HiBy Digital M500

This artist has Played at Coachellaand is currently showing “Live” in a town near you. She is the virtual Japanese pop idol Hatsune Miku. You may not have heard of Miku, but she (I’m not comfortable calling her “her”) is hugely popular across music, gaming, and more. For fans, the HiBy M500 x Hatsune Miku is a Digital audio player With the same bright colors and overall aesthetic. The collaboration isn’t limited to colours, as the animated and sometimes vocal Miku brings some cool and unique flair.

Fortunately, for people who aren’t necessarily familiar with Hatsune Miku’s work, the M500 is also a solid mid-range audio player, with Cirrus Logic DACs, good amp power and a fast enough processor that keeps it running smoothly. By running a modified version of Android 14, you can even install all your streaming music and other apps. The kawaii aesthetic may not be for everyone, but HiBy has done a good job of collaborating/licensing with a well-performing and beautifully colorful media player.

High Bay M500 x Hatsune Miku

Development Assistance Committee	Cirrus Logic CS43198 x2
Headphone amp power	124 mW (3.5mm output claimed), 449 mW (4.4mm output claimed)
HD compatible	Up to 32-bit/768 kHz
Bluetooth version	5.0
Bluetooth codecs	AAC, aptX HD, and LDAC (plus SBC required)
File formats	AAC, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA, M4A, others
Wireless	WiFi 2.4 and 5GHz, 4G version available
storage	64GB plus MicroSD (up to 2TB)
Battery life	26 hours playback, 558+ standby (claimed)
USB DAC mode	No (USB-C audio out)
a screen	5 inches, resolution 1,280 x 720
Operating system	HiByOS (modified Android14)

Maybe we should start with who or what Hatsune Miku is. Although a self-proclaimed web (and I fully realize that’s a pejorative), this was not an area of ​​the web that I was familiar with. Miku is a “virtual idol” and a “vocaloid”. Using software originally developed by Yamaha, Japanese company Crypton Future Media developed Miku as the “face” of what is essentially a vocal synthesizer that can also sing. While Miku is an ostensibly animated mascot, she has a “life” of her own, with concerts (via “3D image), musical collaborations and more. She also sang “Her” on David Letterman with Bighead.

Miku is not an AI, although there are some similarities, and there could certainly be an AI version. Instead, they are a surprisingly widespread and popular brand, all featuring the teal-tailed Miku. Given HiBy’s excellent work with the Evangelion license (well, now we’re back in my web neighborhood… weeborhood?) with R4 × GospelI was definitely curious about this pairing.

Using Android 14 as a base, HiBy created custom icons and overlaid them with a custom Miku wallpaper with 10 other options available in the image gallery. The coolest aspect of the M500 is its little animations Chibi style Miku has a little bird friend who wears a HiBy necklace. This pair sits on a layer above the background, so you can move them around if they’re getting in your way. Idle animation type of idol blinking and swaying a bit. Leave them for a while and they will go to sleep, waving their arms/wings to attract attention etc. By tapping them in different places, you can make them roll forward slightly, headbutt, wave, stamp their feet and more. Even by Miku’s standards, this is pretty good kawaii (nice).

Miko will talk to you too. When playback starts, the message “Welcome to HiBy Music, the show starts now!” appears. If you connect headphones, the message “Headphones connected!” will appear. Unplug them and it will say “Speakers working!” You’ll find Miko hiding in random places throughout the OS, just like the mods HiBy did with the R4 x Evangelion. Fortunately, Miku is not a Tamagotchi and doesn’t seem bothered if you don’t interact with him. You can also disable Miku’s voice lines separately if you don’t want to comment.

The overall look of the M500, as you can see in the photos, definitely matches the Miku’s aesthetic: a mostly teal/cyan bezel and rose red buttons. The color scheme continues on the back where there is a drawing of Miku on a black background. Even the included wrist strap and USB-C cable are the same colors. If Miku is your thing, I feel like this highlights you. Unlike most DAPs, this one has a camera. It’s not great, certainly like what you’d find on a low-end Android phone, but if you’re trying to use more phones for free, it at least offers a little camera practicality.

The M500 is a step down compared to the R4, but it’s still a solid media player. Powering the Snapdragon 680 SoC feels fast and smooth to use. The phone’s speeds aren’t very fast, but it never feels slow. There are dual Cirrus Logic CS43198 DACs running through what HiBy describes as “low-noise, high-performance” op-amps. The 5-inch LCD screen has a resolution of 1280 x 720 which is sharp enough for a screen this size. My review sample was the Wi-Fi version, but there’s also a version with 4G-LTE connectivity (bring your own nano-SIM).

Ease of use

When you turn on the M500, Mico will say hello to you. During startup, there’s a line drawing of Miku in the background with eyes on full display, so it’s like a ghost watching you. I don’t think this was intentionally scary.

Physical buttons are one of the best reasons to buy a dedicated media player, and with the M500, there’s the typical playback, previous and next, and there’s even a textured volume wheel. With the latter, there is a visual component of the curved teal lines that radiate from the bottom of the device. Mini-Miku is standing at the top with her bird enjoying some headphones. If you turn down the volume too quickly, the floor will fall out from under the pair and Miku will have to regain her balance. If you turn up the volume, Miko will eventually express some concern: “Careful, the volume is too high!” lovable.

I was able to get a lot of sound from the M500, even with some power-hungry planar magnetic headphones like Heavy Man Sundaras And our travels. It was quite loud, but not deafeningly loud. Louder than you should listen to for any length of time, and that was with headphones that were very difficult to drive. If you have earbuds or headphones that are easier to drive, you should be able to get a lot of sound. I listened to a variety of music, including the indie J-pop/rock Haku, the crazy kind of Electric Callboy, and the deep bass of Blue Man Group My voiceWeezer pretends to be Toto as well as some miscellaneous organ and cello music from Bach. They were all lossless and ranged from 16/44.1 to 24/96 and they all sounded clean and accurate. The M500 (or Apple) didn’t like 24/192 via Apple Music but played FLAC 24/192 tracks with no problem. The Bluetooth headphones connected well, as you’d expect from a modern mobile device.

Kawaii

In an endless world of black, grey, black, grey, grey, black and sometimes solid white devices, something as colorful and fun as the M500 x Hatsune Miku is worth a closer look. Like the previous R4, the M500 is well thought out and lives up to its IP license. You’ve certainly seen countless “collaborations” with brands that are nothing more than a color change, a logo, and a questionable price premium. At least there are some fun Easter eggs here, as well as some actual design with an animated Mini-Miku, other artwork and voice prompts.

At its core, also like the R4, the M500 is a powerful portable media player. I mean, it runs full Android 14 and there’s a 4G version so the line between this and an actual phone is pretty blurry. Colors and animations add character but aren’t the only reason the M500 exists. I think this is an important distinction. Obviously the M500 x Hatsune Miku isn’t for everyone, but I can imagine someone interested in the kawaii aesthetic in general, or Miku specifically, finding the M500 exactly what they want in a media player.