Definitely a worthy dovetail feature for HiBy’s streaming features that rely heavily on WiFi such as TIDAL and “Import Music via WiFi”. That should be an assist for those looking for faster and more stable transfer rates over shortish distances. The original R3 was only 2.4G capable whereas the R3 Pro now supports both 2.4G and 5G. Still, everything is there from the legacy R3 updates such as HiByLink, LDAC, and aptX. I say ‘should’ because I do not have a UAT capable receiver here to test that out. This is HiBy’s proprietary codec that should be better than LDAC with up to 192kHz sampling. I suspect a new Qualcomm chip inside though it is not yet listed by HiBy as to which exact chip upgrade.Ĭodecs also get a boost with the introduction of UAT from the previous R3 firmware updates. It is not classed as Bluetooth 5.0 capable, up from the BT4.2 rating on the original R3. The Bluetooth performance has been given an upgrade also on the R3 Pro. This should improve dynamic range and volume control also from your chosen amplifier. You get an increase from the weaker R3 1.1V LO to 2V using the 3.5mm from the new R3 Pro. The lineout performance is now up to the right standard for me for use with desktop and portable amps line inputs. However, balanced has shot up from 112mW per channel to 220mW which is significant, especially with those ‘on paper’ lower noise performance numbers. On a 32Ω load, the output increase via unbalanced is marginal from 56mW per channel to 60mW which might suit those with efficient monitors. The R3 Pro also seems to have had a boost in amping output, particularly with its balanced output power numbers. The R3’s Qobuz integration is also featured on the R3 Pro Upgraded amplification There is also no loss of decoding capability on the new R3 Pro with DSD256 and PCM 32BIT/384kHZ capability as well as the firmware developed MQA compatibility that was launched on the older R3 a few months back. Bear in mind the 1600mAh li-poly battery inside the R3 Pro is unchanged from the one inside the R3. Standby time is now set at 50 days which is incredibly good. Battery life is now rated at 20 hours unbalanced and 16 hours balanced compared to 11 and 9 hours on the R3. The THD+N alone has dropped significantly from 0.003% unbalanced and balanced to 0.0007% and 0.0008% on the new R3 Pro.Ĭonnecting that to the spec battery life and THD+N and there is a massive performance upgrade on the R3 Pro already compared to the R3. Not only does it have an inbuilt headphone amplifier but moving to dual-channel will mean all sorts of superior noise reduction. This is probably the biggest change from the original R3 ES9028Q2M build. The new R3 Pro now sports a dual Cirrus Logic CS43131 DAC implementation. The price? Surprisingly, not that different which is a welcome change in this rapidly inflating audio market. On the inside, however, well that is a totally different story. Now, in late 2019, HiBy has returned with an upgraded or “pro” version of the R3 incorporating many of the subsequent firmware changes applied to the original R3 plus plenty of new and pretty important hardware changes.įrom the outside, it looks almost the same. It pretty much set the bar for what to expect at this price point and everyone has followed suit. This tiny DAP was at the forefront of a slew of equally tiny DAPs that followed not long after at budget-priced specs. The original HiBy R3 launched via Kickstarter in early 2018 was immensely popular with a ton of modern features and an excellent ES9028Q2M DAC to boot for around $200. The main attraction was the R6 but I had never seen such a beautifully compact form factor as the R3 before. It does not seem that long ago since I first saw the HiBy R3 at a show in Guangzhou over 2 years ago.
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