[pinkpiglet]

I’m not trying to gain say your impressions, but I’m wondering where you got the concept this was meant to be a “reference” device? I don’t see that terminology used in the marketing for this device at all.

If I'm not mistaken I saw it from the Musicteck webstore.

 

[discord]

If I'm not mistaken I saw it from the Musicteck webstore.

”Reference sound” is not mentioned on their website and it’s not mentioned on the box or instruction manual.

 

[pinkpiglet]

”Reference sound” is not mentioned on their website and it’s not mentioned on the box or instruction manual.

Yea I just checked the webstore again. I must have seen something else then.

 

[emilsoft]

To me, what you said is not a reference setup. It's a natural setup. Let's say I have a reference setup. Then from that setup I have to be able to differentiate a sample sound that's digitally made and naturally recorded. Maybe this makes sense maybe this isn't, but if you listen to a digitally sampled piano and a naturally recorded piano, a reference setup would present those two sounds as it is, but for me it is not the case for the RU6.

I don't disagree with you - it's an interesting topic and there's no right or wrong necessarily.

For me a more reference source is say a Michell Gyro SE turntable vs say a Chord Qutest or Chord TT - and by a fair margin... does it have faster transients? Not necessarily but it communicates the music more effectively and confidently - even though it measures worse, more distortion and so on, it gives a more lifelike presentation that feels less processed (like in a studio/live performance)- and this is not a placebo.. something gets lost during the digitisation/translation layer.. When I listen to even a relatively modest vinyl setup my jaw drops and I'm reminded that I'm chasing the unattainable with d/s dacs. R2R tries to get some of that back I guess and can get halfway there.

But yes in typical digital reference terminology means super clean neutral and top measuring d/s dac

 

[Goofyboy84]

The Cayin C to lightning cable should work fine for RU6, we have tested it and quite a number of users in this thread had used the cable with their iphone already.

I bought the Cayin USB-c to lightning in hopes it works with the balanced cable. I tried my charging cord, as it’s factory Apple USB-c to lightning and it will not work. It’s 3 feet long, maybe the shorter length will help. Maybe the Cayin cable is better quality, as a whole. It’s worth a shot. I’m happy for now, at least it’ll play on my iPad with no issues.

If anyone wants to chime in, feel free! Maybe it’s an audio routing issue?

The apple dongle (3.5 mm to lightning) works fine with the Laylas… just perfectly. But that’s minus the amp, minus the balanced cable.

I’m not trying to be a pest. And I’ll be 100% happy if the Cayin cable does in fact work!!!

I’m not upset, I’m more just documenting my findings.

My phone is the 12 pro max updated with the latest software update, if that matters. Using Apple Music. I’m literally stumped.

What’s y’all’s experience with the iPhone? Anyone else have the issues I’m having?

 

[Goofyboy84]

Can confirm that I can use RU6 and charge my phone at the same time, using the Apple USB adapter (photo below) with iPhone 11 Pro Max.

RU6 is connected to the USB port, and the charging cable into the lightning port on the adapter.

Interesting!!!! What cable are you using in your RU6? Can you PM me please?? I took back my adaptor out of frustration. It was the apple camera adaptor.

 

[Goofyboy84]

Would it work on iPad with usb c port directly without the camera kit?

Yes!!! I have a 4.4 balanced hooked up via USB-c cable from Cayin that’s included with the dongle. USBc to USBc. Works perfectly, no issue! That’s for the iPad Pro!!!! I have the 3rd Gen, from 2018. No issues! My issues are with my iPhone 12 Pro Max. I ordered the USBc to lightning cable (Cayin) fron MusicTeck tonight. I’ll check back and let y’all know what happens. The factory USBc to lightning from apple does NOT work. So… my hopes are now with Cayin.

 

[kumar402]

I received my RU6 6 days ago and I've reached more than 50 hours of burn-in time. Here's what I think.

Before I start any further, I would like to tell you about my expectation for the RU6. The RU6 was advertised to have a reference sound, and because of that I was preparing myself for a sound that's similar or in line with the Soekris 2541, but man it couldn't be any farther from the truth. It doesn't sound like it or anything that I would classify as a reference sound.

Before burn-in and warm up
My initial impression for the RU6 was quite bad. I couldn't relate with the impressions that I found online as the RU6 sounds so unrefined. In terms of tonality, it is indeed something different. There's more subbass presence in the RU6 and an elevated bass in general. The mids is more forward, but the highs was not cohesive. It has spikes and it was messy in general. I think this is the reason why people said it was dry or harsh to them. Now, why do I call it bad? It's because of the technical qualities of the sound that was pretty much non existent. For the bass and subbass, there was no texture and seperation. It was muddled up into a jumbled mess. The positioning was also smeared all over the place. Because of this reason, I didn't post my initial impression online.

After burn-in and warm up.
After the burn-in everything improves significantly. The thing that I noticed as an immediate improvement was in the cohesiveness of the highs (upper mids and treble to be exact). It sounded way nicer and mellow to some extent. Then there's also the improvement in layering and positioning. So let me break it down one by one.

Tonality:
The RU6 had an emphasis on the lower bass and subbass region. The presentation for the mids is also more forward, but interestingly the highs is more subdued. For this reason I would call the RU6 as a warm sounding DAC.

Soundstage, layering and postioning:
The RU6 presents everything in a larger soundstage. You can hear that it extends deeper and a little bit higher when compared to LP W2 and Lotoo S1, but if I'm going to look at how the RU6 layers the sound, I would say that it doesn't do a great job in it. The instruments that are layered by the RU6 bleed to one another, giving a smeared impression for me. And the same thing happens for positioning. It was wider and deeper than W2, but the positioning is not pin point exact. It's a smeared image.

Timbre:
For me RU6 sounds more natural than the competitions. What I found really nice is the way it presents violin and trumpet (or brass instruments in general). Sometimes there's a little grittiness in the way they're presented, but not in the RU6.

Transient and decay:
For me this is the major problem for the RU6. Well depends on how you look at it. The transient was slow and the decay was long. These qualities becomes an advantage when you are listening to acoustic or classical music, but a problem to electronic music and fast beating music. For acoustic music, the long decay and soft transient made the strings sounded cohesive and better mimics the real one, but when it comes to a fast beating music, you lose the impact and the definition of the melody. When there's a snare hit, it felt like the snare was still going when it should've stopped. Hi-hats also doesn't have this sharp and definitive body, which I suspect caused by the soft transient.

Conclusion:
For me the RU6 is far from a reference sounding DAC. When someone claims something to be reference sounding, I'm expecting it to present the music as how it is, not giving anything more or taking anything away, but that's not the case for the RU6. The RU6 makes soundstage larger and it also had a soft transient and long decay. The tonality is also quite warm for my taste. If I take away the fact that the RU6 is an R-2R dongle DAC, I would say that the RU6 is a pretty good DAC. It's a natural sounding DAC, but that's about it.

Edit:
Practicality:
In terms of practicality, I don't feel like the RU6 to be the most practical one. The resistor array that is used for the volume is the major thing that hinders it from being a practical DAC. There's a slight delay when you change song or videos and the same when you are changing the volume. After a while it becomes annoying, especially when you are watching videos online or going through your playlist quickly.

Edit:
Apparently it was never advertised as reference. I must be drunk seeing it as reference somewhere.

You can try Planar headphones it may help you overcome those lingering snare hit but not sure if this device can provide enough current to Planar.
May be a reason why it pairs well with 7Hz timeless.

 

[kumar402]

Just got it delivered. Hopefully a contrast to my Shanling M3X which is neutral

 

[alota]

finally, thanks to a friend, i received mine. really well engineered and well sounding product. well done @Andykong.
With solaris 2020 it is a very high level combo. i think ru6 sounds better in balanced mode; seems less congested

 

[Louisiana]

Mine arrived today

 

[kumar402]

Mine arrived today

Wow the color of adapter looks sleek. Is it from Forza?

 

[Johnfg465vd]

Just got it delivered. Hopefully a contrast to my Shanling M3X which is neutral

Headphonezone right? I recognize that card.

Has anyone tried RU6 with timeless?

 

[kumar402]

Headphonezone right? I recognize that card.

Has anyone tried RU6 with timeless?

Yes, got it from them. They had it on sale for Christmas

 

[Louisiana]

Wow the color of adapter looks sleek. Is it from Forza?

No, its from a User from head-Fi
Ordered this for my ZMF VC:

Spoiler: Cable