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mmry404 OP t1_j9tqvmk wrote

Reply to comment by Puzzleheaded-Pen4413 in From KZ to S8: impressions by mmry404

Thank you very much! Arias are great too! I mean, I'm just happy to find that those $100-ish iems are not yet on the quality/price plateau, which means there is something to look forward to!

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Puzzleheaded-Pen4413 t1_j9tt41v wrote

Very true, of course for me there will be a moment to upgrade in the future and happy to see you are over the moon with your new purchase!

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mmry404 OP t1_j9txcg3 wrote

Sure! I kinda hesitated at first, but then I figured that my ears don't get better as I age, so I pulled the trigger

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Puzzleheaded-Pen4413 t1_j9vq6mh wrote

It was pay day today so pulled the trigger on a HiBy FC4 DAC Dongle. The audiophily continues 😅

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mmry404 OP t1_j9whtld wrote

Yay! Congrats! Yeah, dongles are a must, as even KZ stuff shows just how shitty my built-in phone dac is (cheap samsung..). Did you notice those artifacts too? I am using the iBasso dc05, didn't even try to run the S8 out of the phone jack, as my ears would probably bleed. Are you planning to run your dongle balanced?

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Puzzleheaded-Pen4413 t1_j9xw490 wrote

Running IEM directly from the phone did give me an idea of how good they were compared to normal headphones (or 5 USD IEM's I started with, funnily enough as hearing protectors when riding a motorcycle and as replacement for my helmet speakers from my satnav / phone), it was not long after my first "few bucks IEM that I went into the Rabbit Hole of reddit on them, and here we are today.

The Aria's are superb imho when it comes to IEM's at that price level, but having them now for a while I do notice a bit of tinkering with EQ is needed to get to something I like to listen too more then EQ-less.

Of course I will not try to tinker with the EQ when the HiBy in between for period of time, maybe to change some settings afterwards.

Gotta work from the basis ;)

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mmry404 OP t1_j9xx61n wrote

Does that HiBy dongle have an app with volume control? Been looking into balanced dongles today, and somehow it seems like a rare feature, though I find it to be essential, as android's own volume control is not granular enough. My iBasso has that and it's a must IMO

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Puzzleheaded-Pen4413 t1_j9xxdof wrote

Good point!

It has a 30 step volume control on the dongle itself (look at the 3rd picture on their website: https://store.hiby.com/products/hiby-fc4).

Android volume control sucks, i had the issue when I connect a Bluetooth speaker which volume control buttons control the phones volume control. Can never find the right level 🤣

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mmry404 OP t1_j9xy3az wrote

Oh that's cool, will consider it then, thanks!

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mmry404 OP t1_ja27fqi wrote

Will you please let me know about your impressions when your hiby arrives? I liked the fc5 model, it only has 4.4 balanced output and is a bit smaller than the fc4, though a bit more expensive, probably cause of glass

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Puzzleheaded-Pen4413 t1_ja2ha8o wrote

Sure thing, even though I just started with this audio-hobby. So don't expect a super detailed experience report (but will do my best of course!)

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