Today‘s review is about the HiBy R3 II DAP. It is selling for $179 USD.
Disclaimer: I received the HiBy R3 II directly from HIBY. We don’t have any commercial relations with them, and this review reflects my honest opinion.
HiBy
HiBy specializes in the research, development, and sales of high-quality portable audio products. They have a professional R&D staff and they also have quite a good history in the portable audio field. They’re also pretty famous for building software to play music on your phone and dedicated portable audio players.
Nowadays it’s a well-established portable music player manufacturer, together with DACs and sometimes IEMs. We’ve reviewed many products from HiBy, and you can find them here.
HiBy R3 II
R3 II is a super-compact DAP with good features just like the previous R3 iterations. We have the same UI and OS here with the streaming capability through Tidal and Qobuz once again, the same size and form factor, and mostly similar design. It was impossible to distinguish the R3 variants at first sight, but now the design is a bit changed so the R3 II has a more distinctive look.
The DAC chips are retained as dual ESS SABRE ES9219C, which supports 32-bit PCM and native DSD256 audio signals. The amplifying section had some overhaul as well. Now both the 3.5mm and 2.5mm have more power. To be exact, both outputs approximately have %20 more power, which is a nice improvement.
HIBY’s R3 II now features a 4.4mm balanced output alongside a 3.5mm single-ended output, the first time in the R3 series. The player has an output power rating of 380mW when connected to a 32Ω impedance load.
Other specs are similar to previous iterations, including the battery, dimensions, operating system and connectivity.
Design
The R3 II maintains the elegant design that HIBY is known for. It has a boxy shape with smooth sides and edges. The screen bezels are small, which makes the device very compact. Additionally, the side buttons are placed in a convenient location.
HiBy placed a new colour-coded LED strip over the volume pot to let you know about the sample rate of the track that you’re playing, or in case you want to see the charging status without opening the screen. This new strip looks quite nice and it adds more to the aesthetics.
HIBY also introduced a new volume wheel with this release, but I’m not sure if it was necessary. This is a compact DAP that would be thrown around or carried around in pockets, and the wheel doesn’t feel very rigid to me. I think it’s an addition only to risk a problem such as the wheel falling off or not working after heavy use. It also wakes up the screen or turns it off, so it is also a crucial component when operating the device.
The device’s form factor is its main advantage. It is also lightweight, making it easy to take it outside with your favorite IEMs/headphones. Yet, I don’t quite agree with the volume pot decision, but we’ll see if the audience likes it or not.
The device’s form factor is its main advantage. It is also lightweight, making it easy to take it outside with your favourite IEMs/headphones. Yet, I don’t quite agree with the volume pot decision, but we’ll see if the audience likes it or not.