[Louisiana]

Back to the RU6 though, it didn't want to play well with my iPhone 12 Pro Max, cutting out repeatedly. The W2 didn't fare much better though. I'm using the included Lightning to USB-C cable. I wonder if it is because the battery is below 50%, as it worked fine before, and it works fine out of my iPad Mini.

That's weird.
Last night I connected the RU6 to my iPhoneXS, and listened to music for about 2 hours, even in high gain mode since I had my VC connected.
No problems, the only thing I noticed was the Lightning connector gets very warm, almost hot.

All in all, I'm so excited about the little RU6 that I'm now thinking about buying the Cayin 6ii.

 

[Stuff Jones]

I don't think RU6 will deliver MORE watt (power) when you switch from a current-limited iphone to a laptop or even desktop computer. I won't doubt that RU6 can sound better from your laptop then your mobile phone, but is has nothing to do with how much power it put out, so tehre is some serious misundersatnding in your question and I can't answer that direclty.

So what can be the reasons behind the improved audio performance?

First of all, the integrity and quality of USB Audio output from Window or MacOS based laptop, if setup probably, is better than Android or iOS based mobile phone. The mobile phones are highly integrated produce that put user experience way above audio quality (that's why SRC is a natural solutoin to them).

Secondly, clean and ample power supply will improve sound quality, and I mean improvement in qualitative terms, not quantitive terms like more output power. It is like when you have a small DAC/Amp that come with a low cost switching power supply, and then you get a decent linear power supply to replace the bundled switching power supply, you can almost certain (99% in my opinion) that the DAC/Amp will sound better because of that. For the record, some of the mobile phone limited the power darin from their USB-C connection to 100mA to 120mA only, but a fully compatible USB3.0 Type C connection from your computer should provide up to 1000mA (or 1A) power supply. Try to connect a 2.5" portable HDD to your mobile phone and labtop and you can tell the different immediately.

IMHO, the USB digital audio qualtiy is a more important factor then USB-C power supply. When I compare a Cayin DAP (N3Pro and N6ii) to my desktop PC as USB Audio source to RU6, I prefer DAP almost exclusively. The USB-C of Cayin DAP will limit power output to 300mA only, so more power is not necessarily the winner in this case.

Thank you for detailed reply. Any idea why the RU6 might be draining the battery so fast from my Shanling Q1? Is that likely an issue on your side or Shanling's side?

Also, I'm getting periodic freezing with foobar + RU6 Asio driver + Win11 when I change tracks. I have to unplug the RU6 and plug back in and then it works. Not sure if others have had this issue.

 

[Jawis]

Glad to know it works out eventually.

What cable are you using right now? The USB C-to-C cable bundled with RU6 didn't work for you?

Brought back the adapter today. The bundled cable and adapter runs the Cayin with Pi perfectly. Will likely use the longer cable though. The Cayin cable more useful for on-the-go use.

 

[ian91]

Not a bad little combo! Consistently impressed by the RU6...

 

[drftr]

The way I do it - get a two way usb cable, on one of the usb plugs (the one that will be used for data transfer from source), cover the data line using a scotch tape https://www.instructables.com/USB-Condom/ - this example is how to make it power only, but you are interested in data only, so cover that data line explained here ( think it's the far right one in the usb plug).

This way you end up with one data and one for power transfer, the data one will not use the dirty power and for the other usb power only plug you can use battery or ifi iusb micro special usb slot that does clean power only

Nice one! But I thought this probably shouldn't be necessary, because:

If a splitter can receive 1 power signal and divide it into 2, why wouldn't it be able to do it the other way around: Receive 2 power signals and combine them into 1.

There may be a mechanism preventing power to "flow back" though, but I would expect this mechanism to be in the power device though instead of in a simple cable.

drftr

 

[musicday]

Happy New Year everyone !

 

[Hyde00]

I'd say you need different headphones. Trying to fix something you don't like about a pair of headphones with the amp and DAC is just not a good plan IMO.

Lol unfortunately the sound I want in a headphone doesn't exist, that or if it exists will cost me too much money so I have to compensate a bit.

I'm basically looking for Grado sparkle with Denon / Fostex bass in a close back.

Right now D5200 + Dragonfly Red doesn't quite get there but it's "good enough" (85% there) and considering the price it's not bad at all.

I guess I'm just curious as to now RU6 will pair with D5200.

 

[econaut]

I'm basically looking for Grado sparkle with Denon / Fostex bass in a close back

Campfire Audio Cascade.

 

[Hyde00]

Campfire Audio Cascade.

Ohhhh interesting, I'll check it out. Thanks!

 

[Andykong]

Thank you for detailed reply. Any idea why the RU6 might be draining the battery so fast from my Shanling Q1? Is that likely an issue on your side or Shanling's side?

Also, I'm getting periodic freezing with foobar + RU6 Asio driver + Win11 when I change tracks. I have to unplug the RU6 and plug back in and then it works. Not sure if others have had this issue.

It doesn't necessarily be an issue with RU6 or Shanling, it can be an natural outcome. The Q1 is equiped with a 1100mAh battery, that is about 30% of a modern mobile phone only. That means if someone can enjoy RU6 for 4-5 hours with his mobile phone, the Q1 probably will dran it battery after 1.2 to 1.5 hours.

The RU6 USB driver is optimised for Win 7, 8, 8.1 and 10, We have tested it with our Win11 test station, it works fine so far, but we need more Win11 system installations to conduct testing and fine tune before we can certify (or update) the driver to support Win11. For the record, although the RU6 driver was released 1 month after Win11 launch, it was developed with Windows 10 primarily. Win11 is still very unstable from developers point of view and it might take a while before we can release a formal Win11 USB soluton for our DAP and Dongle DAC.

 

[Andykong]

Nice one! But I thought this probably shouldn't be necessary, because:

If a splitter can receive 1 power signal and divide it into 2, why wouldn't it be able to do it the other way around: Receive 2 power signals and combine them into 1.

There may be a mechanism preventing power to "flow back" though, but I would expect this mechanism to be in the power device though instead of in a simple cable.

drftr

I'm exactly the last person on Earth you should ask questions like this...

drftr

Now I can understand why you are the last person on Earth when soemone ask you to explain what you believes will work under the laws of physics.

While you can merge two water pipes into one bigger pipe, kind of similar to receive 2 "water supplies" and combine them into 1. This is totally different when you want to apply "summation" concept to electrical energy.

 

[Frombauge]

Another USB/DAC dongle coming my way…just had to try an R2R in addition to my plethora of precise, somewhat clinical sounding ESS dongles of different makes…

 

[alota]

I spoke with an italian friend about ru6. He is really happy like me. I'm quite happy with my iem and smartphone. My friend had better performance with large headphones with ru6 connected to a pc. The more power from usb drives better large headphones compared to usb from iphone.
My friend and i we have same impressions about the ru6. Same detail of delta sigma dongles but the sound with ru6 is more natural. The headstage is another good point on ru6

 

[Currawong]

It seems my drop-out problems are definitely an issue with full-sized headphones and higher volume settings. At 70 in high gain with the Stealth, I get drop-outs if I use my iPhone. Dropping it down below 60 and the cut-outs stop, as does using my iPad or a DAP instead. Of course, this isn't a problem with IEMs.

 

[alota]

It seems my drop-out problems are definitely an issue with full-sized headphones and higher volume settings. At 70 in high gain with the Stealth, I get drop-outs if I use my iPhone. Dropping it down below 60 and the cut-outs stop, as does using my iPad or a DAP instead. Of course, this isn't a problem with IEMs.

same experience of my friend with denon