HiByR4 mp3 & mp4 Players spotify Player with Bluetooth and WiFi 4-Way HiFi DAP Android 12 OS 3.5mm po+4.4mm bal 32G+2TB Scalable Memory

I was genuinely impressed with the functionality, specs, quality, and ease of use this has. It works immediately out of the box, has a serviceable battery life, and the bluetooth connectivity was zero issue. The touch screen is okay, especially given it came with the screen protector already on it, which of course reduces the sensitivity of the touch screen substantially, but nothing that makes it harder to use. With all the updates that HiBy hands out, and how easy it is to manage everything on this, AND how amazing it looks, I'd consider this the perfect MP3 player. Definitely worth the price.

I love how this device is helping me rediscover music in a natural way. I really like that the design is trying to be fun and using this player just makes me happy. Slightly sensitive buttons and dim screen, but I love the heft of the R4 in my hand when I'm waking around, and being able to physically interact with the music while the player stays in my bag or pocket. Cant believe I paid $400 for an ipod 20 years ago; can't wait to see what Hiby does next.

I got this for a friend in assisted living facility who had about 400 cd's that would not fit in their small apartment. Digitized and copied over their cd's in flac format onto this player and simplified the user interface so all they have to do is turn it on, touch the player icon and tap play. Added a Sony Bluetooth speaker and they now can listen to their music collection in their apartment with ease.

Everyone is writing reviews on how user friendly the device is. First off the item does seem sturdy but very bulky. The descriptions do not match the item's features what so ever. I connected it to my lap top and it does not show any folders of the R4 in the compute when trying to transfer over files. It does not come with an SD card, so maybe that is only the option to have files on the R4 is by purchasing an SD card and inserting it with your date. When you turn on the R4 you will see that there are internal folders but you cannot view them from the PC. The instruction book does not give any information on how media is transferred over and could not find a tutorial video on how to with the R4. Just people talking about the sound quality, battery life and thickness. Shortly after receiving the item, I quickly gave up on looking for information, requested for a full refund for which I am still waiting on and with a more reliable product.

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 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. 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.-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.-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 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.-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.Now the few things (so far) I have noticed that I don't care for or like;-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?-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. Maybe if they are using gain on high this could be why but to me the player gets warm but it certainly doesn't get so hot I can't hold it. 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.-I really don't like the appearance of the 'future-funk' feel U.I. Some may like it, but I'm not a fan. 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 just have yet to figure that part out.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 only removed one star due to a few of the problems I mentioned but overall I would still recommend for the facts that it sounds fantastic, seems to be built well and simply does what I need it to do. Happy listening everyone!

Hi-Res audio (better than CD) sound at a bargain price. Solid build and thoughtfully designed software equal a very enjoyable listening experience. Comprehensive list of settings for every use; from listening through headphones (even high impedance models) to listening from a stereo to connecting it to a computer for use as a DAC. Extremely versatile tone controls allow you to custom fit the sound to your ears and your gear. I also love the look of the orange accents which includes the real led status lights. My CD's (FLAC files) never sounded better.

for what you get on the price of these unit units I don’t think you should be asking for moreAndroid with Wi-Fi and streaming app compatibility..checkBalanced and 3.5 headphone jack options… checkQuality, weight, and design.. checkDSD playback… check.Basically you get a high-quality player at a great price. The only thing that could be approved upon would be a user replaceable battery..a screen protector is also pre-installed all you have to do is rip off the peel.The android driver stack for the audio drivers for the DAC are very well integrated, and support supported.It’s all in the box except for headphonesyou are actually getting caviar here on a hot dog budget compared to other players.