The discovery thread!

[PhonoPhi]

ooh, i'm waiting for your review before pulling the gun for it.
i was worried if there is no proper review for it before the 30th june

Tried my best to put my opinion together few days before the end of the June

Thinking of buying Tanchjim Space, is there any nitpicking things?

Only one - Space consuming the same 77-78 mA in idle, as during the play. All Tempotec dongles switch to lower consumption, when not played for few seconds. Not much of a problem, if not leaving your dongle idle. I often do, so it was some reason not declaring Space triumphing BHD pro in a very close race. They are the best under $100 together with E44 for me.
Space should pair well with a gentler but present treble, like Tancchjim IEMs from their descrriprion here (Space is my only Tanchjim product so far).
Right, and the USB cable of Space, while aesthetically lovely is quite rigid, so one may need some more flexible one depending on specific use ($3-5).

 

[AmericanSpirit]

After listening to Cayin RU6 for couple of days, I’m pretty certain my next purchase will be RU7 sooner or later.

As this is my first encounter with Cayin aound, natural and very analog and smooth expression that RU6 offered is actually hitting spot to my preference over L&P’s analytical and digital approach.

Good finding for dongle with non-DAC chip R-2R ladder could do this much

 

[r31ya]

Tried my best to put my opinion together few days before the end of the June

Only one - Space consuming the same 77-78 mA in idle, as during the play. All Tempotec dongles switch to lower consumption, when not played for few seconds. Not much of a problem, if not leaving your dongle idle. I often do, so it was some reason not declaring Space triumphing BHD pro in a very close race. They are the best under $100 together with E44 for me.
Space should pair well with a gentler but present treble, like Tancchjim IEMs from their descrriprion here (Space is my only Tanchjim product so far).
Right, and the USB cable of Space, while aesthetically lovely is quite rigid, so one may need some more flexible one depending on specific use ($3-5).

does it lag badly when using it as laptop dongle?

and that warmth is often repeated impression. how is it compared to things like BTR5 (or Fiio sound) if you have one

 

[emdeevee]

After listening to Cayin RU6 for couple of days, I’m pretty certain my next purchase will be RU7 sooner or later.

As this is my first encounter with Cayin aound, natural and very analog and smooth expression that RU6 offered is actually hitting spot to my preference over L&P’s analytical and digital approach.

Good finding for dongle with non-DAC chip R-2R ladder could do this much

The W2 sounds analytical and digital? As a P6Pro owner and lover, it's hard to fathom L&P described in such terms!

Ps, strangely, my other DAP, a Cayin n6ii R01, sounds more analytical and digital than my L&P DAP. You're saying the dongles are the opposite?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

The W2 sounds analytical and digital? As a P6Pro owner and lover, it's hard to fathom L&P described in such terms!

Ps, strangely, my other DAP, a Cayin n6ii R01, sounds more analytical and digital than my L&P DAP. You're saying the dongles are the opposite?

Yea strangely L&P W2 is very analytical and technical and RU6 is the opposite, smooth and natural.

They switch the sound tuning on DAP and dongle?

 

[baskingshark]

After listening to Cayin RU6 for couple of days, I’m pretty certain my next purchase will be RU7 sooner or later.

As this is my first encounter with Cayin aound, natural and very analog and smooth expression that RU6 offered is actually hitting spot to my preference over L&P’s analytical and digital approach.

Good finding for dongle with non-DAC chip R-2R ladder could do this much

IMHO the RU7 is a true upgrade over the RU6.

RU6 is very warm and analoguish, tube--like sound, not very technical. RU7 is just a bit less warm (but still warmer than neutral), has improved micro-detailing, imaging, soundstage, and much more power on 4.4mm. Also fixes the hiss/EMI issues of the RU6.

I actually have been using the RU7 as my main source at home and on the go the past 2 weeks!

 

[Jaytiss]

Sold a few things, and caught it on a possible price error (-15% off on hifigo) but I got the new Topping d70/a70 pro stack. I'm really impressed with it. The graphics are super cool and it's a beautiful dac/amp with a crazy amount of power and headroom. Definitely my endgame for the next few years. Retails for 1200, but was just under 1000 with the discount. Cable is sweet too, feels very premium!

 

[s2kphile]

Finally got my MeetAlice and Aphex from Hi Fri. A single 10mm CNT DD, good details, warm and balanced. A mild V shaped sound signature. Not bad for Hi Fri first IEM.

 

[Jaytiss]

Finally got my MeetAlice and Aphex from Hi Fri. A single 10mm CNT DD, good details, warm and balanced. A mild V shaped sound signature. Not bad for Hi Fri first IEM.

That's awesome. It's neat to see an American Boutique shop. I feel he is really honest.

 

[JEHL]

Multiple copies of the same driver are implemented for smoother, more coherent sound. Think of the sound of a single violin vs. a violin section in an orchestra. Individual higher-frequency peaks are partially cancelled out (mostly unwanted odd peaks, especially pecularities of specific driver copies).
It works best and easiest with BAs: they are small, can be easily packed compactly together for spacial coherence, and their high-frequency peaks (BA timbre, "steeliness") are smoothened out. That is why implementations of dual and quadruple BAs are commonly seen.

You know. It's been like 3 years at this point and this analogy still eludes me. On one hand we have an orchestra consisting of actual humans trying to the best of their abilities, using their sense of hearing and maybe sight and an unfathomably complex and heavily flawed nervous system that connects everything in-between, a music sheet and a metronome and/or a conductor and their baton to create using their hands create specific interactions with their given instrument in order to create a very specific sequence of mechanical vibrations, into air vibrations that will eventually reach our ears that our nervous system will eventually interpret as music. On the other hand, we have an orchestra(?) consisting of a bunch of electromechanical devices merely getting their circuits (may or may not be shaped like a coil) excited by a bunch of 1s and 0s converted into an analog signal, amplified into a power source and divided by a crossover network. Turning that electrical signal into a mechanical energy that gets transferred to the air then to our ears so that our nervous system will eventually interpret as music.

So. both eventually create vibrations in the air that we eventually interpret as music and... That's the only parallel I can draw here.

In loudspeaker world, multiple woofers in a tower may be desired because you increase efficiency by 3dB (may be slightly less due to less-than-ideal conditions but hopefully the point still stands), but also you get to play 3dB higher before distortions due to over-excursion of the driver happen. The whole parallel with an orchestra is never brought up.

Which I just realize... Are the Orchestra and Orchestra Lite actually called that because of having the highest driver count among the Kiwi Ears.

Not sure what the theme for their single driver units are besides having Italian names.

I'm also curious if DD playing 200Hz and under still benefit from duplication, but their massive size probably means an enormous IEM and thus the cons outweighing the pros.

Does a 2DD+6BA exist?

Although if I wanted to make an IEM that were a middle ground between good sounding and cost efficient. I'd probably just be a bassier Truthear Hexa. Like imagine a Truthear Hexa but it's bass is more like the Zero:Red with an impedance adapter shown below:

Maybe I COULD just get the Hexa in that case and just EQ the bass assuming the DD is not overwhelmed by the EQ. But if I ever had a chance to make a collaboration with any IEM I want I'd be the Hexa. (Maybe I'd have to be a bit more conservative with the bass boost in that case however).

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Just ordered this. DD hifi product so at least that’s for audio!

As Dac dongle sucks battery so fast on already half-dead iphone that I’m using, and I recently got motivated from Cayin RU6 to invest further effort into a practical portable solution for dac dongle with portability.

1: I need an external battery to supplement
2: Maybe a better performance on DAC dongle than weak iphone BUS-power? I don’t know so I’m gonna try it myself.

for iphone folks(iphone is moving to USB-C as well maybe from next model?)
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mLAIyeC

for android folks:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0mpxnq

Anyway, I ordered one for lightning.

Let‘s see a myth of “external power source mixed to DAC dongle” would do any job to the sound output.

That’s a hope, but at least half of my problem “ battery drain” shall be solved

 

[r31ya]

Just ordered this. DD hifi product so at least that’s for audio!

As Dac dongle sucks battery so fast on already half-dead iphone that’s I’m using.

1: I need an external battery to supplement
2: Maybe a better performance on DAC dongle than weak iphone BUS-power? I don’t know so I’m gonna try it myself.




for iphone folks(iphone is moving to USB-C as well maybe from next model?)
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mLAIyeC

for android folks:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0mpxnq

Anyway, I ordered one for lightning.

Let‘s see a myth of “external power source mixed to DAC dongle” would do any job to the sound output.

That’s a hope, but at least half of my problem “ battery drain” shall be solved

Reminds me that Wired Dongle DAC Shanling UA5 have small internal battery for some reason.
either to soften the power draw, or cleaner output, or other reason like powering the monochrome screen so it won't be suddenly died when disconnected?

 

[552609]

DAC dongle’s portability issue part, half solved.

I find the Cayin RU7 to work pretty well with my phone. No case needed. It just sticks out of my pocket, which makes adjusting the volume pretty easy.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Reminds me that Wired Dongle DAC Shanling UA5 have small internal battery for some reason.
either to soften the power draw, or cleaner output, or other reason like powering the monochrome screen so it won't be suddenly died when disconnected?

yea I remember UA5, for my case, iPhone is as weak as newborn deer from even from the brand new, the battery is getting weaker and weaker as new models get released. So my 2 year old 12 Pro can only lasts few hours when streaming hi-res lossless and powering dac dongles

See the consumption graph below, it lost 50% in 2 hours.

So my urgent need is to have a serious power-bank while having a faint hope in that external power source does any good to final sound output.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

I find the Cayin RU7 to work pretty well with my phone. No case needed. It just sticks out of my pocket, which makes adjusting the volume pretty easy.

It’s YMMV, I personally don’t like to see dangling dingling and that cause constant disconnection between DAC dongle and main device, a fatal flaw of the design for portable use