[Andykong]

Hello Cayin friends, so close to purchasing the new N5ii as a late Christmas present to myself but there is something so attractive to me about the i5 and that beautiful screen.

Has anybody had a good chance to listen to both or is it early days?

Is the i5 a bad choice to pair with slightly treble rolled IEMs as I am looking to brighten them up a little.

A lot of questions I know. I appreciate any guidance words.

@Andykong Are you still rocking the i5 now the N5ii has come along?

Edit. Also, 18 Ohm BA IEMs, worth a try or hiss city?

Thank you.

The background noise issue related to both impedance and sensitivity of the IEM. please provide more information or the actual model if possible.

We just send an i5 to Neutron Music Player for evaluation /testing, there is very good chance that Neutron can build an custom driver to enable Hi-Res support to i5 in their next upgrade. Work in progress so that's about all I can disclose at this point.

 

[Robert777]

The background noise issue related to both impedance and sensitivity of the IEM. please provide more information or the actual model if possible.

We just send an i5 to Neutron Music Player for evaluation /testing, there is very good chance that Neutron can build an custom driver to enable Hi-Res support to i5 in their next upgrade. Work in progress so that's about all I can disclose at this point.

Thank you @Andykong for replying over the Christmas holiday. Do not forget to have a break from work.

My earphones are:

Sensitivity: 110dB at 1 kHz
Impedance: 18 Ohms

I have the Cayin N3 and my new earphones are quite rolled in the treble so I find that they are not the best match.

I hope to stay with Cayin so I have the i5, N6 or the new N5ii to choose from.

I was going to go for the i5 as it just looks so awesome but I worry that it may not be the best synergy either.

That leaves the N6 or the N5ii. I think the N6 will provide the best synergy I am looking for but I worry as it is three years old now. That is a long time in DAP time.

I am kind of just thinking out loud here, so sorry for cluttering up this thread, but any thoughts on the i5 driving darker earphones would be most welcome.

Thank you.

 

[Vitalii]

We just send an i5 to Neutron Music Player for evaluation /testing, there is very good chance that Neutron can build an custom driver to enable Hi-Res support to i5 in their next upgrade. Work in progress so that's about all I can disclose at this point.

This is really very good news

 

[bluedolphin]

My New Blue Leather Case for Cayin i5 Finaly Arrived from Asia
I like it very much, Came with a brown nice bag, Very good
Photos of my Cayin Leather bag I took today. Me happy

Spoiler: More photos Cayin i5 Leather case

 

[chicken beer]

Yes, we didn't release new firmware since February, but can you describe what are the improvements you are expecting from i5?

i5 is not a perfect DAP, there are outstanding issues but does that equivalent to abandon a product, or the company should not be allowed to develop new products?

May I ask where I could download the 2.3 beta firmware version for i5? It couldn't be found anywhere...

 

[bluedolphin]

I Made some More Photos of my New Cayin i5 Leather case
It do perfect complement for my Cayin i5, hope you like it
This leather case i am very happy with, Cayin i5 marvellous good sound

Spoiler: Take me to the Moon Cayin i5 photos haha

This is Cayin with Denon Ah-mm400 headphones and The purple marble headphones
are Fostex Kotori 201 special v.i.p order from Fostex Japan team that customized colors for me

 

[Andykong]

Neutron has just announced hi-res support to Cayin i5 and N5ii DAP:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.neutroncode.mp&hl=en
http://neutronmp.com/

i5 users can now enjoy gapless, custom EQ that you can save for future use, and playlist that is fairly easy to use.

We shall continue to work with Neutron, to safeguard Cayin DAPs support with Neutron Music Player.

 

[Andykong]

Thank you @Andykong for replying over the Christmas holiday. Do not forget to have a break from work.

My earphones are:

Sensitivity: 110dB at 1 kHz
Impedance: 18 Ohms

I have the Cayin N3 and my new earphones are quite rolled in the treble so I find that they are not the best match.

I hope to stay with Cayin so I have the i5, N6 or the new N5ii to choose from.

I was going to go for the i5 as it just looks so awesome but I worry that it may not be the best synergy either.

That leaves the N6 or the N5ii. I think the N6 will provide the best synergy I am looking for but I worry as it is three years old now. That is a long time in DAP time.

I am kind of just thinking out loud here, so sorry for cluttering up this thread, but any thoughts on the i5 driving darker earphones would be most welcome.

Thank you.

I don't recommend you go for N6 unless you have heard it in person and really like its sound. N6 is for sure not an updated DAP, its only strength is impeccable audio performance at its price. Cayin has deliberately go for a lower than normal pricing when we enter the DAP business back in 2014, and in the past few years we have seen the price of DAPs goes up and N6 has been discounted, so the N6 does offer very good price performance on audio performance. However the user control, portability and battery duration are relatively weak when compare to a modern DAP.

My guiess is i5 will hiss slightly with your earphone, you won't notice it at normal listening, but if you try to look for the background noise through special listening setup, or your music preference involve a lot of silent passage (in Classicl or Opera music), the background noise might be a problem. Gapless in i5 is not perfect, but you can install Neutron Music Player for that if gapless is important.

N5ii will not hiss with your earphone for sure. It is not as warm sounding as i5, but offer excellent resolution and is well extended in the high frequency range. From functional point of view, N5ii is a better DAP then i5,

 

[heliosphann]

Neutron has just announced hi-res support to Cayin i5 and N5ii DAP:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.neutroncode.mp&hl=en
http://neutronmp.com/

i5 users can now enjoy gapless, custom EQ that you can save for future use, and playlist that is fairly easy to use.

We shall continue to work with Neutron, to safeguard Cayin DAPs support with Neutron Music Player.

Just downloaded it. Installing now!

Thx Andy.

 

[Andykong]

May I ask where I could download the 2.3 beta firmware version for i5? It couldn't be found anywhere...

The Google Drive download link is still working, hope this will help:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cay...-pcm-64-128-dsd.802382/page-216#post-13513985

 

[frost15]

Neutron has just announced hi-res support to Cayin i5 and N5ii DAP:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.neutroncode.mp&hl=en
http://neutronmp.com/

i5 users can now enjoy gapless, custom EQ that you can save for future use, and playlist that is fairly easy to use.

We shall continue to work with Neutron, to safeguard Cayin DAPs support with Neutron Music Player.

Very good news Andy. Testing it soon. This excellent announcement makes me wonder... Would it be posible to replace Cayin i5 default audio app with neutron in a future firmware?

 

[Andykong]

Very good news Andy. Testing it soon. This excellent announcement makes me wonder... Would it be posible to replace Cayin i5 default audio app with neutron in a future firmware?

Can't do that, because i5 adopted a fully customized closed system approached, it is very different form the open system approach Android DAP where users get access to the Android desktop. In i5, when you start up the DAP the system go will straight into HiBy app, event the opening screen (where you select internal memory or TF card) is part of HiBy Music App. If we need to replace the default audio app, we need to change i5 to open system approach and land at the Android desktop instead of the HiBy app directly. The changes will be too significant and might end up a new round of system bugs as we need to change the architecture level.

 

[frost15]

Can't do that, because i5 adopted a fully customized closed system approached, it is very different form the open system approach Android DAP where users get access to the Android desktop. In i5, when you start up the DAP the system go will straight into HiBy app, event the opening screen (where you select internal memory or TF card) is part of HiBy Music App. If we need to replace the default audio app, we need to change i5 to open system approach and land at the Android desktop instead of the HiBy app directly. The changes will be too significant and might end up a new round of system bugs as we need to change the architecture level.

I see Andy. It's a shame since after some testing Neutron works AMAZING with the i5. I'm completely in love with it. The only downside I've witnessed so far was scanning time, were it was way slower than the default unit scanner. Gapless works like a charm now and given all the options available in the app (album sorted by year at last!!!) I must say that Neutron is a must have for every i5 owner who wants to get the most out of it.

 

[Vitalii]

I did not like the quality of playback with Neutron
With HiBy, the sound is much cleaner and better.
p.s. I'm listening to it on the Denon AH-D7200

 

[nmatheis]

I've been testing out the new Neutron app on my i5 and have some likes/dislikes vs the stock Hiby player.

LIKES
True gapless
Hi-res support
Highly customizable sounds options

DISLIKES
Thinner, less dynamic sound vs stock Hiby player
Cluttered, outdated user interface
Finding the music library is confusing
Scanning the music library is slow

For now, I'm continuing to use the stock Hiby player because it just sounds better even though true gapless support is very important to me. Hopefully Neutron's sound will improve over time, coming into better alignment with the stock Hiby player. Just my two cents...