[oldkid]

It went differently for me, with the jitterbug you hear ticking sometimes in the right channel and sometimes in the left and the whole music scene becomes darker and less engaging. Maybe you have the new model, but I have the old one.

I have the version called Jitterbug FMJ. I believe it is indeed the newest model. What exactly do you mean by ticking? I dont hear any added noise or distortion with the jitterbug

 

[Polky74]

I'm referring to the ticking it makes when you turn up the volume at certain steps, but much less loud but you can hear it. With Amazon HD it does it more on the left channel while with Foobar it moves a little more on the right one. As soon as the jitterbug was removed the ticking went away and besides that it was like lifting a very thick veil on the sound, everything became more alive and brighter. Maybe they changed something in the jitterbug, I thought it could clean the usb of my Asus V75, but maybe there's really no need due to the fact that it has an external power supply. The strange thing is that with the same jitterbug connected to the W1 instead I hear a positive effect of cleanliness and precision in the sound, perhaps it all depends on the fact that the Cayin is a R2R and instead the Luxury&Precision is a delta-sigma. Strange but I would have bet that the jitterbug would have been more useful with the Cayin but not, but perhaps the Cayin could better explain the reason for this rejection crisis. Maybe after a little run-in of the Cayin I'll try it again, but for now the sensation of when I took it off has remained in my head... it was like opening a window and letting clean air into a room where before it was almost impossible enter.

 

[ClieOS]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone measured the consumption of RU6? I'm going from memory and it seems to me that the one of the W1 is about 90/110mw and 120/140mw for the W2, who knows if that of the RU6 is much higher...

My own measurement shows that RU6 draw a little more power than W2 under similar load condition, but nothing major.

There's no firmware to update, since the RU6 uses discrete R-2R architecture.

You are good to go. Enjoy!

I think it is a little oversimplified to say R-2R needs no firmware update. The 'truth' is, your regular delta-sigma DAC chips such as AKM, ESS or Cirrus Logic by themselves usually required little to no firmware update as well. What we update usually is not the firmware of to DAC chip (which most doesn't have to begin with), but the firmware of the controller chip that process the data from the USB port before sending them to the DAC chip. In lower end DAC/amp dongle, that usually is the USB controller chip. In higher end DAC/amp dongle, that usually is a more advanced MCU / DSP / FPGA type chips that can allow features like extra digital filter / EQ / oversampling / USB mode. RU6, for as an example, uses an MCU to convert DSD to PCM internally since R-2R by itself can't handle 1bit format. If there was some kind of bug discovered in the DSD-to-PCM process, then a firmware update on the MCU would fix the issue. So it is not as simple as 'R-2R required no firmware' While RU6 doesn't have any firmware update yet, my Hiby FC6 (also R-2R) already have one firmware update to resolves MQA related issue.

 

[oldkid]

I'm referring to the ticking it makes when you turn up the volume at certain steps, but much less loud but you can hear it. With Amazon HD it does it more on the left channel while with Foobar it moves a little more on the right one. As soon as the jitterbug was removed the ticking went away and besides that it was like lifting a very thick veil on the sound, everything became more alive and brighter. Maybe they changed something in the jitterbug, I thought it could clean the usb of my Asus V75, but maybe there's really no need due to the fact that it has an external power supply. The strange thing is that with the same jitterbug connected to the W1 instead I hear a positive effect of cleanliness and precision in the sound, perhaps it all depends on the fact that the Cayin is a R2R and instead the Luxury&Precision is a delta-sigma. Strange but I would have bet that the jitterbug would have been more useful with the Cayin but not, but perhaps the Cayin could better explain the reason for this rejection crisis. Maybe after a little run-in of the Cayin I'll try it again, but for now the sensation of when I took it off has remained in my head... it was like opening a window and letting clean air into a room where before it was almost impossible enter.

I have done some A/B testing of the jitterbug attached to RU6 and it definitely improves treble region, thus improving detail perception. However, the overall sound is less warm who one could argue sounds less pleasing. For someone like me who wants to stay in NOS mode at all time, the jitterbug is a great alternative to RU6 OS mode. It sounds better overall.

I would love to be able to compare RU6 + jitterbug with something like EF400 or FC6. I have a feeling that it would close the gap between these R2R implementations.

 

[Polky74]

My own measurement shows that RU6 draw a little more power than W2 under similar load condition, but nothing major.



I think it is a little oversimplified to say R-2R needs no firmware update. The 'truth' is, your regular delta-sigma DAC chips such as AKM, ESS or Cirrus Logic by themselves usually required little to no firmware update as well. What we update usually is not the firmware of to DAC chip (which most doesn't have to begin with), but the firmware of the controller chip that process the data from the USB port before sending them to the DAC chip. In lower end DAC/amp dongle, that usually is the USB controller chip. In higher end DAC/amp dongle, that usually is a more advanced MCU / DSP / FPGA type chips that can allow features like extra digital filter / EQ / oversampling / USB mode. RU6, for as an example, uses an MCU to convert DSD to PCM internally since R-2R by itself can't handle 1bit format. If there was some kind of bug discovered in the DSD-to-PCM process, then a firmware update on the MCU would fix the issue. So it is not as simple as 'R-2R required no firmware' While RU6 doesn't have any firmware update yet, my Hiby FC6 (also R-2R) already have one firmware update to resolves MQA related issue.

Since you also own the Hiby FC6, could I ask you for a direct comparison with the Cayin RU6? From the data on the card it will obviously be less powerful not having the balanced connection, but other than that? From a music playback standpoint, how are these two dongles doing that share the R2R implementation? Thank you.

 

[Polky74]

For those who have doubts about the resolution and rendering of details given by the RU6, I recommend listening to some music by Musica Nuda... an Italian duet perhaps not very famous to the general public, but which deserves listening especially if you are equipped with a Cayin RU6.

 

[ClieOS]

Since you also own the Hiby FC6, could I ask you for a direct comparison with the Cayin RU6? From the data on the card it will obviously be less powerful not having the balanced connection, but other than that? From a music playback standpoint, how are these two dongles doing that share the R2R implementation? Thank you.

FC6 has a sound signature best described as being the middle point between the cleanness of Delta-sigma and the musicality of R-2R. If you are looking for a more classic analog type of R-2R sound, FC6 probably isn't the best choice. But on its own, it achieves good balance between the two. However, I do want to point out some of FC6's more obvious shortcoming: First, it is pricy and lacks balanced output. Second, it has a known bug with Qualcomm 8 Gen 1 (and I am not sure about other SoC) that it will create clicking distortion. when it is not in exclusive mode. Hiby knows about it since launch and has yet to address it. Thirdly. FC6 has a major treble roll-off from 15kHz and up even in OS mode (while RU6 only has roll-off in NOS mode, which is normal implementation in most NOS setup). On the up side, FC6 is on the smaller side for an USB dongle, quite well-built with a beautiful screen. Technically I'll consider it to be almost on par with RU6 if we were to ignore all the issues.. All and all, I am more inclined to recommend RU6 if you are looking for a more completed R-2R experience. FC6 at this point feels rather half-baked, especially considered the price tag.

 

[Surdzo]

FC6 has a sound signature best described as being the middle point between the cleanness of Delta-sigma and the musicality of R-2R. If you are looking for a more classic analog type of R-2R sound, FC6 probably isn't the best choice. But on its own, it achieves good balance between the two. However, I do want to point out some of FC6's more obvious shortcoming: First, it is pricy and lacks balanced output. Second, it has a known bug with Qualcomm 8 Gen 1 (and I am not sure about other SoC) that it will create clicking distortion. when it is not in exclusive mode. Hiby knows about it since launch and has yet to address it. Thirdly. FC6 has a major treble roll-off from 15kHz and up even in OS mode (while RU6 only has roll-off in NOS mode, which is normal implementation in most NOS setup). On the up side, FC6 is on the smaller side for an USB dongle, quite well-built with a beautiful screen. Technically I'll consider it to be almost on par with RU6 if we were to ignore all the issues.. All and all, I am more inclined to recommend RU6 if you are looking for a more completed R-2R experience. FC6 at this point feels rather half-baked, especially considered the price tag.

From my experience with Hiby all their products are more or less half baked. There is no perfect product but there are few types of companies. Those who done right at first try, those who react fast when realize the problem exist and fix as soon as possible and than there are companies like Hiby who never done right at first try and then they respond slow and there is no guarantee that they’ll fix the issue at all. Don’t want to mention fourth type of companies those who are rubbish all over the place.

 

[Polky74]

FC6 has a sound signature best described as being the middle point between the cleanness of Delta-sigma and the musicality of R-2R. If you are looking for a more classic analog type of R-2R sound, FC6 probably isn't the best choice. But on its own, it achieves good balance between the two. However, I do want to point out some of FC6's more obvious shortcoming: First, it is pricy and lacks balanced output. Second, it has a known bug with Qualcomm 8 Gen 1 (and I am not sure about other SoC) that it will create clicking distortion. when it is not in exclusive mode. Hiby knows about it since launch and has yet to address it. Thirdly. FC6 has a major treble roll-off from 15kHz and up even in OS mode (while RU6 only has roll-off in NOS mode, which is normal implementation in most NOS setup). On the up side, FC6 is on the smaller side for an USB dongle, quite well-built with a beautiful screen. Technically I'll consider it to be almost on par with RU6 if we were to ignore all the issues.. All and all, I am more inclined to recommend RU6 if you are looking for a more completed R-2R experience. FC6 at this point feels rather half-baked, especially considered the price tag.

I'd like to like you 10 but it's not possible so "besides the like" I'm just thanking you.
Now I'm buying my new dap... an LG V60 with a 5000 battery (250 euros) which with the RU6 will become my new reference dap. I've read comparisons of the RU6 with other R2Rs (RS2=$500) and N6II and it comes out great. For now it will have to settle for a "simple" V50 that I had for audio purposes.

 

[Polky74]

I'm sorry to say but by now the daps are dead ... now after the release of dongles like the Cayin RU6 there is no reason to buy a dap. With a powerphone and a RU6 you have everything you need to surpass almost any dap on the market.

R.I.P.

Long live the music!!!

 

[Andykong]

I'm sorry to say but by now the daps are dead ... now after the release of dongles like the Cayin RU6 there is no reason to buy a dap. With a powerphone and a RU6 you have everything you need to surpass almost any dap on the market.

R.I.P.

Long live the music!!!

But without DAP such as N6ii (R01), there is no RU6. All the technologies and implementation experienced are incurred from DAP products. If DAP is totally dead, then there won't be any advancement in Dongle DAC.

In fact, I am quite sure that without DAP, Dongle DAC will die soon, because companies like Cayin (can't speak for others officially) can't survive with only Dongle DAC as the only cash cow product.

 

[Polky74]

But without DAP such as N6ii (R01), there is no RU6. All the technologies and implementation experienced are incurred from DAP products. If DAP is totally dead, then there won't be any advancement in Dongle DAC.

In fact, I am quite sure that without DAP, Dongle DAC will die soon, because companies like Cayin (can't speak for others officially) can't survive with only Dongle DAC as the only cash cow product.

This is the point where the interests of who should sell and who should buy collide... thanks to us you had the possibility to sell your dap and to implement your dongle... now let us decide what we are willing to do buy if your daps or your dongles. You were wrong to make a dongle like this... it sounds too good!

 

[Surdzo]

About dac/dap topic. Im not quite sure the point of DAP today. DACs are very good and in many cases better performing than most DAPs especially in sub 1000 usd category. Above that price in my opinion is ridiculous to spend money on DAP instead of good amp.
Today we have phones, PCs, MACs whose battery can stand playing music for hours and when done they can be charged in a matter of minutes (while taking shower ) DACs becoming quieter (low or no interference) at same time more portable, less complicated and one gadget less for charging and carrying. Not to mention broken screens, damaged batteries, poor support and servis and on top of it other technical and non supported OS problems after year of two of using them. For the money you spent on good DAP you can purchase few different DAC and keep them at places you spend most of your time without thinking of carrying them all the time with you, same goes for IEMs so in my case I have good set everywhere i go/stay for the price of one single good quality DAP

 

[oldkid]

I'm still testing RU6 + jitterbug combo. I hear the ticking (micro interruptions) on a DSD album in UAPP.
I'm happy to report that it doesn't happen at all with Neutron Player, that's why I hadn't heard it so far.

This daisy chain improves the synergy between RU6 and Loxjie P20 in full balanced mode. Better detail retrieval and perceived clarity overall.

These jitterbugs and noise filter devices really do impact sound quality, don't let the measurements freaks tell you otherwise

 

[Surdzo]

I'm referring to the ticking it makes when you turn up the volume at certain steps, but much less loud but you can hear it. With Amazon HD it does it more on the left channel while with Foobar it moves a little more on the right one. As soon as the jitterbug was removed the ticking went away and besides that it was like lifting a very thick veil on the sound, everything became more alive and brighter. Maybe they changed something in the jitterbug, I thought it could clean the usb of my Asus V75, but maybe there's really no need due to the fact that it has an external power supply. The strange thing is that with the same jitterbug connected to the W1 instead I hear a positive effect of cleanliness and precision in the sound, perhaps it all depends on the fact that the Cayin is a R2R and instead the Luxury&Precision is a delta-sigma. Strange but I would have bet that the jitterbug would have been more useful with the Cayin but not, but perhaps the Cayin could better explain the reason for this rejection crisis. Maybe after a little run-in of the Cayin I'll try it again, but for now the sensation of when I took it off has remained in my head... it was like opening a window and letting clean air into a room where before it was almost impossible enter.

As I told you I have (had) same clicking noice on Foobar (left channel) but I solved it.
File>Pereferences>playback>DSP Manager than add Resempler (RetroArch) and set 44.1kHz and clicking sound disappears. My library is in wav format if that matters.