Cayin RU6 R2R USB Dongle

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Portable DAC/AMPs & Dongles
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Hi guys, can someone share a comparison of RU6 vs Qudelix 5K or Go Blu (USB input for both)?

I’m looking for a DAC to use on the go. I’ve been using LG G8x for a while now and feel like upgrading. When it comes to function and usability, I like the idea of a wireless setup for portable use but if the RU6 sounds a lot better then I’d like to get that instead.

I’ll mostly be using IEMs so no need for a lot of power, still comparision with some other budget DAC’s like Hip-DAC, NX4… or even desktop one’s like Zen DAC, E30… are also welcome.

Finally has anyone noticed any EMI issues? I had to return my Sparrow because of that.

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Disclaimer - have not heard the RU6.

AFAIK, Ru6 does not have any noticable EMI issues if any at all. At least there is no mention of it in the Head Fi thread.

RU6 should outperform the Qudelix and Go Blu quite handidly if you dig its signature which seems to be more raw.

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Hopefully, that might be the case here but still, I’d like to make sure and any comments from those that have heard the device and compared it with other DACs would be nice.

It’s good to know that there are no reported EMI issues on head-fi.

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I’m currently waiting on my RU6.
I’m going to be comparing it to the Ovidius B1 and also the Audioquest Dragonfly Red.

Probably not receiving it before New Years however…

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Awesome, please take your time and share some impressions, I’m not in a hurry. I’m happy with my iDSD Signature’s sound for now, just need someting a bit more portable.

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RU6 Review

I’ve had my RU6 for more than 2 weeks now and burn in is a must for this dongle DAC. Before the RU6 was burnt in, it sounded quite horrible in terms of technicality. The layering was mushed up together and the imaging was smeared all over the place. The tonality before burn in was quite warm. The lows was accentuated (really apparent in the low bass when compared to W2 and S1) and the mids is more forward. The upper mids and highs on the other hand was quite bad. It was incohesive and not smooth. I think this made some people to have the impression of dry sounding and in a way give the perception of detail, which I think is not the case. It was just an unrefined DAC. So let me break it down one by one after it’s been burnt in and warmed up.

Tonality
The tonality of the RU6 is quite warm. The lows is accentuated and the mids is forward, but in contrary to the brand new RU6, the burnt in RU6 has a mellow upper mids and highs. For this reason I’ll call the RU6 as a warm sounding DAC.

Soundstage, layering and imaging
The soundstage for the RU6 is always wider and larger. This might not be the most accurate representation of the music, but it’s a nice thing to have. There are times when you want a more intimate presentation, but the RU6 simply made things more distant.

In terms of layering, the RU6 gives you more layering, but it kinda suffers in terms of imaging. After the burn in, the RU6 improved a lot for this matter, but never to the point where you get a pin point imaging. For me the imaging of the RU6 is always a little bit blurred. No longer smeared, just a little bit blurred now.

If I’m going to compare it with the W2, the RU6 has a larger soundstage, but a blurred imaging, while the W2 has a smaller soundstage with a pin point imaging.

Timbre
The RU6 has a natural timbre. It plays strongly with acoustic instrument and vocals.

Transient and decay
This is where I have a problem with the RU6. The transient is soft and the decay is long, even a little bit too long. The soft transient made kick drums, snares and other sharp hitting sound to be softened. I didn’t get the same sharp definition and excitement from the RU6. The decay is also a problem. When there’s a busy and fast beat track, the long decay made everything overlaps each other. Snares sounded like it was going forever when it should’ve stopped. But at the same time, this soft transient and long decay play a large role in creating a natural timbre and large soundstage. So, I guess the RU6 is not a good DAC for electronics, rock and a like genres.

Detail retrieval
The details in the RU6 is not the greatest, especially in the highs. Most of the times I feel like there’s a veil covering the highs, which made me wanting more of the details at times. For the lows and mids, the detail retrieval is alright.

Practicality
The resistor array that’s used for the volume attenuation is both a nice thing and an annoyance. The RU6 has better dynamic and clarity at low volume level (below 15 vol), but at the same time the small clicks and delay when you are changing music or adjusting the volume is kinda annoying.

Conclusion
I think the RU6 is a really natural sounding DAC when compared to its competitors, but that’s where it ends. It plays really nicely in an orchestral, chamber, vocal and jazz music, but lags behind in electronic, rock, pop and a like music. If I didn’t know the fact that the RU6 is an R-2R DAC, I would say the RU6 is above average, but not spectacularly great DAC. I would recommend this DAC if you mainly listen to classical and acoustic music, but for electronics, pop and the others, you might want to choose other DAC.

If this will be your first dongle DAC, I wouldn’t choose this either as the RU6 is kinda specific. But if you want something different than the usual, then the RU6 is a pretty good buy.

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Thanks for the review.

My genres are electronic and rock so it’s a bit concerning to hear this.

I’m wondering what IEMs/headphones you used when testing?

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IEM: Tin P1, LZ A7, KBear Believe, Tripowin TC-01
Headphones: AT R70x

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Out of phone with 3.2 USB-C using UM MEST MK2 & TinHifi T3+.

Cayin RU6 (NOS)

Forward, visceral, raw, snappy, immediate, natural, textured, midcentric, large, spacious, cohesive, layered.

Ovidius B1

Laid back, smooth, processed, polished, neutral, separated, contained.

There is a huge difference in how the music is presented here. The RU6 pulls you into one room where you’re inside a cohesive performance, each instrument occupying one large space (intimately around your head) and fighting for the space. It’s very visceral & chaotic and it gets your attention. This is not for background listening in my opinion.

The B1 by contrast presents music with each instrument being contained inside its own little pocket dimension. This hurts cohesiveness but greatly increases sense of separation and it organizes the music for you. The end result feels like you’re peering at the music from a distance as opposed to being inside it.

With the B1 you may be getting a slightly better understanding of the music as everything is neatly in its own space and not echoing outward over the entire soundstage. It is easy to listen to at all times with a polished, smooth delivery of notes. It is not nearly as dramatic.

With the Ru6 you’re getting lots more exposure to the texture and surface detail but not as much detail in terms of intelligibility of the song - it’s not as organized or prepared if you will. It may offend at times with its raw quality. The dynamic pop is huge here and it excels especially with acoustic, live, natural music. Everything is given a sense of snap and immediacy that’s more akin to his sound unfolds In real life. So while it sounds more realistic, it can become fatiguing in the long run.

Bass

B1 seems to hit a bit harder with more authority but it’s not as wide and perhaps not as extend as Ru6.

Texture goes to Ru6.

Mids

B1 more balanced, neutral, nothing obviously recessed or forward.

Ru6 more forward, midcentric sound overall. Again, greater sense of texture. Every note sound more fleshed out and fully realized.

Treble

B1 has smooth extended treble with slightly higher sense of detail retrieval.

Ru6 has a rougher and sharper treble with emphasis in the presence region I believe. Not quite as detailed or extended yet it sounds far more realistic and engaging.

Stage

Stage width goes to Ru6 by virtue of its large instruments. It has natural, slightly longer decay to notes which helps it sounds more spacious.

B1 is crisper, drier, tighter. Stage is more focused and put together, more for analytical observation of the music.

Conclusion

I like the Ru6 a fair bit more, even out of the box. It offers a distinctly different take on music than chip DACs. It is intoxicating to listen to with a much higher engagement factor. Vocals especially have far more emotive power as if the vocal cords of the singer become more sensitive.

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Mini Review (NOS):

To preface, the only IEMs I’ve owned are the Blon BL-03, then upgraded to the Tripowin x HBB Mele. I also have one (1) pair of cans, and they are the Beyerdynamic Tygr 300 R. This review will focus on the Mele’s.

The RU6 will be my dedicated DAC/AMP for IEMs moving forward. As you can see in picture 2, I need the iFi IEMatch for the Schiit Asgard3/Modius stack. Nothing wrong with that setup itself; I also don’t mind the extra step of plugging the IEMatch in, nor does it ruin the aesthetics. I just plug it & forget it.
The reason I need the IEMatch in the first place is that IEMs sound too loud, and the volume is hard to control. I am literally suffering from too much power. However, when I listen to IEMs on this KitKat bar, I don’t even need to take an extra step. I just plug directly to the Hershey and start listening without fear of exploding my ear drums.

I took a hiatus from trying new gear, so I don’t have as much finesse when it comes to writing reviews. All I can say is that the RU6 sounds tamer in the treble department compared to the Schiit Stack. This is good for me, because I am sensitive to piercing female vocals, and similar frequencies.

I can’t really compare sound between the Tygrs and the Meles, because of the different form factors. However, I can say that when I plug the Tygers into the Schiit Stack or the RU6, I still experience that tame treble effect. The Tygrs actually make treble enjoyable for me, so I have a neutral opinion of the smooth treble.

tl;dr this is my first sip of R2-R juice, and it’s pretty good. perhaps i will commit a little financial irresponsibility, and buy the Schiit Bifrost in the far future.

Edit: Small update, but this dongle is very on the ears when I use my recently acquired 177X Go. Much like the IEMs, the 177X Go sound kinda intense with the Schiit stack. It is, however, more manageable because I don’t need the iFi IEMatch to precisely adjust my volume.

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Just picked up this thing. Was reluctant to get it since I already have the Qudelix 5k which sounds great, and how much better could this little thing be than that, especially at 2.5X the price with almost none of the features? But I like the multibit sound of my Modi Multibit enough that I couldn’t resist trying it.

Well, it sounds shockingly better than the 5k. Everything is warmer, fuller, more natural sounding, bigger, and airier. I’m a little shook at how good this thing is.

Tried it now on my Katos, IE300, HD560S, and HD6XX. All sounded great, certainly has more than enough power. The Katos in particular really take to the RU6 since they’re a bit more clinical than the Sennheiser stuff so it softens them up a bit, and it also does nice things to the top end of the 560S, which can get a tad harsh on delta-sigma.

It doesn’t sound as good as my Eitr/MM/RebelAmp stack, though I’m going to do more real A/B testing on Monday, but it sounds way closer than something that costs $250 should.

Very exciting overall. What a good buy.

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Okay, have had a little time to A/B the RU6 vs. the Eitr/MM/RebelAmp stack. The stack definitely had better technical performance, better dynamics, and a cleaner more ‘neutral’ presentation (while still having warmth and richness). The RU6 is a little muddy by comparison, a little more compressed, though that at the same time gives it a luxuriousness that’s a bit addictive.

So I’ll keep my stack, but again I have to say again that given the price and portability the RU6 is an absurdly good deal. Like I could definitely see someone just getting the RU6 and say a pair of HD560S and just being happy for life.

One thing I don’t really understand is if Cayin can come out with this dongle DAC/Amp for $250, why aren’t there more R2R desktop DACs in this price range or lower? There’s like two multibit DACs like the MM and the Zen DAC (and the MM is backordered and rumored to be discontinued), but not a proper R2R until you get up into Ares ii territory. It seems like if Cayin can fit a DAC and an Amp into a package this small, they could maybe come out with, say, a $150 R2R Desktop DAC and just own the market.

EDIT: One interesting thing I noticed is that while the HD560S sounds amazing on the RU6, the HD6XX sounds a bit dead. (On the stack the 6XX sounds phenomenal, easily the best of my relatively meager headphone collection.) Maybe something to do with scaling, I don’t know. So far the HD560S and the Kato are the big winners of the RU6.

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adding fun to something fun=too much?
adding fun to clean=fun?

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Yeah, I think the thing with the 6XX is that it’s adding darkness to darkness so it becomes too dark, which is why it sounds dead. While it tames the brighter headphones.

Makes me want to try it out on something like a DT770…

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Just a bit cheaper than Ares II, there’s the HiFiMan EF400 but yes, I would love to see some budget R2R DACs.

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I completely missed that the EF400 had a R2R Dac
hopefully I qualify for the $100 off loyalty coupon :slight_smile:

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If you do decide to get it, I’d love your impressions of the DAC :grin:, not many reviews at the moment.

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ordered one but probably be a month at best until I get it

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Is it wrong that this thing sounds so good (particularly on balanced) that I’m seriously considering selling off my desktop rig and just using this and pocketing the extra money?

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