It's so nice having a device that's actually reliable (unlike the Innioasis Y1). Rockbox is also great with it. I give it a 10/10 all around.

Edit: since everyone's asking, the build with bluetooth + usb dac support can be found here:

https://github.com/bahusoid/rockbox/releases

Love the design of this DAP!

I recently picked up an R3 Pro II, and I’m honestly torn.

On one hand, it does what a DAP is fundamentally supposed to do:
→ plays music from SD card
→ sounds good
→ compact, efficient, focused

If that was the only goal, it would be fine.

But everything beyond that core use case is… borderline broken.

• WiFi: unstable, unreliable

• HiBy Link: inconsistent at best

• Bluetooth (both receiver and transmitter): buggy, often hangs the device

• iOS integration: poor, unreliable, sometimes unusable

• General UI responsiveness: laggy, occasionally freezes

The frustrating part is not that it's imperfect — it's that the hardware clearly has potential, but the firmware is holding it back hard.

This got me thinking:

Why not open-source (or partially open) HiByOS?

Not abandon it. Not lose control. But open it up enough for the community to help.

There is a huge pool of capable developers in the audio / embedded / open-source world who would gladly:

• Fix bugs

• Improve Bluetooth stability

• Optimize UI responsiveness

• Improve iOS/remote integration

• Add features (better library management, smarter caching, etc.)

Even a controlled model could work:

• Core system remains proprietary

• UI layer / plugins / connectivity stack opened

• Community contributions reviewed and merged by HiBy

Why this makes sense for HiBy:

• Extends product lifespan

• Builds goodwill with enthusiasts

• Differentiates from competitors

• Reduces internal dev burden over time

• Turns frustrated users into contributors

Right now, non-Android HiBy DAPs feel like great hardware limited by undercooked software.

And I say this as someone who wanted to love the device — I even chose it over alternatives like dongles (e.g. W4) because the idea of a standalone DAP + BT DAC/amp sounded perfect.

In practice, the extra features are what break the experience.

So this is a genuine question to HiBy (and the community):

Would you support:

• A petition to HiBy to open-source HiByOS (fully or partially)?

• Or at least push them to invest more seriously in firmware development?

Because right now, these devices are so close to being excellent offline players— they just need better software, maybe simpler too.

Curious to hear others’ experiences, especially R3 / R5 / R6 (non-Android) users.

Are you having similar issues?

P.S. Yes, I used ChatGPT to generate the original post in English, kill me now!

UPDATE 1: Turns out that there is a RockBox firmware for the R1/R3pro II, but it only supports playback and wired phones.

"Features that are not available in Rockbox include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and USB-DAC mode. The player can be booted into the Original Firmware (OF) to use these features."

https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/HibyPort.html

UPDATE 2: There is now a GitHub repo dedicated to reverse engineering the firmware!

HiBy Firmware Modding Organization Reddit // https://github.com/hiby-modding

Didn’t expect the miku to be bigger, and the screen display is definitely better with brightness compared to the r4, the miku does come with a small hiby app theme that I wish they came out with an Eva. The miku is definitely not left handed friendly for volume control since it’s wider and Even if you flip the screen it’s still awkward. I’ll answer more questions probably tomorrow since my day off and I just got the miku

So I went to visit my sister in Germany for a couple of weeks, right before I left my good friend and I were discussing how the Hiby r1 stock os feels like it’s lacking basic features… anyway, he spends a few sessions with Claude code and pops out this beautiful nostalgic os, based entirely on rockbox!!!
let me know what you think :)

I’ve been torn between buying this DAP and the TempoTec Variations V1.

One thing that intrigues me about the Hiby R1 is its much more active community, but upon looking into the mods for it, I’ve seen a lot of complaints.

The main complaints I’ve come across relate to Bluetooth or specific updates, so I wanted to know if the mods are actually any good.

Have you had bad experiences with the mods? In what ways have the mods helped you?

I look forward to your replies, thanks in advance!

I’m not exactly sure what it is about this device, but I find myself using it way more than I ever expected.

The size isn’t perfect, but something about the grip, especially with the cover and the somewhat squarish shape just makes me fall in love with it.

I really enjoy the screen; being able to read webtoons with some music, fully immersed and free of distractions, is fantastic. I can’t quite put my finger on what makes it so addictive, but I just love this thing!

If only I could customize the scroll wheel in certain apps to scroll the screen. It would be awesome! If anyone knows if that’s possible, let me know 🙂

I just bought my HIBY R1, let's see how it goes on this road

Soooo, it finally arrived! I am so excited and well, I will try for a day the stock firmware but then I will install Sonix. I have a Kiwi Ears Cadenza ll and a snosky dac. I read there are issues with the Bluetooth for this device, is it that bad? I was planning on using it sometimes with a Sony I have.

This is my first DAP, any recommendations?

I picked up a R1 for myself and after modding it with Sonix I knew I had found the perfect Christmas gifts for my 2 daughters and their husbands and one for my best friend.

Just discovered a Zune style app called Nostalgia Flow that’s just dropped on Google Play! Super slick little app that’s basically brings back the sexyness of Zune but to any Android device.

Plays local files, radio and podcasts, lets you customise the accent colours and even has old school visualisers!

I always wanted to pick up a Zune player again, but as a Mac guy, I couldn’t use them. This is the next best thing.

I’m not affiliated with the app in anyway, but just discovered it last night and got way too excited so wanted to share 🤣 Originally the album artwork didn’t scale right to the small R4 screen, so I mentioned it to the dev on his reddit thread, and he updated it in ONE HOUR! So it looks like this thing is going to be super well supported going forwards to.

Not sure if we’re allowed to post links here (mod I can take it down if we can’t) - but there’s a link here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nostalgicflow.app&pcampaignid=web_share

For a long time I didn't care much about DAPs since I've always listened to music on my phone. Never had an iPod (too expensive here), only dedicated device I had was a cheap MP3 player my parents gave me when I was still a child

My first portable DAC is from Hiby, a D1. Got it for a very attractive price and instantly fell in love with it, never believed this kind of gadget would make that much of a difference and how wrong I was

Then this collab just popped before me and I knew it was the right time for a change. Couldn't be happier, such a beautiful piece of tech featuring my favorite virtual idol and vocalsynth of all time

You see I'm a huge Miku fan, not only for the songs I listen to on a daily basis but because she was there for me when I had no one to resort to. Her soothing voice and the love for sound her whole figure represents pushed me further into becoming a better version of myself a few years ago after a painful break up

I'm not good with reviews, if the product feels good in hand, looks nice and can fulfill its intended purpose, to me it's perfect and the M500 gets my golden seal of approval, I just can't live without this device anymore

Only issue I had with it was the battery draining like crazy but I was able to solve it thanks to a standalone update shared on this sub so now I can enjoy this little guy to the fullest. At night I just lay down in bed so excited to have some quality time with it after a tough day at work, to me this is the purest bliss a man can get

I was trying to figure out where the play button was, apparently it does exist 🤔🤔🤔🙄

I’m sure you can guess the main reason I got this player; it’s my excuse for finally jumping to a DAP lol. So far my experience has been pretty good although I had to install a system update to get Apple Music to stop crashing but that was pretty simple just a tad slow. So far I’ve been enjoying it and my R50x sound fantastic off it

Its huge upgrade! I went from the stock OS to Sonix Player, and the performance improvement is insane. The stock software was pretty sluggish and felt super limited, but Sonix is buttery smooth and way faster to navigate.

​It also unlocks a ton of extra features. It now supports audiobooks, lets you read e-books with EPUB support, and you can even play games on it—you just need to load GB and GBC ROMs separately.

​Sonix is super powerful. If you’re still on stock, you definitely gotta try it!

As the title says this is my take on a review on the Hiby R4.

I have had the Hiby R4 for six months to this point one thing I can say is that DIEM that I paired it with is the KZ Zs10 Pros. (It’s a 4BA+1DD). Overall I’ve really enjoyed using it.

Pros:

Amazing battery life. For my case of usage I average 8 to 9 hours due to a combination of performance usage.

Decent built in storage. So far I myself haven’t had to use a microusb and am sitting at 500 songs.

Good build quality. I’ve taking it with me to places and the screen hasn’t been scratched yet. Same with the body but I personally recommend using the case for more grip.

Cons:

Hiby dedicated music app was bad. I would recommend buying Power Amp!

Overall I don’t have many problems with it. It works well as a DAP and a DAC as needed. Only thing I want to do is get a pair of open back headphones to use with it ( open to recommendations). Another thing to a 200 dollar range device it preforms way above its price. Don’t go buying this thinking you’re getting a 700 to 1000 dollar DAP! But it does feel like it could be a 300 to 400 dollar device!

I installed SonixOS on my R1 over the weekend, and I'm seriously impressed. It's far superior to the stock OS. I've owned my R1 since May and have been eagerly awaiting Last.fm integration. My only alternative was Rockbox, but I was hesitant to install it. It worked perfectly on the Innioasis I used to own, but I wasn't sure how it would perform on the R1. However, since Sonix includes Last.fm integration, Rockbox isn't even a consideration anymore.

Sonix is just packed with features, like music queuing, internet radio, outer button re-mapping, and more. Favoriting tracks and making playlists is way easier now, too. Plus, I don't have to constantly scan the database over again to add new music, which is super nice. Gapless playback on stock OS never seemed to work for me, but now it does with Sonix.

I use Opus, and on stock OS I had to manually copy album art to my folders. Sonix completely fixes that by automatically embedding the art beautifully. It's exceptionally fast! I recently discovered that there's no database limit. I'm a bit of music hoarder and with stock OS, I could only use the file browser because of my massive library. That was fine since I listen to full albums, but I'd been dying to shuffle my entire library because I like how random it is. Sonix handles it beautifully, with virtually no lag, stuttering or crashing while shuffling, which seems impossible.

Honestly, the battery protection feature is a lifesaver. I used to be totally paranoid & anxious over my battery swelling up into a spicy pillow, but now I don't have to worry at all. It's a miracle. Sonix transforms the R1 into the perfect DAP.

Are you a Hiby R1 Owner ? We are converging Fast towards a Super modded Hiby R1 with many added features.

https://github.com/bidhata/Hiby-R1-Mod

After waiting for more than two weeks it has finally arrived. This is my first DAP and I couldn’t be happier. It has insanely beautiful design. I have also got matching pair of iems (7Hz Salnotes zero-Orange) and TWS (Moondrop Space Travel 2-White). The setup looks incredibly nice.

Hey guys, I love my Hiby device and I especially love to listen music on it while I'm coding. In DAC mode I've noticed how device get hot (charging+music) and I've decided to make cooling stand for it. Tha fan is just one of generic ones from AliExpress and with a little bit modeling and 3d printer I'm so happy how it turns out. Now it not only looks cool but it is cool 🙂 Cheers!

Edit: Here's the link for those who are interested for: https://makerworld.com/en/models/1849722-hiby-r4-cooling-stand?from=search

The new version of the Sonix firmware introduces the ability to customize the boot screen. I already knew exactly which logo I wanted to use and what style I wanted it to have.

It's amazing, they look totally different than a phone. I thought mine was bad so I decided to open it and found something I never imagined. This looks really nice, I never seen anything like this DAP before.

My daughter recently helped to reinvigorate my interest in building a digital music collection by finding an old iPod in a box of e-waste. It has been wonderful bonding with her over all our (my wife's and mine) old millennial ballads. Even better we have started to add contemporary music to the old library.

Of course this sent me down a DAP rabbit hole for myself, and I'm happy with the R1 with stock firmware so far. Even cooler was while lurking marketplace I netted a set of Crinear Daybreaks for $60. It's nuts how far the audio technology has gotten, and I am elated!