[Brain Damage]

hi guys, currently i am waiting for my yuin pk1 just for nostalgia thing
do you guys think ru6 enough to feed pk1's 150 ohm power hungry

or it will become underpower

The RU6 can power my beyers (770 pro & 880 pro) which both have an impedance of 250Ω. With this in mind, and considering the RU6 lends itself better to IEMs, the RU6 will be absolutely fine with 150Ω loads. I just personally find that when paired with an external headphone amp like the ifiCAN, this better drives my beyers with better dynamic range and punch. I only use an external amp with the RU6 when I want to listen to these harder to drive cans otherwise it's completely unnecessary. However, if doing this be careful to bear in mind the advice given by @Andykong in terms of volume on RU6 in conjunction with volume knob on amplifier. If you get it right, there is no distortion or unwanted background noise. Enjoy your music through the RU6 .

 

[autoexec]

Let us/me know how it works out if you don't mind.

To be able to match the same volume of my Topping E30 (2.1Vrms) line level with my RU6, I had to use the max volume (100) of HIGH gain. To be honest I couldn't hear any clipping at all but I feel there's quite some distortion but I'm not 100% sure and it could be my mind playing with me. For peace of mind I followed AndyKong's suggestion and used volume 83 in LOW gain. Regarding SQ, it doesn't sounded like the typical double amping as it's still very good maybe because my amp is very clean(?) which is THX 789. But, RU6 seem to drive all my headphones pretty well as is, so unless I'm listening to speakers, I plug my headphones directly to it. It drives my Sundara pretty darn good and loud at LOW gain volume 66 balanced. Nothing felt underpowered and I actually feel I'm connected to a very capable desktop amp. Unlike when driving it directly with my DAP (FiiO M11+ ESS), I feel that underpowered vibes (slightly laid back mids and lack of character and definition) and I'm sure it's not the DAC in my DAP because if I use it as lineout to my amp everything sounds superb with the same HP. The takeaway is RU6 is a pretty powerful device.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

To be able to match the same volume of my Topping E30 (2.1Vrms) line level with my RU6, I had to use the max volume (100) of HIGH gain. To be honest I couldn't hear any clipping at all but I feel there's quite some distortion but I'm not 100% sure and it could be my mind playing with me. For peace of mind I followed AndyKong's suggestion and used volume 83 in LOW gain. Regarding SQ, it doesn't sounded like the typical double amping as it's still very good maybe because my amp is very clean(?) which is THX 789. But, RU6 seem to drive all my headphones pretty well as is, so unless I'm listening to speakers, I plug my headphones directly to it. It drives my Sundara pretty darn good and loud at LOW gain volume 66 balanced. Nothing felt underpowered and I actually feel I'm connected to a very capable desktop amp. Unlike when driving it directly with my DAP (FiiO M11+ ESS), I feel that underpowered vibes (slightly laid back mids and lack of character and definition) and I'm sure it's not the DAC in my DAP because if I use it as lineout to my amp everything sounds superb with the same HP. The takeaway is RU6 is a pretty powerful device.

Thanks for the rundown! I haven't tried it myself yet, but I might at some point in the future so this is good info to have. The RU6 has proven itself to be a very capable dongle for sure. It handles most headphones I have thrown at it and it offers a nice wamer, more analog-esque sound sig for use on the go when compared to my ultra clean ifi Gryphon. I couldn't be happier with it.

Re the power issue on the M11: I have only ever tried the AKM based version and not the new ESS based plus model, but assuming they have the same output power specs I'm not surprised at the issue driving your Sundaras. When I demoed the M11 while looking for DAPs, it struggled a bit with my K702s. I wasn't completely surprised since the K702s are a moderately difficult pair to drive, but given the output specs I had hoped that the M11 would be able to handle it. The volume was there, but the bass was lifeless and their was a noticeable loss in soundstage width and micro detailing. It made me wonder if perhaps Fiio is reporting specs that the M11 have trouble reaching in reality since I have tried other DAPs and DAC/Amp combos with similar output power that were able to handle the demands of the K702s much better. The ES9068 is a perfectly capable chip so I think you're right about that not being the issue.

Thanks again for reporting back on your experience!

 

[autoexec]

Thanks for the rundown! I haven't tried it myself yet, but I might at some point in the future so this is good info to have. The RU6 has proven itself to be a very capable dongle for sure. It handles most headphones I have thrown at it and it offers a nice wamer, more analog-esque sound sig for use on the go when compared to my ultra clean ifi Gryphon. I couldn't be happier with it.

Re the power issue on the M11: I have only ever tried the AKM based version and not the new ESS based plus model, but assuming they have the same output power specs I'm not surprised at the issue driving your Sundaras. When I demoed the M11 while looking for DAPs, it struggled a bit with my K702s. I wasn't completely surprised since the K702s are a moderately difficult pair to drive, but given the output specs I had hoped that the M11 would be able to handle it. The volume was there, but the bass was lifeless and their was a noticeable loss in soundstage width and micro detailing. It made me wonder if perhaps Fiio is reporting specs that the M11 have trouble reaching in reality since I have tried other DAPs and DAC/Amp combos with similar output power that were able to handle the demands of the K702s much better. The ES9068 is a perfectly capable chip so I think you're right about that not being the issue.

Thanks again for reporting back on your experience!

Thanks for sharing your insights as well!

Another thing I've experienced that I wanted to share is that my RU6 performs noticeably worse from a PC source (Dell Inspiron laptop running win10) compared to my android sources (Galaxy S10 / FiiO DAP). The sound is underwhelmingly soft and seems to lack background blackness. It's like listening to a 192kbps mp3 is how I would describe it. The vibrance and important nuances were gone. I've already installed the driver and tried WASAPI besides ASIO. I did not try using other usb ports but what I've tried is hook up the RU6 with my ifi USB iPurifier 3. That instantly solved the problem. I think it is now even slightly better than my Android sources. I've never heard such improvement from the iPurifier with my Topping E30 (I even thought it's snake oil lol) but I'm guessing that DAC has better noise handling protocols than a tiny device like the RU6 which can explain why I don't hear any sound improvement with it before. I'm happy with this setup that I decided to use it even with an Android source. This way I won't prematurely wear out the stock cable and I can use any cable I want. It slightly increased the battery consumption tho and that iPurifier runs quite hot.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Thanks for sharing your insights as well!

Another thing I've experienced that I wanted to share is that my RU6 performs noticeably worse from a PC source (Dell Inspiron laptop running win10) compared to my android sources (Galaxy S10 / FiiO DAP). The sound is underwhelmingly soft and seems to lack background blackness. It's like listening to a 192kbps mp3 is how I would describe it. The vibrance and important nuances were gone. I've already installed the driver and tried WASAPI besides ASIO. I did not try using other usb ports but what I've tried is hook up the RU6 with my ifi USB iPurifier 3. That instantly solved the problem. I think it is now even slightly better than my Android sources. I've never heard such improvement from the iPurifier with my Topping E30 (I even thought it's snake oil lol) but I'm guessing that DAC has better noise handling protocols than a tiny device like the RU6 which can explain why I don't hear any sound improvement with it before. I'm happy with this setup that I decided to use it even with an Android source. This way I won't prematurely wear out the stock cable and I can use any cable I want. It slightly increased the battery consumption tho and that iPurifier runs quite hot.

I wonder what the cause is for the performance problems with the computer set up. I'm no tech guru, but my RU6 works great with my laptop.

 

[wolfstar76]

I can assure that my RU6's performance connected to my PC desktop is way, way above that from my Samsung S20 ultra.

 

[wolfstar76]

I wonder what the cause is for the performance problems with the computer set up. I'm no tech guru, but my RU6 works great with my laptop.

What's your setup? RU6 as DAC connected to ifi dongle as amp? though we already learned that RU6 don't have the capacity to act as DAC mode, only result in double amping

 

[JAnonymous5150]

What's your setup? RU6 as DAC connected to ifi dongle as amp? though we already learned that RU6 don't have the capacity to act as DAC mode, only result in double amping

No i only use it as a dac/amp by itself. I'm not the person having problems. The guy i replied to was

 

[autoexec]

I wonder what the cause is for the performance problems with the computer set up. I'm no tech guru, but my RU6 works great with my laptop.

Most likely electrical noise from the laptop. I'm using SE in that scenario and not sure if using balanced will lessen the issue. And it might be that particular USB C port that's very noisy as I haven't tried the other USB A ports.

What's your setup? RU6 as DAC connected to ifi dongle as amp? though we already learned that RU6 don't have the capacity to act as DAC mode, only result in double amping

That ifi is not a dongle nor an amp. It's a USB purifier designed to reject common USB noise. To answer your question:
Source -> Purifier -> RU6 -> Headphone

 

[Dan DRC]

I have been using an RU6 with an iFi xCAN for about the last three weeks with the volume on the RU6 at 100 with excellent results. I would start with the Cayin recommended vol setting of 70 to 80 and see what works best for your system and go from there. I am using the 3.5mm single ended output on the Cayin to the 3.5mm SE input on the xCAN with the headphones on the xCAN's 2.5mm balanced output. I did not feel I would get much benefit from using the 4.4mm balanced out on the Cayin as it is not a true balanced design.

I now have settled in to using the RU6 at low gain with volume at 85 connected to the xCAN. This is a great DAC, mainly in NOS mode but from time to time I have found the OS to work well on some recordings. In NOS mode it just has this kind of thing going for it that you can't quite put your finger on. I know the terms musical and organic are overused in describing sound but yeah whatever it is the RU6 has it. This is the 5th DAC I have owned since 1994 and I am enjoying the RU6 the most.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

In NOS mode it just has this kind of thing going for it that you can't quite put your finger on. I know the terms musical and organic are overused in describing sound but yeah whatever it is the RU6 has it. This is the 5th DAC I have owned since 1994 and I am enjoying the RU6 the most.

Musical and organic are definitely overused, but in this situation those terms certainly seem like valid descriptors to me. The RU6 has a euphonic quality that I have also described as a certain musicality to it's presentation. I guess there's a reason those terms became popularized lol!

Thanks for the info on settings. I still haven't gotten around to trying my RU6 driven by a different amp, but I plan on trying it at some point.

 

[toni2068]

The RU6 has a euphonic quality that I have also described as a certain musicality to it's presentation. I guess there's a reason those terms became popularized lol!

Yeah, they should have sent a poet.

 

[Majid Mute]

hi guys
I received ru6 today
I have the ddHiFi MFi06S and MFi09S otg cable and use it to connect my RU6 to my iPhone 13Pro Max.
It sounds good!
I will say I do run into clipping at higher volumes (over 50 volume on low gain and high gain)
my iem monarch mkii
How do I fix my problem?

 

[yaps66]

hi guys
I received ru6 today
I have the ddHiFi MFi06S and MFi09S otg cable and use it to connect my RU6 to my iPhone 13Pro Max.
It sounds good!
I will say I do run into clipping at higher volumes (over 50 volume on low gain and high gain)
my iem monarch mkii
How do I fix my problem?

Congratulations!

 

[twister6]

hi guys
I received ru6 today
I have the ddHiFi MFi06S and MFi09S otg cable and use it to connect my RU6 to my iPhone 13Pro Max.
It sounds good!
I will say I do run into clipping at higher volumes (over 50 volume on low gain and high gain)
my iem monarch mkii
How do I fix my problem?

I don't use iPhone, but curious if your 13 Pro is at max volume? Are you playing local files or streaming? Try to maximize the volume of your source.