Cayin i5 Lossless Android DAP with AKM4490 DAC supporting 32/384 PCM + 64/128 DSD

regit said:

Please help, I need a new hobby.

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rozenberg said:

Reporting back from High End Show 2016

I took my time at Cayin booth trying out the i5.
At first listen, I was impressed. I was smiling and grinning like an idiot and I thought "Oh goddammit I'm sold"
It's hard to put detailed impressions n the sound now so I'll just describe what I was feeling at that time.
I felt the sound was detailed. Yeah, it was kinda weird for me because I thought my CIEM is already crazy detailed, yet the i5 improved it. The downside is, I was focusing too much on the details that I kinda missed the bass...

So next are the features. The i5 feels really solid and good in my hands. Looking at it in real life, I was really pleased. All of the buttons are easily reachable for me, ergonomically I found it better than Onkyo DP-X1.
The UI is Android, but unlike DP-X1, you can't navigate to Android home screen. I was only shown the music app which is based on Hiby Music and works perfectly, the vertical swap bar to turn on/off WiFi, Bluetooth and Settings and volume control.
Overall, the UI itself is pretty smooth but the touch isn't really sensitive., which means when you think you've touched the screen to swap it, it stays. I've addressed this problem to the staff there.

Next problem is regarding previous/next/start/pause song. All of these functions are still laggy. There's a noticeable delay when changing/choosing/pausing song.

The tightness of the volume knob varies between units. The unit I was testing has a slippery volume knob, but the one with the Meze plugged in is pretty solid.
The good thing is, if you lock screen, the volume knob can't be used so volume won't suddenly turn loud in your pocket.
Cayin still has time to improve it before release so I hope it'll turn out to be a really good device 

Some pics:





























Staffs are really nice and helpful. It made me comfortable staying there trying out gears.
But I forgot to ask about 3rd party app installation so I'll be going there again tomorrow this time with my macro lens to take good close up pics.  FORGOT MY LENS AT HOME NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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andykong said:

Thanks for droping by, most grateful for your detail impression, it helps the community to remain better imformed in due course.

The i5 on displayed are final rounds of Engineering samples, they are hand-assembled instead of coming from the Production line, the consistency will improve once we move to a calibrated production line.

I remember the Album art, come to find me at the booth today, and I'll show you the steps to install third party app. Or we can go to a location where there is free WiFi to test out Spotify app installed in i5.

Looking forwards to see you later today.

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audio123 said:

@Andykong
expected release date?

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rozenberg said:

Thanks Andy.
I'm really glad that you and your staffs are nice to talk to, makes me wanna spend more time there

I'll see you later around noon.
I asked the staff. For Asia, he said it'll be next month and later date for US/EU.

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bartsimpson1976 said:

Library sorting by "album artist"?

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rozenberg said:

  Thanks again to @Andykong and his staffs. Again, they were really helpful and I ended up spending most of my time at their booth testing and asking questions about the i5.
I also had a lot of laugh with your staff there 

 
So, here are some updates.
3rd party app installation confirmed.
As you can see, Spotify works. Andy even had JetAudio installed and also works, thought there is still a lot to fix like the volume control not working on these 3rd party apps.
Also like what some people mentioned how the FiiO X7 also had problem with noise when WiFi is on, the i5 also has this problem. I used my phone as portable hotspot and the i5 connected without problem, but there's a lot of static when listening to Spotify.
BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT, rest assured! Cayin team has already found the solution so we could expect them to fix it before release date 

 
Here's some more sneak peak
 

Spoiler: Setting that lets you go to the 3rd part app setting

 

 

 

 

Spoiler: Running Spotify

 

 


 

 
 
 

 
Left is i5 running JetAudio and right is the stock music app
 
 
 
 
Andy showed me the USB C OTG. Gosh, the adapter looks good and feels solid! And it's USB 3.0, my dudes.
 

 

 
USB C to micro USB adapter will be available too, though currently I couldn't test the USB out because I have no external DAC/amp in hands.
USB C to coax out adapter will be available as a paid option.
 
 
Other informations that you guys might wanna know... It seems like the i5 supports hibernation mode, although it hasn't been tested how long the battery will last in that mode.
I hope the i5 could just hibernate like usual phones because the boot time was pretty long. ~15 seconds I counted, the staff said it could be more if you have more apps installed.
Actually, I believe they can do it because the N5 can.
 
 
And the feature that I really need when having a lot of music:
 

 
You can make playlist directly on the device. YYYYYYEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH
 
The functionality of the sample device as a music player so far is good, nothing major enough to disturb my listening to music (except streaming).
But there'll be another batch of i5 coming so I believe Cayin can and will improve it thus delivering a hopefully almost perfect final product to us.

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bartsimpson1976 said:

Library sorting by "album artist"?

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nmatheis said:

It's Android, so they should be able to implement this. Andykong: Please make sure the developers know we'd like to be able to use all the popular ID3 tags (Album Artist, Composer, etc.). Allowing us to set priority for which i5 uses would be icing on the cake!

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thomas cayin said:

Do not worry, my friend.

WIFI connection after about interference, we have found the cause and resolve the problem.

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