Hiby R6 2020 Review

HiBy R6 2020

Today we’re going to be checking out the new HiBy R6 2020, the New Version! It’s selling for $799USD.

 

 

Disclaimer: HiBy sent us the new HiBy R6 2020 for the purpose of this review. I only covered the import taxes and fees. All thoughts and experiences with the product are naturally my own.

HiBy recently released their flagship player HiBy R8. The product that we are going to be reviewing today is the updated version of HiBy R6 and it shares the same design language as the new R8. It is slightly smaller and lighter.

HiBy R6 2020 DAP

HiBy

HiBy Music is a company that specializes in the research & development of portable audio equipment. They have been in the industry since 2011. They designed and developed wide-range of products from DAPs to various Bluetooth devices. HiBy is a very innovative company and they have a huge R&D team with over 40 professionals. Their HiBy Music App has a user base of 2 million users in over 100 countries around the globe. We also just recently reviewed their TOTL Portable player, the award winning R8.

They successfully launched many other DAPs as well in the past and now they launched a new version of R6. We have reviewed the original 6 back in 2017 already. Check out the review here:

There of course also still is the R6 PRO edition. You can find that review here: https://www.headfonia.com/review-hiby-r6-pro/

HiBy R6 2020

The HiBy R6 2020 features new hardware such as the Snapdragon 660 SoC, 4 gigabytes of RAM, new dual ES9038Q2M DAC audio circuit design, custom, bit-perfect android 9 along with new tweaks and optimizations. The HiBy R6 was a good player and I am very excited about the R6 2020. It also received a design overhaul and it looks like the little brother of the HiBy R8.

Let’s take a little memory trip together. HiBy released the first R6 in 2018. It featured dual ES9028Q2M chips. It debuted with Android 6 and it can be updated to Android 8.1. It was one of the few players which supported Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 at the time. It had 3 gigabytes of RAM and a Snapdragon 425 SoC.

In 2019, HiBy released the R6 Pro. HiBy improved the tonality and few other aspects of the original R6, released a more refined player. They integrated ELNA & POSCAP capacitors and MUSES chips. It also supported Android up to 8.1 and note that the whole R6 series supports DTA, which means they completely optimized Android OS for all apps to bypass resampling. The R6 Pro featured the decoding of MQA files as a new feature over the original R6. The R6 Pro sported the time-tested ES9028Q2M and Snapdragon 425 SoC, as well.

Hiby R6 2020

In the last months of 2020, HiBy released the HiBy R6 2020. It features a new design language, much like their new flagship player the R8, with a sharper, edgier design. HiBy practically changed and updated everything about the R6 2020. It is a complete overhaul over the original and Pro versions. It features dual ES9038Q2M chips with native support for DSD512. Tweaks were made to achieve a darker, cleaner background and they integrated dual crystal oscillators to eliminate jitter. HiBy didn’t forget about the time-tested ELNA and POSCAP capacitors for the R6 2020 either. In my opinion, the best upgrade of the R6 2020 is the new power supply circuit design. As you know, most of the negative impact to sound quality comes from the power and HiBy used LDO and a few other tweaks to minimize this.

They also separated line and amplification stages to two independent & isolated power supplies. This will probably decrease the bad ground noise in the circuitry. HiBy also integrated a new 4.4mm balanced output and a new MQA decoder that supports 16x unfolding thanks to the strong processing power of the new Snapdragon 660 SoC. Their bit-perfect HiByOS is based on custom Android 9 to fully support Tidal & other high fidelity focused apps. We’ll talk more about the changes in this review so read on!

Specifications & Technical Data

  • Android 9 with system-wide DTA Architecture
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC + 4GB RAM
  • Dual ES9038Q2M DAC + OPA1612 / SSM6322 / OPA1642
  • 16X MQA Unfolding
  • Bluetooth 5.0 + LDAC, UAT
  • 4.97’’ IPS 1080P Multi-touch Display with 443 PPI
  • 64GB Internal Storage with 2TB Micro SD Support
  • Aluminium Construction (235g) 130x73x15mm
  • OTA Firmware Updates + Google Play Store
  • 4500 mAh Battery with QC3.0 Fast Charging via USB-C 3.1
  • 4.4mm BAL LO + 3.5mm UNBAL LO on the left side
  • 3.5mm UNBAL PO + 4.4mm BAL PO on the right side
  • DLNA & Airplay Support
  • USB-C Coaxial Support (Cable Included)
  • 8.5H Balanced & 10H SE Continuous Playback
  • Low Output Impedance
  • MSRP 799 USD

Packaging & Accessories

The HiBy R6 2020 comes in a very elegant, glossy bronze package. If you go ahead and slide off the cover, the R6 2020 will be presented to you in a black box with very chic bronze accents. Upon opening it, you’ll see the player on the right and a compartment that has a bronze 6 logo, on the left. As for accessories, the R6 2020 comes out of the factory with front and back glass protectors installed. That is something I really appreciate because sometimes it is not so easy to apply them yourself. Especially when you’re not familiar with the design.

HiBy also did not forget to include a spare protector for the front glass, just in case. The left compartment has two neatly packed cables. A gold plated USB-C to USB-A cable to charge the device and a USB-C Coaxial Cable. It is nice of HiBy to include this cable as it is a rare one. You also get a chic leather case if you pre-order(ed) the R6 2020. The overall unboxing experience feels premium and the R6 2020 provides a sight to behold.

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4.1/5 - (69 votes)
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Long time Tech Enthusiast, an ambitious petrol-head, Yagiz likes his gadgets and always finds new ways into the tinkerer's world. He tries to improve anything and everything he gets his hands onto. Loves an occasional shine on the rocks.

13 Comments

  • Reply January 3, 2021

    András Rév

    I just tried the Hiby R3 Pro Saber, which only has Hiby OS and found buggy, meaning the song played was stopped some times and the recovery from this state took half a minute!
    Android 9 is a great advantage!
    Could you try the R6-2020 with UAPP Android application?
    In my opinion this is the best mobile music player app sounding clearly better than e.g. TIDAL Windows application.

    • Reply January 4, 2021

      Yagiz

      I don’t know about R3 but R6 2020’s Android is very polished. Android is a resource hog and the better the processor, better the experience. I used UAPP before, and tomorrow I’ll try it with R6 2020. I believe it has a huge advantage when you’re pairing it with a USB DAC but I did not see any other improvement beside that in the past.

  • Reply January 3, 2021

    Aslan B

    Nice looking DAP. Hows it stack up against a Fiio M11/M11Pro?

    • Reply July 18, 2021

      Alex

      Too bad no answer to this 🙁

  • Reply January 5, 2021

    Claudio

    Hi. Googd review. I had the hiby r6 pro and i think was a great product so this r6 2020 must be the same or better. My only concern with this android DAP is the battery duration. As an smartphone, the battery start to reduce their capacity (after 1 year or less). That was the reason to sold my r6 pro. After four months using it i realized that the battery didn”t have the initial duration . The problem of this dap is that you are using the battery not only for the android system. You need battery to power the dac and the internal amps. For that reason i think if you like an andorid dap will be better to get one with huge battery not the same that the smartphones but be aware that after a year you will notice a poor batrery performance (assuming that you will use it almost everyday).

    Despite of that i would love to have the chance to hear music with the r6 2020

    • Reply January 22, 2021

      Yagiz

      These batteries do not degrade that fast, worry less and enjoy more!

  • Reply January 20, 2021

    Marc

    Would you happen to have had the chance to compare it to any of the iFi Micro iDSD models or maybe even the Chord Mojo? I am wondering whether the latest gen DAPs at the price point have caught up with the better sounding (trans)portable DAC/amps, at least for IEMs and efficient headphones.

    • Reply January 22, 2021

      Yagiz

      From memory, it has less midbass hump compared to Mojo. It is also technically superior and it is clearer, resolution-wise. It is more spacious and airy as well.

      • Reply January 23, 2021

        Marc

        Thanks for this! Read in another thread that the Hiby R6 Pro was better for a user than his OG iDSD. Glad to see DAPs really pushing quality that belies their size.

  • Reply March 10, 2021

    Brock

    Will this work with Android Auto?

  • Reply March 25, 2021

    Michael

    Can you tell me if they improved the high output impedance from the previous R6 that was 10 Ohms. Trying to decide if it’s worth upgrading my zx300 to the R6 2020. Thank you.

  • Reply March 26, 2021

    Andrew

    Skimpy review, just didn’t like it. Only one comparison, no test will full size headphones… There are more informative reviews even on YouTube. Sorry but I had to say it.

  • Reply July 6, 2021

    Eric Wilson

    How does sound quality compare to the R6 Pro? Is it really that much better to justify an upgrade or is it only marginally better?

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