majo123
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2016
- Posts
- 6,440
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- 12,084
Get some friends try there phones before you send back .... sounds probably like your phone to me.
Cayin RU6: R-2R USB Dongle DAC with Head-Amp
- Thread starter Andykong
- Start date
RU6 vs AK4499 DAC?
I did recommend sticking with single-end 3.5mm output instead of the balanced 4.4mm output if you must use RU6 as the line out to your amplifier.
When you connect RU6 to your mobile phone with UAPP, did you notice a pop-up window to request exclusive USB Audio access right?
When you use Spotify with your mobile phone, did you turn the volume of the mobile phone to maximum and use the volume control of RU6 instead?
I've been using my RU6 in "pretend" line out - Low Gain, Vol 70 into a ZEN CAN with a home made 3.5mm TRS-RCA Mogami 2893 (from Cosmic Cables) cable. I like it - there is a slight loss of note density but greater soundstage depth and authority, if that makes sense.
Trevandar1315
New Head-Fier
shady1991
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2014
- Posts
- 80
- Likes
- 63
Use it on 76 instead, or one of the volumes right before the skip happens (64, 76, 88, 100). Trust me, you will get much less noise this way, and overall cleaner sound.
EvilMunchkin
New Head-Fier
I figured it out, it actually was EMI. Going into Airplane Mode stopped the noise but I couldn't stream, so on a hunch I turned off my mobile data and that completely fixed it. Its a bit annoying to have to do it every time I listen but worth it for the RU6. Thanks for the advice though!When you connect RU6 to your mobile phone with UAPP, did you notice a pop-up window to request exclusive USB Audio access right?
When you use Spotify with your mobile phone, did you turn the volume of the mobile phone to maximum and use the volume control of RU6 instead?
Trevandar1315
New Head-Fier
Background
For a long time I doubted whether I needed such a device at all now. I already have Fiio Ka3 on hand, which during the time I have been using it (and this is already almost half a year) has never disappointed or let me down, and generally satisfied with the sound. But there was a nice price, and I took the device new from my hands, and even the case was included. In general, I decided to close the issue of a high-quality portable source for myself for a very long time.
Kit and build quality
Simple but sufficient.
The device is assembled in a monolithic way, so that you don’t dig in, the appearance is strict, but with style, without showing off, and I really like it. There are definitely no complaints about the assembly. It feels very nice and solid, which for someone can also become an important aspect when "communicating" with the device.
Convenience
The device is not small, if you carry it in your pocket, then only with a case, in my opinion. But I'm not going to do that, I'll have it for my house. The native cable is not bad, there are no questions to it. The cover does not increase it much, on the whole it is made correctly, the screen and the glass itself protects. The device heats up very moderately (compared to Fiio, for example), so I don’t consider the case a problem here either.
Working with software players
But it works without any problems. Tried with Hiby, UAPP, Neutron (my main one now), and even Fiio. Does not lag, connects and plays. As you probably know, its volume control is only internal, analog, with 99 resistors, which means that it can only be controlled from the physical DAC buttons, and that’s why it doesn’t seem very convenient to me to use it on the road, but it doesn’t matter to anyone. For me, such a volume control is unusual, but for three days it has ceased to strain at all. I haven't tried it on Windows, Mac or Ios, so I can't offer any advice here.
Power, gluttony, control and options
From the usb output of the TV box and the output of the smartphone, I did not observe a difference in power, at least significant. From a single power with Fiio they have +/- the same, there is no way to check the balance.
And in terms of gluttony, Cayin was pleasantly surprised: I thought that he would champ at least on par with Ka3, but no, he turned out to be much more tolerant of the smartphone’s battery, which is cool.
The screen, although small, is informative and well-organized, the brightness is also good. Everything is controlled by three buttons. Speaking of buttons: they all have the same backlash, if it’s important to someone, but it doesn’t soar for me, and I even like it for some reason.) I’ll dig into the fact that I would prefer the buttons themselves to be flatter and larger in area, but it's already if you get to the bottom of it.
Menu of three options: boost mode, nos/os, screen backlight time. I liked that everything changes on the go without any problems and that you can set "do not turn off the screen", but at the same time it can be turned on / off by briefly pressing the menu button, this is convenient for me. Pauses of 40 ms at every 11 volume division turned out to be not soaring at all, although I was worried about this. The adjustment is very smooth, bravo to the engineers for such an implementation.
Sound and others
(The main impressions are written regarding the NOS option, OS will be discussed separately, the gain is basically High)
That's what this device is bought for, right? Yes, we can say that in terms of graphics and performance, it will merge even a very inexpensive normal implementation of delta-sigma, that these are just show-offs from developers and an attempt to rip money off buyers. But I'm with this, listening to this contraption, I will not agree.
So what about the sound? The first thing that impresses immediately is the stage and positioning. This is an individual thing, of course, but in my ear it is more wide than deep, although in both directions it is noticeably better than in Fiio. Strangely enough, this struck me the most on my inexpensive Guideray GR-I hybrids, which sounded like other headphones. In general, the wow effect regarding the scene was unambiguous. I will touch on it again when I talk about ranges.
Bass: According to the reviews, I expected that there would be some kind of mid-bass pumping, but it turned out that it works even more accurately with bass than the Ka3, which gives a very lean bass, biting and percussive. Yes, in RU6 you can hear some softness and roundness (I will use this word more than once), but at the same time it is in no way inferior to Fiio in speed. It's more like the difference in the thickness of the brush when painting the same picture, like a nickel and a pure silver flute: the result is about the same, but the presentation is different, and therefore it is perceived differently. And for myself, I could not decide what I definitely like more: both are good, and the other, but for a different mood. Sub-bass is also well heard, but here it is generally even, without any emphasis, so it may not be enough for someone. I've had enough.
Medium: here I agree with the reviewers that they fall in love with themselves. Such physicality, such texture, emphasizing the nature of a person's voice, and at the same time maintaining softness without any loss of detail - in my opinion, this is worth a lot. At the same time, there is no forced pulling of images to the fore, but rather, everything that is there is given more space and conditional air, it is better outlined. Of course, you can say that the vocalists are getting a little closer to you, but I hear it in such a way that the voice is given a little more space (conditionally, if in default the voice goes like a cylinder, then Cayin sends it to you through a cone, a horn). I understand that this is all kapets as an individual, but you already understand that everything said above and below is just my IMHO. Music. I will give you one example today, my regular one, but it demonstrates this difference very well: Musica Nuda - Complici. In Fiio, it's as if the cello is close to you and a little hypertrophied, while the textures of the bow strikes on the strings are very tangible. And here, when I turned it on on RU6, I was VERY amazed: the cello was in space, a little to the left of the center, it was not right in front of your nose, but a little further away. And the most impressive thing is that I very clearly felt the VOLUME and DIMENSIONS of the instrument itself, literally its dimensions. At the same time, he worked with strokes more accurately, less "aggressively" than Ka3, but at the same time retaining texture, even if it was not so pronounced. And I bring all this to finally try to explain to you two words, "softness" and "naturalness", which people like to use so often: the whole texture and tactile qualities of the instrument / voice practically do not change, but you begin to perceive it not in a conditional vacuum, but TOGETHER with what makes that sound, where it makes that sound. Adjusted for features, this can be attributed to other ranges. In fact, this is the result of a mixture of detail and positioning, but this is a very, very rough analogy. It is heard immediately, but not immediately realized. It's the same with the vocals - it feels like Petra is standing to the left and slightly ahead of Ferrucho (the cellist). And they, the sounds, do not close to each other, but "live" in the same room, but each in its own way. I’ll clarify right away that I don’t apply all the terms to real recording conditions and that this is how they stood in the studio, but that’s how I perceive it. Hope it didn't get too confusing. More about the mids: they don’t brighten me in the upper mids, as some wrote, but on the contrary, they were able to somewhat round off the aggressive peak in my Audio-Technica SR5, due to which solo piano, for example, or female vocals were perceived unnaturally. But I do not have enough headphones for more complex conclusions on this matter.
Trebles: they don’t try to specifically draw attention to themselves, stand out from the general background, say “here, look at what plates are here” or “don’t you hear the guy with the triangle puffing from behind? that’s not the point, here he is!”. I don’t want to say that KA3 is bright or something like that, I still consider it very even. But damn, it's nice to hear the way Cayin does it. Perhaps, if you turn on the golden-eared mode, you can say that the aftersound in Fiio is better, the trails are longer and that's all, and it's a sin to hide, I love all these bells and whistles in high, but Cayin, while maintaining a conditional 95% percent of all these nuances, makes you hear and listen to high frequencies more holistically, along with the rest of the musical canvas, which just gives us (never happened before, and here again) the naturalness of the presentation. Want a little more audiophile? There is a solution!
OS: in oversampled mode, I can hear the scene getting narrower, less airy in the mids, but the clarity of the highs definitely increases, maybe a bit longer (but not sure). Therefore, if there is a desire, we turn it on, listen and enjoy. The general character, of course, is preserved, so I would call these differences nuanced and purely taste. I personally prefer to use NOS for the time being.
A little bit of perversion: yes, I connect Sennheiser HD-600 to both of them, and what will you do to me?) } -) Okay, seriously, I understand perfectly well that these portable DACs were not created for this, but I never bought any kind of amp, which I definitely plan to do now, but now it’s not about that. I just tested the maximum volume indicators on them so that there was a load and so that I would not burn any other headphones, and just they showed plus or minus the same VOLUME (maybe Fiio was even a little louder, but not much). But in terms of quality, Cayin exported them better. Even at maximum speeds, he tried in volume and did not break into a scream when the Fiio began to sound flat and bright. I remind you that this is a perversion and I listen to 600 like that only because I want to listen, otherwise there’s nothing else for now. But in both cases, for this format of devices, the results are simply excellent. On the Cayin at high gain, the volume is usually between 60 and 90, depending on the material and recording. In terms of serving with Sennheiser, Fiio comes to me more (although if you turn on OS, it’s debatable), but in terms of quality, Cayin.
Background and noise and pickups: this was also often written about. Well, with hybrids at 16 ohms there is no noise at all, with Sony xba-1 armatures, which collect any noise at all, there is, but very moderate, even in quiet compositions it does not pay attention to itself at all. Of course, you should listen in advance if you have Andromedas or Solaris, there will definitely be some noise, but in the vast majority of headphones it is unlikely. Andy wrote that the technology is such that when you switch to higher clusters of volume control resistors, the noise shelf will increase, and this is true, at 90+ I heard it quite clearly, but there is one small nuance: you will go f*cking deaf along the way, but then Noise won't bother you. In general, this is not a problem for me, for most people too, but if you know if you are sensitive to this or if you have ultra-sensitive headphones, keep in mind and preferably check in advance.
And I didn’t catch any pickups at home, although there is enough wave interference of all kinds. The close proximity to the phone also did not affect it in any way. But this makes no guarantees for you personally, however.
Material quality requirements
Well, it seems to me that in addition to frank slang, it will be pleasant to listen to material of any quality with him, but the better, the more he will be able to give you. Something audiophile recorded, concerts and the like is amazing to listen to. But something of lesser quality will not let blood out of your ears. And the versatility in a device of this class is a very good quality, as for me.
Warming up
I am more than sure about the heating of the headphones (not all of them, of course), in the lamps, for example, too, but in the sources... On the other hand, a lot of people with this device confirm this, and the same Andy did not deny it, so we'll see in a couple of months, but I think that in the case of DAC, psychoacoustics will be much more important. But if it warms up, I definitely won't mind.
General conclusions
Well, my first device from this company, my first source in this price range, my first multibit. And all this leaves very positive emotions and impressions, I really want to use the device, I want to listen to music with it. And the fact that it is called not a Hi-Res device, that the technology inside is as ancient as a mammoth (although show me another device of such dimensions with such minced meat inside, moreover, very well cooked and for a similar cost) - it does not matter to me at all. Nothing is perfect (especially for the money), so the pros of the RU6 for me easily outweigh its cons. By the way, there are two Hi-Res Audio stickers in the kit, and I have not tried it, but if you buy, you can stick them in the right place in your opinion, and maybe, but this is not certain, you will have a more defined bass or more sparkling treble , but who knows?))
Cayin are handsome who took a chance and made such a little thing. In our time, a copy-paste of this enthusiasm is very lacking.
I do not pretend to be truth, I pretend to be honest on my part. RU6 has enough competitors (S2, W2, Go Bar), for every taste and budget, take what you want and can. I am very pleased with the purchase and closed my research in portable sources for a long time, probably until the time when I can get to good players.
Enjoy the music, ladies and gentlemen, and remember that we are all the same, but very different. Peace to you!
For a long time I doubted whether I needed such a device at all now. I already have Fiio Ka3 on hand, which during the time I have been using it (and this is already almost half a year) has never disappointed or let me down, and generally satisfied with the sound. But there was a nice price, and I took the device new from my hands, and even the case was included. In general, I decided to close the issue of a high-quality portable source for myself for a very long time.
Kit and build quality
Simple but sufficient.
The device is assembled in a monolithic way, so that you don’t dig in, the appearance is strict, but with style, without showing off, and I really like it. There are definitely no complaints about the assembly. It feels very nice and solid, which for someone can also become an important aspect when "communicating" with the device.
Convenience
The device is not small, if you carry it in your pocket, then only with a case, in my opinion. But I'm not going to do that, I'll have it for my house. The native cable is not bad, there are no questions to it. The cover does not increase it much, on the whole it is made correctly, the screen and the glass itself protects. The device heats up very moderately (compared to Fiio, for example), so I don’t consider the case a problem here either.
Working with software players
But it works without any problems. Tried with Hiby, UAPP, Neutron (my main one now), and even Fiio. Does not lag, connects and plays. As you probably know, its volume control is only internal, analog, with 99 resistors, which means that it can only be controlled from the physical DAC buttons, and that’s why it doesn’t seem very convenient to me to use it on the road, but it doesn’t matter to anyone. For me, such a volume control is unusual, but for three days it has ceased to strain at all. I haven't tried it on Windows, Mac or Ios, so I can't offer any advice here.
Power, gluttony, control and options
From the usb output of the TV box and the output of the smartphone, I did not observe a difference in power, at least significant. From a single power with Fiio they have +/- the same, there is no way to check the balance.
And in terms of gluttony, Cayin was pleasantly surprised: I thought that he would champ at least on par with Ka3, but no, he turned out to be much more tolerant of the smartphone’s battery, which is cool.
The screen, although small, is informative and well-organized, the brightness is also good. Everything is controlled by three buttons. Speaking of buttons: they all have the same backlash, if it’s important to someone, but it doesn’t soar for me, and I even like it for some reason.) I’ll dig into the fact that I would prefer the buttons themselves to be flatter and larger in area, but it's already if you get to the bottom of it.
Menu of three options: boost mode, nos/os, screen backlight time. I liked that everything changes on the go without any problems and that you can set "do not turn off the screen", but at the same time it can be turned on / off by briefly pressing the menu button, this is convenient for me. Pauses of 40 ms at every 11 volume division turned out to be not soaring at all, although I was worried about this. The adjustment is very smooth, bravo to the engineers for such an implementation.
Sound and others
(The main impressions are written regarding the NOS option, OS will be discussed separately, the gain is basically High)
That's what this device is bought for, right? Yes, we can say that in terms of graphics and performance, it will merge even a very inexpensive normal implementation of delta-sigma, that these are just show-offs from developers and an attempt to rip money off buyers. But I'm with this, listening to this contraption, I will not agree.
So what about the sound? The first thing that impresses immediately is the stage and positioning. This is an individual thing, of course, but in my ear it is more wide than deep, although in both directions it is noticeably better than in Fiio. Strangely enough, this struck me the most on my inexpensive Guideray GR-I hybrids, which sounded like other headphones. In general, the wow effect regarding the scene was unambiguous. I will touch on it again when I talk about ranges.
Bass: According to the reviews, I expected that there would be some kind of mid-bass pumping, but it turned out that it works even more accurately with bass than the Ka3, which gives a very lean bass, biting and percussive. Yes, in RU6 you can hear some softness and roundness (I will use this word more than once), but at the same time it is in no way inferior to Fiio in speed. It's more like the difference in the thickness of the brush when painting the same picture, like a nickel and a pure silver flute: the result is about the same, but the presentation is different, and therefore it is perceived differently. And for myself, I could not decide what I definitely like more: both are good, and the other, but for a different mood. Sub-bass is also well heard, but here it is generally even, without any emphasis, so it may not be enough for someone. I've had enough.
Medium: here I agree with the reviewers that they fall in love with themselves. Such physicality, such texture, emphasizing the nature of a person's voice, and at the same time maintaining softness without any loss of detail - in my opinion, this is worth a lot. At the same time, there is no forced pulling of images to the fore, but rather, everything that is there is given more space and conditional air, it is better outlined. Of course, you can say that the vocalists are getting a little closer to you, but I hear it in such a way that the voice is given a little more space (conditionally, if in default the voice goes like a cylinder, then Cayin sends it to you through a cone, a horn). I understand that this is all kapets as an individual, but you already understand that everything said above and below is just my IMHO. Music. I will give you one example today, my regular one, but it demonstrates this difference very well: Musica Nuda - Complici. In Fiio, it's as if the cello is close to you and a little hypertrophied, while the textures of the bow strikes on the strings are very tangible. And here, when I turned it on on RU6, I was VERY amazed: the cello was in space, a little to the left of the center, it was not right in front of your nose, but a little further away. And the most impressive thing is that I very clearly felt the VOLUME and DIMENSIONS of the instrument itself, literally its dimensions. At the same time, he worked with strokes more accurately, less "aggressively" than Ka3, but at the same time retaining texture, even if it was not so pronounced. And I bring all this to finally try to explain to you two words, "softness" and "naturalness", which people like to use so often: the whole texture and tactile qualities of the instrument / voice practically do not change, but you begin to perceive it not in a conditional vacuum, but TOGETHER with what makes that sound, where it makes that sound. Adjusted for features, this can be attributed to other ranges. In fact, this is the result of a mixture of detail and positioning, but this is a very, very rough analogy. It is heard immediately, but not immediately realized. It's the same with the vocals - it feels like Petra is standing to the left and slightly ahead of Ferrucho (the cellist). And they, the sounds, do not close to each other, but "live" in the same room, but each in its own way. I’ll clarify right away that I don’t apply all the terms to real recording conditions and that this is how they stood in the studio, but that’s how I perceive it. Hope it didn't get too confusing. More about the mids: they don’t brighten me in the upper mids, as some wrote, but on the contrary, they were able to somewhat round off the aggressive peak in my Audio-Technica SR5, due to which solo piano, for example, or female vocals were perceived unnaturally. But I do not have enough headphones for more complex conclusions on this matter.
Trebles: they don’t try to specifically draw attention to themselves, stand out from the general background, say “here, look at what plates are here” or “don’t you hear the guy with the triangle puffing from behind? that’s not the point, here he is!”. I don’t want to say that KA3 is bright or something like that, I still consider it very even. But damn, it's nice to hear the way Cayin does it. Perhaps, if you turn on the golden-eared mode, you can say that the aftersound in Fiio is better, the trails are longer and that's all, and it's a sin to hide, I love all these bells and whistles in high, but Cayin, while maintaining a conditional 95% percent of all these nuances, makes you hear and listen to high frequencies more holistically, along with the rest of the musical canvas, which just gives us (never happened before, and here again) the naturalness of the presentation. Want a little more audiophile? There is a solution!
OS: in oversampled mode, I can hear the scene getting narrower, less airy in the mids, but the clarity of the highs definitely increases, maybe a bit longer (but not sure). Therefore, if there is a desire, we turn it on, listen and enjoy. The general character, of course, is preserved, so I would call these differences nuanced and purely taste. I personally prefer to use NOS for the time being.
A little bit of perversion: yes, I connect Sennheiser HD-600 to both of them, and what will you do to me?) } -) Okay, seriously, I understand perfectly well that these portable DACs were not created for this, but I never bought any kind of amp, which I definitely plan to do now, but now it’s not about that. I just tested the maximum volume indicators on them so that there was a load and so that I would not burn any other headphones, and just they showed plus or minus the same VOLUME (maybe Fiio was even a little louder, but not much). But in terms of quality, Cayin exported them better. Even at maximum speeds, he tried in volume and did not break into a scream when the Fiio began to sound flat and bright. I remind you that this is a perversion and I listen to 600 like that only because I want to listen, otherwise there’s nothing else for now. But in both cases, for this format of devices, the results are simply excellent. On the Cayin at high gain, the volume is usually between 60 and 90, depending on the material and recording. In terms of serving with Sennheiser, Fiio comes to me more (although if you turn on OS, it’s debatable), but in terms of quality, Cayin.
Background and noise and pickups: this was also often written about. Well, with hybrids at 16 ohms there is no noise at all, with Sony xba-1 armatures, which collect any noise at all, there is, but very moderate, even in quiet compositions it does not pay attention to itself at all. Of course, you should listen in advance if you have Andromedas or Solaris, there will definitely be some noise, but in the vast majority of headphones it is unlikely. Andy wrote that the technology is such that when you switch to higher clusters of volume control resistors, the noise shelf will increase, and this is true, at 90+ I heard it quite clearly, but there is one small nuance: you will go f*cking deaf along the way, but then Noise won't bother you. In general, this is not a problem for me, for most people too, but if you know if you are sensitive to this or if you have ultra-sensitive headphones, keep in mind and preferably check in advance.
And I didn’t catch any pickups at home, although there is enough wave interference of all kinds. The close proximity to the phone also did not affect it in any way. But this makes no guarantees for you personally, however.
Material quality requirements
Well, it seems to me that in addition to frank slang, it will be pleasant to listen to material of any quality with him, but the better, the more he will be able to give you. Something audiophile recorded, concerts and the like is amazing to listen to. But something of lesser quality will not let blood out of your ears. And the versatility in a device of this class is a very good quality, as for me.
Warming up
I am more than sure about the heating of the headphones (not all of them, of course), in the lamps, for example, too, but in the sources... On the other hand, a lot of people with this device confirm this, and the same Andy did not deny it, so we'll see in a couple of months, but I think that in the case of DAC, psychoacoustics will be much more important. But if it warms up, I definitely won't mind.
General conclusions
Well, my first device from this company, my first source in this price range, my first multibit. And all this leaves very positive emotions and impressions, I really want to use the device, I want to listen to music with it. And the fact that it is called not a Hi-Res device, that the technology inside is as ancient as a mammoth (although show me another device of such dimensions with such minced meat inside, moreover, very well cooked and for a similar cost) - it does not matter to me at all. Nothing is perfect (especially for the money), so the pros of the RU6 for me easily outweigh its cons. By the way, there are two Hi-Res Audio stickers in the kit, and I have not tried it, but if you buy, you can stick them in the right place in your opinion, and maybe, but this is not certain, you will have a more defined bass or more sparkling treble , but who knows?))
Cayin are handsome who took a chance and made such a little thing. In our time, a copy-paste of this enthusiasm is very lacking.
I do not pretend to be truth, I pretend to be honest on my part. RU6 has enough competitors (S2, W2, Go Bar), for every taste and budget, take what you want and can. I am very pleased with the purchase and closed my research in portable sources for a long time, probably until the time when I can get to good players.
Enjoy the music, ladies and gentlemen, and remember that we are all the same, but very different. Peace to you!
Epic!Background
For a long time I doubted whether I needed such a device at all now. I already have Fiio Ka3 on hand, which during the time I have been using it (and this is already almost half a year) has never disappointed or let me down, and generally satisfied with the sound. But there was a nice price, and I took the device new from my hands, and even the case was included. In general, I decided to close the issue of a high-quality portable source for myself for a very long time.
Kit and build quality
Simple but sufficient.
The device is assembled in a monolithic way, so that you don’t dig in, the appearance is strict, but with style, without showing off, and I really like it. There are definitely no complaints about the assembly. It feels very nice and solid, which for someone can also become an important aspect when "communicating" with the device.
Convenience
The device is not small, if you carry it in your pocket, then only with a case, in my opinion. But I'm not going to do that, I'll have it for my house. The native cable is not bad, there are no questions to it. The cover does not increase it much, on the whole it is made correctly, the screen and the glass itself protects. The device heats up very moderately (compared to Fiio, for example), so I don’t consider the case a problem here either.
Working with software players
But it works without any problems. Tried with Hiby, UAPP, Neutron (my main one now), and even Fiio. Does not lag, connects and plays. As you probably know, its volume control is only internal, analog, with 99 resistors, which means that it can only be controlled from the physical DAC buttons, and that’s why it doesn’t seem very convenient to me to use it on the road, but it doesn’t matter to anyone. For me, such a volume control is unusual, but for three days it has ceased to strain at all. I haven't tried it on Windows, Mac or Ios, so I can't offer any advice here.
Power, gluttony, control and options
From the usb output of the TV box and the output of the smartphone, I did not observe a difference in power, at least significant. From a single power with Fiio they have +/- the same, there is no way to check the balance.
And in terms of gluttony, Cayin was pleasantly surprised: I thought that he would champ at least on par with Ka3, but no, he turned out to be much more tolerant of the smartphone’s battery, which is cool.
The screen, although small, is informative and well-organized, the brightness is also good. Everything is controlled by three buttons. Speaking of buttons: they all have the same backlash, if it’s important to someone, but it doesn’t soar for me, and I even like it for some reason.) I’ll dig into the fact that I would prefer the buttons themselves to be flatter and larger in area, but it's already if you get to the bottom of it.
Menu of three options: boost mode, nos/os, screen backlight time. I liked that everything changes on the go without any problems and that you can set "do not turn off the screen", but at the same time it can be turned on / off by briefly pressing the menu button, this is convenient for me. Pauses of 40 ms at every 11 volume division turned out to be not soaring at all, although I was worried about this. The adjustment is very smooth, bravo to the engineers for such an implementation.
Sound and others
(The main impressions are written regarding the NOS option, OS will be discussed separately, the gain is basically High)
That's what this device is bought for, right? Yes, we can say that in terms of graphics and performance, it will merge even a very inexpensive normal implementation of delta-sigma, that these are just show-offs from developers and an attempt to rip money off buyers. But I'm with this, listening to this contraption, I will not agree.
So what about the sound? The first thing that impresses immediately is the stage and positioning. This is an individual thing, of course, but in my ear it is more wide than deep, although in both directions it is noticeably better than in Fiio. Strangely enough, this struck me the most on my inexpensive Guideray GR-I hybrids, which sounded like other headphones. In general, the wow effect regarding the scene was unambiguous. I will touch on it again when I talk about ranges.
Bass: According to the reviews, I expected that there would be some kind of mid-bass pumping, but it turned out that it works even more accurately with bass than the Ka3, which gives a very lean bass, biting and percussive. Yes, in RU6 you can hear some softness and roundness (I will use this word more than once), but at the same time it is in no way inferior to Fiio in speed. It's more like the difference in the thickness of the brush when painting the same picture, like a nickel and a pure silver flute: the result is about the same, but the presentation is different, and therefore it is perceived differently. And for myself, I could not decide what I definitely like more: both are good, and the other, but for a different mood. Sub-bass is also well heard, but here it is generally even, without any emphasis, so it may not be enough for someone. I've had enough.
Medium: here I agree with the reviewers that they fall in love with themselves. Such physicality, such texture, emphasizing the nature of a person's voice, and at the same time maintaining softness without any loss of detail - in my opinion, this is worth a lot. At the same time, there is no forced pulling of images to the fore, but rather, everything that is there is given more space and conditional air, it is better outlined. Of course, you can say that the vocalists are getting a little closer to you, but I hear it in such a way that the voice is given a little more space (conditionally, if in default the voice goes like a cylinder, then Cayin sends it to you through a cone, a horn). I understand that this is all kapets as an individual, but you already understand that everything said above and below is just my IMHO. Music. I will give you one example today, my regular one, but it demonstrates this difference very well: Musica Nuda - Complici. In Fiio, it's as if the cello is close to you and a little hypertrophied, while the textures of the bow strikes on the strings are very tangible. And here, when I turned it on on RU6, I was VERY amazed: the cello was in space, a little to the left of the center, it was not right in front of your nose, but a little further away. And the most impressive thing is that I very clearly felt the VOLUME and DIMENSIONS of the instrument itself, literally its dimensions. At the same time, he worked with strokes more accurately, less "aggressively" than Ka3, but at the same time retaining texture, even if it was not so pronounced. And I bring all this to finally try to explain to you two words, "softness" and "naturalness", which people like to use so often: the whole texture and tactile qualities of the instrument / voice practically do not change, but you begin to perceive it not in a conditional vacuum, but TOGETHER with what makes that sound, where it makes that sound. Adjusted for features, this can be attributed to other ranges. In fact, this is the result of a mixture of detail and positioning, but this is a very, very rough analogy. It is heard immediately, but not immediately realized. It's the same with the vocals - it feels like Petra is standing to the left and slightly ahead of Ferrucho (the cellist). And they, the sounds, do not close to each other, but "live" in the same room, but each in its own way. I’ll clarify right away that I don’t apply all the terms to real recording conditions and that this is how they stood in the studio, but that’s how I perceive it. Hope it didn't get too confusing. More about the mids: they don’t brighten me in the upper mids, as some wrote, but on the contrary, they were able to somewhat round off the aggressive peak in my Audio-Technica SR5, due to which solo piano, for example, or female vocals were perceived unnaturally. But I do not have enough headphones for more complex conclusions on this matter.
Trebles: they don’t try to specifically draw attention to themselves, stand out from the general background, say “here, look at what plates are here” or “don’t you hear the guy with the triangle puffing from behind? that’s not the point, here he is!”. I don’t want to say that KA3 is bright or something like that, I still consider it very even. But damn, it's nice to hear the way Cayin does it. Perhaps, if you turn on the golden-eared mode, you can say that the aftersound in Fiio is better, the trails are longer and that's all, and it's a sin to hide, I love all these bells and whistles in high, but Cayin, while maintaining a conditional 95% percent of all these nuances, makes you hear and listen to high frequencies more holistically, along with the rest of the musical canvas, which just gives us (never happened before, and here again) the naturalness of the presentation. Want a little more audiophile? There is a solution!
OS: in oversampled mode, I can hear the scene getting narrower, less airy in the mids, but the clarity of the highs definitely increases, maybe a bit longer (but not sure). Therefore, if there is a desire, we turn it on, listen and enjoy. The general character, of course, is preserved, so I would call these differences nuanced and purely taste. I personally prefer to use NOS for the time being.
A little bit of perversion: yes, I connect Sennheiser HD-600 to both of them, and what will you do to me?) } -) Okay, seriously, I understand perfectly well that these portable DACs were not created for this, but I never bought any kind of amp, which I definitely plan to do now, but now it’s not about that. I just tested the maximum volume indicators on them so that there was a load and so that I would not burn any other headphones, and just they showed plus or minus the same VOLUME (maybe Fiio was even a little louder, but not much). But in terms of quality, Cayin exported them better. Even at maximum speeds, he tried in volume and did not break into a scream when the Fiio began to sound flat and bright. I remind you that this is a perversion and I listen to 600 like that only because I want to listen, otherwise there’s nothing else for now. But in both cases, for this format of devices, the results are simply excellent. On the Cayin at high gain, the volume is usually between 60 and 90, depending on the material and recording. In terms of serving with Sennheiser, Fiio comes to me more (although if you turn on OS, it’s debatable), but in terms of quality, Cayin.
Background and noise and pickups: this was also often written about. Well, with hybrids at 16 ohms there is no noise at all, with Sony xba-1 armatures, which collect any noise at all, there is, but very moderate, even in quiet compositions it does not pay attention to itself at all. Of course, you should listen in advance if you have Andromedas or Solaris, there will definitely be some noise, but in the vast majority of headphones it is unlikely. Andy wrote that the technology is such that when you switch to higher clusters of volume control resistors, the noise shelf will increase, and this is true, at 90+ I heard it quite clearly, but there is one small nuance: you will go f*cking deaf along the way, but then Noise won't bother you. In general, this is not a problem for me, for most people too, but if you know if you are sensitive to this or if you have ultra-sensitive headphones, keep in mind and preferably check in advance.
And I didn’t catch any pickups at home, although there is enough wave interference of all kinds. The close proximity to the phone also did not affect it in any way. But this makes no guarantees for you personally, however.
Material quality requirements
Well, it seems to me that in addition to frank slang, it will be pleasant to listen to material of any quality with him, but the better, the more he will be able to give you. Something audiophile recorded, concerts and the like is amazing to listen to. But something of lesser quality will not let blood out of your ears. And the versatility in a device of this class is a very good quality, as for me.
Warming up
I am more than sure about the heating of the headphones (not all of them, of course), in the lamps, for example, too, but in the sources... On the other hand, a lot of people with this device confirm this, and the same Andy did not deny it, so we'll see in a couple of months, but I think that in the case of DAC, psychoacoustics will be much more important. But if it warms up, I definitely won't mind.
General conclusions
Well, my first device from this company, my first source in this price range, my first multibit. And all this leaves very positive emotions and impressions, I really want to use the device, I want to listen to music with it. And the fact that it is called not a Hi-Res device, that the technology inside is as ancient as a mammoth (although show me another device of such dimensions with such minced meat inside, moreover, very well cooked and for a similar cost) - it does not matter to me at all. Nothing is perfect (especially for the money), so the pros of the RU6 for me easily outweigh its cons. By the way, there are two Hi-Res Audio stickers in the kit, and I have not tried it, but if you buy, you can stick them in the right place in your opinion, and maybe, but this is not certain, you will have a more defined bass or more sparkling treble , but who knows?))
Cayin are handsome who took a chance and made such a little thing. In our time, a copy-paste of this enthusiasm is very lacking.
I do not pretend to be truth, I pretend to be honest on my part. RU6 has enough competitors (S2, W2, Go Bar), for every taste and budget, take what you want and can. I am very pleased with the purchase and closed my research in portable sources for a long time, probably until the time when I can get to good players.
Enjoy the music, ladies and gentlemen, and remember that we are all the same, but very different. Peace to you!
Background
For a long time I doubted whether I needed such a device at all now. I already have Fiio Ka3 on hand, which during the time I have been using it (and this is already almost half a year) has never disappointed or let me down, and generally satisfied with the sound. But there was a nice price, and I took the device new from my hands, and even the case was included. In general, I decided to close the issue of a high-quality portable source for myself for a very long time.
Kit and build quality
Simple but sufficient.
The device is assembled in a monolithic way, so that you don’t dig in, the appearance is strict, but with style, without showing off, and I really like it. There are definitely no complaints about the assembly. It feels very nice and solid, which for someone can also become an important aspect when "communicating" with the device.
Convenience
The device is not small, if you carry it in your pocket, then only with a case, in my opinion. But I'm not going to do that, I'll have it for my house. The native cable is not bad, there are no questions to it. The cover does not increase it much, on the whole it is made correctly, the screen and the glass itself protects. The device heats up very moderately (compared to Fiio, for example), so I don’t consider the case a problem here either.
Working with software players
But it works without any problems. Tried with Hiby, UAPP, Neutron (my main one now), and even Fiio. Does not lag, connects and plays. As you probably know, its volume control is only internal, analog, with 99 resistors, which means that it can only be controlled from the physical DAC buttons, and that’s why it doesn’t seem very convenient to me to use it on the road, but it doesn’t matter to anyone. For me, such a volume control is unusual, but for three days it has ceased to strain at all. I haven't tried it on Windows, Mac or Ios, so I can't offer any advice here.
Power, gluttony, control and options
From the usb output of the TV box and the output of the smartphone, I did not observe a difference in power, at least significant. From a single power with Fiio they have +/- the same, there is no way to check the balance.
And in terms of gluttony, Cayin was pleasantly surprised: I thought that he would champ at least on par with Ka3, but no, he turned out to be much more tolerant of the smartphone’s battery, which is cool.
The screen, although small, is informative and well-organized, the brightness is also good. Everything is controlled by three buttons. Speaking of buttons: they all have the same backlash, if it’s important to someone, but it doesn’t soar for me, and I even like it for some reason.) I’ll dig into the fact that I would prefer the buttons themselves to be flatter and larger in area, but it's already if you get to the bottom of it.
Menu of three options: boost mode, nos/os, screen backlight time. I liked that everything changes on the go without any problems and that you can set "do not turn off the screen", but at the same time it can be turned on / off by briefly pressing the menu button, this is convenient for me. Pauses of 40 ms at every 11 volume division turned out to be not soaring at all, although I was worried about this. The adjustment is very smooth, bravo to the engineers for such an implementation.
Sound and others
(The main impressions are written regarding the NOS option, OS will be discussed separately, the gain is basically High)
That's what this device is bought for, right? Yes, we can say that in terms of graphics and performance, it will merge even a very inexpensive normal implementation of delta-sigma, that these are just show-offs from developers and an attempt to rip money off buyers. But I'm with this, listening to this contraption, I will not agree.
So what about the sound? The first thing that impresses immediately is the stage and positioning. This is an individual thing, of course, but in my ear it is more wide than deep, although in both directions it is noticeably better than in Fiio. Strangely enough, this struck me the most on my inexpensive Guideray GR-I hybrids, which sounded like other headphones. In general, the wow effect regarding the scene was unambiguous. I will touch on it again when I talk about ranges.
Bass: According to the reviews, I expected that there would be some kind of mid-bass pumping, but it turned out that it works even more accurately with bass than the Ka3, which gives a very lean bass, biting and percussive. Yes, in RU6 you can hear some softness and roundness (I will use this word more than once), but at the same time it is in no way inferior to Fiio in speed. It's more like the difference in the thickness of the brush when painting the same picture, like a nickel and a pure silver flute: the result is about the same, but the presentation is different, and therefore it is perceived differently. And for myself, I could not decide what I definitely like more: both are good, and the other, but for a different mood. Sub-bass is also well heard, but here it is generally even, without any emphasis, so it may not be enough for someone. I've had enough.
Medium: here I agree with the reviewers that they fall in love with themselves. Such physicality, such texture, emphasizing the nature of a person's voice, and at the same time maintaining softness without any loss of detail - in my opinion, this is worth a lot. At the same time, there is no forced pulling of images to the fore, but rather, everything that is there is given more space and conditional air, it is better outlined. Of course, you can say that the vocalists are getting a little closer to you, but I hear it in such a way that the voice is given a little more space (conditionally, if in default the voice goes like a cylinder, then Cayin sends it to you through a cone, a horn). I understand that this is all kapets as an individual, but you already understand that everything said above and below is just my IMHO. Music. I will give you one example today, my regular one, but it demonstrates this difference very well: Musica Nuda - Complici. In Fiio, it's as if the cello is close to you and a little hypertrophied, while the textures of the bow strikes on the strings are very tangible. And here, when I turned it on on RU6, I was VERY amazed: the cello was in space, a little to the left of the center, it was not right in front of your nose, but a little further away. And the most impressive thing is that I very clearly felt the VOLUME and DIMENSIONS of the instrument itself, literally its dimensions. At the same time, he worked with strokes more accurately, less "aggressively" than Ka3, but at the same time retaining texture, even if it was not so pronounced. And I bring all this to finally try to explain to you two words, "softness" and "naturalness", which people like to use so often: the whole texture and tactile qualities of the instrument / voice practically do not change, but you begin to perceive it not in a conditional vacuum, but TOGETHER with what makes that sound, where it makes that sound. Adjusted for features, this can be attributed to other ranges. In fact, this is the result of a mixture of detail and positioning, but this is a very, very rough analogy. It is heard immediately, but not immediately realized. It's the same with the vocals - it feels like Petra is standing to the left and slightly ahead of Ferrucho (the cellist). And they, the sounds, do not close to each other, but "live" in the same room, but each in its own way. I’ll clarify right away that I don’t apply all the terms to real recording conditions and that this is how they stood in the studio, but that’s how I perceive it. Hope it didn't get too confusing. More about the mids: they don’t brighten me in the upper mids, as some wrote, but on the contrary, they were able to somewhat round off the aggressive peak in my Audio-Technica SR5, due to which solo piano, for example, or female vocals were perceived unnaturally. But I do not have enough headphones for more complex conclusions on this matter.
Trebles: they don’t try to specifically draw attention to themselves, stand out from the general background, say “here, look at what plates are here” or “don’t you hear the guy with the triangle puffing from behind? that’s not the point, here he is!”. I don’t want to say that KA3 is bright or something like that, I still consider it very even. But damn, it's nice to hear the way Cayin does it. Perhaps, if you turn on the golden-eared mode, you can say that the aftersound in Fiio is better, the trails are longer and that's all, and it's a sin to hide, I love all these bells and whistles in high, but Cayin, while maintaining a conditional 95% percent of all these nuances, makes you hear and listen to high frequencies more holistically, along with the rest of the musical canvas, which just gives us (never happened before, and here again) the naturalness of the presentation. Want a little more audiophile? There is a solution!
OS: in oversampled mode, I can hear the scene getting narrower, less airy in the mids, but the clarity of the highs definitely increases, maybe a bit longer (but not sure). Therefore, if there is a desire, we turn it on, listen and enjoy. The general character, of course, is preserved, so I would call these differences nuanced and purely taste. I personally prefer to use NOS for the time being.
A little bit of perversion: yes, I connect Sennheiser HD-600 to both of them, and what will you do to me?) } -) Okay, seriously, I understand perfectly well that these portable DACs were not created for this, but I never bought any kind of amp, which I definitely plan to do now, but now it’s not about that. I just tested the maximum volume indicators on them so that there was a load and so that I would not burn any other headphones, and just they showed plus or minus the same VOLUME (maybe Fiio was even a little louder, but not much). But in terms of quality, Cayin exported them better. Even at maximum speeds, he tried in volume and did not break into a scream when the Fiio began to sound flat and bright. I remind you that this is a perversion and I listen to 600 like that only because I want to listen, otherwise there’s nothing else for now. But in both cases, for this format of devices, the results are simply excellent. On the Cayin at high gain, the volume is usually between 60 and 90, depending on the material and recording. In terms of serving with Sennheiser, Fiio comes to me more (although if you turn on OS, it’s debatable), but in terms of quality, Cayin.
Background and noise and pickups: this was also often written about. Well, with hybrids at 16 ohms there is no noise at all, with Sony xba-1 armatures, which collect any noise at all, there is, but very moderate, even in quiet compositions it does not pay attention to itself at all. Of course, you should listen in advance if you have Andromedas or Solaris, there will definitely be some noise, but in the vast majority of headphones it is unlikely. Andy wrote that the technology is such that when you switch to higher clusters of volume control resistors, the noise shelf will increase, and this is true, at 90+ I heard it quite clearly, but there is one small nuance: you will go f*cking deaf along the way, but then Noise won't bother you. In general, this is not a problem for me, for most people too, but if you know if you are sensitive to this or if you have ultra-sensitive headphones, keep in mind and preferably check in advance.
And I didn’t catch any pickups at home, although there is enough wave interference of all kinds. The close proximity to the phone also did not affect it in any way. But this makes no guarantees for you personally, however.
Material quality requirements
Well, it seems to me that in addition to frank slang, it will be pleasant to listen to material of any quality with him, but the better, the more he will be able to give you. Something audiophile recorded, concerts and the like is amazing to listen to. But something of lesser quality will not let blood out of your ears. And the versatility in a device of this class is a very good quality, as for me.
Warming up
I am more than sure about the heating of the headphones (not all of them, of course), in the lamps, for example, too, but in the sources... On the other hand, a lot of people with this device confirm this, and the same Andy did not deny it, so we'll see in a couple of months, but I think that in the case of DAC, psychoacoustics will be much more important. But if it warms up, I definitely won't mind.
General conclusions
Well, my first device from this company, my first source in this price range, my first multibit. And all this leaves very positive emotions and impressions, I really want to use the device, I want to listen to music with it. And the fact that it is called not a Hi-Res device, that the technology inside is as ancient as a mammoth (although show me another device of such dimensions with such minced meat inside, moreover, very well cooked and for a similar cost) - it does not matter to me at all. Nothing is perfect (especially for the money), so the pros of the RU6 for me easily outweigh its cons. By the way, there are two Hi-Res Audio stickers in the kit, and I have not tried it, but if you buy, you can stick them in the right place in your opinion, and maybe, but this is not certain, you will have a more defined bass or more sparkling treble , but who knows?))
Cayin are handsome who took a chance and made such a little thing. In our time, a copy-paste of this enthusiasm is very lacking.
I do not pretend to be truth, I pretend to be honest on my part. RU6 has enough competitors (S2, W2, Go Bar), for every taste and budget, take what you want and can. I am very pleased with the purchase and closed my research in portable sources for a long time, probably until the time when I can get to good players.
Enjoy the music, ladies and gentlemen, and remember that we are all the same, but very different. Peace to you!
Spend an hour reading through your sharing slowly on a Sunday afternoon. I read it slowly because your sharing has recalled a lot of precious moments when I was a young, (well, much younger than today) passionate audiophile spending hours sharing my thoughts and answering questions on Usenet newsgroups (anyone still recalls this good old platform?). Yes, we don't necessarily be very knowledgeable, but we share and contribute with honesty.
A minor clarification regarding the Resistor Array Volume Control in RU6. You are correct that the volume control is composed of many resistors, but we don't need "99 resistors" to provide 99 steps of volume control. The resistor array is organized into 9 segments, each segment provides 10 volume control steps, and you only need 4 resistors in each segment to facilitate 10 control steps. So we only need, theoretically, around 40 resistors to compose this resistor array volume controller.
Regarding the background noise at a higher volume level, you are correct to state that "when you switch to higher clusters of volume control resistors, the noise shelf will increase, and this is true, at 90+ I heard it quite clearly,...". This is because the resistors in the R-2R ladder DAC are sensitive to heat, when you drive the amplification circuit harder, the heat generated by the circuitry will affect the resistors in R-2R, and introduce thermal noise into the background. Using resistors with a better coefficient of resistance (TCR) will improve the problem but this is where budget control kicks in. The TCR of the Thin-Film Resistors used in RU6 is rated at TCR25 (±25 ppm/℃). In other words, the resistor value will fluctuate within 25/1,000,000 per 1-degree change in temperature. For the record, R01 Audio Motherboard uses thin-film resistors with TCR10 (= ±10 ppm/℃) and offers much better noise-control capability, relatively.
Trevandar1315
New Head-Fier
Hi Andy, thanks for taking the time to read my review, I really appreciate it. Thanks for the clarification on the number of volume resistors, I had read about 120 pages by the time I got the RU6, but I don't remember the information about it. As for the effect of heat on noise, I would like to clarify: the amount of heat generated by the amplification part will depend on what load is connected, or does it just depend on what actual power they are working at?
Try putting the Ru6 in your hand and see of the pops go away.
I've noticed 2 things:
1. if you put the RU6 and a phone n the same pocket, it picks EMI which is sort constant rythmic popping.
2. Occasional pops which I believe is ESD. With limited experience with RU6 I thought it was my Moondrop Kato cable combined with specific clothing material. Putting my hand on the RU6 fixed it.
CayinSupport
Sponsor: Cayin
Dear RU6 users, we have recently updated the Windows USB Audio Driver for RU6,
it enhanced compatibility with more Windows 10 PCs, please head to the following link to download,
https://en.cayin.cn/drive/9/18/484.html
it enhanced compatibility with more Windows 10 PCs, please head to the following link to download,
https://en.cayin.cn/drive/9/18/484.html
Last edited:
DBaldock9
Headphoneus Supremus
Dear RU6 users, we have recently updated the Windows USB Audio Driver for RU6,
it provides a better user experience on Windows 10, please head to the following link to download,
https://en.cayin.cn/drive/9/18/484.html
I hope it's not required, since I've been using my RU6 with a Win10 work PC, where I'm not allowed to install drivers.
When I'm using it at home, it's connected to a Kubuntu 22.04 Linux PC, running a v5.15.0-40 Kernel, and with the latest pipewire audio subsystem. Are there any updates for Linux?
Have installed and works great! Definitely a much better experience on Windows 10. Previously I would have some issues especially over Roon when using the ASIO driver. Those issues are now solved. Thanks Cayin!Dear RU6 users, we have recently updated the Windows USB Audio Driver for RU6,
it provides a better user experience on Windows 10, please head to the following link to download,
https://en.cayin.cn/drive/9/18/484.html
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