HIBY R8 II DAP PLUS EMPIRE EARS ODIN EARPHONES ▀ INTRODUCTION TO AUDIOPHILE DREAM

Previously i was quite satisfied with the [iBasso DX240] / [FiiO FA9] conjunction.
But after some evening conversations with [DeepSeek] and [Qwen] , I decided to purchase the [FiiO FA19] .
The main problem is that I did not stop there and decided to go completely crazy and dive into
the [HiBy R8 II] / [Empire Ears Odin] configuration.

Now to the main essence of things.

FiiO FA7 has lots of bass and quite lush, mushy mids and trebles.
FiiO FA9 brought detail and resolution to the table at the cost of some bass capabilities.
FiiO FA19 is like FiiO FA7 and FiiO FA9 glued together. Lots of bass taken from the FA7 added to the FA9’s detail and precision.

For some time I thought that the FiiO FA19 would completely cover my needs for a clean groovy punch of
electronics not only for trance and psybient but also for more classical stuff like metal and jazz.

But after listening to the HiBy R8 II + Empire Ears Odin pair, I completely changed my mind.
It was a night and day difference in sound clarity, precision, resolution and audio punch.

HiBy R8 II is based on R-2R discrete resistor DAC with Darwin architecture, which supports PCM1536/DSD1024/MQA16x audio formats.
R8 II is larger than DX240, prioritizing audio quality over better portability.
Compared to iBasso, HiBy delivers a richer and more engaging sound with deep bass and analog warmth.

I can’t find a genre that can’t be handled with HiBy/Empire Ears combination:
EBM, Synthwave, Trance, Psybient or Classical.

The stage is extremely wide and holographic, each instrument acoustic or electronic sounds
with ridiculous detail and passion to reproduce every small aspect.

I was shocked at how well HiBy and Empire Ears demonstrated micro articulations in very low and very high frequencies.
iBasso and FiiO can’t deliver such artistry, although iBasso is capable of really high resolution, but it can’t deliver quality emotion.
It seems that I have finally understood the true meaning and purpose of hi-fi sound.

The only notable downside of the EmpireEars bundle was the pathetically thin audio “cable”
that can’t stand any competition from the [Dunu Hulk Pro] .
After two days of listening to the stock cable,
I ditched it with a relief in favor of excellent the Hulk Pro.

May the sound be with you!

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