HiByMusic vs foobar2000
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
HiByMusic
A free, high-fidelity audio player for audiophiles and music lovers. It supports a wide range of lossless and lossy formats, offering high-precision decoding and advanced audio features for a premium listening experience.
- Wide lossless/lossy audio format support
- CUE sheets and ISO image support
- High precision decoding (32-bit output, 64-bit float)
- External USB DAC support
- Gapless playback
- 10 band graphic EQ
- MSEB support
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HiByMusic Free lossless HiFi audio player. Easy to use, clean and clear. HiByMusic Player is a free lossless HiFi audio player designed for audiophiles and music fans, giving you a first-class music experience wherever you go. Features: 1. Wide lossless/lossy audio format support, including DSD(DSF,DFF), ISO(DSF,DFF,DST), WAV, FLAC, APE, AIFF, M4A, AAC, WMA, MP3, Ogg Vorbis; 2. CUE sheets and ISO images are also directly supported; 3. High precision decoding with 32 bits output, 64 bits floating point decoding and 128 bits internal precision, all for the best quality audio; 4. External USB DAC is supported, Output Native DSD with DoP, Direct output DxD and 384kHz@32bits audio streams easily; 5. Gapless playback; 6. 10 band graphic EQ; 7. MSEB support; Stay tuned, more professional function will be added continually! email: service@hiby.com website: www.hiby.com
foobar2000
An advanced audio player for mobile devices supporting a wide range of formats. Enjoy gapless playback, automatic volume adjustment, and customization options. Stream music from UPnP servers.
- Wide audio format support (MP3, FLAC, AAC, etc.)
- Gapless playback
- ReplayGain volume adjustment
- UPnP media server streaming
- Customizable appearance with skins
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foobar2000 mobile is an advanced audio player for mobile devices. Main features: * Supported audio formats: MP3, MP4, AAC, Vorbis, Opus, FLAC, WavPack, WAV, AIFF, Musepack. * Gapless playback. * ReplayGain support - automatic playback volume adjustment. * Supports playback and downloading music from UPnP media servers. * Appearance can be customized with skin files (basic black and white themes inlcuded with the app).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: foobar2000 at 4.5 against HiByMusic's 3.4. foobar2000 also leads on review sentiment (79% vs 42%) and update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
foobar2000 holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 140 and 187 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 42% of HiByMusic's written reviews are positive against 79% of foobar2000's.
HiByMusic ships an update every 3 months, foobar2000 monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HiByMusic | foobar2000 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (140 ratings) | 4.5 (187 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 42.0% of reviews | 79.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 140 | 187 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 12.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dongguan Hiby Music Technology Co., Ltd. | Resolute |
Customer experience
HiByMusic
foobar2000
User reviews
HiByMusic
From 140 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎵 Excellent hi-res audio support (DSD, FLAC, WAV, APE)
- 🆓 Free app without ads or hidden fees
- 🎨 Clean and intuitive user interface
- 🔗 HibyLink functionality for controlling compatible devices
- ⚙️ Effective equalizer and DSP effects
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
- 📱 Poor iOS optimization compared to Android version
- 🔌 Unreliable Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity
- 🎯 Clunky and unintuitive user experience
- 🚫 CarPlay support removed in recent updates
foobar2000
From 187 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Good for offline use
- 🚀 Fast and responsive
- 💡 Customizable with skins
- 👍 Plays a variety of audio formats
- 👍 Convenient FTP transfer
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Lacking search functionality
- 🔍 Difficult to manage playlists and delete songs
- 🔍 Inconsistent UI and navigation
- 🔍 Missing CarPlay support
Bugs and requests
HiByMusic
Reported bugs
21 issues- App crashes during music library scanning (around 3,000 files)
- HibyLink connection drops repeatedly
- Music playback stops when app is backgrounded
- Rewind button behavior inconsistent (goes to previous song instead of replaying)
- Album shuffle mixing with existing playlist songs
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- SMBv3 compatibility issues
- DLNA functionality crashes
- EQ and DSP effects not working on iOS
- DSD DoP not functioning on iPhone 15 Pro Max
- MQA track playback crashes
- Search function keyboard disappears after each letter
- Album art cropping and stretching issues
- Lyric loading failures
- Some MP3 and M4A files fail to play
- Bluetooth pairing inconsistency with Hiby devices
- Firmware update required every startup (2-3 minutes)
- Music file scanning not detecting all formats
- Volume control glitches when pressing quickly
- Plugin deactivation after app closure
- Folder sorting in reverse alphabetical order
- Track order randomization in folder view
Requested features
20 requests- Manual playlist reordering
- ID3 tag editing capability
- Folder-based music library scanning
- Album artist sorting (not just track artist)
- Album favorites/bookmarking
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- Gapless playback
- Crossfade between tracks
- Folder icon display in browser
- Font size adjustment
- Language settings
- Dark mode and theme customization
- Background playback support
- Search by filename
- HTTP/NAS access support
- Lyrics matching and custom lyric sources
- Portrait mode support for iPad
- Online lyrics and cover art fetching improvements
- Ascending/descending sort order options
- Playlist organization and song management
- VoiceOver accessibility improvements for iOS
foobar2000
Reported bugs
5 issues- Crashes on startup for some users
- Playback issues with certain audio formats
- Network detection failures
- SMB/DLNA server connectivity problems
- Album art not displaying correctly
Requested features
8 requests- Add queue and repeat single track features
- Improve playlist management and song deletion
- Implement CarPlay support
- Add more UI customization options
- Improve search functionality
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Implement Last.fm scrobbling
- Add tag editing capabilities
- Provide sort options by artist, genre, etc.
In-app purchases
HiByMusic
No in-app purchases
foobar2000
No in-app purchases
