pickyAudiophile
Active Member
Hi guys.
I received my HiBy FC5 "with display" dongle DAC yesterday and I just wanted to share with you my initial findings. It's a mixed bag. I features a PEQ tool for Windows machines. The dongle does write these settings to EEPROM and load on boot-up. It's the cheapest dongle DAC device I know of that offers PEQ settings stored inside the device itself.
It's just one single profile available called "user". So far so good.
Once the Windows tool was installed which had been a bit of a hassle since the installer was available in Chinese Mandarin language only, actually the tool itself is straightforward and as you can see English language is available.
But there is one huuuuge flaw with initial fimware revision 1.0 of the device. Software volume attenuation does not work with any Windows machine. So regardless of 1%, 50% or 80% Windows volume setting, output is fixed at 100% - impossible to attenuate. As if what's happening with some poorly implemented DAC devices when those are set to "WASAPI Exclusive Mode" data transfer e/g by music streaming apps like e/g Qobuz Windows App.
But with the FC5 it's not about "Exclusive Mode"...it's generally non-attenuable.
You only have these 30 volume steps provided by hardware (physical +/- button). It's impossible to use these 30 steps as a preamp or gain setting only...and then fine adjust by using the 100 step volume slider Windows operating system offers. Windows 11, 25H2 in my case, tried on three different systems.
I must say, I never ever had a dongle DAC here with me unresponsive to Windows volume control slider. That's a substantial disappointment. UAC1 mode and UAC2 mode - both affected.
While connected to any Android device, volume (slider) of operating system works as it should.
Ask me any questions.
I received my HiBy FC5 "with display" dongle DAC yesterday and I just wanted to share with you my initial findings. It's a mixed bag. I features a PEQ tool for Windows machines. The dongle does write these settings to EEPROM and load on boot-up. It's the cheapest dongle DAC device I know of that offers PEQ settings stored inside the device itself.
It's just one single profile available called "user". So far so good.
Once the Windows tool was installed which had been a bit of a hassle since the installer was available in Chinese Mandarin language only, actually the tool itself is straightforward and as you can see English language is available.
But there is one huuuuge flaw with initial fimware revision 1.0 of the device. Software volume attenuation does not work with any Windows machine. So regardless of 1%, 50% or 80% Windows volume setting, output is fixed at 100% - impossible to attenuate. As if what's happening with some poorly implemented DAC devices when those are set to "WASAPI Exclusive Mode" data transfer e/g by music streaming apps like e/g Qobuz Windows App.
But with the FC5 it's not about "Exclusive Mode"...it's generally non-attenuable.
You only have these 30 volume steps provided by hardware (physical +/- button). It's impossible to use these 30 steps as a preamp or gain setting only...and then fine adjust by using the 100 step volume slider Windows operating system offers. Windows 11, 25H2 in my case, tried on three different systems.
I must say, I never ever had a dongle DAC here with me unresponsive to Windows volume control slider. That's a substantial disappointment. UAC1 mode and UAC2 mode - both affected.
While connected to any Android device, volume (slider) of operating system works as it should.
Ask me any questions.
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