The only time I was genuinely surprised about a dap was when I went to the cayin booth at a canjam. I auditioned the n7, which sounded no different to anything cheaper than it, but the n8 was quite drastically different in a surprisingly pleasant way. Unfortunately, hiby has done the conventional route with this, which is odd because with such a colossal battery, they could have pushed into the M17 market as a portable powerhouse. No one complained about the cost of that thing because it filled a nishe no other device could muster. This has neither the sonic differences nor versatility to make any meaningful adjustments to the market.
The thing is I'll take quality over quantity when it comes to portable. And the m17 couldn't even hit its maximum unless you plugged it into the wall. I think this is doing it better than that and it's still mostly portable where is the Fiio is kind of an unmanageable brick
@ZReviews what I meant was they would of just oped the current of the output stage because of how huge the battery is to supply that demand. The m17 was enormous because it used two full sized desktop chips with their relevant xmos processor
I saw the price and I thought NAAAAH ANOTHER BS. And then i compared it to SP3000T and guess what... R8 II is so much bettet that I couldn't believe it. Best sounding DAP I've heard in my life.
Personally, i think it's insane to pay more than a few $100 for something that you can't easily replace the batteries on. It's for those reasons that the ibasso stuff, as expensive as it can get, can be justified in certain circumstances. The 320max weighs only 60g more than this but has way more power. Uses the same OS too.
I mean people pay insane money for their flagship phones. I don't see a difference with those batteries and this. I think you can probably have it replaced if its a common enough power cell by any shop or Hiby itself but I never tried.
@@ZReviews You should try replacing 1. Since there's video on battery replacement for phone but not for dap or portable dac it would be a great insight on how complex or easy to replace the battery
@@ZReviews zeos, the difference is that with flagship daps, we have a choice. There ARE daps that have removable batteries. We DO have a choice. That's the difference. Your argument doesn't work.
In the iBasso DX240 the double sided tape came loose that holds the battery to the case failed and the battery rattled around inside my $949 DAP. Anyways, four screws and the entire tray of the unit slides right out, including the stupid battery. Battery is plugged into the very small circuit board. Unplug and go find a different battery. Slap some thermal double sided foam tape back on your battery and put it all back together. It better do something cool for $949. Because anyone can take that thing apart.
I can’t afford the R8 II right now, but so far I’ve spent $1250 for the three DAP’s I’ve purchased over the years. A Cayin i5, a HIBY R6 Pro, and the HIBY R04. I am currently using the HIBY R04 exclusively and absolutely love it! $2000 for an end game DAP isn’t outrageous if you take your listening that seriously IMHO.
Hey I hope you won't mind giving a bit of sound comparison between r6 pro mk2 and r4 Just sound was going to buy r6pro mk2 What are the differences and what is worth and whats not Thank you
Well now I don't feel so bad for buying the Hiby RS8 a couple years ago. Its almost identical to this one. Except the frame/body is done from a solid block of titanium. Came with a leather case. Cost $3,300.00. Best piece of audio equipment I've ever owned. I also have the RS2. Best headphones I have are the Moondrop Venus. Together over $4,000 in equipment, not to mention all the IEMs I have. This video showed me a few things I didn't know with the settings. Messed with them last night and got some incredible sound from it. The RS8 has the R2R resistor ladder dac in it.
HiBy is in it's ascendancy right now! I own the RS8, which is, IMHO, a summit-fi DAP. Paired with the CR08 & HiByCast app, it's one of the most versatile, (semi) portable audiophile music solutions, IMHO. The search for a worthy pair headphones and IEMs to compliment it, continues.
iBasso put the high end ROHM DAC in a dongle. They call it the DC Elite, and they’re putting it up against things like their 320 Max and other high end DAPs like this. Just got one in and it’s pretty mint… and so tiny 😂. Might be one you like with how much you liked other ROHM implementations!
I have the FiiO M15 (now ancient Android 7) and FiiO M17 which is my daily DAP. I like the cut of the R8II’s jib with the DARWIN DAC, but I would definitely miss the rotary volume control. If you use DAPs almost exclusively you know you’re riding the volume almost constantly
Ah, I’ve anxiously awaiting your review for this!! I am saving up for it (saved $600.00 so far) and am even more excited after your review!!! And Hiby has released a desktop dac, the FD5. Has x4 AK 4493 dac chips. But alas, I’m solely a dap boy, using my various daps to listen to music, so I doubt I’ll ever go the desktop route. Incidentally I own the entry level Darwin dap, RS2. Great portability and excellent sound!!!
I have 2 Rs2....one sounds like God's gift to creation...but the touchscreen broke. The other works, but just sounds like a normal dap...it makes me want to cry.
What can these drive?... bit of a broken record I know, but does it drive Tungsten? The reason I keep asking is I'm looking to do reviews as a side channel project when my main idea is in music production and post production but it's always good to make all hobbies you job through RUclips. So I'm looking for a few things to start with to be able to do that job well and not be stuck being sent something and not being able to drive it. I also have a friend that will wants to join but do background design stuff but will be good to get her to give some none professional opinions and was thinking to give her a portable DAC and headphone amp so she can walk around and test headphones as doing this is a important thing for her mental health and being able to try really good headphone will improve that as well as getting a consumer perspective. I was thinking currently thinking the XDUOO XD05 Pro but wondering if this will be a good additional gift to give some variety of sound to test things on. I have a idea of gift headphone that will need to be drive properly and that's the Timsok TS-1024's as she's love the colour of them. Small bit of advice about the driving capabilities of this?
I feel like nothing portable will ever power tungsten as well as an actual big class ab speaker amp. It's an odd headphone as it always seems to have more potential awaiting. That being said you can run tungsten on several cheaper devices within 90% of its capability without spending $2,000. I recently found the Khadas tone 2 did surprisingly well even out of the USB of my phone
I didn't realise how chonky the Mass Kobo 475 is! It almost looks "portable" in the same way a Lotoo Mjölnir is supposedly portable. Instead of a flagship DAP I'm saving a few hundred bucks (the R8 II is $3300 here) by getting a Chord Mojo 2 to use with my phone and I've been informed that you can adjust the volume to put the Mojo 2 into Line Out mode, for use with a dedicated portable headphone amp. I was then going to get a M.K. 475 for endgame amplification, a little later on... But I thought they were WAY smaller! I think I'm going to have to leave the 475 home as a small form factor, desktop-only solution or find a smaller amp that has endgame output. On another note, I wonder if the new HiBy FD5 desktop DAC/amp has the same or similar DAC as the R8 II? Hope you get one in for review.
Yea, it uses 9v batteries to power it. Pretty hilarious considering audiophiles think you need some ultra fancy filtering to achieve perfection. This is the same designer who used a topping a90 to show off his $17k amplifier.
I mean. Imagine trying to EQ out little issues in EVERYTHING.. Then what? Would I have to do that for everything? That would be like swapping every pad on EVERY headphone. Creating more work that is solely designed for the End user. EQ is def a personal quest if you choose to go there.
Hi Zeos does this one work as a streamer? i want to build a portable wireless setup to use on the go with my phone or with my Pc with the lowest quality loss in music am fine with mp3 quality I have Enleum-23rm and susvara but i am struggling to find a good dac with good streamer in it, there is only one from chord do you know any other good portable Dac/Streamer.
No, it doesn't. It can't use tidal connect or roon. Zeos doesn't understand what you are asking. Fiio and A&k products can be used remotely with those services.
@@En_Joshi-Godrez @ZReviews Thank you both for replying i want dac/streamer i can connect it wirelessly with my pc not only for tidal or any streaming service but for games and watching youtube chord hugo 2 with the 2go i think they do but not sure i want to make sure before buying
I feel like that's more of a fight between the R04 then this. Oddly enough I took the Aune out this weekend and was very happy with it except for the battery life. Feel like what they're doing is a little more subtle than these hiby.
Hope you realise that darwin is their name for their discrete dac's. The rs6 has a r2r dac discrete one as well. While this has a discrete delta sigma/1bit dac like the cayin n7 or ibasso d16. Would be epic if you would actually for once read about what what means.
That’s a minted idea translating the E.Q. processing frequency bands into actual terms that can be understood by anyone. In fact they all sound like Zeos terms, did you make this thing?
@@maxcardif9879 The hypocrisy and contradiction you have displayed there should be obvious, given that it was, as stated, a word that you used to use yourself. What a pathetic and ridiculous nitpick to have a go at someone for. A dictionary definition usually denotes a word to be ‘real’, or did you not learn that in English high school?
I know plenty of people IEM collections that only listen out and about. Plus it could completely replace everything you have at home. I feel like that's the only two places you're going to see this, when it's all you have, or you have way too much stuff
Easier to fool a man then to convince him hes been fooled. it used to be that the approach he took to a DAC according to him was just get one thats good enough and be happy cause it doesnt make a difference. Weird how all of a sudden an overpriced android phone running an out of date android OS, with a 1080p screen, outdated bluetooth specs, and no fast charging can cause him to change everything he said before. Its so obvious to me whats going on here. But every time i say something i get jumped by his possie of blind followers. Just make sure you jump into that patreon and pay him monthly so you can have the chance to buy some of this stuff that hes hyped up. what a joke
@@LostMethods lol you're funny, no one needs your help. Also half your facts are incorrect about the DAP. Just informing you, cause it kinda makes you look bad. Ya know? Hope you don't take this as an attack. haha
@@LostMethods Ironically I think DACs are all coming out with way more "character" now BECAUSE I was being honest before. They all WERE the same before so everyone started adding spices. I have also dipped my hands into the R2R dac world more now. Years have gone by, Headphones have improved. My space is better. I have $2k Korean speakers made entirely of metal that are so clear I CAN hear the spacial changes dac architectures make. I can now and ONLY NOW tell you there is something there. It is called growth. And it sucks sometimes.
Again, you sound like another noob who has never listened to daps like this. They're not a glorified phone because it has android . Dumbest statement ever told
Hiby R8 Mk2 ----- store.hiby.com/products/hiby-r8-ii/?sscid=31k8_mv3or&
Hiby R04 ----------- hifigo.com/products/hiby-r4/?rfsn=3737349.d530b5
⚔ SubscribeStar -- www.SubscribeStar.com/Zeos
🥇 Patreon -- www.Patreon.com/Zeos
Better than Aune M1p?
Any comment bro?
The only time I was genuinely surprised about a dap was when I went to the cayin booth at a canjam. I auditioned the n7, which sounded no different to anything cheaper than it, but the n8 was quite drastically different in a surprisingly pleasant way. Unfortunately, hiby has done the conventional route with this, which is odd because with such a colossal battery, they could have pushed into the M17 market as a portable powerhouse. No one complained about the cost of that thing because it filled a nishe no other device could muster. This has neither the sonic differences nor versatility to make any meaningful adjustments to the market.
The thing is I'll take quality over quantity when it comes to portable. And the m17 couldn't even hit its maximum unless you plugged it into the wall. I think this is doing it better than that and it's still mostly portable where is the Fiio is kind of an unmanageable brick
@@ZReviews I think I spoke too soon. The other solid state daps didn't do anything for me, but I haven't heard this, so I need to rectify that.
@ZReviews what I meant was they would of just oped the current of the output stage because of how huge the battery is to supply that demand. The m17 was enormous because it used two full sized desktop chips with their relevant xmos processor
@ZReviews Fiio? He is talking about the Cayin N8ii, not Fiio.
@@danieljung2810 read my comment right below his.
I saw the price and I thought NAAAAH ANOTHER BS. And then i compared it to SP3000T and guess what... R8 II is so much bettet that I couldn't believe it. Best sounding DAP I've heard in my life.
Personally, i think it's insane to pay more than a few $100 for something that you can't easily replace the batteries on. It's for those reasons that the ibasso stuff, as expensive as it can get, can be justified in certain circumstances. The 320max weighs only 60g more than this but has way more power. Uses the same OS too.
I mean people pay insane money for their flagship phones. I don't see a difference with those batteries and this. I think you can probably have it replaced if its a common enough power cell by any shop or Hiby itself but I never tried.
@@ZReviews You should try replacing 1. Since there's video on battery replacement for phone but not for dap or portable dac it would be a great insight on how complex or easy to replace the battery
@@ZReviews zeos, the difference is that with flagship daps, we have a choice. There ARE daps that have removable batteries. We DO have a choice. That's the difference. Your argument doesn't work.
@@ZReviews it could be soldered or whatever. If they don't advertise that it's user removable, then it's junk in my eyes.
In the iBasso DX240 the double sided tape came loose that holds the battery to the case failed and the battery rattled around inside my $949 DAP. Anyways, four screws and the entire tray of the unit slides right out, including the stupid battery. Battery is plugged into the very small circuit board. Unplug and go find a different battery. Slap some thermal double sided foam tape back on your battery and put it all back together. It better do something cool for $949. Because anyone can take that thing apart.
I can’t afford the R8 II right now, but so far I’ve spent $1250 for the three DAP’s I’ve purchased over the years. A Cayin i5, a HIBY R6 Pro, and the HIBY R04. I am currently using the HIBY R04 exclusively and absolutely love it!
$2000 for an end game DAP isn’t outrageous if you take your listening that seriously IMHO.
R04 is the baby version of this. You are in a great spot.
Hey
I hope you won't mind giving a bit of sound comparison between r6 pro mk2 and r4
Just sound was going to buy r6pro mk2
What are the differences and what is worth and whats not
Thank you
Well now I don't feel so bad for buying the Hiby RS8 a couple years ago. Its almost identical to this one. Except the frame/body is done from a solid block of titanium. Came with a leather case. Cost $3,300.00. Best piece of audio equipment I've ever owned. I also have the RS2. Best headphones I have are the Moondrop Venus. Together over $4,000 in equipment, not to mention all the IEMs I have.
This video showed me a few things I didn't know with the settings. Messed with them last night and got some incredible sound from it.
The RS8 has the R2R resistor ladder dac in it.
HiBy is in it's ascendancy right now! I own the RS8, which is, IMHO, a summit-fi DAP.
Paired with the CR08 & HiByCast app, it's one of the most versatile, (semi) portable audiophile music solutions, IMHO.
The search for a worthy pair headphones and IEMs to compliment it, continues.
That purple cable is beautiful. 👍🏻
Love mine battery life is amazing…great review
iBasso put the high end ROHM DAC in a dongle. They call it the DC Elite, and they’re putting it up against things like their 320 Max and other high end DAPs like this. Just got one in and it’s pretty mint… and so tiny 😂. Might be one you like with how much you liked other ROHM implementations!
Can I use the DC Elite with my R4?
@@UltimateEnd0 Sure can. I use some of my Android DAPs as a transport for it and it works well.
I love this dap... already bought one a few months ago ❤
So Z, does this tickles your fancy more than the iBasso320 Ti Max?
You should pair it with the teac-ud 503, sounds amazing
It's my 475 and yes, looking for a Dap that has a good DAC. Rather not go to the LP6 level as their interface sucks.
I have the FiiO M15 (now ancient Android 7) and FiiO M17 which is my daily DAP. I like the cut of the R8II’s jib with the DARWIN DAC, but I would definitely miss the rotary volume control. If you use DAPs almost exclusively you know you’re riding the volume almost constantly
Ah, I’ve anxiously awaiting your review for this!! I am saving up for it (saved $600.00 so far) and am even more excited after your review!!! And Hiby has released a desktop dac, the FD5. Has x4 AK 4493 dac chips. But alas, I’m solely a dap boy, using my various daps to listen to music, so I doubt I’ll ever go the desktop route. Incidentally I own the entry level Darwin dap, RS2. Great portability and excellent sound!!!
Please don't get any device this expensive that doesn't have replaceable batteries. You will regret it 100%.
@@jameskegen6812weirdly enough I don't think I've ever had an issue with batteries because I always replace whatever I'm using within 3 years.
> because I always replace whatever I'm using within 3 years
You have a problem, Zeos!
@@tenveri yea, its called free stuff thrown at him haha.
I have 2 Rs2....one sounds like God's gift to creation...but the touchscreen broke. The other works, but just sounds like a normal dap...it makes me want to cry.
What can these drive?... bit of a broken record I know, but does it drive Tungsten?
The reason I keep asking is I'm looking to do reviews as a side channel project when my main idea is in music production and post production but it's always good to make all hobbies you job through RUclips.
So I'm looking for a few things to start with to be able to do that job well and not be stuck being sent something and not being able to drive it.
I also have a friend that will wants to join but do background design stuff but will be good to get her to give some none professional opinions and was thinking to give her a portable DAC and headphone amp so she can walk around and test headphones as doing this is a important thing for her mental health and being able to try really good headphone will improve that as well as getting a consumer perspective.
I was thinking currently thinking the XDUOO XD05 Pro but wondering if this will be a good additional gift to give some variety of sound to test things on.
I have a idea of gift headphone that will need to be drive properly and that's the Timsok TS-1024's as she's love the colour of them.
Small bit of advice about the driving capabilities of this?
I feel like nothing portable will ever power tungsten as well as an actual big class ab speaker amp. It's an odd headphone as it always seems to have more potential awaiting. That being said you can run tungsten on several cheaper devices within 90% of its capability without spending $2,000. I recently found the Khadas tone 2 did surprisingly well even out of the USB of my phone
Zeos: Did you try the spirit torino twin pulse on this dap? If so how do they match?
I feel like there wouldn't be any issue "matching" with this.
@@ZReviews Thanks!
I didn't realise how chonky the Mass Kobo 475 is! It almost looks "portable" in the same way a Lotoo Mjölnir is supposedly portable. Instead of a flagship DAP I'm saving a few hundred bucks (the R8 II is $3300 here) by getting a Chord Mojo 2 to use with my phone and I've been informed that you can adjust the volume to put the Mojo 2 into Line Out mode, for use with a dedicated portable headphone amp. I was then going to get a M.K. 475 for endgame amplification, a little later on... But I thought they were WAY smaller! I think I'm going to have to leave the 475 home as a small form factor, desktop-only solution or find a smaller amp that has endgame output. On another note, I wonder if the new HiBy FD5 desktop DAC/amp has the same or similar DAC as the R8 II? Hope you get one in for review.
Yea, it uses 9v batteries to power it. Pretty hilarious considering audiophiles think you need some ultra fancy filtering to achieve perfection. This is the same designer who used a topping a90 to show off his $17k amplifier.
Strange your Darwin Controller settings is missing the customized presets for iems
My R4 is on its way!
One thing that Z doesn't do on video. Equalization. Equalizer APO works on Win 7 right. wavelet works on android as well.
I mean. Imagine trying to EQ out little issues in EVERYTHING.. Then what? Would I have to do that for everything? That would be like swapping every pad on EVERY headphone. Creating more work that is solely designed for the End user. EQ is def a personal quest if you choose to go there.
Hi Zeos does this one work as a streamer? i want to build a portable wireless setup to use on the go with my phone or with my Pc with the lowest quality loss in music am fine with mp3 quality I have Enleum-23rm and susvara but i am struggling to find a good dac with good streamer in it, there is only one from chord do you know any other good portable Dac/Streamer.
I mean. It is a full android device. If you can load an app that does your streaming you should be good to go.
No, it doesn't. It can't use tidal connect or roon. Zeos doesn't understand what you are asking. Fiio and A&k products can be used remotely with those services.
@@En_Joshi-Godrez @ZReviews Thank you both for replying i want dac/streamer i can connect it wirelessly with my pc not only for tidal or any streaming service but for games and watching youtube chord hugo 2 with the 2go i think they do but not sure i want to make sure before buying
Surgical steel case requires wearing surgical gloves to avoid fingerprints.
They should come with a box of 1000
Would be nice you'd gave a comparaison with the Aune M1P you praized so much !
I feel like that's more of a fight between the R04 then this. Oddly enough I took the Aune out this weekend and was very happy with it except for the battery life. Feel like what they're doing is a little more subtle than these hiby.
@@ZReviews Thanks
Hope you realise that darwin is their name for their discrete dac's. The rs6 has a r2r dac discrete one as well. While this has a discrete delta sigma/1bit dac like the cayin n7 or ibasso d16.
Would be epic if you would actually for once read about what what means.
They are both called Darwin. Look at their website.
That’s a minted idea translating the E.Q. processing frequency bands into actual terms that can be understood by anyone. In fact they all sound like Zeos terms, did you make this thing?
Ya min-ting bro
@@maxcardif9879 eh?
@@RocketLauncherwithInfiniteAmmo "minted" isn't a real word
@RocketLauncherwithInfiniteAmmo we used it in English high-schools to mean "cool".
@@maxcardif9879 The hypocrisy and contradiction you have displayed there should be obvious, given that it was, as stated, a word that you used to use yourself. What a pathetic and ridiculous nitpick to have a go at someone for. A dictionary definition usually denotes a word to be ‘real’, or did you not learn that in English high school?
So if this has Darwin in it, and RS8 also.... is this one just a newer version?
I would imagine this is their newest implementation.
I told that eris pads needs to on the jt1!
English please
Then your welcome i guess
@pappsa8 OK, it was referenced in the video. I understand now.
I have watched this video thrice ❤
You did explain turbo
So diddy is not interested in things like this and more interested in what!!
I don't recommend it get the Ibasso 320 max ti or p6 pro instead
P6 pro shouldn't be recommended to anyone except BDSM professionals.
@@samburden5053 huh ? 😅 Why ? Self torture you mean because no streaming ^^ xD
@x32i77 No, because you can't find your music without scrolling all the way down to it. Or did they fix that?
@@samburden5053 I doubt they fixed it :D but sound wise they are #1
R4 Evangelion+DC Elite
Smigma. Hahaha🤣😂 What does it do on your Supermon Mini set?
I've got to set up the dock and give it a whirl. I redid everything on that setup recently. Now it's using the monoblocks
@@ZReviews so wanna know. 3D audio Nirvana?
Has the world gone mad? Why would someone pay for a dap that expensive
I know plenty of people IEM collections that only listen out and about. Plus it could completely replace everything you have at home. I feel like that's the only two places you're going to see this, when it's all you have, or you have way too much stuff
Easier to fool a man then to convince him hes been fooled. it used to be that the approach he took to a DAC according to him was just get one thats good enough and be happy cause it doesnt make a difference. Weird how all of a sudden an overpriced android phone running an out of date android OS, with a 1080p screen, outdated bluetooth specs, and no fast charging can cause him to change everything he said before. Its so obvious to me whats going on here. But every time i say something i get jumped by his possie of blind followers. Just make sure you jump into that patreon and pay him monthly so you can have the chance to buy some of this stuff that hes hyped up. what a joke
@@LostMethods lol you're funny, no one needs your help. Also half your facts are incorrect about the DAP. Just informing you, cause it kinda makes you look bad. Ya know? Hope you don't take this as an attack. haha
@@LostMethods Ironically I think DACs are all coming out with way more "character" now BECAUSE I was being honest before. They all WERE the same before so everyone started adding spices. I have also dipped my hands into the R2R dac world more now. Years have gone by, Headphones have improved. My space is better. I have $2k Korean speakers made entirely of metal that are so clear I CAN hear the spacial changes dac architectures make. I can now and ONLY NOW tell you there is something there.
It is called growth. And it sucks sometimes.
@@LorenzoFrausto what did i say about the dap that was incorrect?
2k for good speakers maybe,2k for a good amp maybe,2k for a glorified phone NO.
It's the opposite of a phone. What a bad take. Lmao
I mean it's literally everything you need to make a headphone go. From start to finish. At maximum quality. And it's portable.
Again, you sound like another noob who has never listened to daps like this. They're not a glorified phone because it has android . Dumbest statement ever told
Latest greatest phone $1200 + $460 DC Elite just to contend. Might as well just buy the DAP. F vaporware phones.
have*
‘Does it has?’ Really???
I has da Magic. I kno da way
@@ZReviews bro while funny to me (your response), proofread a bit better. It just looks ridiculous and unprofessional!
FFFF Hiby batterie died.