[vurtomatic]

Thank you for your insights @Polky74 !! You make a very good point. The RU6 sounds like a good contrast if DC04Pro is similar to M15. (Yeah I was kinda going by the price but now I'm tempted by the RU6

I read on this forum Cayin has released the RU7, it looks like you're planning on reviewing that too? Curious how that will compare with the RU6. Sorry for the questions, I don't keep up with DACs and only come onto Head-Fi when I'm looking for something new.


The music skipping is a known issue , people suspect it's a memory problem with M1. There's a very active discussion here with software workarounds that still don't fix it.

 

[Polky74]

Thank you for your insights @Polky74 !! You make a very good point. The RU6 sounds like a good contrast if DC04Pro is similar to M15. (Yeah I was kinda going by the price but now I'm tempted by the RU6

I read on this forum Cayin has released the RU7, it looks like you're planning on reviewing that too? Curious how that will compare with the RU6. Sorry for the questions, I don't keep up with DACs and only come onto Head-Fi when I'm looking for something new.


The music skipping is a known issue , people suspect it's a memory problem with M1. There's a very active discussion here with software workarounds that still don't fix it.

For the price ... on Aliexpress you can get the RU6 directly in the Cayin store, very discounted just for the release of the new RU7 which (from what I understand) should be right in the middle between the RU6 and the M15. When you put the RU6 in the cart in the Cayin shop on AE it takes away the vat and in the notes you ask to declare 50 dollars in value and that's it. I paid 228 euros with shipping and customs... it's basically the cheapest R2R on the planet.

 

[Polky74]

For those looking for a great mobile to turn into a multi-dac dap via their own dongles, I recommend this one. I bought 2 and I found them great, great price, great battery and if you leave Android 9 without updating it is also compatible with native DSD and MQA.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1936007184...23xKa6q2f+Od+ioWzVrGs3xjtmn1|tkp:BFBMtomi5ZJi

 

[Surdzo]

If you have the M15 and find these defects, try to do a few things... buy a longer cable that keeps it further away from the Apple (like a one meter Lindy Black Line that I'll add below), check if the noise it does them even when you don't surf the internet, and in any case keep it away from sources of radiation, mobile phones / PCs / tablets. The M15 because of its beautiful glass has very little EMI shielding and therefore even a little distance could solve the problem. To then answer your question, as you may have already read above, the dongle that I suggest you try, also because the most complementary with the M15, is the RU6. The only reason you would have to take the DC04PRO could be that being cheaper and smaller it could be used better on the go, but in the end you will have a dongle with more functions, fewer problems, more integrable with the smartphone, but which basically does not differ much from what the (however better) M15 already offers you. With the RU6 you would have the dongle with the furthest possible sound signature from the M15, but also at the same level of sound quality. At that point you could decide to make the M15 the walking dongle, due to its low consumption and keep the RU6 connected to the Mac, which makes relaxed and musical listening its best weapon.

https://www.amazon.it/Lindy-36917-1...d2-a7f0-692d57773650&pd_rd_i=B07FMYV5H6&psc=1

Exactly what I did

 

[mactabilis]

If all I have is the Blessing 2, and cheaper IEMs like Salnotes 7hz Zero... would you recommend the RU6?

 

[ExTubeGamer]

If all I have is the Blessing 2, and cheaper IEMs like Salnotes 7hz Zero... would you recommend the RU6?

I do use the RU6 as a desktop dac. This device is feeding my preamp and then my amplifier.

I'm only using IEMs and it simply sounds fantastic.

 

[Polky74]

If all I have is the Blessing 2, and cheaper IEMs like Salnotes 7hz Zero... would you recommend the RU6?

You'll hear Blessing 2 like you've never heard them before. You won't believe your ears, RU6 and Blessing 2 are like butter and jam.

 

[mactabilis]

I do use the RU6 as a desktop dac. This device is feeding my preamp and then my amplifier.

I'm only using IEMs and it simply sounds fantastic.

So you're feeding the RU6 -> preamp -> amplifier -> IEMs?
Why not directly from the RU6? Are these really hard to drive IEMs? What kind of preamp / amp do you use?

 

[ExTubeGamer]

So you're feeding the RU6 -> preamp -> amplifier -> IEMs?
Why not directly from the RU6? Are these really hard to drive IEMs? What kind of preamp / amp do you use?

Xduoo Mt-602 preamp (new PSU, new tubes) ---> JDS Atom amp ---> 75 ohm adapter ---> 4.4mm to 3.5mm adapter ---> IEM

The trick is that my setup makes the sound smooth, powerful and very analog sounding.

RU6 can drive almost every IEM out there but with these amplifiers the sound gets real authority, sounding much sweeter and incredible fun-inducing.

 

[Polky74]

Collection complete... now let's start listening to the RU7 and impressions will follow...

 

[Polky74]

RU7:The last of a kind, the first of a new kind

We have reached the last dongle of my collection and these are my impressions, obviously personal and questionable. What is RU7? Honestly, I can't say... sure in shape it's a dongle, but it's also a formidable dac, but it's also an excellent IEM/headphone amplifier (for its size), but it's also an ideal companion for your phones /PC, but it is also a miracle of engineering applied to music, but it is also the companion that will make you listen to your favorite music in a way that will leave you speechless. It is a bit of everything and has a bit of everything. Very close to an excellent dap for musical quality, very close to a dap for driving power, very close to a desktop hardware for general performance, very close to an excellent dac with a real line-out. What makes it different from the other 4 previously evaluated by me, the first thing you will notice listening to it is that it has a not well defined character, it is as if it were modeled on the music it manages in that moment, it can be delicate and full of nuances, but it can also transform into a dac full of energy and dynamics. It has power that puts it well above average dongles, but it doesn't make use of it that will make you jump off your chair, but it will make everything connected to it sound damn good. In a word, its characteristic is "kindness"... which is not "weakness" like in other cases, rather the opposite... it is the use of strength, definition, musicality, positioning of the instruments, presence of the same just as recorded on the track you are listening to and not according to what it does best. It's a box full of things... the naturalness of the RU6, the versatility of the DC04PRO, the definition and extension of the W1, the power of the M15. Can you replace them all? No, but it gives you all the features you loved in the other four. Last thing, the most important is that it really corrects the sound with its "All to DSD" technology not like the filters of the other dongles that all look a bit similar... here the difference is felt a lot and always through this, you will find the most congenial way for you to listen to it with the different IEMs/headphones you have and with the type of music you like to listen to. It's perfect? No and maybe the next ones won't either... RU8... RU9... and so on. But that's the one that's closest to us right now.

 

[jonmbarlow]

RU7:The last of a kind, the first of a new kind

We have reached the last dongle of my collection and these are my impressions, obviously personal and questionable. What is RU7? Honestly, I can't say... sure in shape it's a dongle, but it's also a formidable dac, but it's also an excellent IEM/headphone amplifier (for its size), but it's also an ideal companion for your phones /PC, but it is also a miracle of engineering applied to music, but it is also the companion that will make you listen to your favorite music in a way that will leave you speechless. It is a bit of everything and has a bit of everything. Very close to an excellent dap for musical quality, very close to a dap for driving power, very close to a desktop hardware for general performance, very close to an excellent dac with a real line-out. What makes it different from the other 4 previously evaluated by me, the first thing you will notice listening to it is that it has a not well defined character, it is as if it were modeled on the music it manages in that moment, it can be delicate and full of nuances, but it can also transform into a dac full of energy and dynamics. It has power that puts it well above average dongles, but it doesn't make use of it that will make you jump off your chair, but it will make everything connected to it sound damn good. In a word, its characteristic is "kindness"... which is not "weakness" like in other cases, rather the opposite... it is the use of strength, definition, musicality, positioning of the instruments, presence of the same just as recorded on the track you are listening to and not according to what it does best. It's a box full of things... the naturalness of the RU6, the versatility of the DC04PRO, the definition and extension of the W1, the power of the M15. Can you replace them all? No, but it gives you all the features you loved in the other four. Last thing, the most important is that it really corrects the sound with its "All to DSD" technology not like the filters of the other dongles that all look a bit similar... here the difference is felt a lot and always through this, you will find the most congenial way for you to listen to it with the different IEMs/headphones you have and with the type of music you like to listen to. It's perfect? No and maybe the next ones won't either... RU8... RU9... and so on. But that's the one that's closest to us right now.

Could not have summed it up better.....Great write-up

 

[jjxaker]

I think most, people easily keep only RU7, personally I am one of them. there is no desire to return to others.
but this, is of course a personal matter for everyone.

 

[vaporsynthwave]

you probably don't want to spend any more after recently getting all these dongles but maybe if you see a good deal on the lotoo paw s2 you should throw it in the mix. or maybe an s3 is on the way

 

[gabriely]

Got to demo all the recent new dongle releases - M15, RU7, RU6, FC6, W4... God bless Singapore, this must be the only city in the world I can line up everything I'm interested in, all in a row to just try everything all at once...!!! (barring the HE-1)

Pulled the trigger on the RU7 myself. W4 is nice too, probably very very very!!! slightly more technically-resolving than the RU7, but I think I personally enjoy the RU7's gorgeous timbre much better.

For my use case anyway, I think I will get a competent delta-sigma for my desk for more critical listening, whereas the RU7's 1-bit (R2R but not quite?) DAC's presentation is just pure musical enjoyment, without turning the sound hazy at times like the RU6 can do. The HiBy FC6 is an interesting device too, but all my cables terminate in 4.4mm, so it doesn't work for my use case.