[audio123]

Encouraging to hear @BartSimpson1976. I know Cayin will work out the major issues quickly. Can't wait to hear i5!

still prefer n5 after much extensive audition hehe

 

[nmatheis]

still prefer n5 after much extensive audition hehe

Well, N5 is definitely one of my go-to DAPs!

 

[audio123]

Well, N5 is definitely one of my go-to DAPs!

same! my 2 main daps now are either n5 or qp1r

 

[BartSimpson1976]

Well, up to personal preferences. The N5 has a too warm signature for my taste. i5 is just right.
 
Also please take into account that I bought the i5 only on Friday. So still severe NTS...

 

[audio123]

  Well, up to personal preferences. The N5 has a too warm signature for my taste. i5 is just right.
 
Also please take into account that I bought the i5 only on Friday. So still severe NTS...

my next dap may well be cayin n6

will there be i6 soon? @Andykong

 

[kel77]

I left i5 on standby with wifi turned off for 48 hours battery dropped about 1% compared to 5% for onkyo dp-x1.

 

[Andykong]

I just got cayin i5 today, love the build quality and the ui,but i can't comment about the sound yet, my first impression is its warm and musical i think.

I have question that maybe fellow head-fiers here can answer it especially @andykong, why when i play from cayin music player the sound is so loud (i can't get pass volume 6 with my k10) but when i play from spotify or itunes i have to dial the volume to 15-23, why is that..?

This is an optimization item that we shall work on. Although all third party app will go through the K4490 DAC and subsequent analogue circuit, the level of digital signal are not the same and they tend to be more conservative in order to work well with hundreds of devices all over the world. On the other hand, the native HiBy player is fully customised for the i5 design so the output is perfectly fit to explore the full potential of DAP, thats one of the reason why they have different output level, and we shall work this out in the future.

 

[Andykong]

Did the first longer listening session yesterday and I am very happy. It has great bold sound, nice punchy base and very good seperation. I am coming from a Sony A17 which has a leaner and much brighter sound, so I have get used to the i5 signature. But I really love it. I am also impressed by the UI which is by far the best I have seen right out of the box from a Chinese DAP.
Not to mention this thing has a great built quality. It feels great in the hand, perfect size. The volume wheel does is not too sensitive. Thumbs up for Cayin on the i5.

Few minor issues with the UI, but no deal breakers and nothing which cannot be fixed I suppose. The initial library scanning from a 200GB card with over 6,000 tracks was very fast. The player froze once during the Neutron installation process.

-it seems not all parts of it are in  English yet (if you see track properties)



- It seems the stock player cannot read out most genre tags. It says I have no rock tracks where in fact I loaded several thousands of it..
- MP3 gapless not there yet. No problems with FLAC
- Odd: It sorts all albums and artists starting with "The" under T instead ignoring the "The".
- Pure "cosmetic" issue: I would love in the stock player if the cover art would not be faded out on top and bottom and that the status bar would not overlap the cover art.



- Then we have have this 30:00-minute bug which was mentioned earlier
- Al in all the UI could be a bit faster, but it is bearable
- Device gets quite warm
- Only connects to 2.4GHz WiFi, does not recognize 5Ghz-WiFi
- When connected to WiFi I can hear some noise sometimes (stops after few seconds)
- No verdict yet on battery life as it is just in second charging cycle.

All in all this is an excellent DAP which offers great value for money.

With a bit faster UI, slightly better screen and a second card slot this could be the perfect DAP!
i6 --> I wait for you! 


@Andykong

Thanks for your efforts and support here. Cayin has delivered an excellent product with the i5!

Thank you BartSimpson1976 for your quick and informative impression, we can read your practical mind and insight in using DAP products, these are important background that makes the impression stands out.

I think we have to live with the 2.4GHz limitation for a while, handling internal interference of 2.4GHz is bad enough, that's why we give up 5GHz for the moment. The 5GHz is offers higher bandwidth but not as power in terms of penetration over obstacles, given 90% of i5 chassis is CNC aerospace aluminum, we need to amplifier the 5GHz signal significantly in order to maintain a steady connection.

Regarding the WIFI noise you mentioned, do they appear at the startup connection only? Is the noise audible when you operate the WiFi based application (e.g., change of song or artists in the streaming app)?

The Genre problem is something that we need to explore in the future, looks like there are rooms to improve on our ID3 tag support, I shall report this to the software team and come back to you later if I need further information.

 

[Andykong]

still prefer n5 after much extensive audition hehe

Well, up to personal preferences. The N5 has a too warm signature for my taste. i5 is just right.

Also please take into account that I bought the i5 only on Friday. So still severe NTS...

There is no black and white in audio preference, just shades of gray

 

[audio123]

There is no black and white in audio preference, just shades of gray

im looking to get n6 soon

 

[BartSimpson1976]

Thank you BartSimpson1976 for your quick and informative impression, we can read your practical mind and insight in using DAP products, these are important background that makes the impression stands out.

I think we have to live with the 2.4GHz limitation for a while, handling internal interference of 2.4GHz is bad enough, that's why we give up 5GHz for the moment. The 5GHz is offers higher bandwidth but not as power in terms of penetration over obstacles, given 90% of i5 chassis is CNC aerospace aluminum, we need to amplifier the 5GHz signal significantly in order to maintain a steady connection.

Regarding the WIFI noise you mentioned, do they appear at the startup connection only? Is the noise audible when you operate the WiFi based application (e.g., change of song or artists in the streaming app)?

The Genre problem is something that we need to explore in the future, looks like there are rooms to improve on our ID3 tag support, I shall report this to the software team and come back to you later if I need further information.

 
Thanks for the explanation on the 5GHz-Wifi. 
 
For the Noise: It comes upon booting the unit, upon starting WiFi and at first selection startting a song (also offline). Takes a few seconds, then it makes some kind of clicking sound and then it is dead silent. 
 
Regarding tags: Believe me, I spent long and painful hours tagging my library. Interestingly, stock UI shows 0 rock songs, therefore Rock is listed again under "Other Genres" below.
 

 
 
 
Oh, and somehow the alphabetical sorting has its issues. After the first letter it becomes kind of randomly...
 

 

[BartSimpson1976]

Another UI-issue:
 
Some AAC albums which I purchased via itunes (yes, I know. I was young and stupid...) will not appear in the stock player UI. Neither in the album list nor under the artist. They have been transferred properly as they show up in the Neutron player without problems.

 

[ahossam]

Thanks for the explanation on the 5GHz-Wifi. 

For the Noise: It comes upon booting the unit, upon starting WiFi and at first selection startting a song (also offline). Takes a few seconds, then it makes some kind of clicking sound and then it is dead silent.

Yes its happening with me too with my noble k10..

Also needed to be fixed is when i dial the volume up or down while on lock screen the volume number is goes on by two numbers, like from volume 0 to 2 and 2 to 4 and so on, this is annoying when you just wanted to dial the volume gradually without turning the screen on.

And thanks to @andykong for your respond to my previous post.

 

[bluedolphin]

Cayin i5 seem to finaly be avaible in europe  for now in audiogarden france But this shop wont sell you 1 Cayin i5 they sell you minium 10 
they dont do that with the others mp3 players only this one, I contacted Audiogarden regarding this they have not replied yet
why do they have a limit of 10 mp3 players units instead of letting you buy one
 

 

[audio123]

  Cayin i5 seem to finaly be avaible in europe  for now in audiogarden france But this shop wont sell you 1 Cayin i5 they sell you minium 10 
they dont do that with the others mp3 players only this one, I contacted Audiogarden regarding this they have not replied yet
why do they have a limit of 10 mp3 players units instead of letting you buy one
 

to redistribute