Just posted in their Instagram 🎵🎶🩵

M500 notes

• Long term use warms up similar to my EVA R4

• Today from 100%-40% span of 4.5 hours mostly listening to music near full volume before next charge

• Buttons are DEFINITELY sketchy and questionable on longevity as seen in videos

• Camera is a Straight Gimmick, needs to be removed, barely anyone will ever use it even less for WiFi only units(can use for “Spotify codes” etc but might as well use your phone) Camera takes a while to focus and takes 7-8 sec to load your photos and still doesn’t fully render for another 3 seconds (side note, it has a flash but doesn’t by default allow to use for a flashlight outside of the camera app)

• Volume output is louder than my R4 EVA on medium gain (can run my HD6xx but 60-80 vol for acceptable performance) can’t change gain like r4

• Side light never turns off while unit is powered and doesn’t change color depending on track coding like all other hiby units, you can have the light always on or off that’s it. (Can get annoying at night AND Can drain battery if left on at night without charging)

• Speakers are mediocre (not surprising)

• Build quality is pure plastic (Reminds me of android phones of 2012-2017 made of pure plastic like budget HTC phones,1st gen Razer phone, or the Robin phone etc)

• Way less audio settings compared to my hiby R4 Eva. All you have is [Digital filter] and [Output power mode]

• No “Mode change” like the R4, so no USB DAC, BT RECEIVER MODE, or pure audio mode.

• Definitely NOT Left handed friendly: vol control hard to reach/use and fn key is hard to use. Sorry lefties

• Screen is a big improvement over the r4, even though the r4 has a higher resolution of 750x1334 compared to m500’s 720x1280, the colors pop out way better and you can change the amount of color your screen displays in settings, and the m500 seems to have less lag compared to the r4 when watching videos in testing

• Not useable in pocket, most buttons feel the same and vol wheel catches in pocket, must take out fully to use

• User interface does run faster than R4 in some applications, in others you can’t tell the difference, I took off the miku theme because it did actually lag certain stuff like changing songs: songs skip to the next FLAWLESSLY, but the miku theme player struggled to change album art and froze if you skipped to fast

In conclusion it’s still a fun dap but for people who want there first dap or an everyday/everywhere dap, i wouldn’t recommend it since there are other android daps in the same price range. Some of the software stuff ive mentioned can be fixed over updates but this is first day impressions with no updates yet announced

P.S. for people who want more of an audio review I’m currently testing my iems and headphones on it, it DOES sound fantastic, don’t hear any audible lag or distortion. currently with my iems it’s hard to tell which is better my Eva or miku but the HD6xx headphones definitely show the EVA r4 shine

But TBH just wait for one of the YouTube audiophiles to post since they got more experience, equipment, time, bishes, etc.

Seems kinda surreal... I'm down. Opinions?

Got this as my first DAP ever, both because of Miku and to reduce distractions, it did take some setup but otherwise has been a charm to use. So here some of my thoughts:

Hardware

The build is mostly plastic, though the screen is glass and even has a perfectly applied screen protector (so well you can barely see the outline). So don't use the second one that comes with it until you need replacement. The size of this DAP, compared to my phone (Xcover 6 pro) is pretty compact, although apparently there are DAPs that are quite a bit smaller. The size is fine for me though, as I have large hands and as such I can perfectly hold it in my hand and still access most buttons except the volume wheel and FN button (left-handed).

Speaking of which, the buttons are glossy plastic and indeed very slightly wobbly, but they remind me of older radio/cassette player buttons, which definitely is very cool. Pressing them does require a bit of force. I don't see them breaking anytime soon though, assuming you aren't throwing this thing around. The wheel is full-metal and has a very satisfying clicking sound and feeling, definitely one of my favorite features on this thing.

Software and smoothness of running

The Snapdragon 680 and 4GB of ram is definitely decent enough for a DAP, I have had no hiccups with the built in Hiby Music app, though getting it to work my way was a bit tedious. I like to throw my music in a single folder, as I have them sorted by type and the built-in sorting definitely doesn't work with that. I listen to mostly anime music and Vocaloid music, which has so many little albums that it's better to just throw it onto a single shuffle pile. However, Hiby Music doesn't like that very much and I had to add those folders to a playlist each in order to avoid having to go through all my folders each time.

As for playing, everything works perfectly smoothly, track switching is very fast and very smooth, but skipping too many songs too fast can cause it to freeze a little.

I also have installed VLC as backup, in case Hiby Music ever fails me. This does lag a bit though, but that's to be expected.

As for Miku, you get a custom themed Hiby Music app, a Miku character on the home screen you can interact with (single tap/double tap/tap and hold), certain actions give Miku voice lines (such as (un)plugging headphones, USB or nearly running out of battery) and the entire OS is very Miku themed. After the latest firmware update, you can change that independently from the OS language (so classic EN OS + JP Miku is possible).

Battery

The elephant in the room for some, seeing as there have been multiple users complaining about it draining very fast or even on standby. Mine however, seems to be a good unit and I have not had draining issues at all.

I did some tests, with max brightness, wifi on and with and without battery saver. On idle (no battery saving) it got 6.30 minutes for 1%, which equates to about 10.5 hours and with battery saving on max brightness, it got about 8.30 minutes for 1%, which is about 14 hours. Playing audio didn't impact it too much, most of the battery consumption came from the screen (80/20% screen/CPU).

Overnight without charging, it consumed about 5%.

EDIT: After 5 hours of casual use, with 3.5mm on low power, battery saving, screentime being 50% and screen brightness being about 40%, battery sits at 88% after a full charge. Safe to say if you aren't pushing this thing to its limit, battery will last an eternity.

Sound

Now I am unfortunately not an audiophile by nature and I run the consumer-grade Sony WH-1000 XM4 and Samsung EHS64 earphones seperately. So this part is very subjective and may be very inaccurate. To me, the sound was almost perfectly engineered for me, it's very neutral and the WH-1000 XM4, notorious for having too heavy bass, with only changing some of the bands on EQ was enough did perfectly well.

EDIT 2 (5 January 2026): There are two issues left I have, the first being that LDAC is currently not working for some reason on my WH-1000 XM4 (despite it being able to on my smartphone). The other is that there's a volume spike when pausing for more than 6 seconds and then resuming using either the in-app play button or physical play button without switching tracks. For both issues, I expect firmware updates and I have contacted Hiby support for the first one, another user has mailed for the second issue. This post will keep being updated when I have more information.

NOT MY VIDEO*

The camera isn't as bad as I thought. Scroll wheel isn't that loud either. Still clicky. Super* Review mentioned the buttons can be easy to press accidentally.

I'm bummed that my mental calendar was a day behind. Now will have to wait till they release the case separately to be able to purchase the 2 together.

I guess everyone knows everything about this dap. but I share this japanese review here: