HiBy Music announces its most ambitious flagship R2R Digital Audio Player

An audiophile is someone who takes the sound quality of music incredibly seriously. A true audiophile will be willing to spend almost any money to acquire the equipment that can extract every detail from a recorded piece of music. Serious audiophiles are in HiBy Music’s sights, with the launch of the new RS8, a high-end DAP (Digital Audio Player) that makes no compromises when it comes to serving up Hi-Res music on the go.

The RS8 is the culmination of years of HiBy R&D and the new DAP features a titanium body, second generation Darwin architecture, R2R DAC and Class A amplification, all running Android 12. The monocoque body is machined from a single sheet of titanium and milled in 17 discrete steps that take approximately 19 hours to complete each unit.

The RS Series incorporates HiBy’s proprietary audio processing architecture based on an R2R resistor ladder design. The flexible end-to-end architecture was configured in-house by HiBy rather than purchasing a system-on-a-chip for digital-to-analog processing.

By developing its own DAC architecture, HiBy can provide future upgrades with the latest Darwin II architecture. It allows high-speed decoding of digital files up to DSD1024 and PCM1536 formats.

To extend the dynamic range and transient response of the music, HiBy added a DC offset correction circuit to allow the use of a DC-coupled direct output. Two crystal oscillators inside the RS8 operate with femtosecond precision and effectively reduce phase noise and jitter in all audio formats.

To ensure the RS8 delivers music without compromise, HiBy sourced premium components including hand-selected gold tantalum capacitors; four silk fiber capacitors Elna SILMIC 2; 47 high power tantalum capacitors; plus 10 Panasonic thin-film POSCAPs. All of these components work together to ensure a ripple-free power supply that produces lower THD and noise levels.

In the RS8, the Class A amplifier uses a pair of OPA1652 op amps and eight NXP double bipolar transistors for pure Class A sound with a rich and rounded tonality and an energetic soundstage. The amp can drive both full-size headphones and hyper-sensitive IEMs. Turbo mode increases the amplifier’s bias by 25%, resulting in a higher dynamic range and higher drive power to match any headphone on the market.

To ensure the music keeps playing, HiBy has used a 12,000mAh battery to power the class A headphone amp even in turbo mode! In Class A mode, the battery delivers up to eight hours of playtime. The RS8’s power supplies independently drive the digital, DAC, preamp and amplifier sections for cleaner sound.

For heat dissipation, a custom-fit pure copper frame inside the unit dissipates excess heat from the battery, maintaining optimal internal temperatures even when the RS8 is operating at high speed and maximum power.

At the heart of this high quality DAP is a Qualcomm 665 system-on-a-chip processor with 8GB RAM and 256GB ROM. The chip’s processing power makes it easy to switch between multiple open and resident apps. The integrated memory can store a large number of music files as well as numerous streaming apps.

The RS8 uses Android 12, which is optimized for lower latency and handling the workload by boosting the performance of the most critical processes. To see everything clearly, the RS8 has a 5.5-inch 16:9 screen with a resolution of 1080p. The display is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass and an oleophobic coating.

The RS8 offers a choice of 3.5mm and 4.4mm headphone outputs, as well as 3.5mm and 4.4mm line outputs, each with dedicated connectors and independent volume memories. For streaming, there is support for 2.4GHz/5GHz dual-band WiFi, as well as DLNA, AirPlay and wireless music streaming. And for those who want to use Bluetooth headphones, the RS8 offers UAT, LDAC, aptX, aptX HD, AAC and SBC audio codecs.

Prices & Availability: The HiBy Music RS8 DAP will be available November 15th and will cost $3,299.

More info: www.hiby.com or www.hifigo.com

Technical specifications:

• R2R based advanced Darwin architecture.
• Class A amplification.
• Pure titanium case.
• Turbo Power Mode.
• NOS/OS modes.
• high-end components.
• Supports DSD1024 and PCM 1536kHz audio.
• Femtosecond Precision Crystal Oscillators.
• 12,000mAh battery.
• Pure copper battery case.
• Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 665 processor.
• 8GB of RAM.
• 256GB ROM.
• Open the Android 12 operating system.
• 5.5 inch 1080P display.
• DTA Android system-wide sample rate bypass.
• 16x MQA deployment.
• Remote controllable with HiByCast.
• 3.5mm and 4.4mm headphone and line outputs.
• 2.4/5GHz WiFi.
• Bluetooth V5.0.
• PD2.0 fast charge.