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Cayin

Cayin - RU6

Portable R-2R DAC & Amp
Sale price₹ 16,999 Regular priceMRP: ₹ 24,999
Sold out
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Why Cayin is Special

🇨🇳

Designed in China
Established & Reputed

Trust us, our reputation in the audio world speaks for itself!


This headphone or gear comes from a well-respected brand known for its high-quality audio equipment, so you can be confident in your purchase.


If you see a product marked as “🎖️ Established & Reputed”, it means you're getting a top-tier device from a brand that's earned its stripes in the audio industry.
Revered by Audiophiles

Audiophiles can be really picky and tough to impress and if the audiophile community says something sounds good, you can bet it's great!


This headphone or gear has gained recognition and admiration from audiophiles, who are known for their discerning taste in high-fidelity audio. They appreciate its precision, attention to detail and its ability to deliver an immersive sonic experience.


If you see a product marked as "🙌🏻 Revered by Audiophiles", it means that it meets the highest standards of sound quality and performance, making it a top choice for anyone who values exceptional audio experiences.
🐣

Born in 1993

Why we love this DAC/Amp

Premium Economy

Sensible spending and class above in quality. 


This headphone or gear offers top-notch sound and performance without much impact on your pocket, promising a delightful experience that exceeds your expectations at an economical price point.


If you see a product marked as “💎 Premium Economy," it indicates that you're getting a high-quality audio product with exceptional sound clarity and reliable performance, all at a budget-friendly price.

Serious Audiophiles Only

Diving deeper into exploring the hobby is never enough.


If you're an audiophile on a hunt for a device that meets your high standards, this is one such headphone or gear designed for discerning audiophiles like you in mind.


If you see a product marked with “🦈 Serious Audiophiles Only" we assure you that this device can match your depth of knowledge and expertise to take your passion for audio to the next level.
Incredibly Popular

Some things deserve all the attention.


This headphone or gear is a crowd favourite, winning over fans everywhere with its undeniable audio quality.


If you see products marked as “🥇 Incredibly Popular”, you’re opting for a tried-and-true choice that’s loved by many, ensuring you're getting something that’s proven to be awesome and widely acclaimed.
Our Team's Favourite

Cause after all, we are audiophiles first!


This headphone or gear has won the hearts of our team, standing out as a top pick among our gurus.


If you see products marked as “💙 Our Team’s Favourite”, you're choosing a product that’s been tested, loved, and enthusiastically recommended by our team, giving you confidence that it’s a standout choice!
Works Great with Type-C

Don’t have a 3.5mm headphone jack on your phone? Don’t worry we got you covered.


This headphone or gear is fully compatible with Type-C USB connectors. Not only do they seamlessly connect to your device without needing an additonal dongle or adapter and ensures optimal performance without any hassle.


If you see a product marked as “📱 Works Great with Type-C”, you can be confident that you'll experience seamless connectivity with a universal connection standard that simplifies your audio setup.
Built like a Tank

No need to worry about durability.


If you're seeking a headphone or gear with a strong, rugged build, this snapshot indicates that this is the one for you.


If you see a product marked with “🪖 Built like a Tank", it means this product is crafted with metal in its design, ensuring exceptional robustness and durability.

Why it Sounds Amazing

DAC Chip

Know the secret to your pristine audio.


This headphone or gear reveals the secret sauce behind superior audio quality, highlighting the presence of a high-performance DAC chip for pristine sound reproduction.


If you see products marked as “⚙️ DAC Chip”, expect to experience your music with unparalleled clarity, detail, and fidelity, ensuring that every note and nuance is faithfully reproduced for your listening pleasure.
Power Output

When you need that juice to get the best out of your products.


This headphone or gear packs a punch, revealing the product's impressive power output capabilities, ensuring it can handle even the most demanding products with ease.


If you see products marked as “🚀 Power Output”, you're in for a treat with robust performance for driving high-fidelity products without breaking a sweat.
Balanced Output

Upgrading from single-ended to balanced can be the easiest way to improve your sound.


This DAC, Amp or Hi-Res player offers a balanced output, ensuring pristine audio quality with minimised interference and enhanced clarity for your listening pleasure.


If you see a product marked as "⚖️ Balanced Output”, get ready for a symphony of crystal-clear tunes, free from any unwanted noise drama!
An R2R DAC is pretty much the buzzword of the year. Everyone wants one, but most are incredibly expensive and need a big fat setup. The Cayin RU6 is set to change that. Pocket-sized, on-the-go, R2R goodness for everyone.
RAGHAV SOMANI

About RAGHAV SOMANI

Raghav Somani is the Founder & CEO of Headphone Zone. An avid audiophile and musician since 2008, his choice of headphones include STAX Electrostats, Audeze LCD 3, and for music on the go, the JH Audio Roxanne + Astell&Kern SP1000 is never too far away. On his playlist, you'll find A.R. Rahman, Michael Jackson, and the Eagles.

INNOVATIVE 24BIT DISCREET R-2R RESISTOR LADDER DAC CIRCUIT

The Cayin RU6 features a self-developed 24bit discrete R-2R resistor ladder circuit that can decode up to 384kHz PCM audio. The basic idea of the R-2R ladder is a matched pair of resistors, the first is “R” and the other is “2R'' which has twice the value of R. To achieve 24-bit decoding, RU6 equips 48 units of resistors (23 x R and 25 x 2R), and that’s for one channel. So for a stereo 24 Bit R-2R decoder, RU6 features 96 units of resistors for life-like audio reproduction. With the advent of the R-2R circuit, Cayin RU6 establishes itself as the master of the fully-discrete resistor DAC topology in portable audio.

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OFFERING OVERSAMPLING AND NON-OVERSAMPLING DA MODES

Cayin offers both Oversampling and Non-oversampling DA modes in RU6. For Oversampling mode, the Digital Audio Bridge will upsample the digital audio data to 384kHz through digital filters. This will enhance the resolution, reduce noise and improve the anti-aliasing of the digital signal. The Oversampling DA mode will offer a noticeable improvement in details and frequency extension. The playback is clean and sharp with a darker background. On the other hand, NOS DA mode maintains the sampling rate of the original bit-stream and playback will become very musical with a natural and organic presentation.

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EQUIPPED WITH FULLY ANALOGUE RESISTOR ARRAY VOLUME CONTROL

The majority of USB DAC/Amps rely on your phone's volume control to regulate the headphone output volume. Technically this was not a viable solution to Cayin RU6. Cayin created a fully analogue resistor array volume control circuit in response to this problem, offering 99 steps of volume adjustment via nine segments of resistors and switching relays. Resistor Array volume control features a very high-quality volume control design, extremely transparent when implemented correctly. This design is incorporated in a lot of high-end preamps and integrated amplifiers.

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FEATURES DUAL CIRCUIT BOARD LAYOUT FOR DSD AND PCM PLAYBACK

To minimise audio signal interference, Cayin has split the RU6's circuit into two 6-layers PCB, with digital and analogue circuits installed on separate boards. This safeguards the audio signal integrity and ensures the noise from the reference clock and DSP does not bleed into the amplification circuit. This architecture in turn delivers artefact-free audio every single time. This circuit design combined with the R-2R architecture enables the RU6 to support hi-resolution PCM and DSD audio formats with support for 384kHZ PCM and DSD 64/128/256 natively.

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INTUITIVE AND VERSATILE OPERATION WITH LOW POWER CONSUMPTION

Discrete R-2R circuitry is a low-power DAC circuit when compared to other highly integrated DAC chipsets. Because of this architecture, you can listen to music without worrying about your phone's battery draining out. USB-C connection offers compatibility with a wide range of phones, consumer electronics and computers. The hardware is intuitively designed, with the volume controls serving as menu selectors and the OLED screen displaying playback information. The Cayin RU6 also offers two gain settings to enhance performance with various IEMs and headphones. All this is wrapped in a 28g package.

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1 Year Warranty

Don't sweat it, this Cayin - RU6 comes with a 1 Year warranty from Cayin that covers manufacturing defects. All products featured on Headphone Zone are backed by an original manufacturer's warranty.

Read more about Cayin's warranty in India.

Elevating Hi-Fi Experiences Since 1993

Founded in 1993, Zhuhai Spark Electronic Equipment Co., Ltd. has been dedicated to perfecting audio equipment under the brand name Cayin. With a commitment to delivering top-notch Hi-Fi products, Cayin embeds cultural richness into its audio range, catering to diverse budgets to make premium music experiences accessible. From tube amplifiers and CD players to speakers, Cayin maintains a consistent benchmark of quality, ensuring a compelling price-to-performance ratio across its offerings.

In 2013, Cayin expanded its horizons into personal audio, unveiling a line of Digital Audio Players (DAP) and desktop audio products. The brand further diversifies its portfolio with portable audio products, including amplifiers and in-ear monitors, empowering users with a broad spectrum of audio choices.

Explore Collection
Headfonia

"The RU6 is easy on the ears and it always has great clarity and a pitch black background. The volume control is one of the very best we have experienced with all of the dongles so far."

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DarkO Audio

"At the RU6's business end sit two headphone outputs: a 3.5mm single-ended socket and balanced 4.4mm Pentaconn socket. Switchable high/low gain assists with headphone/earphone matching."

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Headfonics

"The Cayin RU6 offers a different “analog” approach in the world of highly integrated delta-sigma chipset packages& DSP filters. Preserves a tube-like musical quality but with much finer volume control."

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Ecoustics

"If you are in the market for a very high-end Dongle DAC that delivers a lot more than most — the Cayin RU6 is the one you want. It offers all the features most need, great sound, and good power."

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Head Fi

"RU-6 is the 2021 dongle for me, a dongle that will make premium brands sweat. RU-6 value is its naturalism of replay and presenting the flavor of R2R w/o dropping technicalities."

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Prime-Audio

"The Cayin RU6 differentiates itself from other DACs not only with its R2R technology but also with its organic, analogue sound. If you’re someone who values character over absolute neutrality, this is the dongle for you."

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everydaylisteningblog

"Enthusiasts will be sure to enjoy the RU6’s wide stage and analogue-like note presentation that grant it one of the sweetest and most euphonic sounds I’ve encountered from a portable source yet."

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Customer Reviews

Based on 47 reviews
81%
(38)
15%
(7)
2%
(1)
0%
(0)
2%
(1)
H
Harisankar (Ernakulam)
Design and Comfort:
Great
Poor
Sound Quality:
Awesome
Awful
Value for Money:
Bang On!
Not at all
Immersive, Natural and Detailed

Pros
1) Natural sound signature that is forgiving of even low resolution mp3 files but scales well with hires files.
2) Quite holographic soundstage and good imaging capabilities
3) Very dynamic sound signature with great bass thump and impact
4) Treble is detailed but not sibilant or overly sharp
5) The least expensive R2R Dac out there in the market
6) Powerful enough for almost any iem in the market

Cons
1) Not a truly balanced circuit despite the 4.4mm port
2) Rare instances of EMI interference noises
3) Volume changes can sometimes be a bit slowdue to the switching relay resistor volume control

My Setup
Smartphone: Oneplus7Pro
Apps used: USB Audio Player Pro (bit-perfect playback with Tidal and Qobuz integration), YouTube vanced, Apple Music
Iem used: 7hz Timeless through the 4.4mm port

First of all thanks to Headphonezone for bringing this unique product to the Indian market. The USP of this product is that this is the world’s first R-2R Dac in dongle format. R-2R Dacs are generally known for their more natural sound signature and huge difficulty involved in engineering one correctly as precise resistors have to be hand selected and arranged in ladder format. This Cayin RU6 uses 96 precise resistors in ladder form for 2 channel audio.

The combo of Cayin RU6 plus 7hz Timeless produces a highly dynamic, engaging, and wide sound signature. The naturalism of the R-2R Dac especially helps in adding more midrange lushness to the sound signature of the 7hz Timeless compared to my Hiby R3 Pro Sabre Delta Sigma-based DAP which I used earlier. The soundstage also gained a more holographic nature with the Cayin RU6 compared to the Hiby. Songs such as ‘Thriller’by Michael Jackson, ‘Jack Sparrow’ by Royal Philharmonics Orchestra as well as ‘Doors and Distance’ by Antonio Sanchez illustrate the soundstage capabilities of the RU6. ‘Chali Kahani’ from Tamasha gives a clear illustration of the great dynamics of RU6.

A note on value for money: This is priced at the Summit Fi range of dongle dacs at the moment and encroaches upon the price category of a Mid-Fi Dap such as Shanling M3X. I would say that for anyone ok with carrying a dongle with their smartphone, RU6 is a great value for money product especially when you consider the high-end and niche tech inside as well as the highly natural and engaging replay of music offered by the RU6.

User picture

Hi Harisankar,
We are so happy you took out time & elaborately reviewed the product. We are sure this will help our customers to make an even better & informed decision.

V
VENKATA (Mumbai)
Design and Comfort:
Great
Poor
Sound Quality:
Awesome
Awful
Value for Money:
Bang On!
Not at all
Excellent USB DAC

Tried with both IOS ( iphone 11) and android LG G8x.
Initial impressions: no regrets
Probably the best usb dac in market right now.

Currently using - Earmen sparrow and LP W2. This is definitely a good addition to them

Using to drive primarily IER Z1R , UM MEST MKii , IMR EDP+

Excellent tonality and bass. Widest sound stage you can get through a USB DAC till now.

Really impressed. As many say it requires some burn in, hope it may open up better and settle on treble.

S
Samrat Ganguly (Baharampur)
Design and Comfort:
Great
Poor
Sound Quality:
Awesome
Awful
Value for Money:
Bang On!
Not at all
One of the best dongle dac

Hi all
I bought cayin RU6 because I wanted to test the R2R technology.
The dongle is very well built. The type C poty, the chasis, the SE and balanced ports look premium. The matte finish of sides and back, glass front, the metallic line along the sides - all look very good. This is a sturdy device. The buttons are kept at horizontal orientation to the sides rather than conventional parallel orientation. They work perfectly.

Connection was easy. Just plug and play.

Setting- three settings. Gain - high/ low, sampling - OS/ NOS. OS is oversampling, which makes the sound slightly warm and add more flavor to it. NOS is slightly boring but detailed. Last is screen backlight timing. These can be changed just like looto paw.

Sound- Accurate and lively. Details- its NOT one of the most detailed dongle DAC. That accolade belongs to Looto paw s1 and L&P W2.
Soundstage- definitely one of the largest, if not the largest among dongle dacs.
Localisation- average. Sound notes mix together and less separation among instruments. So pin point accuracy of instruments on soundstage not possible.
Highs- they are well represented.
Mids- Lush and full vocals. Both male and female vocals feel very good. Its not mid-forward presentation but gives perfect representation.
Bass- very good, solid bass with good sub-bass and reverbs. Not the fastest like A&K dongle. But still very well regulated. Slight bass bleed to the mids.
Power- good for iems. Not for power hungry cans but its understandable.

Tonality- here W2 and DAPs like ibasso dx160 and m11 plus are slightly ahead. Overall very good DAP like tonality compared to many other dongle dacs available in market.
Timbre of instruments- its accurate and lifelike

Competition- L&P W2 is priced similarly. Both are good. W2 slightly ahead in SQ but background noise in W2 is more while streaming.
Its ahead of looto paw S1 and A&K dongle in terms of tonality and presentation.

Overall verdict- if you wamt to experience R2R technology, this thing doesn't disappoint. Good organic warm sound with good technical capabilities. It'll be among top 5 dongle DACs definitely.

User picture User picture

Hi Samrat,
We are so happy you took out time & elaborately reviewed the product with a comparison. We are sure this will help our customers to make an even better & informed decision.

Y
Yash Shah
Awesome

R2R DAC in such a small form factor is insane. It sounds incredible. In the space of compact dongle DAC the RU6 definitely shines and provides insane value for money.

Thank you for the awesome reviews & ratings Yash!

S
Salil Mohammad
Pocket-sized but packed with a punch

So, let me start by saying that Cayin is a pioneer in making audiophile geeky sorta gear. This little guy lets you switch between 2 modes making it super convenient. The screen is super clear, conveys information perfectly fine.

Hey Salil, thank you for the great review. Absolutely delighted to read you are loving this!

Read More

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