[aaf evo]

If anyone in the states is after a mint C9 + leather case I have listed mine for sale. As much as I love this piece of gear I just do too much portable listening to justify keeping it.

 

[utdeep]

I am definitely struggling with this purchase after getting it in the Musictech sale recently. I think it sounds good - with both my LCD-3 and IE-900. I am not loving the tubes, even though that was a major reason why I bought it since I loved the stock tubes (another type of tube) in the WA7. I like the fact that it has replaceable batteries.

It's definitely not portable. You have to have a nice DAP with line out (I have Hiby R8) or DAC (Zen Signature). I'm going to give it more time, but I might have hit my threshold on the magical triangle of value, pleasure, and convenience.

 

[Andykong]

A02 users - is there a difference between LO and PO when paired with the C9? I just A/B'd myself and couldn't hear any notable difference, so just wondering when PO comes in handy.

Generally, when you use Pre-amp input mode, the sound signature of the source (DAP in most cases) will be more dominated then using Line input mode.

 

[SBranson]

I just got in my N6ii with A02 and wondered what others’ preferred settings are with the C9.

 

[bluestorm1992]

I just got in my N6ii with A02 and wondered what others’ preferred settings are with the C9.

Do you mean C9’s setting with N6ii A02 as the source? I usually do tube class A.

 

[Nostoi]

I just got in my N6ii with A02 and wondered what others’ preferred settings are with the C9.

I'm a tube + class a/b man myself. Where did you score the A02 from in the end?

 

[SBranson]

Do you mean C9’s setting with N6ii A02 as the source? I usually do tube class A.

Yeah.. plus there’s gain on the C9 and I thought I noticed a gain setting on the N6ii/A02 which kind of confused me if its line out. But it was dark and I was in bed without my glasses.. I’ll read the manuals and get a sense of all the setting options.

 

[SBranson]

I'm a tube + class a/b man myself. Where did you score the A02 from in the end?

A friend found it for me out of a shop in China.

 

[bluestorm1992]

Yeah.. plus there’s gain on the C9 and I thought I noticed a gain setting on the N6ii/A02 which kind of confused me if its line out. But it was dark and I was in bed with my glasses.. I’ll read the manuals and get a sense of all the setting options.

As I understand it, it is best to use medium/high gain on N6ii so that you can use low gain on C9 with IEMs to reduce the noise.

I usually do medium gain on N6ii and low gain on C9. Works for all of my IEMs.

 

[bluestorm1992]

Also, yes N6ii A02 can also adjust gain levels. It is just changing the voltage of the output power. You can understand it as having three “volume levels”, and this does not conflict with the fact that it is a true LO.

 

[soundblast75]

I am definitely struggling with this purchase after getting it in the Musictech sale recently. I think it sounds good - with both my LCD-3 and IE-900. I am not loving the tubes, even though that was a major reason why I bought it since I loved the stock tubes (another type of tube) in the WA7. I like the fact that it has replaceable batteries.

It's definitely not portable. You have to have a nice DAP with line out (I have Hiby R8) or DAC (Zen Signature). I'm going to give it more time, but I might have hit my threshold on the magical triangle of value, pleasure, and convenience.

Its all just in your head, don't sweat it, its a perfect amp, believe it

 

[Whitigir]

you amped up, I amped up, we are all amped up!!! A perfect Amp !! or so they said

 

[utdeep]

Amp needs a home:
https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds...class-a-ab-portable-headphone-amplifier.5926/

 

[Whitigir]

Amp needs a home:
https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds...class-a-ab-portable-headphone-amplifier.5926/

Sweet price!!! Wooo

 

[Andykong]

Yeah.. plus there’s gain on the C9 and I thought I noticed a gain setting on the N6ii/A02 which kind of confused me if its line out. But it was dark and I was in bed without my glasses.. I’ll read the manuals and get a sense of all the setting options.

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of Line Out, please check our previous discussion for a quick recap HERE.

A02 offers three different fixed voltage line output, you can switch between Low, Mid and High line out setting. We don't call it "gain" because line out should not be amplified, and the word GAIN will associate with amplified signal .

If you look at the specification table of A02, you'll notice High LO level of 3.5mm is 2.1V, and 4.4mm balanced out is 4.2V. This is the defactor industry standard for home audio, so we always recommend users to start with High LO level with Cayin DAP. Only when your headphone amplifier (or integrated amp in home audio setup) has a very high gain and you can hear clipping or distortion, then you should try Mid LO level or Low LO level for better matching.

The variable line out level was a reasonably new feature to Cayin, we always stick with somewhere around 2V and 4V in our Line Out previously, but then we received a lot of feedback that some of the portable headphone amplifiers have adopted extremely high gain design to achieve higher power output as their selling point, and it makes our LO sounds "bad" even when we stick with the common engineering practise, so instead of starting a heated debate, we provides variable line out level as a quick solution to our users.

The same applied to the variable line out feature of 3.5mm line out of A01 and T01, 4.4mm line out of E02, N3Pro and N8.