HiBy R6 Pro II vs Sony NW-ZX707

Short answer

  • More power: the HiBy R6 Pro II, with 750 mW into 32 Ω; the Sony NW-ZX707 has 25 mW. The HiBy R6 Pro II drives 16 headphones to 100 dB that the Sony NW-ZX707 cannot (Audio-Technica ATH-R70xa, Beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition (600Ω), Beyerdynamic DT 990 Edition (600Ω), 13 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — the maker of the Sony NW-ZX707 publishes no noise figure.
  • Price: the HiBy R6 Pro II costs $148 less, and wherever both makers publish a figure the Sony NW-ZX707 shows no advantage for the extra money.

Both are portable players, $750 against $898.

The HiBy R6 Pro II reaches 100 dB on 566 of the 567 models here, the Sony NW-ZX707 on 550.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationHiBy R6 Pro IISony NW-ZX707
Power into 32Ω750 mW25 mW
Power into 150Ω280 mW5.3 mW
Power into 300Ω140 mW2.7 mW
Power into 600Ω70 mW1.3 mW
Output impedance0.6 Ω unverifiednot published
Output noise4 µV unverifiednot published
Price$750$898
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
566550

Not published means the maker leaves it out, so that axis cannot be compared.

The 4.4 mm or XLR socket, rated on its own

BalancedHiBy R6 Pro IISony NW-ZX707
Socketno separate rating4.4mm
Power into 32Ω—115 mW derived
Power into 300Ω—12 mW derived
Output impedance—not published
Output noise—not published
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
—561

Only the Sony NW-ZX707 has a separate balanced rating from its maker; through it, it reaches 100 dB on 561 of the 567 models here. The HiBy R6 Pro II may still have a balanced socket — its spec sheet simply gives no figure for one, so there is nothing to put beside it. Derived figures are worked out from the loads the maker did publish.

Where each power figure comes from

LoadHiBy R6 Pro IISony NW-ZX707
32 ΩUnverifiedDerived
150 ΩUnverifiedDerived
300 ΩUnverifiedDerived
600 ΩUnverifiedDerived

HiBy R6 Pro II publishes no electrical specification at all. That is true of 10 of the 280 sources here, and the figures in that column come from independent measurement rather than from a maker document — which is not worse, but it is not the same thing, and it cannot be checked against anything the maker will stand behind.

The Sony NW-ZX707 column stands on figures its maker printed, but not at these loads — every row of it is worked out from power published somewhere else. Reading the two straight across sets one kind of claim against another, and nobody has written down the conditions of both side by side.

What the labels mean.

The headphones that tell them apart

16 headphones reach 100 dB on the HiBy R6 Pro II but not on the Sony NW-ZX707 — Audio-Technica ATH-R70xa, Beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition (600Ω), Beyerdynamic DT 990 Edition (600Ω), 13 more.

550 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both.

Headroom and hiss on 8 models, both sources

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the Audio-Technica ATH-R70X: HiBy R6 Pro II has +18 dB of headroom there against +0 dB. 17 dB is about 53 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for HiBy R6 Pro II and Sony NW-ZX707 because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsHiBy R6 Pro II headroomSony NW-ZX707 headroomHiBy R6 Pro II hissSony NW-ZX707 hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+37 dB+28 dBnot publishednot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+17 dB+8 dBnot publishednot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+27 dB+12 dBnot publishednot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+24 dB+7 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+19 dB+6 dBnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+18 dB+0 dBnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+13 dB-4 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+10 dB-6 dBnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Sony NW-ZX707 costs $148 more than the HiBy R6 Pro II, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the Sony NW-ZX707 handles and the HiBy R6 Pro II does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper HiBy R6 Pro II drives 16 models to 100 dB that the Sony NW-ZX707 does not.

Only published figures count here; blank axes are counted separately.

Both pages in full

Each has a page of its own with a full headphone list and the provenance of every figure — worth opening here, because HiBy R6 Pro II has published no electrical specification at all and everything above comes from independent measurement: HiBy R6 Pro II and Sony NW-ZX707.

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