you see there was a time audio were all non digital and during those days there's certain appreciation for sound quality that is as real as possible. Tonality is very cohesive from top to bottom and there is great consistency of note intensity throughout the whole frequency range where the KA3 tends to lose some of its weight while reaching the higher frequencies.

I would like to thank Andy from Cayin very much for reaching out and providing me with the RU6 for the purpose of review. Try spending time listening to actual live music or even studio sessions, they are anything but sterile clean. At the top of the device there are the two headphone outputs and at the bottom lies the USB type C socket. And: 1/ no BT is not a deal breaker - how would you listen to music with the UM Mest and use BT, BT is crippling your music; 2/ the BTR5 is a good dac/amp but it is quite below the level of the UM Mest and the RU6.It has a well sculpted texture with great liquidity, voices and solo instruments sound very engaging, fluid, articulated, large and three dimensional.

The chassis is made from CNC aluminium while the side with the small OLED screen is protected by glossy glass. You can often see manufacturers emphasizing the volume control chipsets, a vital component in the signal path that may degrade the sound and mess up the dynamics if poorly implemented. Chie (Remastered) - Konstantin Wecker" and " Dreams (2001 Remaster) – Fleetwood Mac" you can feel the the deep attack of the different instruments with just enough details. While most modern dongles use a delta-sigma DAC implementation, the RU6’s R-2R relies instead on a vast array of discreet components to perform digital-to-analog conversion, in the form of 96 pieces of resistors at 48 per channel with precisely matching parameters. I was trying to resist the temptation to try this, but curiosity got the better of me, and I had to see how this little engineering and packaging wonder sounded.I have never imagined either stepped volume control as well as R-2R to be made possible on a USB-powered dongle design, not even a DAP. To achieve 24-bit R-2R decoding, Cayin uses resistors that can deliver extreme precision and remain stable during temperature changes.

Eventually Cayin developed a high precision resistor array volume control circuit that provides 99 steps volume control through 9 segments of resistors and switching relays. The CP32E are fairly sensitive as far as driveability goes, but still have black background with good sources to my ears. Their focus has mostly been on dedicated HiFi equipment, covering every chain in the music reproduction path, from CD players to speakers, but the essence is no doubt their tube amplifiers. Discrete R-2R is a low-power DAC circuit when compared to other highly integrated DAC chipset on the market, minimising power drain from mobile sources. This is evident when tested with Etymotic ER4SR and Shure KSE1500, my most trusted reference listening devices that will reveal the nature of the source truthfully.NOS and OS are giving different replay and the power is enough to have enjoyment with any iem and most of the headphones up to 300 ohms. It's impressive how Fiio has considered the upgrade path for E7 DAC owners by integrating an iPod-style dock connector into the E9. To maximize data integrity from the source Cayin devised its own resistor-based volume control network. The RU6 doesn’t kick deep or respond speedily but it is more elaborated in the upper bass with a typical retro coloring that leans musical and engaging rather than analytical or neutral.