Dossier — HiBy FC5 with Display*

The brochure speaks; the silicon answers. What follows is what each has said.

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Claims breakdown

Claim Bucket Witnessed Verdict
PCM 32-bit / 768 kHz PCM Alt 1, Subslot 3 — 24-bit PCM. Sample Rates Supported (kHz): 44.1 48 88.2 96 176.4 192 352.8 384 705.6 768Alt 2, Subslot 2 — 16-bit PCM. Sample Rates Supported (kHz): 44.1 48 88.2 96 176.4 192 352.8 384 705.6 768Alt 3, Subslot 4 — 32-bit PCM. Sample Rates Supported (kHz): 44.1 48 88.2 96 176.4 192 352.8 384 705.6 768 Match
Native DSD512 DSD Alt 4, Subslot 4 — Type-1 RAW 1-bit DSD. Sample Rates Supported (kHz): 44.1 48 88.2 96 176.4 192 352.8 384 705.6 768 (DSD64 to DSD512) Match
MQA 8× rendering Silent MQA is a licensed software render riding PCM frames; the USB descriptor witnesses only format, depth, and rate, and cannot see it. Silent: claims unwitnessable by descriptor

Remarks

A note on the name. The listener's machine self-reported the short label "HiBy FC5," but the descriptor witnesses more than the base unit can offer — PCM to 32-bit / 768 kHz and native DSD512, a ceiling exclusive to the FC5 with Display and its dual CS43198. We name the device by what the silicon proves, not by what the host happened to announce; the asterisk marks that inference.

On the merits, brochure and silicon agree. PCM climbs to 32-bit / 768 kHz. DSD is carried natively — raw, not DoP — to DSD512, the 44.1 kHz rate ladder reaching 705.6 kHz where a lesser unit would stop at 352.8. The MQA claim the Concordance leaves unweighed: an 8× unfold is a software render riding ordinary PCM frames, and a descriptor that sees only format, depth, and rate is blind to it by design. This listener has chosen a worthy machine.


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