DAC / AmpOverreview

HiBy R6 Pro II

A quiet, refined-sounding Android player that reviewers rank near the top under $1,000, and that almost everyone wishes had a bigger battery and more power.

22 sourcesUpdated
$549Typical US price

Score aggregates reviewer opinions across topics.

View product
HiBy R6 Pro II

The short version

What to know.

Reviewers broadly agree that the R6 Pro II is very quiet with sensitive IEMs, sounds refined and detailed, and is among the best-sounding players under $1,000. They also broadly agree that battery life is short, especially in Class A on the balanced output, and most criticise the button layout. Power divides them: everyone finds it fine for IEMs, but a larger, heavier-weighted group hears demanding headphones sound restrained, and a bench test shows much less voltage than earlier HiBy players. Tonality is described as anything from slightly warm to neutral, and a few find it flat or uninvolving. Press verdicts on the build are warm, while about ten forum owners report dead ports, bricked units or noise.

About this product

The original 2023 R6 Pro II with dual AKM AK4499EX DACs, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. Not the R6 Pro II 2025, a different player with Cirrus Logic DACs, more power and more storage, nor the cheaper R6 III or the older R6 Pro.

HiBy's R6 Pro II is a 5.9-inch Android 12 music player built around AKM's flagship-class DAC pairing, an AK4191EQ feeding two AK4499EX chips, with 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm headphone and line outputs and a switch between Class A and Class AB amplification. It runs a Snapdragon 665 with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage plus a microSD slot, streams through the Play Store, and works as a two-way Bluetooth device and a USB DAC. The back panel, purple or black, pairs carbon fibre with a wavy machined pattern.

It launched in spring 2023 at $749. HiBy rated it for less output than the R6 Pro it replaced and said so openly, betting on a lower noise floor. In 2025 it released a different player under nearly the same name, the R6 Pro II 2025, and still sells this original at about $549.

A good fit for

  • Listeners with sensitive IEMs who want a dead-quiet player
  • Streaming on a dedicated Android player with a large, sharp screen
  • Buyers who want flagship AKM DACs at a mid-range price and can charge daily
  • Home or desk use feeding an external amplifier from the balanced line-out

Think twice if

  • You need a full day of battery away from a charger
  • You want to drive low-sensitivity planars or high-impedance headphones without an amp
  • You want a volume wheel or buttons you can find by touch in a case
  • You keep a large library on internal storage and don't want a microSD card

The reviewer consensus

Agreement &
disagreement.

2 / 7topics divide opinion
noisetransparencyfeaturesergonomicsvaluepowerbuild
1 Strong agreement4 Mostly agree2 Divided opinions

Common ground6

  • Silent background with sensitive IEMs, even on high gain
  • Refined, detailed sound that reviewers rank among the best under $1,000
  • Battery life is short, especially in Class A on the balanced output

Points of contention4

  • Power: enough for most headphones vs restrained with demanding full-size headphones
  • Tonality: slightly warm and musical vs neutral and technical vs clinical and uninvolving
  • Class A: better dynamics vs no audible difference with IEMs

A closer listen.

7 topics · 2 divided
Left: criticalRight: positiveTighter lines: more agreement

Power

Leans criticalDivided opinions
Reviewer sentiment15 supporting sources
CriticalNeutralPositive

Band: opinion spread · Dot: weighted average

Sources split, and the split is about full-size headphones, not IEMs: everyone agrees it drives IEMs easily. Headfonia drove a HiFiMan Arya Stealth sufficiently, and Gizaudio and Porta.Fi found it handles most of their headphones. The larger group, including The Headphone List, Headfonics and ichos-reviews, heard demanding headphones sound restrained or short of dynamics, and advise against low-sensitivity planars and high-impedance dynamics. HiBy itself said the R6 Pro II's output power went down from the model it replaced.

Measured

Sandal Audio's bench, read from its charts, shows about 3.7 Vrms from the balanced output and about 2.1 Vrms single-ended on high gain into loads above roughly 40 Ω, far below its reading of about 5.7 Vrms for the original R6 Pro. It measured identical output curves for the R6 Pro II and the cheaper R6 III, and no change in maximum output between Class A and Class AB. A retailer's spec table lists 125 mW single-ended and 383 mW balanced (2 and 3.5 Vrms).

Where it splits
Enough for IEMs and most headphones35%

“For a full-sized can I tested my Hifiman Arya Stealth, and managed to drive it sufficiently.”

Headfonia
Short of power for demanding headphones65%

“But, I would not recommend using it with anything other than very sensitive full-size headphones, and definitely not with high-ohm, low-sensitivity dynamic driver or planar headphones.”

The Headphone List
Link to this topic

The hardware

Specifications.

Checked

Design

Form factor
Portable
DAC
AK4191EQ + dual AK4499EX · Delta-sigma
PCM
1,536 kHz / 32-bit
DSD
DSD1024
MQA
Yes
Amplifier
Solid-state · MUSES8920 + OPA1652, Class A / Class AB

Output

Signal-to-noise
118 dB

Connection

Digital inputs
USB-C, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
Headphone outputs
3.5 mm, 4.4 mm
Line outputs
3.5 mm, 4.4 mm, Coaxial
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 5.0SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC
Power
Battery
Battery
8 h

Physical

Weight
285 g
Dimensions
75.2 × 15 × 147.45 mm

Manufacturer-published figures, not measurements · from guide.hiby.com, store.hiby.com, eliseaudio.com.

Follow the evidence

Sources 22

1–6 of 22 sources

Read with context

Limitations & method.

As of

What to keep in mind 5

  1. This is a read of the reviews as of November 2026. The player has had years of firmware updates, so some early software complaints may no longer apply.

  2. HiBy now sells a different player as the R6 Pro II 2025. When buying, check which one a listing means.

Where to buy Product & retailer links