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

[Ultrainferno]

  Getting difficult to recommend this player to people due to the issues with Tidal.  I do wonder if it's a hardware issue.

 
I'm sorry but what are those issues?

 

[McCol]

I'm sorry but what are those issues?

The issue of the I5 seemingly being unable to stream anything that is a lossless file.

 

[Andykong]

It is a music player and it sounds great.

I quoted that sentence above because I stop questioning too.....I marvel at it but don't question it


It has been a pleasure dealing with a rep that is not paranoid that every critique is a personal affront. If you own Cayin...good job! If you work for them...they should give you a raise. one of the better arranged and implemented tours I have seen and joined. Joe Bloggs was the man to beat and you have. Other reps should follow your lead.

Well, Cayin is a state-owned enterprise (surprised ) so I sure won't own any share in Cayin

By the way, I meet Joe last weekend, a very polite young man, and he sure know a lot about HeadFi forum and the DAP/Headphone markets, it would be interesting if we can work together on a project sometime later.

 

[Andykong]

Ah thanks, have been looking thru the pages for something like that. So only a flash drive or card reader if I want to expand the capacity and keep the portability.

If I remember it correctly, the Type-C port of i5 can support upto 300mA, so its definitely not strong enough to support 2.5" HDD, and that's why a HDD + external USB power supply will work out, thought not really a portable solution.

As you have suggested, Type-C flash drive or card reader is a more feasible solution if you want to further expand the local storage of your i5:





The only thing I am uncertain is to attach a SSD to i5, its is marginally based on published figures, so I am interested to check this out when i have the opportunity.

 

[Andykong]

Lately i had experience 3 problem with cayin i5

(1) Volume knob not working (solve by locking the screen and reopen)

(2) Song will not jump to the next song when finish (had to do it manually) happen twice now when playing in folder

(3) Screen will not reopen after auto lock(all button function doesn't work) can't shut down also. Had to do a reboot by clicking both power and next button

I have added numbers to your text for discussion purpose.

(2) is a reported instance, the problem seems to occurred randomly and we can't pin-point the cause of this bug, fortunately this only happen occasionally and won't cause too much problem as you can continue playback by pressing the next button on screen or on the side panel.

For (1) and (3), I need to ask what version of firmware are you using right now? They sounds like bugs that have been rectified by v1.8 firmware already.

 

[Demard]

I have added numbers to your text for discussion purpose.

(2) is a reported instance, the problem seems to occurred randomly and we can't pin-point the cause of this bug, fortunately this only happen occasionally and won't cause too much problem as you can continue playback by pressing the next button on screen or on the side panel.

For (1) and (3), I need to ask what version of firmware are you using right now? They sounds like bugs that have been rectified by v1.8 firmware already.

version 2.0 auto updated by the device

 

[Andykong]

I have same issue can't read from USB OTG for flash drive, card reader and HDD with separate power supply.
And I dont know how to send my Cayin for replacement..Any idea?

What is the firmware that you are using right now? The OTG connection should be fairly stable and this is the first time I have encountered a problem. Can you bring the i5 and your OTB storage to the retail and check if your OTG storage can work with other i5 at the shop?

 

[Andykong]

Getting difficult to recommend this player to people due to the issues with Tidal.  I do wonder if it's a hardware issue.

No mean't it how it reads.

Tidal is not my main priority, I don't even subscribe to it, just tried it on trial. However if you buy an Android based player with wifi you should expect it to work with no real issue, that can't be guaranteed with the I5.

Just out of curiosity, ... if i5 does not have WIFi function at all, you'll consider the i5 "recommendable" at $499?

 

[English John]

I am confused about the status of this issue, because I understood it was being addressed.
 
 I want to stream Tidal lossless, and to Download lossless - Has anyone achieved this?
As I can do both with my android phone, I assume that it should be achievable by an android music player
 
At $499 , it is an incomplete solution if it cannot support lossless streaming , in my opinion

 

[McCol]

Just out of curiosity, ... if i5 does not have WIFi function at all, you'll consider the i5 "recommendable" at $499?

 
Difficult to say really.  It's £399.99 here in the UK which puts it at the same price as the Pioneer XDP100-R.  Sound quality wise I would choose the I5 every day of the week but there may be other options out there that are stand-alone DAP's Astell and Kern and Ibasso spring to mind that offer as good SQ without wifi for a similar price.
 
For me it's one of those small annoyances, I want a player that does excellent sound with full android but it seems a difficult thing for companies to acheive.  The Onkyo is close but build quality lets it down , the Fiio has hardware issues around interference when streaming.  I'm assuming the Sony players are ok but then they are at least twice the price.
 
I understand that for some people streaming is not an issue and overall for me it isn't but I want the option for it to work, espicially when the player is advertised and sold as being android/wifi/dlna compatible etc etc.  Being able to stream at 320mp3 may work lovely but I want the full lossless experience if I'm streaming, hence buying an expensive DAP in the first place.

 

[McCol]

  I am confused about the status of this issue, because I understood it was being addressed.
 
 I want to stream Tidal lossless, and to Download lossless - Has anyone achieved this?
As I can do both with my android phone, I assume that it should be achievable by an android music player
 
At $499 , it is an incomplete solution if it cannot support lossless streaming , in my opinion

 
This is my point,  I can do it perfectly with partners Android phone and my Iphone, no stutters etc.  I don't expect things to work so fast on a DAP, they dont have the hardware compared to a smartphone but if you are going to offer Android (this is not just Cayin) then at least make sure it works at a basic level.

 

[Joseph Lin]

Is there an easy way for me to connect i5 to Mojo? I want to listen with my Beyerdynamic T1 but i5 is not able to drive it properly.
 
Thanks for your help.

 

[ngoshawk]

Is there an easy way for me to connect i5 to Mojo? I want to listen with my Beyerdynamic T1 but i5 is not able to drive it properly.

Thanks for your help.

I had to run my Fiio A3 through the line out with the i5, losing the EQ and volume control of the DAP. But here's the thing: when I connected the i5 to my Schitt Magni2, I was able to use the headphone jack of the Cayin. Weird...

 

[linux4ever]

(1) Play by folder: we have a feature called Play through Folders, and you can turn on (or off) this playback contrl at the HiBy menu (wipe from left to right).

Is this something like the one in FIIO DAPs? Unfortunately I can't try it to see as the unit has been shipped to the next reviewer. If it's something like in FIIO, then it plays all the songs in the folder before moving onto the next folder. That's a limited workaround. On Android, many music apps, allow "play all". The user can stay at the top folder and hit "play all" and with random play enabled, it picks song1 from folder1 and then the next song from folder n. thus it mixes and matches nicely.
 
If the "Play though folders" does it on I5, then It is good. If not, may I suggest to add this feature at your earliest convenience.
 
I got two USB type C to micro usb female OTG adapter from Meenova and when I hooked up I5 through this to Chord Mojo, the audio output from my earphones were degraded a lot. Lots of scratching, hissing and the audio was painful to hear. I'm not sure if this was with the adapter (it is less likely that both the adapters would behave in the same way). May be you might want to try it out and see how it works out for you. If it's bad, then it needs to be fixed.
 
I've used I5 with multiple IEMs and will post my impressions on Sunday. I'll be out during the thanksgiving weekend with limited access to internet.

 

[gto88]

Is there an easy way for me to connect i5 to Mojo? I want to listen with my Beyerdynamic T1 but i5 is not able to drive it properly.

Thanks for your help.

Mojo has coax input and i5 has coax output, it is perfectly matched.