I purchased the Cayin RU6 R-2R dongle DAC/Amp (USB-C) primarily for my iPhone and JRemote, but this DAC is unique because it is based in old technology that, while well accepted by the audiophile community, has been too expensive to put on the market until now. Its primary attribute has been its analog sounding output. Cayin has been working overtime trying to keep this DAC/Amp in stock because it’s become very popular over the holidays. Please allow me to apologize in advance for creating this eye-watering discussion that, for the most part is beyond any music-loving layman understanding, but still should be discussed, if for any reason, to address anyone else’s interest in this type of DAC, ultimately to perfect that which reaches our ears… TIA…
While primarily purchased for portable use, I’d also like to connect it to my photography Windows workstation, and that’s what I want to target today, but I also intend for configuration(s) discussed below to keep JRemote in the back of mind.
I created a new zone specifically for using my DAC with this workstation. Cayin supplies a Windows driver for the DAC, but skimped on describing its use, especially with a software like MC. I will refer to 3 resources below. The first was (1) the JRiver wiki (DAC Settings) which was relatively straightforward, except that the R-2R DAC wants maximized volume, whereas the wiki suggests “system” volume. As for the “DSP and output format” section, let me reference the 2nd resource…
(2) Configuring JRiver Media Center for Windows for Bitperfect ASIO Playback with exaSound DACs.
https://exasound.com/Blog/tabid/74/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/179/Configuring-JRiver-Media-Center-for-Windows-for-Bitperfect-ASIO-Playback-with-exaSound-DACs.aspxI came to this resource just because it specifically addresses JR MC from their DAC’s perspective (which is not an R-2R DAC). I don’t think there’s anything here that contradicts JR’s wiki, but let me draw your attention, for now, to the option for bitstreaming, for which this document suggests enabling bitstreaming DSD. This setting contradicts the next resource with respect to my Cayin DAC being a different type, i.e., R-2R (see below). Lastly, with regard to their DAC’S audio settings, which suggests using ‘System volume’, but I think I again want to specify ‘Volume: 100’… and that makes me wonder why this setting should be in 2 places, volume maximized at the device setting and also here. That is, does the former override the latter, or vice versa, or a possible conflict?
The third resource, (3)DSD vs. PCM: Myth vs. Truth,
https://www.mojo-audio.com/blog/dsd-vs-pcm-myth-vs-truth/provides insight into proper settings for either type of DAC generally available today, and its most appropriate input, DSD or PCM. Of note is this statement in summary:
“In almost all cases I would recommend playing music files in the native format which your DAC chip decodes. That would be PCM for an R-2R DAC chip and DSD for a Delta-Sigma DAC chip.”
So now my question becomes how do I configure my workstation’s “MC to DAC” zone for PCM output? The 2nd resource suggested the DAC’s audio device should bitstream DSD. For my R-2R DAC, should I disable bitstreaming for outputting PCM, or do I enable bitstreaming and choose an output from the “custom” list, or might JR create a more appropriate custom output for R-2R DACs(?) I’m hoping simply not enabling bitstreaming at all is the proper choice here, but is it the most appropriate(?)
Next, and at the expense of possibly throwing a monkey wrench into this discussion, is the fact that the workstation in question is a client to the MC server downstairs. The client’s relationship with the server had been created via “Playing from” as per JR’s wiki (Media Server). My question is in regard to Server “client” settings, ‘Client=>Audio conversion’. My current setting is none, but I have to ask what encoders ‘PCM24’, ‘PCM16’ & ‘DSF’ are intended for(?) I can find nothing in the wiki about them. Besides the workstation’s MC server client settings, I wonder if something special should be configured for the DNLA server that had been created because I enabled the media server on the server. That is, does DLNA even apply to my workstation client’s relationship with the server? Your wiki’s discussion regarding DLNA suggests that an ‘audio device’ can be created specifically for streaming audio to clients, but I wonder if DLNA is even applicable considering how the server/client relationship was created(?) In any case, maybe it is applicable, but I’m not sure even of what questions to ask about DLNA, and client’s DAC audio output device. Still, I hope at this point, the JR experts understand what I’m trying to accomplish(?)
Lastly, and regarding outputting from the server to JRemote, will configuring the server’s output to work with the DAC/workstation also work for what the DAC/smartphone expects? Of note regarding the settings JRemote offers, the settings for transcoding only presume the possibility of a slow network connection; that is, to convert the amount of data to something minimal. That’s not my concern, and again, I’m hoping that simply disabling transcoding is appropriate for bitstreaming PCM… but it does beg the question regarding the utility of ‘PCM24’ & ‘PCM16’, which are offered for the MC client but not for JRemote.
Thanks again for your consideration…
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Topic: Configuring MC for an R-2R DAC (Read 2562 times)