I'll be reviewing it soon, including comparing it to the RU6 and L&P W4. You can get it from the following sites and help support my channel too: Audio46: www.hear.audio/go/RU7Audio56 HiFiGo: www.hear.audio/go/RU7HiFiGo
My RU7 just arrived today, just wow, I was immediately struck by the incredible soundstage and stellar image separation. Can't wait to hear your thoughts, apparently this sounds even better with some burn-in but off the bat I am VERY impressed. This thing easily beats my RME + THX combo for musicality.
My experience exactly, I'll be daily driving it for a while to break it in more, but yeah, imaging and power was immediately impressive, very wide and ballsy in dynamics, nice transparency and detail even on DSD64, which is awesome since iPhones apparently can't handle DSD256 and may stumble on DSD128.
@@petershutt2843 I think DSD128 is perfectly fine but if your after a more R2R like sound, DSD64 is not far off! Truly an incredible dac/amp, I believe it is the only portable 1-bit DAC on the market.
I also have the RME with the AKM chip and the THX AAA headphone amp as my head-fi stack. I use an R26 R2R in my main system ❤ This looks interesting for being so small.
Just got RU6 in London (including hefty emission entry penalty) and viola: RU7 is here. Looking forward for review and comparison. Greetings from Slovakia.
The RU6 was sonically better, ovrall, than the Chord mojo2 in line out mode connected to an amplifier. Sound stage was wider, taller and deeper. Mid-bass was more authoritative. Tone and timbre had greater body/acoustic mass. The mojo2 was more resolving, better layering / separation and faster across the entire frequency range. Eagerly anticipating your ABX findings from RU7 Vs RU6.
Hmm I wonder if it sounds like the old Sony 1-bit DACs from days of old. It has been a long time but those Sony DACs sounded pretty smooth and great for the era, especially with not so well recorded pop albums.
Hey, i wanted to let you know that to truly unlock what this dongle has you have to use the dsd native setting on uapp. Without it, it is not a match for the RU6 With it, its simply breathtaking. It is indeed the best of both worlds, with both the dsd and and the R2R analog sounds coming through.
I'd just like to point out that Apple, with iOS 16.5 for phone & iPad, has disavowed any recognition of their own Photo/camera dongle that allows usb listening and Charging simultaneously! Hopefully to be fixed as this shut down my bedtime fall-asleep with headphones routine or any practical use of these excellent portable DACs. I've been tempted to replace my Cobalt with an RU-6-7, on hold for now. Raise some Hell!
Follow up: after watching for any fix for this someone finally got a response from Apple support...you need to use a USBc charger and USBc to lightning cable. I have no charger (not included with new iPhone 14!) but my iMac with the cable charges the phone and passes the audio, hallelujah!
I went through two units... did a replacement after the first unit had noise issues. Second unit, noise issues were still present. Listening to "The Night King" on high gain, there were unacceptable levels of hiss and also crackling and EMI noise. Quality Control check Cayin? Had high hopes for this device as I bought it mainly to use as a line-out DAC. Forget about that. It produced noise even just using supplied USB C cable into my iPad Pro with my IEMs and headphones. Tried my iPhone and PC as well, other cables. Nothing would resolve the noise. Had to just return it for refund.
@@kovy689 I’ve only had a couple hours of listening with it, but I’m really liking it so far. Definitely a lush analogue sound like the RU6 has, but with slightly more detail. My favorite aspect at the moment are the nuanced textures of its bass reproduction. I just swapped from the Softears Twilight to the FatFreq Maestro Mini because I needed to really feel as much as possible what it was doing down there. It seems to have good synergy with all of my IEMs except for the really hard to drive ones. My one and only complaint so far is that it doesn’t work through the Intona galvanic isolator I like to use. If it did, I bet it would be a performance boost still (the RU6 is notoriously sensitive to jitter/interference), but alas, the computer won’t see it as an audio device going through the Intona. Ah well.
I've been searching on the web to no conclusion about whether it's best to up sample to 256 128 or leave it at 64 DSD ? Maybe if there is an interest in not doing a ton of sampling perhaps Red book to 64 and higher bit rates to 128 or even 256? What do you guys think?
I asked the manufacturer and they recommend 128. I have tried all three settings. The 64 is the most like a record or multibit R2R. 256 is a little harder to describe but it definitely involves a little more nuance / focus and detail, but not exactly in the DeltaSigma sound way. 128 is not surprisingly in the middle and maybe why they recommend. I like 64 lately, but I love the ability to change it up
Mine just came in the other day. Tested it with Andromedas to make sure it worked and got sucked into a few hours of listening to music, had a few sessions since and it's hard to stop when you start, always need to hear one last track lol. Great imaging/stage, power, and clarity right out the box, and pretty smooth to boot with minimal noise and zero hiss during playback. Can't wait for your review!
I disagree. A basic looking, small, expensive, highly praised, electronic is something people would most certainly try faking as it would be easy to reproduce (on the outside) with minimal effort invested. I was just asking because I'm buying 3rd party for a great deal.@@Currawong
I really appreciate your opinion and I think you are very honest. I need some advice, is the Fiio btr7 that much better as it is more expensive than the Btr5? And secondly, are you for Btr7 or ifi go blue? Did I get the wrong impression thinking that you are more for Btr7? Thanks and good luck.
I'll be reviewing it soon, including comparing it to the RU6 and L&P W4.
You can get it from the following sites and help support my channel too:
Audio46: www.hear.audio/go/RU7Audio56
HiFiGo: www.hear.audio/go/RU7HiFiGo
We’re waiting!!! 🙏
Can't wait for the review
Mine arrived this morning.
Looking forward to your impressions, Amos.
Cheers from USA!
Great! I recommend playing music through it for a few days first.
Great unboxing video! The review of this is something that would influence my buying decision. Looking forward to it. 😊
My RU7 just arrived today, just wow, I was immediately struck by the incredible soundstage and stellar image separation. Can't wait to hear your thoughts, apparently this sounds even better with some burn-in but off the bat I am VERY impressed. This thing easily beats my RME + THX combo for musicality.
My experience exactly, I'll be daily driving it for a while to break it in more, but yeah, imaging and power was immediately impressive, very wide and ballsy in dynamics, nice transparency and detail even on DSD64, which is awesome since iPhones apparently can't handle DSD256 and may stumble on DSD128.
@@petershutt2843 I think DSD128 is perfectly fine but if your after a more R2R like sound, DSD64 is not far off! Truly an incredible dac/amp, I believe it is the only portable 1-bit DAC on the market.
I also have the RME with the AKM chip and the THX AAA headphone amp as my head-fi stack. I use an R26 R2R in my main system ❤ This looks interesting for being so small.
@@mikelanier5617 It's all I use now when I need to listen to anything portably. LCD-i4 + RU7 sounds so good!
@@petershutt2843 can it drive HD 660S2 Senns with the balanced output? And provide the soundstage and other whistles you taking about?
Just got RU6 in London (including hefty emission entry penalty) and viola: RU7 is here. Looking forward for review and comparison.
Greetings from Slovakia.
The RU6 was sonically better, ovrall, than the Chord mojo2 in line out mode connected to an amplifier. Sound stage was wider, taller and deeper. Mid-bass was more authoritative. Tone and timbre had greater body/acoustic mass. The mojo2 was more resolving, better layering / separation and faster across the entire frequency range. Eagerly anticipating your ABX findings from RU7 Vs RU6.
Still waiting for mine, I bought it for the 1-bit DAC but this is also one of the most powerful dongle dac/amps as well!
Hmm I wonder if it sounds like the old Sony 1-bit DACs from days of old. It has been a long time but those Sony DACs sounded pretty smooth and great for the era, especially with not so well recorded pop albums.
That was one of the first things I wondered too.
Can’t wait for your review and comparison with the RU6 as I’d like to know if the extra outlay is justifiable over its brethren.
Hey, i wanted to let you know that to truly unlock what this dongle has you have to use the dsd native setting on uapp. Without it, it is not a match for the RU6
With it, its simply breathtaking.
It is indeed the best of both worlds, with both the dsd and and the R2R analog sounds coming through.
Heard this for a while in our downtown store. Next to iFI Go Bar. No comparison. IFI is excellent with my IEMs.
You enjoyed the ifi or Carin better? Your comment is a bit confusing.
I'd just like to point out that Apple, with iOS 16.5 for phone & iPad, has disavowed any recognition of their own Photo/camera dongle that allows usb listening and Charging simultaneously! Hopefully to be fixed as this shut down my bedtime fall-asleep with headphones routine or any practical use of these excellent portable DACs. I've been tempted to replace my Cobalt with an RU-6-7, on hold for now. Raise some Hell!
Follow up: after watching for any fix for this someone finally got a response from Apple support...you need to use a USBc charger and USBc to lightning cable. I have no charger (not included with new iPhone 14!) but my iMac with the cable charges the phone and passes the audio, hallelujah!
I went through two units... did a replacement after the first unit had noise issues. Second unit, noise issues were still present. Listening to "The Night King" on high gain, there were unacceptable levels of hiss and also crackling and EMI noise. Quality Control check Cayin? Had high hopes for this device as I bought it mainly to use as a line-out DAC. Forget about that. It produced noise even just using supplied USB C cable into my iPad Pro with my IEMs and headphones. Tried my iPhone and PC as well, other cables. Nothing would resolve the noise. Had to just return it for refund.
Is this still an R2R dac? I noticed Cayin does not say R2R in the RU7's description.
No, it's a 1-bit (DSD) DAC, like the N7 DAP.
Please try to compare to more expensive devices as well. Thank you.
Yes! Got mine today as well!
Did you like it?
@@kovy689 I’ve only had a couple hours of listening with it, but I’m really liking it so far. Definitely a lush analogue sound like the RU6 has, but with slightly more detail. My favorite aspect at the moment are the nuanced textures of its bass reproduction. I just swapped from the Softears Twilight to the FatFreq Maestro Mini because I needed to really feel as much as possible what it was doing down there. It seems to have good synergy with all of my IEMs except for the really hard to drive ones.
My one and only complaint so far is that it doesn’t work through the Intona galvanic isolator I like to use. If it did, I bet it would be a performance boost still (the RU6 is notoriously sensitive to jitter/interference), but alas, the computer won’t see it as an audio device going through the Intona. Ah well.
@@LSDScreen Are you planning to get the Grand Maestro?
@@kovy689 No. I tried it at CanJam. It sounded fantastic but the tuning switches were digging into my ear, so it was actually very uncomfortable.
@@LSDScreen You can get the custom version.
Unboxing? Do people still do that!
Yes. Yes we do. Seriously though, I get some good comments in response that help with the review.
I refuse to purchase until the full review
EPZ TP20.30 DAC I think is worth your try and attention
Awesome! Can you recommend something like this in budget under $80 for soundstage/high frequencies?
No. At that price they are all going to sound little better (if at all) than a cheap USB-C or lightning adaptor.
w4 vs ru7
what’s your decision?
You'll have to wait for the review, or become a Patron to find out.
Price?
$289.99
Does someone know how it compares with the dragonfly red? I need to replace mine.
I've been searching on the web to no conclusion about whether it's best to up sample to 256 128 or leave it at 64 DSD ? Maybe if there is an interest in not doing a ton of sampling perhaps Red book to 64 and higher bit rates to 128 or even 256? What do you guys think?
I asked the manufacturer and they recommend 128. I have tried all three settings. The 64 is the most like a record or multibit R2R. 256 is a little harder to describe but it definitely involves a little more nuance / focus and detail, but not exactly in the DeltaSigma sound way. 128 is not surprisingly in the middle and maybe why they recommend. I like 64 lately, but I love the ability to change it up
Replace the stock usb cable to a better one do improve the sound
For example?
Mine just came in the other day. Tested it with Andromedas to make sure it worked and got sucked into a few hours of listening to music, had a few sessions since and it's hard to stop when you start, always need to hear one last track lol. Great imaging/stage, power, and clarity right out the box, and pretty smooth to boot with minimal noise and zero hiss during playback. Can't wait for your review!
Does it come with a way to verify it's genuine?
Like FiiO does? No. This isn't something people would fake. They'd make their own version, if they were able to.
I disagree. A basic looking, small, expensive, highly praised, electronic is something people would most certainly try faking as it would be easy to reproduce (on the outside) with minimal effort invested. I was just asking because I'm buying 3rd party for a great deal.@@Currawong
Nobody is faking them though. Easier just to OEM some generic dongle DAC and put your own brand on it, like companies do with cheap earbuds.
Na.. Hiby fc6 way better. peace!
I really appreciate your opinion and I think you are very honest. I need some advice, is the Fiio btr7 that much better as it is more expensive than the Btr5? And secondly, are you for Btr7 or ifi go blue? Did I get the wrong impression thinking that you are more for Btr7? Thanks and good luck.