HIBY R1: Tiny Device, Tremendous Tonal Performer

HIBY appears to have a successful year on releasing some compelling products as most of them received positive feedback from the audio community. The HIBY R4 and its collaborative and slightly improved variant, The HIBY R4 x Evangelion Limited Edition are probably their most successful product release in 2024.

And now HIBY decided to release a budget entry-level DAP in which will appeal more to the budget- conscious and also taking a role as the new introductory model for all HIBY DAP line-up. This is HIBY R1, this device is somewhat a cheaper option for HIBY's previous entry-level models, the R3 series in which I did a review over a year ago.

On its product packaging, while it was packed in a compact-size packaging box, it is fully-packed with accessories and here are the following contents inside of it:

• HIBY R1 DAP
• Screen Protector
• Wrist strap
• HIBY Yves IEM
• Extraction Pin
• USB Type-A to Type-C cable
• Sandisk Micro-SD card (32GB)
• Paperwork like instruction manual and warranty card.

The HIBY YVES is a single driver IEM with a titanium-plated composite diaphragm on its micro dynamic driver that was encased in a barrel-type aluminium alloy shell chassis with a fixed cable on it. Its tonal profile is more of U-shaped as it has a punchy yet rumbly bass response, a recessed yet smooth and clear midrange and a tad bright treble response. Its overall technical performance seems adequate enough in my opinion but nothing really special about it.

The HIBY R1 has a total dimension of 83.5mm x 51.1mm x 12.35mm which makes it the smallest digital audio player of all HIBY DAP models and most likely, one of the most compact-size ones in the current market. But unlike the R3II, it has only one available  analogue jack, the standard 3.5mm but it has type-C connector with OTG support in which you can use any headphone amp USB dongle with 4.4mm balanced as this one still has USB audio support like the R3 II.

On its overall construction, its structural frame is entirely made of high quality polycarbonate plastic in an opaque colourway with a thin metal alloy laminated glass back cover for its battery and a 3 inches IPS LCD HD touchscreen. It has a strap lug at the side of the left panel in which you can put up a strap for ease of carrying and lessens a chance of accidental drop. On the right side panel, the power button, the volume key buttons and the play and pause buttons were situated there. And in the bottom part, there we can find a 3.5mm analogue jack, a USB-C port for charging, file transfer and also USB Audio support in which I previously mentioned a while ago, and a micro-SD slot which expands the digital memory capacity of this DAP (HIBY did included a Sandisk Micro SD card with a 32gb of memory storage inside. The weight of this device is 70 grams which is quite lightweight to be carried around.

The R1 has 5 colour options to choose from according to audio enthusiast's preferred aesthetic colour choices; black, blue, white, green and orange.

On its internal components, it uses an Ingenic processor, X1600E which is a latest generation of entry-level SOC CPU with a LPDDR2 RAM that can store data up to 128mb which is efficient enough to run light OS like Linux. The R1 actually does have an operating system, a HIBY OS which is a heavily customised Linux OS that runs and manages some basic processes like playing music, wireless audio connection like Bluetooth and internet connection for music streaming. It can boot up to 7 seconds on turning on this device from power off status.

As for its wireless connectivity, it has Bluetooth chip with an older version, a Bluetooth 5.1 which is still reliable for today's standard as it will still consume a minimal amount of power for a device's interoperability for optimising data transmission for longer battery life. It supports standard bluetooth codecs like AAC and SBC, and aside from basic codecs, it is also reinforced with some advanced bluetooth codecs like LDAC and aptX (transition only) that works with digital wireless servers solution such as DLNA, Airplay and HIBY's proprietary one, HIBYLink. Aside from Bluetooth connectivity, it has a WIFI feature with a standard 2.4G where you can stream to your favourite music streaming services.

The audio SoC that R1 uses a reliable and proven Cirrus Logic CS43131, which is a high performance 32-bit audio DAC with a built in proprietary headphone amplifier that can deliver a power output up to 2 Vrms enough to be used on some headphones with high impedance rating up to 600 ohms. The R1 was rated that it can deliver a maximum power output up to 101mW at the maximum voltage output at 1.8V in high gain mode, and on normal gain mode, it can deliver a total power output at 70mW with a 1.5W of maximum output on its voltage, which is quite sufficient to drive IEMs, earbuds and some high impedance headphones. The DAC chip itself can decode up to 32-bit/384kHz of PCM format and it also supports DSD format up to DSD256 that delivers a high fidelity audio quality with remarkable detail and clarity.

The battery of this one has a capacity of 1150mAh/3.8V and it can be supplied with a charging power of 5V/1000mA : 5V/500mA in hours from 0% to 100% of battery level. It can do a playback time up to 15 hours (normal gain mode) with standby time reaching up to 400 hours which is an equivalent of over 15 days which makes this set quite nifty on saving up power consumption. It is also noted that there's a LED light which is placed between power button and volume key button which is quite off-centre in my opinion.

The UI that HIBY OS exhibits is quite minimalistic as it offers a seamless easy operability of its touchscreen system on its 800 x 480 resolution of its screen panel. The screen resolution is quite vibrant enough to display contents like fonts, icons and album pictures. On its icons, it uses some pastel colours in a vector format that somehow delivers a cohesive visual interface that makes it more eye-pleasing.

The icon tiles were arranged into 2 x 6  presentation format. At the top, the first horizontal row are icons consisting of Music and Stream Media ones, while at middle part, it has the Wireless and Books, and then next and the last row at bottom part, there is a System icon and the About icon. There is also a pull down status bar where you can customise the interface shortcut app in your preference albeit it is very limited.

Here are the following apps along with their sub contents:

■ MUSIC

• All
• Files
• Albums
• Artists
• Genre
• Album Artists

By doing swiping gesture from the right, you will access the now playing screen with an album photo, tracking status and media controls.

■ STREAM MEDIA

• Tidal app
• Qobuz

■ WIRELESS

• Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi
• Import Music via Wi-Fi
• DLNA
• AirPlay

■ BOOKS

• Scanning
• Books
• Favorites
• Files
• Recently Readed

■ SYSTEM

• Language
• Backlight Settings
• Theme Color
• Font Size
• USB working mode
• Time Setting
• Idle Shutdown
• Sleep Shutdown
• Battery Percentage Display
• In-line Remote
• LED indicators
• Button Operation When Screen Off
• Shortcut Menu
• Screensaver Setting
• Restore Factory Settings
• Firmware Update
• Certification Information
• Developer's Options (optional)

■ ABOUT

Note: Since this DAP was capped into a certain volume level due to compliance to some laws and regulations particularly in the EU regarding noise pollution to regulate sound level on specific threshold level. If you want to gain access to a higher volume output level, Go to ABOUT and then tap the HIBY print three times to activate Developer's Option where you deactivate the volume lock option.

Under its Setting section, there we can find the MSEB (Mage Sound Eight Ball) app which is HIBY's proprietary advanced EQ system with other audio control parameters which is easy to operate that further improves the overall sound quality based on your tonal preferences

Aside from MSEB, here are the other contents under the Settings.

• Update Database
• Equalizer (**update from the latest firmware)
• Music Update Mode
• Play Mode
• DSD Output Mode
• DSD Gain Compensation
• Resume Play From Last
• Gapless Playback
• Soundfield
• Maximum Digital Volume Output
• Max Volume
• Fixed Power-On Volume
• Crossfade
• Gain
• Replay Gain
• Balance
• Play Through Folders
• Play Through Albums
• Repeat Function
• Speed Play
• Auto-slide To Playback Interface

Unlike its possible predecessor, The R3 II,  the R1 doesn't support headphone DAC/Amp functionality in which you connect it to your smartphone, PC, laptop and tablet that serves as a transport, decoder and amplifier to bypass those devices' built-in DACs.

As for its tonal profile output, The HIBY R1 appears to have a warmish-neutral sound which has a more balanced presentation on the bass and midrange along with a smooth treble presentation that makes it less coloured sounding.

Here are the following listening devices that I'll be using for this product assessment.

• HIBY CRYSTAL 6 MK.II
• LETSHUOER EJ07
• LETSHUOER EJ07M
• LETSHUOER EJ09
• PULA AUDIO ANVIL 114
• JUZEAR DRAGONFLY 81T
• TANGZU WAN'ER SG Studio Edition
• BQEYZ WIND
• KOTORI ZEPHYR
• DITA AUDIO PROJECT M
• MORITZ AUDIO PARADISE

LOWS/BASS:

It appears that this device delivers a bit more of a mid bass-focused bass quality as I notice that it adds a tad mid bass texture on some of my neutral sets in which most of them have tighter bass response. It adds a bit more density and depth on some bass-clef instruments like bass guitars, double basses, kick bass drums and low octave male vocals like basses and bass-baritones.

Sub bass presence is still clearly perceived as some instruments that can generate rumbling and reverberations with likes of drum machines, synthesisers and low tuned bass guitars especially if it is paired with some sub bass-centric IEMs.

MIDRANGE:

The midrange of this one is presented in a well-balanced with ample weight on it enough to deliver a sense of  fullness and plushiness on vocals and instruments with some good detail and clarity on it.  The vocal presentation of this one is well-presented as if it projects forward as it sounds rich, clear and natural which makes it quite versatile on any types of vocals either male or female.

On instruments, it adds more brassy, rounded and full on brasses like trumpets, trombones and horns, while the woodwinds with the likes of concert flute, piccolos and saxophones will sound light, graceful and mild. As for string instruments, it adds a bit of bloom on acoustic guitars, a tad warmth on cellos and then, a sweet and sensuous sound of violin on every grip on bowstrings. And then on percussives, it adds some hardness, resonance and intensity to the sound on snares, tom-toms and field drums. Pianos seems to have a well-balanced and even sound on them.

HIGHS/TREBLE:

The treble quality of this one is quite neutral while retaining that smooth, even and sufficient airy extension with less colouration in this particular part of the audio frequency. This type of treble presentation will not have that glare and intensity that might give a shrill, piercing and tinny sound as it might add some more colouration on already bright sounding sets.

It is still capable of delivering some crisp, clarity and detail on highlighting vocals and attack on instruments.

OVERALL TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE:

This one can project a moderately spacious sound field in a clean sonic canvas along with a well-layered stereo soundscape and a competent separation of instruments which  is capable of panning and sweeping across its sonic spatiality from left to right channel without any sort of issues like channel distortion.

It somehow enhances some of the technical capabilities on already technically-competent sets that adds up more liveliness and atmospheric ambience in our aural perception to enjoy our favourite tracks. This device is reasonably resolving on both macro-dynamics and micro-detail capability.

This device is able to drive IEMs with planar magnetic driver effortlessly at its optimal performance of its properly amplified sound quality.

PEER COMPARISONS:

HIBY R3 II

• It had a tad larger frame compared to R1.
• Its screen resolution is quite inferior as it has only 380 x 480.
• It uses an older model of Ingenic processor.
• Aside from the 3.5mm audio jack, it also has a 4.4mm balanced output.
• It uses a dual ESS mobile DAC chip, ES9219P which is also a reliable audio chip with its proprietary Sabre amp.
• It can deliver more power output.
• This DAP conveys a more balanced-neutral tonal profile.

FIIO X3 Mk.III (DEMO)

• An old entry-level DAP from FiiO which was released around 2017 and it is quite more expensive than the R1 during its initial released.
• It also has a larger profile compared to the R1 and also a bit more weighty.
• It has a larger battery capacity.
• Its screen resolution is quite inferior as it has only 320 x 240.
• Like the R1, it also has customised Linux OS as its main system software.
• It uses a Burr Brown DAC and it was supported with a Texas Instrument headphone amp chip and it has more power output.
• The sound profile of this one has a balanced-warmish tonality.

It seems that once again, HIBY delivers a solid product which is quite affordable, with the 90’s retro-look design on its overall aesthetics, an easy to operate user interface of its heavily-modified Linux OS, an excellent performer for both efficient processing handling and battery management, and a remarkable sonic performance of its overall sound quality. The R1 will assure its place among the budget entry-level DAPs in market

It has some interesting features that HIBY OS could offer  like music streaming via Wi-Fi, E-book (which is quite a bit useless in my opinion given the size of its screen) and wireless audio transmission like Bluetooth and DLNA thats makes this DAP more of an all-rounder, tiny but very competent.

One thing that I am sure about this device and that it will be my top recommendation to an audio enthusiast looking for an affordable, budget-friendly DAP under US$100/£80 without dipping too much on their savings.

HIBY R1 is now available in HIBY's official online store and I will provide their link below.

★★https://store.hiby.com/products/hiby-r1★★

For more HIBY products, you can simply click the following links down.

■ HIBY R6 PRO II

■ HIBY CRYSTAL 6 II

■ HIBY R3 II

■ HIBY YVAIN

■ HIBY R8 II

■ HIBY XENO

SPECIFICATIONS:

MODEL: HIBY R1

DIMENSIONS: 82.5mm x 51.2mm x 12.35mm

SCREEN SIZE: 3 inches

WEIGHT: 70g

OPERATING SYSTEM: HIBY OS (Linux-based)

PROCESSOR: Ingenic X1600E

BLUETOOTH: 5.1

USB PORT: USB 2.0 TYPE-C

OTG-SUPPORT: Yes

MICRO SD MEMORY SUPPORT: up to 2 terabyte

ANALOGUE AUDIO OUTPUT: 3.5mm PO

AUDIO SoC: CIRRUS LOGIC CS43131

AUDIO FORMAT SUPPORTED: MP3, wma, ogg, aac, opus, aiff, wav, ape, flac, DSD, DFF, iso, cue

BLUETOOTH CODEC SUPPORT: AAC, SBC, LDAC, APTX (transmit)

PROS:

● One of the most affordable DAPs in the market, indeed a value for money.

● Quite a compact size and lightweight that makes this DAP easy to handle.

● It appears that its build quality is somehow solid.

● It has a high quality screen for better viewing.

● Simple yet very responsive UI.

● It has some useful but still customisation on its UI.

● 5 colour options to choose from.

● Implementation of a high performance Cirrus Logic DAC audio chip.

● Capable of decoding up to 32-bit/384kHz on PCM and DSD256 on DSD format.

● An addition of a 32 GB micro-SD is a bliss for more data storage.

● For its compact profile, it delivers a good power output in both normal and high gain mode.

● Long playback time up to 15 hours with 16 days of stand-by period.

● Fairly well-packed with accessories.

● Inclusion of a good quality IEM earphone.

● It has a warmish-neutral tonal profile that will deliver a well-balanced and natural sound.

● Somehow it conveys a competent technical performance.

CONS:

● Doesn't have built-in memory storage.

● a 4.4mm balanced output jack could be better but for its size profile.

● As I mentioned that it has good power output, it is still quite weak compared to some headphone DAC/Amp dongles, if you want to compensate for it via volume level, you need to access it via developer to unlock the volume limit.

● It can't function as a DAC/Amp nor as a wireless audio receiver.

● I can't fathom why it still has an e-book feature despite its screen's tiny size.

TRACKS TESTED:

ALL SABATON ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY (FLAC)

GALLOGLASS - Legends From Now and Nevermore album (FLAC)

P.S.

I am not affiliated to HIBY MUSIC nor receive monetary incentives and financial gains as they provide me a review unit for an exchange of factual and sincere feedback from yours truly.

Once again, I would like to send my gratitude to HIBY MUSIC for providing this review unit. I truly appreciate his generosity and trust towards me and other reviewers. 

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