[George Chronis]

I don't mean to get into a cable debate, but I am guessing you all use the third party cables because you need a different length or the quality is different, correct? There is a USB C-USB C cable that is included with the RU7, which works fine and is rather short, correct?

 

[jsmiller58]

I don't mean to get into a cable debate, but I am guessing you all use the third party cables because you need a different length or the quality is different, correct? There is a USB C-USB C cable that is included with the RU7, which works fine and is rather short, correct?

I think some folks are Apple iPhone users, and in some phone models there are power limits that may be addressed with different usb-c cables. I am not an iPhone user so I don’t follow that discussion too closely.

 

[cgiammona]

Was that balanced or single-ended?

If single-ended, I'd recommend you give a shot to the Bokeh balanced via a DAP, single-ended via an desktop amp.

Especially given the good price and looks of ZMF's 4.4 cable.

Both balanced and SE for me

 

[NewEve]

Please delete/ignore.

 

[cgiammona]

I don't mean to get into a cable debate, but I am guessing you all use the third party cables because you need a different length or the quality is different, correct? There is a USB C-USB C cable that is included with the RU7, which works fine and is rather short, correct?

Yes, there is a short USB-C to USB-C cable included with the RU7. Some people purchased this other cable for sound quality improvements and I found that the supplied cable produced different results using my Mac compared to my iPhone.

 

[NewEve]

On both the M11 and the RS6 I run 4.4.

I run XLR on my desktop setup, and for the Bokeh I use my heart audio cable system. It allows me to switch from the DAP to my desktop without having to constantly pull and switch cables on the headphones to move from 4.4 to XLR.

I personally don't like using 4.4 on my desktop hardware.

Alright, interesting, I had lots of success with the notoriously underpowered — even uncapped as it was the case — Sony ZX507.
Better than the more powerful RU7 but I'm into a relaxed sound so YMMV.

 

[PopZeus]

Running the RU7 from my iPhone is nice but way too much of a battery drain to be practical in EDC. Typically only use it with my Macbook or my Android phone/test device. But it is an exceptionally good match with the Bokeh for the cost. Very different than the RU6.

 

[cgiammona]

Alright, interesting, I had lots of success with the notoriously underpowered — even uncapped as it was the case — Sony ZX507.
Better than the more powerful RU7 but I'm into a relaxed sound so YMMV.

I do think that my Bokeh's need more burn-in time and so far I have stayed with the default tuning (protein pads and burst mesh) as ZMF said it was the most dynamic. Shortly, I will try the hybrid pads and titan mesh to see how that tuning compares.

 

[cgiammona]

Running the RU7 from my iPhone is nice but way too much of a battery drain to be practical in EDC. Typically only use it with my Macbook or my Android phone/test device. But it is an exceptionally good match with the Bokeh for the cost. Very different than the RU6.

So far, my iPhone 15 Pro Max has handled the battery drain pretty well but I am not using it for music listening more than an hour per day.

 

[jsmiller58]

For folks looking for a dongle with lots of power, you might want to look at the FiiO KA17, which includes a desktop power mode with 650mW balanced. I cannot comment on how it sounds compared to the RU6 / RU7 as I don’t own the KA17, but have been thinking about it.

 

[idairyou]

Alright, interesting, I had lots of success with the notoriously underpowered — even uncapped as it was the case — Sony ZX507.
Better than the more powerful RU7 but I'm into a relaxed sound so YMMV.

I was surprised as well that I had to turn it up to high gain on the M11.

I'm not really an IEM guy, as I only use them when I have a headache and I can't deal with the clamp from an over ear, or when traveling. On the M11 I always had to run all my IEMs on medium gain where other DAPS I had like the HiBy R5 or Shanling M3 I never felt the need to go beyond low gain.

The Bokeh is going to be my traveling headphones so the IEMs will now only be used when I have a headache.

 

[PopZeus]

So far, my iPhone 15 Pro Max has handled the battery drain pretty well but I am not using it for music listening more than an hour per day.

Yeah I’ve got an older 13 pro model so the battery drain is pretty fast at this point. I work on mobile apps so having a burner Android phone with a big battery I replace every couple of years is better for me than keeping up with the latest iPhone hype

 

[Hannu]

I do still think that stand-alone desk mics will be of better quality, or anything that has it's own dedicated power supply, but for the purpose these have been working great and sounding pretty good.

I got to test the mic cable very briefly, and the sound quality was actually pretty good. The mic itself was somewhat more sensitive than what i have been used to (v moda boom pro), so it picked up more unwanted noises. It's not bad, but could be little bit less sensitive. I haven't used any PC software to filter the mic sound, so it might be a non-issue on PC.

What i would want to change about the cable is the cable itself. It's kind of stiff, and with the sleeving it's also microphonic. This wouldn't be that big of a deal, but the somewhat sensitive mic picked up those microphonics whenever i moved.
Having softer and less microphonic cable would be great. Maybe something like the softer woven iem cables, or softer sleeving could do the trick.

Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

For folks looking for a dongle with lots of power, you might want to look at the FiiO KA17, which includes a desktop power mode with 650mW balanced. I cannot comment on how it sounds compared to the RU6 / RU7 as I don’t own the KA17, but have been thinking about it.

KA17 will sound brighter and drier when compared to Duo Cayin RU. Tonal and technical wise Cayin RU7 is "the best" in this group.

I never paired any of them with Bokeh though, so I don't know which of them has best synergy with Bokeh,

 

[KaiFi]

I own the KA17, but as I don't have a balanced cable for the Bokeh, I'm not really able to test it to its full potential. It sounds good on single-ended though.

I've heard that RU7 has issues with popping and clicks; haven't encountered that on the KA17 yet. But it is ESS and will have the ESS house sound, if that's not your thing.