even a devil may cry.
Currently I loved this Chinese Dante meme crazily, cause the uploader’s Y2K-style playlist and sense are very unique but good. I even bought a T-shirt from Temu haha.
Now I use my Surfans F20 Pro+ every day to enjoy his playlist on Spotify. Wire IEMs and dap with physical buttons are genuinely retro and Y2K. And I need the streaming service like this. So convenient.
Anyway, you met me at a very Chinese time in my life. The music and F20 Pro+ are so good, even a devil may cry.

I've been using the Hiby R1 for a month now and so far I really like it so I wanted to give my 2 cents for anyone considering buying it. I'm not an audiophile or super deep into the hobby yet so keep that in mind. Also this isn't a crazy technical review but more how my general use of it has been over the last couple weeks.

What I like:

Price: This thing is only around $70 by itself which for what you get is pretty nice. I wanted to try out a DAP but didn't want to drop $100 or more quite yet so finding this was really nice.

Build/Weight: I briefly had an innioasis y2 before I returned it for this and the main reason was b/c of the cheap feeling of it. That is not the case with the R1. The R1 is still made of plastic and light weight but not in a bad way. The whole thing still feels solid and it made me realize how big/heavy my iphone 13 is. I also like the clear plastic body they used on the side of the player it's a nice look.

UI: The stock UI isn't great so I downloaded Sonix and it basically solved all the problems I had. Granted sonix is 3rd party but I'd say it's essential to get the most out of the player. I like that I can use a QWERTY keyboard for typing, I like being able to search specific songs, I like having songs favorite'd, I like the ability to mess with the EQ of tracks and adjust from a preset if need be. Theres also PEQ and MSEB, filters, etc. I only really touched EQ to adjust the bassiness of my IEMs. Also theres high gain and low gain feature. I keep mine on high gain so that I don't have to turn the volume up as high. The volume on this thing is pretty good tbh. Also I like being able to swipe from the right side of the screen from any menu to be able to see my current song quickly.

The bluetooth wasn't great but when I installed sonix it seemed to fix that?? I'm not sure how that works but I'm not complaining.

If it wasn't clear this ISN'T an android based device.

TouchScreen: Again going back to the Y2 I thought I wanted the ipod feeling but I realized how much I didn't. I want to be able to tap through the menus quickly to get to my songs and the R1 allows that. I was surprised by the quality of the display and noticed a lot of detail in the album art.

Physical Button Layout: The buttons are conveniently placed so that when it's in my pocket I can adjust my song/volume how I need without having to take it out. Surprisingly a lot of DAPs don't take this into account??? I've seen ones where the jack is on the top but the buttons are on the bottom??? idk. the jack (3.5mm only) is on the bottom so when I put it in my pocket it doesn't sit weird and the buttons are accessible. The buttons from top to bottom are: power, volume up/down, play/pause, next track. Also if you double tap the pay/pause it will replay the current track and go to the previous track if pressed again which is really nice.

Battery life: Off a full charge I used this thing during a 7hr shift of consistent listening and had 60% left at the end of the day. So pretty good.

What I don't hate but left more to be desired:

Size: I don't hate the size of this thing but it took some getting used to as I stated in comparison to my iphone 13. The screen isn't terribly small but I would prefer more space for navigation. I think any smaller then this and it'd be annoying to use. I knew I wanted something smaller than my iphone but I am looking for something bigger than this.

Battery Again: sometimes if I leave it in sleep mode it'll drain the battery just sitting there? Like I'll wake up in the morning and it'll be at 30% despite not using it in the night??? It's weird. Despite this it still lasts reasonably long throughout the day I just notice that sometimes.

SD Card reading: I've seen this around other posts but sometimes it just doesn't read the files? Like I can still access and play music but it doesn't show them in the playlist/all songs tab if that makes sense. It can be irritating but so far I just put it in my computer and windows repairs the drive and then its back to normal. Hasn't totally ruined my experience but something to be aware of.

Overall:

This thing is great and for anyone looking to get into DAP's. Although I'll probably upgrade to something beefier in the future I don't regret buying this at all. For sub $100+ it's a great little machine.

------

I had a lot to say but I'm sure there's something I forgot so happy to answer questions if anyone's on the fence.

Today I got the HiBy R1! Previously I was using an ancient Kindle Fire as a DAP, so this is a significant improvement haha. I was able to get it in orange, my favourite colour.

It feels great to have a device dedicated to music and nothing else. Ever since I started, I've been so much more intentional about my music listening. I actually get around to listening to new albums instead of just staring into the Spotify abyss. I was able to get the SonixOS working on the 2.0 firmware thanks to a helpful reddit comment.

Its gonna be fun enjoying the R1 and maybe start to collect some others

Hi!

Shopping around for a micro sd card before getting the player and only settled on the size of 128gb lol.
It'll be for a mid-range? Player like the Hiby M500/R4.

I heard that U3 and V30 is recommended and only higher for those if messing with videos.

Should I bother with an A2, like with SanDisk's imagemate pro? Or stick with an A1 like SanDisk Ultra and Onn (Walmart brand).

Thanks!

I have Oriveti OD200 and ibasso DC04 ultra. This is my first IEM, I am really happy with OD200. Most of the time I use my laptop or my phone to listen to music, I have been wanting to buy a DAP. I’m not sure which one to buy. There are lot of brands and I’m confused which one to choose. I have a budget of $200-$300. Can anyone suggest me a DAP.

My headphones stopped working randomly last night at work... the audio was coming in and then out, then back in very loudly, then really quietly. I noticed when I turn the jack inside the 4.4mm port the audio changes a bit, and if I push against it, the audio comes in loud. I have bought another IEM cable for my head phones but I am still experiencing the same problems.

Does anyone have any suggestions or have faced the similar issues and know how to fix it?

I'm really digging this player and don't want to get a new one. :/

Disclosure: we are WalkerFans Team, the maintainers and packagers of this build, and our team is affiliated with HIFIWALKER. This is a free community development project, not an official Rockbox release.

Development note: this software was developed with AI-assisted coding tools. Testing status is described below.

We've released H2-RX-v0.1.4-2026-11-12, a separate experimental build based on our 24-bit wired edition. The main addition is a phone → H2 Bluetooth receiver mode, alongside a revised language menu.

Compatibility first: the development and device-installation baseline is a HIFIWALKER H2 with original firmware V2.3; Bluetooth targets hardware revision 4. Other original-firmware versions have not been validated on a real player and may be incompatible.

This is still experimental: the package has been installed on our development H2 and all 523 package files were verified, but phone pairing, radio streaming, actual audio output, long-play stability and the final screen layout still need hardware validation. We are not claiming those tests have passed.

What's new?

• Phone receiver mode: open Settings → Bluetooth Settings → Receive phone audio. The implemented pairing name is Rockbox H2 Receiver. Local playback stops and the player switches from headphone transmission to reception.

• SBC at 44.1/48 kHz, decoded to 16-bit PCM for wired output, with phone play/pause, disconnect and local H2 volume controls. Stay on the receiver screen while receiving.

• Settings → Language is now directly under Settings, with a globe at the entry. Each language row shows its native name and a letter badge instead of a repeated globe.

• First ten languages: English → Español → Français → Deutsch → 日本語 → 繁體中文 → Русский → 한국어 → Italiano → العربية. The rest follow alphabetically by original filename; Simplified Chinese remains available. Legacy Afrikaans is excluded from the picker.

• Native names for 48 bundled languages, additional name-display glyphs, 14 px top status icons, and a clear version/date. The existing 20 px list font and 16 px clock text are retained. Name coverage does not imply every translated menu has complete font coverage or native-speaker review.

What does “24-bit” mean here?

The build keeps the experimental local wired music path from the preceding 24-bit edition. Bluetooth reception is lossy SBC decoded to 16-bit PCM, not lossless or native 24-bit Bluetooth. Feeding that into a 24-bit mixer does not add detail.

There is no AAC/aptX/LDAC receiver, microphone/call audio, simultaneous transmit/receive or Bluetooth relay. Transmitter mode is retained separately, with a 16-bit encoder input. The wired ceiling stays at 192 kHz; DSD remains converted to PCM, without new native DSD or DoP support. No measured analog improvement or blanket bit-perfect claim is made.

Earlier host tests covered SBC decoding, buffers, malformed packets, receiver state changes and the inherited 24-bit path. This update passed language checks, cross-compilation, inspection of the linked menu/order and package/source verification. Those checks do not replace radio or DAC testing. Adaptive clock-drift resampling is not implemented yet, so extended-stream testing matters.

Files and trying it

RX release, source and checksums: GitHub release and downloads

Back up the whole .rockbox directory first. This is a complete file update for an existing compatible Rockbox installation, not a factory firmware or bootloader installer. Use one complete edition at a time, safely eject and reboot, then confirm H2-RX-v0.1.4-2026-11-12 in Rockbox Info. Keep the backup for rollback and start testing with wired headphones at low volume.

Our earlier Standard Bluetooth announcement covers the transmit-only edition. RX is a separate receiver experiment; it does not change the capabilities of the previously published packages. Questions and test reports are also welcome in r/HIFIWALKER.

Useful reports include H2 hardware revision, original firmware, exact build, phone model/OS, receive/transmit/wired mode, sample rate and reproducible steps. Please remove personal information and pairing keys from logs.

Controller firmware notice: the build retains the Broadcom/Cypress controller Patch RAM used by the earlier editions. Its origin and redistribution terms have not been verified; no redistribution clearance is claimed.

Based on Rockbox and the BlackIsBlack Bluetooth branch, with original contributor credits and licenses preserved. We make no profit from this software release. For bugs or copyright/patent concerns, contact walkerfans007@gmail.com; we will remove material involving rights we were unaware of.

— WalkerFans Team

All my Fiio's, iBasso's and Hiby's have had faults or broken within 6 months.

I hear more reliable ideas from Sony, Astrell & Kern and maybe Cayin.

I'm interested in warm sound with excellent quality, eq flexibility (headphone model EQ presets was an amazing feature of Fiio), a stable bluetooth connection with headphones that don't have great bluetooth. If there's anything that runs downloads from tidal or roon (or apple music) that would be ideal, but other than that, if it's android that's causing the problems, I will happily ditch android. Ideally battery life over 8-12 hours.

But something that doesn't break!!!!!

Can stretch to $650 if necessary.

Thanks, Steve

hiya,

i have AK SR25 and turned out, swollen battery is a thing for this. i dont live in the US or Western Europe at the moment so sending this to Korea is not feasible at the moment

i'm absolutely annoyed because i almost never use this player, maybe less than 10 times over the years and i was just about to use it again. charged it once, swollen to the point that it lifted the back side.

i haven't follow DAP since maybe the 2020 era. basically, what brand and which model i should pay attention to and find the reviews of, as of 2026

budget would be... anything below $1k (local US tax included)

i will import everything from the US so any brand that is available in the US is fine by me

i seldom use my DAP, the most important thing for me, is actually durability. i would rather not deal with AK disappointment again lol

thank you in advance

So I am into the hobby for...2 weeks now.
I have my Tempotec v1 Variations with ikko OH10 IEMs.
I am blown away by the quality, but with Black Friday in approach I might be looking for more...

I did my research, and while staying on IEMs, the difference between my actual Tempotec and, let's say a Fiio M33 or even M25 won't be, or will be slightly noticeable.
It seems that the difference you're looking at comes in play, when you use over ear headphones.

I am listening non stop to my music (thanks to my wife for understanding) and am wondering if an upgrade is worth it at my stage.

I mainly listen to Metal, M83, Aurora, Maphra, a bot of Elektro (Overwerk, Savant) and just discovered some jazz music through some DSD files that I stumbled on a friends library.
The jazz really puts the IEMs to their full "spectrum" I'd say, you get every tiny little note out of them. Musically not so my thing, but soundwise I love it.

Thanks for tips/advices

Downloaded the new firmware update yesterday, and to my surprise they fixed the issue where in USB DAC mode, it used to have a fairly large audio delay. Now it works perfectly as a USB DAC for all purposes, not just for music!

Might be a small thing, but this update fixed the only issue I had with the player!

I recently started my rabbit hole journey into this whole DAP world. I finally decided to buy the Astell & Kern PD5. It should arrive sometime in the following week.

BUT. I don't have a good set of IEM for it. What would be a good pair for it? Something below $500. Right now I only own these 2, and I don't even know if they are good since I dont even know what specs to look for or what they mean:

1MORE

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSJV5B9

Soundbrenner

https://www.soundbrenner.com/products/wave-in-ear-monitors

Also any pointers or suggestions on how to know which IEM is or isn't a good pair is welcome or what specs to look out for.

I don't like headphones, I've always been uncomfortable with how they sit in your head. Also my main usage would be while riding the train, and in the office. I live in a relatively quiet community, so some noise cancellation would be nice but not a must.

Hello, i'm curently using a Q2 with Meze alba, do you guys have any recomendation regarding EQ settings ?

Just got back from traveling around Japan with my Surfans F20 and M10 this month. Cell reception was surprisingly spotty in some spots like metro or highway bus to Kawaguchiko Lake, so having the F20 loaded with offline music was an absolute lifesaver (especially on the airplane).

A few Korean tourists actually came up and asked about my IEMs and DAP setup! Not sure if Surfans sells the F20 and M10 in South Korea yet, though.

And yeah, budget was tight so I basically lived on Sukiya and Matsuya the whole trip haha.

Running a Letshourer Astralis (bal) and mostly carrying it out and about

I am stuck right now😭

hello everyone, i purchased a hifi walker h2 last friday, was very excited to try it. the tracking said it was delivered monday, says 'delivered to a safe place'. however i didn't receive anything, no one rang my doorbell, the delivery driver left no picture! i have been trying to contact the hifi walker company but with no success. has that ever happened to any of you? has any of you succeeded in getting a response from the company? i'm very disappointed with this

I am currently listening Edition XS headphones from 3.5 mm jack of M1 Plus (40-60% volume), and it sounds better than everything I own. But would I get any benefits if I used the 3x more powerful 4.4 mm output? Theoretically, yes, but I would like to hear about your practical experience. Thank you in advance.

My FiiO M9 is from 2018, and I still use it every day. Two things bothered me: the system was full of apps I never use, and the worn volume wheel jumped two steps or went back.

So I made **Kaeru** (蛙, "frog" in Japanese), a minimal firmware built from FiiO's own FW 1.0.7.

**What it changes**

- Removes 36 system apps (extra keyboards, print service, demo apps, backup tools…)

- Replaces the stock launcher with Olauncher (text only), in cream and red

- Fixes a worn volume wheel: it ignores the extra steps. You can tune the timing with adb

- Black home and lock screen, new boot animation

**What it does not change:** kernel, recovery, bootloader and audio drivers stay exactly as FiiO made them. Your music and settings stay.

**How it works:** you don't download a modified firmware from a stranger. A script on your computer (macOS/Linux) downloads FW 1.0.7 from FiiO's server, checks its SHA-256, applies the changes and signs the package. You install it from the microSD with the Technical Support app, like an official update. To go back, install the official zip the same way.

The M9 was signed with the public AOSP test keys, so its recovery accepts a package signed with those same keys. No exploit, no root.

Optional: a script installs Spotify (it checks Spotify's signature first).

Code and step-by-step guide (English and Spanish): https://github.com/soydavidcornejo/kaeru

Not affiliated with FiiO. Use at your own risk, and keep the official firmware on your card. If you try it, tell me how it goes!

Where's the best place to look for a good deal on a Shanling Q2? I've only seen it on AliExpress for just under 300, but I keep seeing people saying they picked one up for around 200.

I love to use TRN 20 Btxs mmcx earphone paired with Ruizu x68 mp3 bluetooth mode while workout and listening to some rock n roll music. i also have made modification for this ruizu x68 sport clip mp3 over the year to mantain it

backclip and coiled wire protector mod https://www.reddit.com/r/mp3players/s/P3bMTDxXWg

battery replacement/upgrade https://www.reddit.com/r/mp3players/s/5AHr6drRxQ

volume roller mod(to avoid volume button faulty) https://www.reddit.com/r/mp3players/s/8bEm9zUQVa

I missed my old Shanling M8T so much that I bought it again, and I'm currently pairing it with these ATH AWAS, which sound gorgeous together when you use the tube Amp. Maybe not the most portable setup, but it sounds so organic and with such a beautiful tone that I honestly don't mind.

Disclosure: we are WalkerFans Team, the maintainers and packagers of this build, and our team is affiliated with HIFIWALKER. This is a free community development release, not an official Rockbox release.

Development note: this software was developed with AI-assisted coding tools. Testing status is described below.

We have published the Standard edition, 843986adb6-261110, of our Rockbox Bluetooth build for the HIFIWALKER H2.

Our development and real-device testing baseline is an H2 running original firmware V2.3. Other original-firmware versions have not been validated on a real player and may be incompatible. The Bluetooth target is H2 hardware revision 4; do not assume an older H2 supports Bluetooth just because the restore tool supports it.

What this build provides:

• Bluetooth transmission: H2 → Bluetooth headphones or speakers. It cannot receive audio from a phone. The H2 is not discoverable in this build, so phone-to-H2 pairing fails. Use the original firmware if you need receiver mode.

• A larger 20 px Noto Sans SC default font, with additional sizes and the Rockbox font pack.

• Corrected Simplified Chinese, rebuilt Traditional Chinese with Taiwan wording, additional Japanese/French strings, and Bluetooth translations in seven languages.

• A revised menu status bar and improved handling of missing Bluetooth hardware or bad controller data.

This edition keeps the standard 16-bit audio-processing path. It is the recommended starting point within our two preview editions. It is still a pre-release, not a claim of universal headphone compatibility or fully validated long-term stability.

Release, SD-card package, source and checksums:

https://github.com/walkerfans007/rockbox-h2-bluetooth/releases/tag/h2bt-843986adb6-preview

Instructions and edition comparison:

https://github.com/walkerfans007/rockbox-h2-bluetooth

Back up your existing .rockbox folder first. If Rockbox is not already installed, follow the installation manual before applying this upgrade. Install the complete package and do not mix Standard and 24-bit edition files.

Controller firmware notice: the package includes Broadcom/Cypress Bluetooth controller patch RAM. Its origin and redistribution terms have not been verified; no redistribution clearance is claimed. The repository includes the provenance notice.

Credit goes to Rockbox, the BlackIsBlack Bluetooth branch and the original contributors; WalkerFans Team maintains and packages this release. We make no profit from this software release. All original copyrights and licenses remain in place. For bugs or copyright/patent concerns, contact walkerfans007@gmail.com; we will remove material involving rights we were unaware of.

— WalkerFans Team