R4 MP3 & MP4 Player Spotify Player with Bluetooth and WiFi 4-Way HiFi DAP Android 12 OS 3.5mm PO+4.4mm Bal 32G+2TB Scalable Memory

As someone who recently came into the DAP world, I did a fair amount of looking around and watching reviews before I purchased the HiBy R4. While I realize this player has been around for about a year now, I only just now concluded that I would like to have one. I think for a mid-range DAP with a lot of high end features you can't go wrong here. Really for the bargain price you pay, you get a lot of bang for your buck here. Sure you can do a lot better if you have deep pockets and are an audio snob, but this will be more than enough for most people. The main reasons I decided to get this player specifically were the following; 1. Up until now I always used my iPhone for music playback and while that may suit my needs for convenience, when I can only carry one device, I am trying to get away from my phone more and not be distracted with texts or endless scrolling of nonsense so I can just relax and enjoy my music and the HiBy R4 allows me to do that. Sure as it is an Android OS, you can add internet apps as you would on pretty much any smart-phone (with a few limitations), but this requires steady wifi and then your kinda eliminating the point. This is a DAP for those who are serious about intimacy with their music the ability to play it back as intended and maybe having a few extra features. Nothing more, nothing less, which is exactly what I wanted. 2. I'm really sick and tired of the trouble I have to go to in order to sync my CD collection in the hundreds of albums, to my iPhone AND the space is limited too so I can't just store every album I have on my phone. Additionally, iPhone, though it is capable of playing FLAC in the files folder itself independently from their music app or third party apps, does NOT allow you to natively sync FLAC files to be played back in Apple's native music app built into iOS. So this means if you want your lossless files with your mp3s you downloaded from Amazon or elsewhere, you have to convert your CD's to ALAC to begin with or convert your FLAC's to ALACs in order for them to show up in the native music app. Yes there are third party apps but why should I have to go to all that trouble? It's tedious and a royal pain. I don't like itunes, never did (I always used a third party program), but I am tired of a controlled proprietary eco-system where, in 2025, being a PC user, I 'should' be able to plug in my iPhone and just sync my files (and by now for the cost it should handle any kind of audio files I would like to play on it). This operation should be simple right? But no. Thus I wanted to get an audio player that handles it all! AAC, AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, mp3, WAV...whatever! And further, I want it to be drag and drop where I can just simply drag the album folder over to the SD card within Windows explorer without the experience needing to be some contrived and tedious operation. You get the point. HiBy4 to the rescue! 3. The standard iPhone dongle DAC can only handle up to 16 bits and 48kHz sampling. While this is sufficient in most situations and for most people, there are times it's limits come into play. For example, if you have a 24 bit, 96 kHz files, it will down-convert it upon playback (or you will need to down-sample it in an audio program and resave it as a new file -in ALAC-otherwise it may not even play at all). And though I realize you can get a separate DAC dongle, why bother spending the money? With all the above mentioned, why not just eliminate all the headaches at once? That's what I like about this player in addition to; -Four ESS DAC's and crystal clear smooth sound. I mainly have ALAC and FLACs on mine but I do have some albums I have only in mp3 because they came from Amazon with vinyl purchases. Even playback of moderately encoded mp3's sound great and dare I say even at times, indistinguishable from lossless in clarity. Some have said they hear noise. On the few occasions I have played mp3's I have not experienced any problem like that whatsoever. Obviously with mp3, the higher the bit-rate, the better but it does just fine with high-quality VBR files in that area too. Keep in mind an mp3 or AAC file is also going to dependent upon original encoding but I have noticed no issues in this area. -Class A amplifier with three stages of gain (I use the middle one with my IEM's). No volume limits! You get a warning once if you go over a certain threshold but once you dismiss it, it does not keep annoying you. As an adult I can appreciate they let the user set this. Most of us should be able to discern what is too loud. That said however, you CAN limit the max volume allowed under settings as by default it's at 100. I have mine set around 80 and usually I don't go above 55-60 in my average listening time. I do this personally so I don't accidentally turn it up to max so there is a limit. The only times I may turn it up is for an older album that's not as loud. Some have said they don't know how to unlock the volume and I admit at first this confused me too. This is under the audio settings for MQA/DSD (yes this player can play MQA and DSD too). You have to disable the 'Spdif digital volume lock' and then it will allow you to turn up and down the volume with the buttons on the side so as to use with a headset. Since I have no intention to playback DSD and MQA encoded music (though it's nice to know you can) this was not a problem for me. I could be wrong about the setting on this part but then I have no DSD or MQA files to test it with and probably never will. Still nice to know about it though. -Ability to use a micro SD up to 2 TB so I can carry my entire library. I currently use a 512 GB SanDisk Extreme C10, U3, A2, V30. My other choice would have been a Samsung Pro with the same specs which I may order eventually as a backup. I got a higher class card because I wanted fast transfer speeds both when adding files from my computer to the player and when the player itself is reading them. It may be overkill but I wanted to be sure. I also wanted to use a card with a good reliability reputation and these two appear to have some of the higher ratings. -Ability to use a 3.5mm unbalanced or a 4.4mm balanced. So this DAP can handle various IEM's and headphones and due to it's class-A amplification it has plenty of power to do so. I am currently using the Linsoul KZ ZS 10 pro as I wanted a cheaper pair having never owned IEM's before. I realize there are better IEM's but I'm not made of money either. To start with as a newbie to IEM, they will do (for now). -Excellent clear display. Pics I have posted speak for itself. Some have complained about the brightness and resolution but I have not had to adjust the brightness at all and it's on 80 as it came from the factory and it's absolutely sufficient for basic operation and album art. And 720p resolution is fine for a DAP. Remember, this is for mainly enjoying music. Not watching movies. Though it can do those things if you want, it's then sorta defeating the purpose and why would you want to watch a movie on a 4-inch screen anyway? I digress. It is adequate for my needs and will suffice for most. If you expect it to be a phone then you may as well stay with your phone. -I like that HiBy included a case to put the player in. Many DAPs do not come with a case at all from what I've heard. It also has a clear, glass-like screen protector installed. Some say theirs had bubbles, but mine did not. They give you an extra one in the box too, though I think that one is more of a matte finish so I prefer the one that's already on the R4. In both cases, I'm satisfied that I didn't have to purchase these accessories separately as usually with a phone or most audio players you have to. For being included I think HiBy hit a home-run here. -The ergonomics. This player looks and feels like it's built like a tank. The packaging in which it arrives makes it even more 'premium-like' and appealing. There is a little weight to it, but to me it's really no heavier than my iPhone with an Otter Box case/protector installed. The difference in weight between the two are pretty negligible in my opinion. Some say it's too chunky, but most higher end DAP's with all the circuitry they pack in there are anyway. To me it actually feels great holding it. It's not to slim, not too large and it allows for a good-grip. -Setup is straight-forward to get it going if your intention is soley for music purposes. Obviously if you want to use streaming services such as Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify or Tidal -you will have to add those apps as they are not pre-installed. While I'm specifically not a fan of any Android OS as I'm used to iOS, it's not that difficult to figure out with some patience. It does take some getting used to but the more you use the player, it really shouldn't be a problem. Actually the fact that it has Android 12 is a good thing because this means you aren't limited to a locked-down system as then it can run pretty much any app you would need it to. -It has Bluetooth but be cautioned that you CANNOT play lossless through Bluetooth! Sure the lossless file will play in and of itself, but the audio you actually get from any Bluetooth device (whether this player or a phone) will be compressed so that it can send that audio data wirelessly. Apparently, the R4 can also receive audio in Bluetooth mode, though I have no intentions of using mine in Bluetooth either way because again, I feel it defeats the purpose. Some swear by LDAC which it apparently does support but you have to verify that whatever you are casting to and pairing it with can also support LDAC otherwise it will use whatever is best for compatibility. It is my personal opinion that if you're going to be playing lossless music, you should always use a wired connection but again, that's my opinion. -It can be used as an external DAC and you can get an adapter as well to connect a digital SPDIF to the USB-C port. Though I will likely not use that feature, it's nice to know it's there if someone would need to or like to use it or if I would ever choose to use it in the future depending on my setup needs. Now the few things (so far) I have noticed that I don't care for or like (and this may be more related to HiBy music than the player itself); -ALBUM ART. -In the HiBy music app, though I KNOW that an album has art as it's verified on my PC before transferring to the R4, for some reason, the player or the HiBy music app does not always display the album art. There is a feature where it can display the art by downloading it, but you need to have it connected to wifi, which when I'm using the player, I prefer not to have it on Wifi for battery saving purposes. As a recommendation, I think it would be cool if the app would actually update the art and save it to the audio file in question if it thinks its missing. If it's going to download the art in the first place to display it, why not make it so that it stays with the audio file even if your offline? Another suggestion, when sorting albums or artists, they need to use the name of the group, NOT the preceding suffix. Let's say for example if I want to listen to The Cranberries or The Cars -the app should alphabetically sort these under C, not under T for the word 'the.' There are other apps for playback that do this so I'm not sure why HiBy does it backwards in their music app -but maybe they can fix it. :) -The EQ and related touch insensitivity. Sometimes, when adjusting the EQ or toggling certain options off and on, there can be delay which is annoying. The reason this is an issue is because then you may move the slider too far on a certain frequency and it jacks up the sound. I primarily noticed it in the EQ within the music app and the MSEB settings for sound in both the music app and the settings for the player itself. Certainly there must be a way to fix this. When I received the player as of June 2025, I ran all the updates but it still seems to be there. The weird thing is that it doesn't do it every time. This may be what folks are referring to when they say there is touch laggy-ness. I have confidence this is probably some bug that needs to be worked out or a firmware update may fix it. I do think the EQ could be more user friendly. It would be nice if in the settings they had one like they do in the music apps where I could just slide the different frequencies up and down. Maybe they will read this and may be able to add that but for now it's only in the HiBy music app. -The battery. Man this thing drains fast. It seemed when the charge was at 100% it was down to 90% in 10 to 15 minutes. I don't usually listen for more than a few hours at a time but if I were using the player longer than that it may be a concern. I can only attribute this to the hardware that makes the player work and specifically, the amplification and DAC processes. The gain may have something to do with this as well. Like I said above, I leave mine on the middle as I felt the default at low was too low and this is going to be circumstantial to the user's IEMs or headphones being used. I will say I have not noticed any heat issues like some have mentioned. I have also heard that this could be because the battery is new and needs to be fully cycled a few times. It seems to be lessening the more I use it. Maybe if they are using gain on high this could be why but to me the player gets a little warm but it certainly doesn't get anywhere near so hot I can't hold it. I imagine if you are driving headphones that require a lot of amplification this could be a factor both from the amp and battery drain. I like that it does support quick charging. I use mine with an Anker PowerPort III nano at 19 watts (you can use a charge brick up to 20w) and charge time is about two hours. You can set a battery charge limit so when you have it connected to a PC it does not reach 100% and prematurely charge it more than you want. Doing this can help prolong the battery life. For example I won't let mine charge past 75% if it's connected for adding music but this is totally dependent on what the user wants to do. Short charge cycles repetitively can and do wear out a battery. The battery is accessible for service if it needs replaced at some point. Obviously have it serviced by a professional if it should ever get to that point but you could theoretically do it yourself if you know what you're doing. There are screws on the back and some folks have pointed this out in video reviews so that too is nice to know for when the time comes. -I really don't like the appearance of the 'future-funk' feel U.I. Some may like it, but I'm not a fan. It was confusing to me in the beginning because icons were not labeled as to what they were. The player itself is sharp looking but it would be nice if they had more options for background and themes as I find the included ones quite hideous. Just being honest. Being an Android OS I'm sure there is a way to make it more personable on the apps and such. I personally use the Niagra launcher for Android on mine to make the music apps front and center and to organize and customize everything. Shout out to SuperReview on YouTube for pointing out this solution when setting up a DAP. All in all so far, the HiBy R4 seems to be a great value and overbuilt (a good thing) for the cost. Could it use a few improvements? Of course, but then what player could not always use improvement? Nothing is perfect and this is why my review title says 'Great...but have realistic expectations.' It's great for what it does and overall has everything you need and nothing you don't. I originally removed one star due to a few of the problems I mentioned but HiBy did reach out to help and I have since been able to customize and overcome the original few issues I mentioned. Overall I would still recommend for the facts that it still sounds fantastic, seems to be built well and simply does what I need it to do. It is an older model as of the summer of 2025 but for someone new to the DAP world, I think it's awesome as you get quite a bit for your money even considering HiBy has since released a new player. This will still be more than fine for most out there. Even audiophiles have been pleased with it and that says a lot. Happy listening everyone!

GREAT product! Downloaded 200GB+ FLAC files and at least 50GB of Spotify music to 1TB microSD over Wifi using SyncThing and Spotify, drained battery by 45%. This is incredible. Took a nap while it finished downloading a couple dozen GB of FLAC files on the charger, was cool to the touch and fully charged when i woke up several hours later. Spotify CANNOT be used while downloading files to microSD card, nearly unusable, even on a high speed card. The music i listen to all the time (using bluetooth, Spotify, Very High) is noticeably enhanced. I have not tested with wired headphones yet, but I assume the enhancement would be even higher. Connects and works well with both my vehicles bluetooth systems (Microsoft Sync and Generic GMC). Today it was 96 degrees F and downloading both Spotify and SyncThing/FLAC at the same time produced noticeable heat, but not much more than my phone while browsing facebook. The system is blinding fast and reacts to button presses immediately. The bit perfect system is very apparent. Very easy to use. I really can't find a reason to complain about this device. Besides maybe not having a GPS chip so I could use it entirely instead of connecting my phone when i need to get directions. But that is not the point of this device. I like the color better with the TPU case on and the warmth of the device when syncing so much data, at the same time, in nearly 100 degree weather would have been a bit much to comfortably hold the device for a sustained period of time. Storage capacity is adequate for testing the device, but you will want to use a microSD card formatted in exFAT format (mine came preformatted). I got the green one, and instead of the neon green, with the TPU case on, it is more of a forest green. I was between this and the M300, and the battery life is worth not having an onboard speaker. Body is aluminum and glass, very high quality and durable build quality.

This Device is great if you want to listen to music offline. There is a lost of settings and customization within this device that takes a while to get used to but works well. The option to expand the storage is a plus and easy to access within the device when importing music. Connecting to bluetooth is easy to do and the sound quality is convenient but it does not compare to listening to it with wire headphones, there has been latency and skipping if I'm using bluetooth while I'm walking so keep that in mind while exercising. The touch screen is not very responsive at time compared to your usual smartphone but the physical buttons make up for it. The device itself is well made and sturdy as well. Overall this is a great modern Mp3 player/DAP for the price the pros overweighs the cons in my opinion.

This device is basically a fat little smartphone-sized Android tablet with some powerful sonic hardware inside. Yes, you can install any Android apps you want because of this, use whatever music player you want, whatever streaming app. You can browse the internet, watch videos, etc. It gets warm though. It has a continuous metal frame running around the edge with glass and plastic sandwiching everything between. It feels robust. There's a screen protector included and a soft shell skin, but if you're buying something this cool-looking, toss the skin and show off the device, even if does mean the power and SD card ports are exposed. The screen is responsive, but the device does lag sometimes. This is specced for playing high res audio, not video or games. It plays 1080p videos just fine though. Music apps can be complicated beasts, and Hiby's is no different. It has all sorts of sliders and menus you can dive into to fine-tune the sound. However, if you're a casual audiophile like me, you can also just load up your high res music, hit play, and ignore all the extra settings, it sounds great as is. A multi-color indicator light and menus on the screen tell you all the details about the audio you're playing. This player supports several high-res audio codecs, including LDAC for bluetooth. I'm using this with Focal Sphear earbuds, which are mostly neutral, just like the R4. I have no complaints whether listening to Puta Volcano, Sahara Hotnights or Marcela Bovio. I like using JetAudio+ app for music, because it has some audio effects I like. Typically I "widen" the sound a little bit for tracks that feel a little too intimate for comfort. I don't need to feel like Dave Grohl's tongue is in my ear. And I should point out, you can buy this for $250 with free shipping and no tax on their own site. For me that's like a $30 savings, so why did I get it on Amazon? Because HiBy tries that bull**** where they tell you can't return this item if you break the seal on the box. If you buy directly from them, you're screwed. But if you buy from Amazon you can still return it if you get a defective player.

This is the pinnacle of media players. The sound is pure and powerful. Bass is punchy and clear. There are so many ways to tweak the sound, I doubt I will ever know the full capabilities of this player but I know I won't be looking for another one for a long time. The player is robust and well made. UPDATE!!!! it's a brick. Woke up this morning and went to turn it on and nothing. Plug it in to USB and it shows the Hiby logo then the battery power is at 100% then...nothing. Tried every trick in their book and online and absolutely nothing worked. It's a brick. Don't waste your time. Update #2 it's costing me $40 just to send it to China. Not happy at all.

The hiby R4 Dap/Dac player is mind blowing in proformance and Sound. it is very snappy OS. It doesn't even get warm as other reviewers stated. it had a firmware update that was released 2/21/26 with add proformance features. maybe that helped with heat issues. I am Happy now.

If you are new to DAPs, these require a learning curve. The main reason, imo, to have a DAP is for very good listening experience without being distracted by your phone. In other words, these are for folks who love to listen to music, sometimes called amateur audiophiles. I purchased the HiBy R6 III soon after it's launch and it is a good DAP but with multiple issues. The volume knob would stick and require significant pressure to turn. These are Android devices so if you're unfamiliar with Android it may take a little time to learn. You can download the browser of your choice. These devices have three different EQ interfaces that are very good yet also take time to learn how to use. HiBy has zero online explanation of these so you'll spend a lot of time playing with the system. NOTE, you can go do deep as to set EQ on individual tunes and it is then saved to the device. Perhaps some helpful info: 1. The R6 III has been in China for over a month supposedly being repaired. (The repair process was very difficult. Buy these at your own risk.) 2. I purchased the R4 in the meantime and it's as good as if not better than the R6 III with a few exceptions. (I have also purchased an additional R4 as gift.) 3. The R4 has side buttons for volume instead of a knob. Much better. 4. The R4 screen is not a bright but more than sufficient. 5. The HiByMusic interface is clunky and requires a lot of patience to use. 6. You will not get long battery life / use out of these devices no matter what they say. Even YouTube reviewers can be way off. I might get 6 hours in 1 day then it has the be recharged. So if you plan to use on travel, be sure you have a charger, cable... 7. When you use TIDAL, Qobuz, etc. music sources, it's quite a challenge to use these away from Wi-Fi access. In other words, the DAP won't play music you have downloaded to the device through a music source. I have a friend who uses Amazon music and his experience is excellent with downloading, art work, etc. (But AmazonHD is a lower res than other music sources.) 8. When you download your own music to the device (or I recommend a microSD card) you will have your music whether or not you have Wi-Fi access. 9. HiBy tech support is slow and inadequate. You are kind of on your own and may find help on YouTube or forum reviews. 10. The 4.4mm is the bomb. Using high end IEM's with a balanced cable is THE game changer. That is the primary reason, imo, for these HiBy DAPS that offer a true balanced 4.4mm connection.

Excellent for working out. Great sound easy to use and intuitive once you spend some time understanding how. It helped that I set it up for the person I gave it to and then walked them through how to use it. Great sound and holds lots of tunes. Easy to just take your micro sd from one device and put in this one and then set up your songs the way you want. Great price for what you get and looks cool too. Battery life is pretty good and it looks very durable-no complaints from someone who uses it during workouts. Buttons make working it easy and the screen is big enough to make it easy to see and read while using. Pretty fast interface.

Aprender a usar todos os seu recursos demanda certo tempo, mas vale o esforço. Robusto, moderno, completo para os audiófilos que querem excelência sonora.

Awesome Product. Great Company and Support if you need to know anything. Could not be Happier , I would Definitely buy from them Again !

I bought this principally because I was going to have a time in hospital where wireless earphones would be impractical due to their limited battery life. the HyBy filled the brief having excellent battery life and provision for charging through USB as it plays. However, it was an excellent buy in so many other ways. It has no right to be so well built or sound so good for the money. It is significantly better than my 4-year-old IFI Hip Dac, Which is just a DAC. With all its many streaming features, the HyBy cost only slightly more! It uses Android, so one can use whatever apps you like, but the HyBy Music Player also has a 'Pure Mode' which bypasses the limitations for playing back high-res music built into Android. One can access. For example, one can access QOBUZ this way and it sounds excellent. There are also various equaliser options. There is a fancy custom one - I have forgotten the name of - which degrades the sound to my ears, but the parametric equaliser works excellently and has enabled me to tune the sound to my hearing and headphones very precisely. The headphone amplifier which can be used either single-endedly or in balanced form is surprisingly powerful and very good at conveying the dynamics of music. Although they are not an especially difficult load compared with some others, my £450 or so Grado RX2x headphones were driven well enough to give of the considerable best. The sound has very neutral tonality, very good dynamics as noted, and has a surprising amount of 'space' around it though this aspect of the sound is bettered when using the same headphones through my very much more expensive HiFi DAC and valve headphone amplifier. What is more the HyBy is not a bad streaming transport when used with the HiFi separates' DAC. It's even better when fed through my inexpensive SMSL gizmo which cleans up the signal using a better digital clock. All in all, quite a bargain!

Muy contento con el desempeño el audio es mas nítido y con el equalizador suma mucho el sonido mejora aún mas con audiofonos de cable, principalmente lo compre para usarlo específicamente para música y podcast y que se conecte a mi auto , de manera que las notificaciones del celular no esten molestando a la hora de escuchar música super recomendado

I have a Fiio M11S that I manged to bounce off the foot of my chair and crack the screen. I sent that to China for repair and sat without a music player. Then I bought an M300 which couldn't drive my cans. I sold that and bought this. It is good. It is also nicely styled IMO. I bought a separate strap which is also v good. The MSEB equaliser is beyond me but is very capable. It sounds quite neutral and I can't quite get the bass to where I like it. I would recommend it but...my music is on a separate sd card for convenience although I write to it though usb typically. From fiio to hiby no issue. From hiby to fiio however there appears to be some incompatibility in file format. Even though they look the same, neither the fiio nor my laptop can see anything written to the sd card whilst it was mounted in the R4. I had to delete the files in the R4 then rewrite the to the sd card from my laptop. So. Yeah. That's a thing.