[BartSimpson1976]

well, the new case sure holds the player better. The grey colour is fine, looks good. Basically it does what you can expect for the price (although we did not hear a word of apology for the failed first case, not to mention discount for the new one). But still I would call the stitiching carried out sloppy
 

 

[freshman66]

Whoop Whoop, first post on Head-Fi after lurking for weeks. Cheers to all!
 
Since yesterday I am also a member of the Cayin i5 owner community - my first DAP ever. The purchase became necessary when I noticed that my Nexus 6p only has a mediocre output signal and my new se846 couldn't play up to their potential. After searching the DAP market without having any clue what to look out for, I was bound to hit the i5 sooner or later.
 
I didn't want to spend too much money because I really didn't know what to expect from a lossless DAP. Also, I wanted to be able to use Spotify (yes, I know) or maybe Tidal in the future. These two requirements limited the number of devices drastically - basically I was left with the Fiio X7 and the i5.
 
Reading about how something "sounds" can be quite misleading - I experienced that once, when I thought I found the perfect pair of speakers by reading forum posts. Boy, was I wrong!
 
Anyway, there are not many places to test and compare DAPs so I decided to get the i5 - seemed to be the better "package" even with the known firmware flaws. The only thing I was really concerned about, was the "noise" and "hissing" that I've read in many posts. And I couldn't find anything about how the hyper-sensitive Shure se846 would team up with the i5 (except one phrase: "might not be the perfect combination").
 
As a precaution I had already ordererd the iFi iEMatch - I was sure I would need it (also, because now it's complementary with almost all new se846). As it is, I have now already packed it and it's waiting to go back to Amazon Maybe my ears are not the audiophile benchmark, but I must say that the noise is absolutely minimal. Not audible at all when the music actually plays and barly present during silent parts. This impression may come from the fact that I am very new to the headgear scene and I don't have much to compare the sound with. But for my current "audiophile beginner level" noise is absolutely no issue.
 
Since I haven't played around too much with my new toy, there's nothing I can add or want to the already known shortcomings of the i5. One thing, tough, I am missing or maybe I haven't found it yet - is there a way to fast-switch windows when in player mode? I know, you can use the Android icon when you're in Android mode to switch to the player, but in the other direction I always have to go over the menu. Just a slight UX annoyance....
 
Thanks for listening,
Stefan

 

[frost15]

   
Not quite sure what do you, taking a look around those cutouts?  I think Cayin did a great job with a new case.  Really like a dark gray color with a red stitching on the back.  The material is on a softer side, but with a nice grip and more friction when you hold it.  The workmanship is pretty good, imho.  The fit is much better, i5 doesn't slide out anymore.  All the ports and hw buttons have a generous opening.  Here is how it looks (click on images to expand):
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

100% my thoughts, excellent case.

 

[twister6]

well, the new case sure holds the player better. The grey colour is fine, looks good. Basically it does what you can expect for the price (although we did not hear a word of apology for the failed first case, not to mention discount for the new one). But still I would call the stitiching carried out sloppy

Nitpicking? Or should i say "stitchpicking", aren't we?

Sure, it's not $60 Dignis case, but it's still a very nice alternative

 

[BartSimpson1976]

I will forgive the sloppy stitching if the next firmware contains sorting by album artist! 

 

[frost15]

  I will forgive the sloppy stitching if the next firmware contains sorting by album artist! 

Along with release year sorting, which is a must for many of us!

 

[freshman66]

Nitpicking? Or should i say "stitchpicking", aren't we?

Sure, it's not $60 Dignis case, but it's still a very nice alternative

I agree. Mine just arrived an hour ago and I am very pleased and also surprised by the value for the relatively low price. As a sidenote: There is no tax when ordering from Penon from inside the EU.

 

[rossini1214]

 

Just back to Shenzhen office for the first time after the Chinese new Year and CanJam NYC break. We are working on the domestic version of Version 2.2 firmware right now, hopefully this will be uploaded to our website with 24 hours. The International version is scheduled to release by 22nd Feb 2017.



The firmware is all about adding USB Audio output to i5, not much has been down to other bug fix for the moment. We have devoted considerable effort to optimized the firmware for Tidal playback, I shall provide a detail report on the Tidal issue in next couple of days, please stay tuned if you are concerned about the Tidal issues on i5.

 


Hi Andy,

the firmware is out on the Chinese site - but no possibility to download it, constantly drops at 30MBs or so. Any chance to upload it to other sources?

 
Please try several times!
I downloaded it three times and got the correct file (201, 678, 848 byte).

 

[petrovsky13]

   
Please try several times!
I downloaded it three times and got the correct file (201, 678, 848 byte).

Thanks!
Already did it (from other sources)  - works great with my dacportable.

 

[frost15]

I just got the Samsung 256GB micro sd and it works like a charm with the Cayin i5. It scanned faster than any other card I've tested. Awesome news!

 

[frost15]

Your not alone. Mine has some issue as well. Like getting "cayin has stopped working" thing once in awhile.

Yeah, that has happened to me sometimes too. I think it's a memory management issue. Hopefully it will be corrected in a future update.

 

[Takeanidea]

As part of the UK Tour Leg of the Cayin i5 World Tour my turn has finally come. I've got the i5 now and have been listening to what was left on there and my 256Gb card. ABing with the Aune M1S- in my opinion it thrashes the M1S. ABing with the Ibasso DX100 - that is much much closer. The DX100 wins narrowly for SQ. For everything else - speed, versatility, looks. battery life it's a no contest win for the i5. Price wise - there's £100 between the i5 and the DX100 second hand. It's a dead heat for me between the 2. I shall if time permits do a sound file of all 3 - but the i5 has impressed me greatly.

 

[alleroy]

  I just got the Samsung 256GB micro sd and it works like a charm with the Cayin i5. It scanned faster than any other card I've tested. Awesome news!

It's the Evo Plus one, isn't it?

 

[frost15]

  It's the Evo Plus one, isn't it?

Yep, that one!
EDIT: Today I'm experiencing the first issue with the 256 GB card. The cover art of many albums doesn't show after a while in the "Artist" tab navigation. I think it's a memory related problem, so not a big deal, but I report it nonetheless. I would recommend everyone obesessed with cover tagging to choose jpg's no bigger than 500kb for the tag. It seems to reduce the impact of this issue a lot.

 

[canali]

just subbed after hearing more of this on a different thread.
kudos to cayin for one of the nicest layouts (pics, illustrations, explanations) on the i5.
http://en.cayin.cn/products_info?itemid=87
 
currently using an ipod touch 6 paired with either a dragonfly red or chord mojo.
(love the ipod as it allows me to stream my tidal hifi and play the offline songs,
in additon to alac, flac etc)...but i am open to a new DAP if it can match
my current combo's SQ and versatility.
(would be nice to just have one great sounding, lightweight, versatile device)