@ghdprentice were you using the internal DAC to compare or were you using an external DAC?
-Ed
Anybody Using a Portable Audio Player (DAP) As a Streamer?
Hi! I just ordered a Hiby R6 Pro II DAP which has a digital output. I plan to use it on the go (as it is intended), but also at home as my streamer, by using its USB port to connect to my Denafrips Ares II DAC (bypass the internal DAC), and hoping to use the Hiby Cast app to control the DAP from my listening position. I plan to listen to DSD files loaded to a micro SD card on the DAP as well as streaming Apple Lossless by installing the native Apple Music app onto the DAP.
Is anyone else using such a setup instead of buying a standard desktop streamer (such as a Fiio R7/R9 or Eversolo DMP-A6/8)? If so, how's it working out for you? I see Hiby even makes a special dock for their DAPs to facilitate such a usage (the Hiby CR06 dock, which isn't cheap). Does it output bitperfect high-resolution audio to your external DAC without issues?
-Ed
- ...
- 12 posts total
OP,
I tried both. If I have a chance in the next day or two, I’ll do the comparison again.
@fuzztone …”I have an A&K and it sounds flat …”
+1 |
My R6 Pro II came in on Monday, along with my Gustard H16. The H16 replaced an SMSL SP400 as my preamp. I installed an SD card preloaded with some DSD recordings as well as installed Apple Music for all of my lossless/high-res lossless playlists from the cloud. The latest firmware update from HiBy occurred on late Monday night for version 1.3 of the firmware which added system-wide fully customizable parametric EQ. Long story short, I was able to successfully remove the DBX 31-band graphic equalizer unit from my chain which I had been using for room correction thanks to the firmware update/global parametric EQ. Furthermore, I found the performance of using the balanced analog output/integrated AKM4499EX/4191EQ DAC of the DAP itself to be quite good, 90-95% of the performance of using the separate Denafrips Ares II when comparing the most like filter settings (OS/slow on Ares II vs extra slow roll-off on the DAP), so I have decided to sell the Ares II to my dad and just run the DAP directly to my Gustard preamp--in other words, my experience is not too far off the mark from @mulveling . Changing my subwoofer connection from the sub outs of my Fosi ZA3 monoblocs to the single ended output of my new H16 also sounds way better, with significantly improved resolution as well as control from my SVS SB-3000 sub. One thing I noticed was a massive change in sound quality by making sure to set Gain to High and volume to 100 on the DAP to ensure the full 4V is fed from the balanced line out to the preamp. Much better dynamics, much more punch, than Gain set to Low (comparing with volume matched at the preamp between settings). @ghdprentice I am wondering if this might have been part of the issue for you comparing the DAP to a desktop streamer for you. @fuzztone I had no issues getting HiByCast to work on my iPhone or my iPad for controlling the R6 Pro II prior to the 1.3 firmware update. It was also working fine immediately after the firmware update. Last night I had only 5 minutes or so to play with it, but for some reason it was not working right all of a sudden, but I will try again later today when I get back home again (work from the office on Wednesdays) to fix it. Hoping it can be resolved by resetting or rebooting this or that. Overall, I am extremely pleased with the result. The DAP has exceeded my expectations for performance in the role of network streamer for my chain. As long as I can fix this (hopefully temporary) issue with HiByCast, I couldn’t be happier. Being able to remove two other components from my chain is the icing on the cake! -Ed |
- 12 posts total