Sound
The new R3 Pro Saber has a great sound performance for the price, especially in terms of dynamism, speed and separation. It has a neutral character so it’s not like the RS2 in any way. It doesn’t sound that all musical, and it certainly is a faithful device to the recording. However, there’s a hint of warmth in the mid-bass and mids overall, but that’s subtle.
Tonality
One might find this sound character a bit dull and dry, though that hint of musicality helps the device and saves it from being completely lifeless. And when you pair that quality with its technical performance, we have a great DAP for just around 200$ which is fabulous.
The bass in the R3 Pro Saber has good punch, and it has the authority when needed. As I remarked, the mid-bass section is a bit warmer than neutral, so you have a full-sounding presentation there. The slam and kick are very satisfying. That provides a nice base for the music, especially when it comes to Pop and Dance music, but you also have good/controlled bass performance in Jazz and Classical.
The mid-range has good tonality, with good musicality which is certainly less than AKM-based players, but still good enough for most genres. It gives clean mids with good detail, air and space. It has a spacious mid-reproduction with good timbre, body and fullness. Of course, the mids sound closer to the stage and it’s not the best positioning or the best depth when you compare it to high-end DAPs. But for 209$, I think the R3 Pro Saber does a very good job in terms of tonality and presentation of mids.
The R3 Pro controls the peaks and sibilance very well. It has good control and dynamics in the treble, and it flows easily without any harsh character at all. However, the good thing is this character doesn’t mean that it misses the transparency or extension. The R3 Pro Saber performs well in these particular areas as well. You have a good treble extension and great micro details. Just like the mids, there’s good space and air in this section. Maybe this is not that important for popular music, but if you listen to modern Jazz recordings for instance, you will hear the difference.
Technical
One of the impressive parts of the R3 Pro Saber is the soundstage performance. Thanks to the new chip and the overhauled amplification stage, the sound stage is very very good for the price. It certainly is improved when compared to its predecessor models, and that’s not it. While having a bigger stage for length and width, the new R3 model also has better separation and layering, which results in good imaging.
Add the good noise floor and black background to this mix, and you have a high-performing, technical-sounding DAP. For this type of money, the technical performance is excellent. Especially the spaciousness in mids is impressive as I touched upon above. Again, micro detail performance and noise floor are very good, with impressive transparency level.
Balanced Output
In terms of output, it has the power to drive many IEMs/headphones out there. I didn’t even feel the need to select high gain with any IEM I tested. Of course, the full-size headphones need a bit more juice. For those, you can select the high-gain mode and also use the BAL output. The 2.5mm out is stronger.
And that output performs better in terms of technicalities as well. To me, the 2.5mm out has a better response with more dynamism and separation. It’s not that the 3.5mm is bad at all, but the BAL output of this player simply makes the sound better in terms of technical performance. I didn’t notice any difference in the tonality part, but the resolution, transparency, background and layering are all a notch better. So if you’re willing to get the 2022 R3 Pro Saber, I recommend 2.5mm cables for you or a 4.4 to 2.5 adapter if you will.
Page 1 – Intro, Package, Design
Page 2 – User Experience & Software
Page 4 – Technical Performance, Comparisons & Conclusion
