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.
It is all depend upon your gears and how you like the sound performances.
Understandably, but High-gain yield the most dynamic punches for my instances
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On the expenses of 6dB dynamic range and SNR (DR and SNR at High Gain Vacuum Tube is 114dB, at Low Gain Vacuum Tube is 120dB)Understandably, but High-gain yield the most dynamic punches for my instances
I am in solid state
, so I am ok 
and class AB as well. This is the best C9 sound with Dx300 Low gain and Amp12 LO
I am in solid state
Is this the Kennerton closed version? Been thinking about getting one as Andy recommends it too.with all my IEMs and headphones so far I keep preferring the Class A SS settings on the C9. Everything else sounds less linear and less focused. I do love the sound nearly as much as my RSA Apache desk top -which is saying a lot for the Cayin but the RSA is better in nearly every category but the closest I have come to with any portable- and that sound from the Cayin can go anywhere I want making it so tempting. I much more prefer the Cayin C9 to the Topping A90 for sure... And I prefer the Cayin C9 to my Pass Class A WHAMMY Headphone Amp as it has a much wider sound stage and more detail. However I should mention the C9 does get really warm after listening for a few hours though and for portable use it's really not small to carry at all... wish they would make a Class A without tubes identical but slimmer version the size of an iphone 7plus maybe no bigger... skip the tube and AB amps all together.
this is the GH50JM Edition and the one you speak of I think is the Rognir which is on order for me... one is dynamic and the other planar both closed backs - both amazing
Thanks!! Been intrigued by the idea of closed back planners for some time. May just go ahead and order one.
there is a thread for them and I think everyone said they are their favs over even Phi TS and other high end tiers - starts around here --- https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ken...hror-discussion.732814/page-327#post-16338237Thanks!! Been intrigued by the idea of closed back planners for some time. May just go ahead and order one.
