Let me start by saying the HiBy R1 is a love letter to audiophiles who crave portability. That CS43131 DAC chip? Pure magic. When I first played a DSD256 file through my Sennheiser HD660S, the layers of detail in Miles Davis' 'Kind of Blue' made me pause mid-sip of coffee - hearing the trumpet's breath control this clearly on a $200 device is unreal.

The matte translucent frame feels premium (no fingerprint magnet here!), though the all-glass sandwich design had me nervous about drops during gym sessions. Surprisingly, it survived three weeks in my workout bag unscathed. The 3" touchscreen is crisp for album art browsing, but those tiny on-screen keyboards? Absolute nightmare when typing WiFi passwords - felt like using a 2005 flip phone.

Where this player shines: Sound customization. The MSEB equalizer isn't just another bass/treble slider - tweaking the 'Female Vocal Overtones' setting gave Adele's voice holographic presence I've never heard from streaming apps. Bluetooth 5.1 with LDAC support means my WF-1000XM4 earbuds deliver near-wired quality during commutes.

Storage quirks: The no-internal-memory approach keeps costs down (my 512GB microSD cost less than upgrading iPhone storage), but file transfers via WiFi are painfully slow compared to USB-C drag-and-drop. Pro tip: Create playlists on your computer first - doing it on-device feels like solving a Rubik's cube blindfolded until you discover the long-press album trick.

The elephant in the room? Documentation. Hiby's 'figure it out yourself' approach led to two days of accidental factory resets before I discovered how to disable the volume limiter (essential for planar magnetic headphones). Their firmware updates do add features though - last month's update finally fixed my Tidal streaming hiccups.

Battery life is solid at 12-14 hours with FLAC files, though DSD playback cuts that in half. As a USB DAC for my laptop, it outperforms dongles twice its price, but that MicroSD-only storage means you'll need backups - watching 1TB of music vanish because of a corrupted card was heartbreaking.

Verdict: For purists who want Swiss Army knife functionality (hi-res playback, Bluetooth transmitter, USB DAC) in a jeans-pocket package, the R1 punches above its weight despite interface quirks. Just budget extra for a rugged case and prepare for some initial setup frustration.