[jmills8]

Cayin N5, Shanling M5, Soundaware Esther Analog, and LPG FTW!

No amps needed for my IEM, either

Guess we have different iems.

 

[nmatheis]

Guess we have different iems.

Or different taste, different tolerances, different requirements. Personally, I'd rather not stack unless absolutely necessary for power requirements. Not needed for the IEM I'm using. If I were using an amp, it'd be my ALO Rx to control hiss and / or provide greater fine volume control as needed.

 

[jmills8]

Or different taste, different tolerances, different requirements. Personally, I'd rather not stack unless absolutely necessary for power requirements. Not needed for the IEM I'm using. If I were using an amp, it'd be my ALO Rx to control hiss and / or provide greater fine volume control as needed.

yep had that one. My iems never hiss if they did Ill throw it away

 

[omastic]

  Have received my 75 Ohm impedance adapter which I ordered to eliminate the hissing of the i5. 
And the impedance adpater does exactly that. After plugging in the adapter I had to adjust the Volume from 23 to 38-40 in low gain.
 
However, it will make the base sounding somehow thinner and voices
will become slightly tinny. Maybe it could even be compensated with EQ, but I did not have the time to try that out.
 
So I rather go for the slight hiss which anyhow is tolerable. Next IEMs will be less sensitive, so that should solve it.
 
But for 8 Dollars the adapter does a decent job I must say. Build quality is very solid and the effect on SQ is less significant
than what I expected.

 
Adding impedance adapter is essentially making your iems see a much higher level of output impedance. An impedance of 75 Ohms is more than likely to alter the sound of your iems, specially if its a multi ba with a whacky impedance response. This is most probably why the sound becomes tinny. 

 

[BartSimpson1976]

It is getting a bit quiet here....Is that a good sign or a bad sign? 
 
Hope that means they are busy fixing gapless, the 30:00 bug and album artist sorting for the next firmware.....

 

[cleg]

Here is my humble review of I5 http://www.head-fi.org/products/cayin-i5/reviews/16739
Due to some error it's not showing in review list on Head-Fi's bottom (at least for me)

 

[jmills8]

Here is my humble review of I5 http://www.head-fi.org/products/cayin-i5/reviews/16739
Due to some error it's not showing in review list on Head-Fi's bottom (at least for me)

I agree with this "Cayin N6 N6 features more rich sound, with some hint of softness, giving more "musicality" to records, so generally, N6 sounds a step higher."

 

[Andykong]

This surprises be, as I've heard almost all of the Cayin portable lineup released to date with the exception of i5, and I've found bass better for my tastes from C5 / N5. In fact, I really prefer N5 over N6 and fully expect to prefer i5 over N6, as well.

Guess using a bass iem helps. N6 much cleaner than the n5. Usued Aurisonics 2.5 iem and the JVC SZ2000 HP. Plus I amp the n6.

The bass from N5 offers very good music foundations, it brings out the ambiance and atmosphere, if I have to pick a headphone to describe this feeling, it is like the LCD2.

N6 offers better resolution and linearity in its bass department, if I have to pick a headphone to describe this feeling, it is like the Beyer T1.

So it really depends on what you are looking for and what type of music you are listening to. I actually prefer the bass of N6 if I have to take a side

 

[Andykong]

It is getting a bit quiet here....Is that a good sign or a bad sign? 

Hope that means they are busy fixing gapless, the 30:00 bug and album artist sorting for the next firmware.....

Well, I can give you a date to look forward to : 7 September 2016.

Unfortunately .....

 

[BartSimpson1976]

thanks for the outlook @Andykong 

 

[audio123]

The bass from N5 offers very good music foundations, it brings out the ambiance and atmosphere, if I have to pick a headphone to describe this feeling, it is like the LCD2.

N6 offers better resolution and linearity in its bass department, if I have to pick a headphone to describe this feeling, it is like the Beyer T1.

So it really depends on what you are looking for and what type of music you are listening to. I actually prefer the bass of N6 if I have to take a side

n5 + c5 andy

 

[coldfish]

Well, I can give you a date to look forward to : 7 September 2016.

Unfortunately .....

That's 2 days ahead of Apple's new products announcement...

 

[Andykong]

Here is my humble review of I5 http://www.head-fi.org/products/cayin-i5/reviews/16739
Due to some error it's not showing in review list on Head-Fi's bottom (at least for me)

Thanks for your report (and Youtube review), you really have tested everything, battery duration, charging time, and you event run an AnTuTu benchmark for it, really amazing.

Your observation actually goes in line with most of the feedback in this thread and I think it is a good summary of what i5 has offered. You have reviewed all three Cayin DAPs and looks like N6 is your favorite among the trio.

By the way, you have tested the i5 with ZMF Omni? Can i5 handle this planar headphone satisfactory? They are pretty demanding for a portable device, I probably will use i5+C5 combo instead. I have the Alpha Dog which is also a T50RP modded headphone, the i5 can drive it very loud, but the soundstage is narrow when compare to the iDAC-6/iHA-6 combo.

 

[cleg]

By the way, you have tested the i5 with ZMF Omni? Can i5 handle this planar headphone satisfactory? They are pretty demanding for a portable device, I probably will use i5+C5 combo instead. I have the Alpha Dog which is also a T50RP modded headphone, the i5 can drive it very loud, but the soundstage is narrow when compare to the iDAC-6/iHA-6 combo.

Yes, I've tried ZMF Omni with i5, it's average pairing, of course it's not bad, but pretty far from Omni's maximum. I'm using Omnis as some reference point of "pretty high to drive headphones"
For sure desktop amp/dac combo will drive them better. Hope some day I'll be able to listen to Cayin's amp/DAC combo

 

[Andykong]

n5 + c5 andy

Well, I was comparing the DAP as-is, if you add C5 or other portable amp. to the chain, that would be a different story.