves that with a more emotion and
realism. Treble is more energetic and at the same time more controlled, so
despite its more aggressive characteristic it balances better within the rest
of the music. The dynamic range is
improved as well with further extension, sounding tighter and even more effortless.
The soundstage is what really impresses on the 4.4mm balanced mode, gaining
more width and height with a very spacious and open presentation still keeping
a more enjoyable sense of musicality.
Value
The new HiBy R6 Pro
is a very complete audio device. It brings superb build quality now with the
stainless steel design in a nice and smooth finish. The probably only one
drawback might lay on its extra weight for total portability, though nothing
out of the standard compared to modern advanced audio devices and even many
smartphones. The interface is well implemented and running on a last Android
8.1 Oreo version gives a very friendly and versatile experience. Moreover, the
system runs quite fast and stable, with solid wireless connections on both
Bluetooth and WiFi. Battery seems to be enough for daily use too considering
all the features that the R6 Pro holds, and the quick charging is a plus. While
any music application can be used, the included Hiby Music app is very
interesting and specially with the MSEB tuning. Sound wise the R6 Pro is very
capable, it is of high quality and powerful, highly detailed and very dynamic.
While the single ended output is already impressive, the real deal is the newly
implemented 4.4mm output, boosting the sound to a higher level with wide and
spacious soundstage, clean timbre and dynamic and so effortless sound.