Upgrade replacement for Hiby R3 pro Sabre

[ngc3o34]

Have been using Hiby R3 pro Sabre for long time and there are few things that make me think of replacement:
Bluetooth isn't perfect. Bluetooth buds stutter sometimes regardless of codec and distance.
Song database limit. Reading the forum today discovered that there is a 20000(?) limit for non-android DAPs. Always felt like there is a gray zone when playing everything on shuffle.
Playlist functionality. Some limitations in creating playlists.

Besides I started wandering if there are DAPs with notably better quality (I mean in terms of objective measurements, chip specs etc.)
Is anything out there that would be definitely better than R3 pro in adjacent price segment (not too expensive)?
(Also better if that would be some newer device)

 

[Brian Hall]

You didn't mention a price range. I'm not familiar with the R3 pro sabre.

I have the Hiby R6 Gen 3 and it works great.

The R6 Gen 3 is $499. The new R4 looks good and it is $249.

 

[ears-of-steel]

I've owned a R3 Pro Sabre for close to 2 years now but I've only been using it on the road with my trusty Ety ER4XR. Even though this doesn't exactly answer your question I prefer USB dongles or compact DAC/amp combos with a very low output impedance like e.g. the E1DA dongles or the Topping G5 (all < 0.1 Ohm) on a PC or smartphone for most of my IEMs (many of them sporting an impedance of 16 Ohms or less) not at last since not all manufacturers of DAPs (or DACs) publish the output impedances of their creations. Some DAPs (DACs, DAC/amp combos) have OIs in the range of up to a few Ohms which doesn't work too well with those lower Imp. transducers (damping factor, etc...).
Same goes for designs based on the ubiquitous CS43131 without external OPA(s) (Tanchjim Space, Sonata HD or BHD Pro, Moondrop Dawn, ...) that even with 16 Ohm transducers (pretty common among IEMs) work at the edge of their lower impedance limit resulting in less than optimum performance (see CS43131 data sheet).

 

[ngc3o34]

You didn't mention a price range. I'm not familiar with the R3 pro sabre.

I have the Hiby R6 Gen 3 and it works great.

The R6 Gen 3 is $499. The new R4 looks good and it is $249.

In my city it costs $600 - guess I could save up a bit. Although R6 Gen 3 is bulky (my first one was FIIO M5) it said to be mid-range with class A amp, when R3 pro is entry level

I've owned a R3 Pro Sabre for close to 2 years now but I've only been using it on the road with my trusty Ety ER4XR. Even though this doesn't exactly answer your question I prefer USB dongles or compact DAC/amp combos with a very low output impedance like e.g. the E1DA dongles or the Topping G5 (all < 0.1 Ohm) on a PC or smartphone for most of my IEMs (many of them sporting an impedance of 16 Ohms or less) not at last since not all manufacturers of DAPs (or DACs) publish the output impedances of their creations. Some DAPs (DACs, DAC/amp combos) have OIs in the range of up to a few Ohms which doesn't work too well with those lower Imp. transducers (damping factor, etc...).
Same goes for designs based on the ubiquitous CS43131 without external OPA(s) (Tanchjim Space, Sonata HD or BHD Pro, Moondrop Dawn, ...) that even with 16 Ohm transducers (pretty common among IEMs) work at the edge of their lower impedance limit resulting in less than optimum performance (see CS43131 data sheet).

I prefer standalone all-in-one device. Higher quality requires heavier and bigger DAP, unlikely that compact DAC would sound as R6 Gen 3. My IEMs are Moondrop Blessing3, will just have to see how R6 pairs with Blessing3... I don't know much about what output impedance is and didn't see this in R6 specs anyway

 

[Somafunk]

The new Fiio JM21 looks good for the price £170/$180 ish and very slim/smaller and half the weight of the Hiby R4 which would bode well for carrying around/portability, the only thing against it is the usual shit Fiio firmware and the fact that they have a habit of releasing products that treat the initial customer as beta testers, if I was interested in buying one I’d wait for a month or two to give them time to sort the bugs

This is the only review I’ve seen on YouTube as it’s rather new

 

[Brian Hall]

Although R6 Gen 3 is bulky (my first one was FIIO M5) it said to be mid-range with class A amp, when R3 pro is entry level

It also has an A/B mode. The only difference I've noticed with it in class A mode is that the battery drains a lot faster and the device gets hot. No difference in sound quality so I leave it on A/B all the time.

 

[ngc3o34]

Interesting that in Hiby R6 (from 2019) review Amir doesn't recommend it. Sure R6 III is different but I couldn't find measurements for R6 III so potentially this one could also be disappointment.
Also didn't find direct comparison ES9218P (R3 Pro Saber) vs ES9038Q2M (R6 III). Got little to none knowledge to read specs, need someone to summarize it for me.
Only hints for R6 III being better than R3 Pro Saber are:
- bigger size - as it is difficult to pack quality circuits in smaller device (although not sure if they bind some smartphone board with their audio board or just used some components necessary to run android)
- amp class A - hopefully Hiby doesn't mess with terminology here
- newer model - potentially better technology in use

The new Fiio JM21 looks good

Seems to be from same league as R3 Pro Saber, before I invest, need to be sure that sound quality is going to be better (but even with R6 III it's a doubt)