HIBY FC6 Review

In this article, we review the HiBy FC6, a new DAC/AMP dongle, available for $299 USD.

Disclaimer: The HiBy FC6 was sent to us free of charge, by the brand in exchange for our honest opinion.

HIBY

HiBy Music is a company that specializes in the research & development of portable audio equipment. They have been in the industry since 2011, mostly with their software presence for various DAPs and smartphones. Since 2017, they’ve been designing and developing a wide range of products from DAPs to various Bluetooth devices and IEMs of their own.

HIBY successfully launched many DAPs and they’re continuing so. We’ve reviewed the highly acclaimed flagship RS8 recently, which you can check out here. Not only that, but they also make DAC/Amps and IEMs. Our most recent HIBY review was no other than their new Zeta flagship IEM, as you also can check it out just below:

We also have reviewed several other HiBy products, and you can find them here.

HIBY FC6

The new FC6 is the new USB DAC/Amp from Hiby. This new device uses Hiby’s now famous ”Darwin” architecture with an R2R DAC. Of course, you get the same treatment as the ”Darwin” DAPs that Hiby has released so far; FIR filtering and NOS/OS mode switch. 

This new model also features ”dual independent precision clocking”, and a discrete amp stage with dual OPA1622 amp chips, with 4-way independent current mode amplification. FC6 also supports 8x MQA unfolding, Hi-Res audio support up to DSD512 (natively), and PCM 32/768. The device works on Android, Windows, and MAC OS.

Packaging

The new FC6 arrives in a square cardboard box. You see the HIBY logo with its new uppercase letters, which I find a good decision since it makes the brand look more serious and premium. Once you open it, you see a leather case inside. This little cool case stores the device and the USB cables, all in a tidy presentation. Overall a nice packaging for a USB DAC/Amp.

Design & Build

The design of the new FC6 is pretty nice. Like all USB dongles, it has a rectangular shape with similar design elements. However, HIBY added a few quirks here, like the circle you see on the front of the device. That circular button is the filter and NOS/OS switch. You tap it and change the filter setting from the volume buttons. Tap it once more and you select NOS/OS setting with the same method.

HIBY also added a thin stripe under that button to show the sample rate, which looks pretty neat. On the top, you have the Darwin logo, which HIBY likes to use often nowadays. To top it all off, you have a very nice leather case surrounding the device. All in all, I think the design is very cool.

I also liked the design of the screen with a yellow HIBY logo on the top, with the model name under that. The volume information is also there at the bottom. When you play music, you see the audio format on top and the sample rate under. It is nice software overall. 

For the build quality side, it’s an aluminium chassis so it feels quite well, and the top glass looks pretty nice. The ”HIBY FC6” model designation is printed (carved, if you will) on the back, which is also cool.

User Experience

As expected, the HiBy FC6 is very simple to use. You plug it into your phone, insert your headphone jack, and you’re good to go. There were no issues with my Samsung Android phone, or with my Windows laptop. Each time, the HiBy FC6 was immediately recognized by the source, and the music came out almost instantly.  On Windows, I had to wait a minute, until the OS got the right driver but after that, it worked flawlessly. 

HiBy provides both USB-C to USB-C and USB-A to USB-C cables, there is no Lightning adapter, which means that you’ll have to buy your adapters, like the ddHiFi TC28i, or a dedicated USB-C to Lightning cable.

On the go, it’s a pleasant device to use, and the small size is great for commuters. You have hardware volume controls, allowing you to set the volume up and down, directly from the device itself.  Last but not least, you can spot a LED stripe on the bottom side, indicating the current sampling rates:

• yellow for files up to 48kHz
• cyan for files between 64 and 192 kHz
• orange for files above 352.8 kHz
• magenta for MQA rendering
• white for DSD
• and finally red for the pause

Bonus point, you can use the HiByMusic app’s USB exclusive mode, with your smartphone, unlocking perfect hardware/software symbiosis, to unleash the full potential of the DAC – and the app is great.

With all the positives aside, there’s an important drawback with the FC6. The output is only 3.5mm single-ended. I’m quite surprised with the decision here, as 4.4mm is extremely popular nowadays. Sure, I don’t care that much about a BAL output, but for the practicality aspect, most audiophiles have their IEMs with 4.4mm cables in the first place.

And the FC6 is not a very cheap USB dongle either, so the potential customer base for this model would be the people that have mid to high-range IEMs or headphones. I’m sure HIBY has its own design/engineering reasons behind this decision, but I think HIBY could’ve made the device just a bit bigger, with a 4.4mm output, and maybe with a slight price bump, although too cheap as it is. Nevertheless, let’s move on to sound quality.

Page 2 – Sound Quality