I’m not surprised, It has a very enjoyable sound signature. I actually sold of my Desktop setup after getting the taste of “R2R sound” from this dongle DAC. Bought myself the HiFiMan EF400 and I feel like I’ve reached my end game Desktop DAC/Amp combo.
What are you driving with it?
with the RU6? or EF400?
With the EF400. I’m curious because that amp is so overpowered for the headphones I have I’m curious how much overkill it’d be.
there is rarely overkill with amps and audio. amps are like people. the less they have to do, the better at it they are.
Among my Headphones I mostly use it with Edition XS, it pairs well with that Headphone to my ears. Then there is the Meze 99 Classic and DT 880 Pro. I’m planning to replace the 99C with HE-R9 soon.
I have tried IEMs with the EF400 and they sound great too, there’s obviously not a lot of usable volume range even in Low Gain but sound quality and lack of noise makes up for that. On average I can get to ~9 O’ Clock position on volume pot with my IEMs, another good thing is that there’s no channel imbalance either.
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did you lower volume in windows? or using USB B? I was using USB C windows 100% and couldn’t get past 9 o clock on low gain with headphones (DT880 600ohm, Argons, HE560 etc), couldn’t use IEM’s unless I added a impedance adapter and it was still barely able to get past the low volume channel imbalance
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No, I had Max volume on Windows & Source (Tidal, JRiver). I used Type-C briefly when I got my unit but switched to Type B later on, did not notice a volume difference between both inputs but then again I wasn’t trying to, will check later and see if there is a difference.
With my gear I get
High Gain, Volume around 10 with Edition XS (Balanced)
Low Gain, Volume around 11 with Meze 99C (Single Ended)
Low Gain, Volume around 9 with Hook-X (Balanced). 11 (Single Ended)
Low Gain, Volume around 8 with Honeydew (Single Ended)
…
I don’t own anything hard to drive so never needed to turn the dial past 12 in High Gain or 1 on Low Gain.
Quick question, when you use the RU6 with an external headphone amp how do you deal with the volume, I mean I don’t think RU6 has line out, do you just put full volume on the RU6?
Max volume on source (Windows, Android…) → ~80 Volume level on RU6 → Adjust everything else on the Amp.
The ~80 volume was recommended by Cayin, since there is no Line-Out, you are double Amping when using an external Amp. Volume between 70-80 according to Cayin gives a good balance of low distortion and good dynamic range. It also depends on your Amp a bit and I’ll recommend you start at 70 and move up 5 steps and see which level sounds best to you in your system.
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Thank you.
RU6 or Mojo?
Mojo if you are looking for better technicalities. It has better detail, separation and imaging. It’s soundstage is intimate so things can get a bit intense with so much detail being thrown at you. Also, drives Headphones better than RU6.
RU6 if you primarily use IEMs and prefer more natural and musical sound. It may not have great separation or Imaging but for it’s price and compared to it’s competitors it’s pretty good. It does drain your phones battery a bit so that’s something to consider. You can drive Headphones with it but personally I would not recommend it for Headphones, some easy to drive Headphones like Meze 99C run fine but hard to drive ones like Sundara, HD 660 S… don’t sound their best.
Both are good, depending on your preference you might like one or the other. For me, I liked RU6 more and sold my Mojo.
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Yeh, I’ve been running TH610 and Timeless off an RU6. I think it sounds good but wasn’t sure if there’s a better option. I like the natural presentation but instrument separation and stage matters more to me I think. For the stuff I’ll be using this portable setup for anyway. Thanks for your thoughts.
Not sure if this post “fits” here… Have been feeling the itch to upgrade from my Hiby R6Pro. Still doing research but leaning towards the LP and Lotoo higher end offerings. While perusing my fav vendor I pulled the trigger on an open box Hiby R2R for fun. Looking forward to recieving it and playing with it this weekend. Super interested in the Hiby Darwin tech. I will be using this with my UM Mest MKii iems.
Still looking to upgrade, this is for fun. Anyone else own this little chunky puppy?
I do, what do you want to know about it?
A better place for this would be in the DAP section. Create a new topic there.
Hi @John7592jdys . Just curious of it met your expectations wjatever they nay have been. Do you like it? Is it a little warmer and keaning towards being more “musical” rsther thsn clinical? Thanks!
It’s definiely musical and a bit on the warm side, warmer than RU6. I do like the sound, a lot, it’s comparable to other portable DACs like Gryphon, Mojo 2 but because of the R2R DAC inside, it does a few things much better than the competition namely, it sounds organic and fuller/meatier in sound presentation. It does not have the highly resolving sound of Mojo 2 or the extra functionality of the Gryphon nor will it beat them in power but as long as you are not pairing the RS2 with warm sounding IEMs (sound gets too think/warm, lacks treble energy for me, YMMV), you’ll be happy.
One issue is that it’s Amp section isn’t that good. It’s more powerful the RU6 but other DAC/Amps in this price range have much better performance when driving Headphones. Also this is going to depend on the persons sensitivity but for me using the MSEB added some distortion so I’ve mostly left it “off”.
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The Darwin dongle Hiby fc6 is out in china. Not sure when it gets here. it’s single ended. Andy.audiovault has an unboxing on his YouTube channel
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Excellent, sounds like I will enjoy it. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.