HiBy R5 Saber Review

Sound

Even though I’m sold for the design and user experience, let’s see what the R5 Saber puts on the table in terms of sound.

The HiBy R5 Saber is a clean-sounding device with good speed, dynamics, and sound-stage. I found the separation part pretty successful with good resolution. Overall it puts up a better performance with more refinement and accuracy than the standard R5 model. The improvements are certainly worth the upgrade and I think this is the device that HiBy should’ve released in the first place.

Bass

The bass response of the R5 Saber is rather on the leaner side, with good decay and speed with moderate impact. The kick is there, but it doesn’t reach deep like some other higher-priced DAPs, which is okay for me. I particularly liked the decay and quickness of the bass. There isn’t too much of sub-bass for quantity, but that is pretty good actually with dynamic driver IEMs, since they can be too “boomy” in that region, therefore the R5 can balance them out.

Unique Melody 3DT

Midbass is nicely executed with good texture and control. It’s not too fat and doesn’t get in the way of things too much. And that provides good separation between the midbass and mid-region. I think the overall bass performance of the R5 Saber is very ideal and reference-like in terms of presentation. Of course, you always have the MSEB and EQ options to boost the lows. But the default setup gives a quick and textured bass response that is very good for the price level.

The bass is also tighter than the standard R5 overall, which creates a more balanced and consistent response. In the R5, although the quantity is not too much, you can still feel the dispersed bass hits from time to time. So the tightness of the bass is not the best. But with the R5 Saber, the bass has more control and speed, so it has better decay performance with more refinement.

Mids

The mid-range sounds cleaner and sharper than the R5. It’s quite clean and without any veils that can reduce the overall transparency. I found the mid-range very transparent and correct in terms of timbre. The resolution is very good for the price and it has good dynamism with the instrument sounds.

The positioning is realistic, especially in terms of vocals, and the clarity is quite nice as well. The mid-area is the most successful part of the R5 in my opinion, sounding clear, neutral, and honest. The musical and organic touch is there too, which is always nice to have. In sum, the mids are great and they are the best part of the R5 for the price.

You may say that the R5 Saber is more on the neutral side than the R5, but I still think that there’s a certain amount of warmth with the Saber model. Sure, the R5’s mids are a bit warmer, but the R5 Saber is not necessarily cold in the mids. I think the presentation is not much different here, but the instruments and vocals are now more refined and better accentuated.

HiBy R5 Saber

Treble

I didn’t quite like the treble in the R5 but the R5 Saber gives a better performance in this area. The treble section was not transparent enough and it lacked some detail in the R5. The R5 Saber performs better here with more detail and resolution. Highs are more refined and they sound sharper with better focus and definition.

They’re also very controlled and don’t cause any discomfort when listening. There’s a good balance here with very good resolution. I would’ve liked a bit more extension though, but that may not be fair because of the price level here. So overall it’s nice to see the improvement in this region. With the fixed treble range, the R5 Saber is a much more complete DAP than the R5 in terms of overall sound performance.

Is the treble now perfect? Well, no. It’s still a bit thick-sounding and needs a better extension. But it’s more detailed and better defined so it’s not too deficient in that sense as the standard R5.

Page 1 – Intro

Page 2 – User Experience & Software

Page 4 – Technical Performance & Conclusion

4/5 - (91 votes)
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A keen audiophile and hobby photographer, Berkhan is after absolute perfection. Whether it is a full-frame camera or a custom in-ear, his standpoint persists. He tries to keep his photography enthusiasm at the same level as audio. Sometimes photography wins, sometimes his love for music takes over and he puts that camera aside. Simplistic expressions of sound in his reviews are the way to go for him. He enjoys a fine single malt along with his favourite Jazz recordings.

12 Comments

  • Reply May 6, 2021

    World Wide Stereo

    Ads make your reviews very difficult to read on mobile platforms. I couldn’t finish reading it.

    • Reply May 7, 2021

      Lieven

      what’s the screen resolution? Was there an option to close the ad? Thank you

  • Reply May 7, 2021

    Sagnik Biswas

    Is it possible to make a comparison with Shanlong M3X?

    • Reply May 7, 2021

      Berkhan

      M3X belongs to Nano unfortunately.

  • Reply May 9, 2021

    Joni

    Hello
    How would you compare the r5 saber with ibasso dx160 soundwise?

  • Reply May 9, 2021

    Gabriele

    let’s go back to Sony!

  • Reply May 23, 2021

    Enzo Genaro

    Hola tremenda revisión muchas gracias, una pregunta, como crees que funcione con el HD 660s harán buena pareja?

  • Reply May 25, 2021

    CHRISTOPHE BORIES

    R3 pro ou R5 ? qui a le meilleur son ? juste le son. merci de m’aider

    • Reply July 29, 2021

      Rachmanto

      Can we download song from Tidal to be played offline? Thanks

  • Reply September 15, 2021

    Adam

    I know I’m a little late to this review article, but was wondering if you might be able to touch upon a point for me (as well as other readers/possible buyers).

    The ever-loathed topic of max 20,000 music files being viewable by a whole long list of DAPs.

    I asked HiBy if the above was also the case with the R5 Saber, and they said no – that it had in their words, “no media restrictions.” To further clarify, I then asked whether the only limitation would be in maxing out the micro sd card you use, in which case is 2TB (according to HiBy), and the said “yes.”

    Do you have the same experience? Obviously HiBy has no reason to lie because this would be quickly verified by anyone who buys/owns one, but I’m looking for anyone who currently has one and who might be able to test this out…

    That at over 20,000+ files, you can still view all of them within the normal functionality of the player, such as searching via Artists, Albums, Songs, or Genres (and not the “backdoor” method of going to the folders tab.

  • Reply November 16, 2023

    Ali

    Thanks

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