That ddhifi adapter works, I have it and used it with E02 card since it has only 4.4mm output and some people were curious if they can use SE cables with it. There is no magic in that adapter, it maps L/R/Gnd of 3.5mm TRS plug into L+/R+/Gnd of Pentaconn TRRRS plug, so you are connecting only to ONE side of balanced output. That specific ddhifi adapter is for convenience of using your 3.5mm headphones with 4.4mm socket without any benefits of extra power from a balanced amplifier output since you are only connected to one side of balanced ckt.
The Geekria adapter which the person above was trying to use is only for 3.5mm BAL to 4.4mm BAL. If you are using that adapter with 3.5mm SE, you can short the circuit of RU6.
Wait, you took unmodified Beyer DT880 Pro cans with single ended 3.5mm TRS (L/R/Gnd) terminated cable and used balanced 3.5mm TRRS (L+/R+/L-/R-) to balanced 4.4mm TRRRS (L+/L-/R+/R-/Gnd) adapter to connect to 4.4mm BAL input of RU6? Do you see where I'm going with this? You can NOT convert from single ended to balanced because SE only has one left and one right channel and a common ground while balanced uses 2 differential pairs. Basically, you can not split GND into L-/R- unless you are doing a physical DT880 mod of cutting the cable and adding headphone sockets to each earcup, like here.
The Geekria Apollo adapter is only for rare 3.5mm balanced TRRS cables (used only by some Hifiman iems) to convert them to 4.4mm balanced. I had quite a few people pinging me about that amazon listing with geekria apollo adapter, which btw has customer warnings with people telling you not to use it with single ended 3.5mm cables. Basically, what you are doing now is shorting 4.4mm output inside RU6 and could damage it, if it is not damaged already.
Thanks for your insight - I have stopped using and have ordered the adapter you highlighted. Also tested Cayin 4.4mm with balanced iems and it's undamaged (working perfectly well). I did have a suspicion about the fact it mentioned 3.5mm balanced female connection; however, why would it still work with headphones that have an unbalanced 3.5mm single ended jack?
Thanks for your insight - I have stopped using and have ordered the adapter you highlighted. Also tested Cayin 4.4mm with balanced iems and it's undamaged (working perfectly well). I did have a suspicion about the fact it mentioned 3.5mm balanced female connection; however, why would it still work with headphones that have an unbalanced 3.5mm single ended jack?
The Geekria adapter which the person above was trying to use is only for 3.5mm BAL to 4.4mm BAL. If you are using that adapter with 3.5mm SE, you can short the circuit of RU6.
That ddhifi adapter works, I have it and used it with E02 card since it has only 4.4mm output and some people were curious if they can use SE cables with it. There is no magic in that adapter, it maps L/R/Gnd of 3.5mm TRS plug into L+/R+/Gnd of Pentaconn TRRRS plug, so you are connecting only to ONE side of balanced output. That specific ddhifi adapter is for convenience of using your 3.5mm headphones with 4.4mm socket without any benefits of extra power from a balanced amplifier output since you are only connected to one side of balanced ckt.
The Geekria adapter which the person above was trying to use is only for 3.5mm BAL to 4.4mm BAL. If you are using that adapter with 3.5mm SE, you can short the circuit of RU6.
So Cayin has wired the Sleeve of the 4.4mm jack to GND? In one of the Head-Fi threads, I asked about the 4.4mm GND, and the answer I remember is that with portable audio, since balanced headphones don't have "GND", the 5th contact isn't normally connected.
So Cayin has wired the Sleeve of the 4.4mm jack to GND? In one of the Head-Fi threads, I asked about the 4.4mm GND, and the answer I remember is that with portable audio, since balanced headphones don't have "GND", the 5th contact isn't normally connected.
So Cayin has wired the Sleeve of the 4.4mm jack to GND? In one of the Head-Fi threads, I asked about the 4.4mm GND, and the answer I remember is that with portable audio, since balanced headphones don't have "GND", the 5th contact isn't normally connected.
Also, I was under the impression the Cayin RU6 isn't truly balanced based on its architecture, so how does this affect the 4.4mm output? And why would the beyerdynamic DT880s (SE 3.5mm) work at all with the Geekria Apollo adapter if the female socket on the Geekria is for balanced 3.5mm only. Is the RU6 truly balanced out of the 4.4mm or does it just offer further amplification? I don't know if it uses differential amplification (usually associated with balanced outputs). Maybe someone could offer clarity on this?
My RU6 has arrived and I spent all night being enamored by this little wonder. I hooked up my Kato and was completely blown away by the sound. Using NOS mode, the holographic staging is quite impressive and the way it sounds so natural and cohesive yet still detailed and textured is stunning. Owning a Sonnet Morpheus (very well reviewed high-end full sized NOS/R2R DAC), I have become quite familiar and in love with the NOS sound, and the RU6 does not disappoint one bit. In fact, I was enjoying listening with the RU6 and Kato pairing last night so much, that I did not even feel the need to fire up my desktop rig, of which is a very well respected setup costing around $10k. I have not even burned this thing in yet and it's already very impressive. This is my first Cayin product and I can assure you it will not be my last. Well done Cayin!
So Cayin has wired the Sleeve of the 4.4mm jack to GND? In one of the Head-Fi threads, I asked about the 4.4mm GND, and the answer I remember is that with portable audio, since balanced headphones don't have "GND", the 5th contact isn't normally connected.
I can't speak for others, but all 4.4mm phones out from Cayin DAP and amplifiers are grounded, we follow the JEITA definition and wired all 5 poles of our 4.4mm phone out socket properly.
Also, I was under the impression the Cayin RU6 isn't truly balanced based on its architecture, so how does this affect the 4.4mm output? And why would the beyerdynamic DT880s (SE 3.5mm) work at all with the Geekria Apollo adapter if the female socket on the Geekria is for balanced 3.5mm only. Is the RU6 truly balanced out of the 4.4mm or does it just offer further amplification? I don't know if it uses differential amplification (usually associated with balanced outputs). Maybe someone could offer clarity on this?
There is a difference between a fully balanced designed amplifier to a balanced-driven headphone output.
The 4.4mm phone output of RU6 is balanced driven, but the signal path is primarily a single-ended design. We added an extra op-amp (identical to the primary headphone amplification Op-Amp) in the final output stage as a unity gain amplifier, all it does is convert the original stereo signal to a negative phase. This makes the 4.4mm phone out a balanced output technically.
My RU6 has arrived and I spent all night being enamored by this little wonder. I hooked up my Kato and was completely blown away by the sound. Using NOS mode, the holographic staging is quite impressive and the way it sounds so natural and cohesive yet still detailed and textured is stunning. Owning a Sonnet Morpheus (very well reviewed high-end full sized NOS/R2R DAC), I have become quite familiar and in love with the NOS sound, and the RU6 does not disappoint one bit. In fact, I was enjoying listening with the RU6 and Kato pairing last night so much, that I did not even feel the need to fire up my desktop rig, of which is a very well respected setup costing around $10k. I have not even burned this thing in yet and it's already very impressive. This is my first Cayin product and I can assure you it will not be my last. Well done Cayin!
Thank you for your good word, comparing RU6 to a $10K high-end setup is flattering.
Wonder what is the source you are using? a mobile phone? PC? I haven't heard the Moondro Kato, I'll check out the RU6 and Kato paring later this month when I had the opportunity to visit a headphone shop.
Thank you for your good word, comparing RU6 to a $10K high-end setup is flattering.
Wonder what is the source you are using? a mobile phone? PC? I haven't heard the Moondro Kato, I'll check out the RU6 and Kato paring later this month when I had the opportunity to visit a headphone shop.
Sure thing! I like to give good products recognition and the RU6 is awesome. I am only using a Samsung S10+ as my source at the moment, so I know it can get even better. As for the Kato, they are fantastic for the money. My preferences are all about being engaged with a natural tonality and timbre first and foremost and hooked up to the RU6 they don't disappoint.
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It's a fantastic dongle!
