HiBy RS6 vs iBasso DX260 MK2

Both are portable players, $999 against $949.

The iBasso DX260 MK2 reaches 100 dB on 566 of the 567 models here, the HiBy RS6 on 564.

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

Through the balanced sockets the two are level on the same test: each reaches 100 dB on 566 of the 567 models here. Derived figures are worked out from the loads the maker did publish.

Only one of these two columns starts from a power rating. HiBy RS6 publishes one at 32 Ω; iBasso DX260 MK2 publishes none at any of these four loads, so its column is worked out from power it published at other loads. Both are arithmetic on a maker’s own figures rather than guesses, and the method used for the iBasso DX260 MK2 understates rather than flatters — but at 32 Ω is the only load here at which its maker can be held to a figure.

What the labels mean.

2 headphones reach 100 dB on the iBasso DX260 MK2 but not on the HiBy RS6 — Moondrop PARA, Symphonium Crimson.

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

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020: iBasso DX260 MK2 has +19 dB of headroom there against +11 dB. 8 dB is about 5.8 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for HiBy RS6 because that maker publishes no output noise figure.

The HiBy RS6 costs $50 more than the iBasso DX260 MK2, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the HiBy RS6 handles and the iBasso DX260 MK2 does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper iBasso DX260 MK2 drives 2 models to 100 dB that the HiBy RS6 does not.

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

Each in full: HiBy RS6 and iBasso DX260 MK2.