[Andykong]

So, moment of truth...The USB 3.0 cable finally arrived today. It actually fits extremely loose in the port, so if I move it too much, the cable just falls out. Which is odd. I bought an Amazon Basics cable. What's even more strange is that the N5 started charging immediately, with no fiddling with the cable at all.

Amazing, a new cable solved the problem? I was kind of agree that you have a cold solder joint somewhere in your N5, but you probably has proved me wrong.

 

[Fra Diavolo]

Yeah, it almost looks that way. I'm surprised a little myself. I'll be monitoring it, of course. Thanks for everyone's replies and advice.

 

[nmatheis]

Glad you're back up and running and seem to have resulting to your issue @Fra Diavolo!

 

[fredmad]

I'm not sure if anyone else has commented on this already but I specifically bought a set of VE Monk balanced (espresso) earbuds because I had the N5 which has the balanced in, and I figured what the heck. Well, I actually really enjoy this pairing! If you're curious, I'd say go ahead and give it a try. I'm glad I did.

 

[Andykong]

I'm not sure if anyone else has commented on this already but I specifically bought a set of VE Monk balanced (espresso) earbuds because I had the N5 which has the balanced in, and I figured what the heck. Well, I actually really enjoy this pairing! If you're curious, I'd say go ahead and give it a try. I'm glad I did.

I have three sets of VE Zen with me (v1.0, v2.0 regular, and v2.0 black wire balanced) and therefore I have three set of Monk with me as well, I can confirm that these ear-bugs are amazing, and I have recommended them to a lot of people already. The Zen are high impedance and therefore power hungry, and N5 balanced output is one of the very few DAP that can make it sing. The Monk are more DAP friendly but they do scale up with decent driving power, so I do agree that N5 balanced is one of the good choice for them as well.

 

[fredmad]

why are zen so much more expensive than monk?

 

[teston]

Hi @Andykong,
Do Cayin sell Cayin N5 battery? Or are there any shop that sell Cayin N5 battery replacement?
My N5 visual battery bar show incorrect amount left. The battery is usually run out when the indicator show that it has around 80 - 70% So I don't know when will it shut down.

 

[Andykong]

Hi @Andykong,
Do Cayin sell Cayin N5 battery? Or are there any shop that sell Cayin N5 battery replacement?
My N5 visual battery bar show incorrect amount left. The battery is usually run out when the indicator show that it has around 80 - 70% So I don't know when will it shut down.

I suspect the battery gauge of your N5 need a calibration, so before you go for a battery replacement, maybe you you try to perform a calibration. While Lithium battery installed in N5 does not have memory effect, it does has what we called inaccurate gauge issue, and this problem is quite common when a battery has been idled and/or drained for a long time. If you run into inaccurate battery reading or sudden power off when the duration period didn't add up, I suggest you do a gauge calibration to verify the problem. In fact this is something that we all should be doing occasionally. I normally do this after 15-20 charging cycle (2 times 50% charging is count as one cycle) An inaccurate gauge can lead to the fact that the the battery capacity values are are wrong. The battery may report that it still has reasonable capacity when in fact it has a much lower value, and this causes the computer to shutdown unexpectedly. You can google the terms "Calibrate Gauge" on Lithium Battery.

To calibrate the gauge of a lithium battery, you simply need to do a full discharge followed by a full charge, so this is what I advice:

1. Turn on the LED screen to maximum brightness and set the screen to "always on", keep it running until the player turn off itself.
2. Charge the battery overnight, till you see 99% or 100% on the meter

You can verify the result by starting to play some song on the N5 continuously with screen off, check the battery reading after 1, 2, 3, 4 hours and so on, if you can get 7-8 hours of playback, the battery is not that bad since the N5 is quite an aged DAP by today standard.

We sell N5 battery, the problem is we can't deliver the battery to you by air, all flight forwarder refused to take uninstalled Lithium battery right now, so the only way to get around that is to send the N5 to us and we perform the battery replacement for you, and then send it back. This is, however fairly expensive when take the mailing cost into account.

 

[Andykong]

why are zen so much more expensive than monk?

Because it sound a lot better

 

[teston]

I suspect the battery gauge of your N5 need a calibration, so before you go for a battery replacement, maybe you you try to perform a calibration. While Lithium battery installed in N5 does not have memory effect, it does has what we called inaccurate gauge issue, and this problem is quite common when a battery has been idled and/or drained for a long time. If you run into inaccurate battery reading or sudden power off when the duration period didn't add up, I suggest you do a gauge calibration to verify the problem. In fact this is something that we all should be doing occasionally. I normally do this after 15-20 charging cycle (2 times 50% charging is count as one cycle) An inaccurate gauge can lead to the fact that the the battery capacity values are are wrong. The battery may report that it still has reasonable capacity when in fact it has a much lower value, and this causes the computer to shutdown unexpectedly. You can google the terms "Calibrate Gauge" on Lithium Battery.

To calibrate the gauge of a lithium battery, you simply need to do a full discharge followed by a full charge, so this is what I advice:

1. Turn on the LED screen to maximum brightness and set the screen to "always on", keep it running until the player turn off itself.
2. Charge the battery overnight, till you see 99% or 100% on the meter

You can verify the result by starting to play some song on the N5 continuously with screen off, check the battery reading after 1, 2, 3, 4 hours and so on, if you can get 7-8 hours of playback, the battery is not that bad since the N5 is quite an aged DAP by today standard.

We sell N5 battery, the problem is we can't deliver the battery to you by air, all flight forwarder refused to take uninstalled Lithium battery right now, so the only way to get around that is to send the N5 to us and we perform the battery replacement for you, and then send it back. This is, however fairly expensive when take the mailing cost into account.

I tried your method yesterday but today it still shut down at around 65%. Maybe the battery is damaged. Too bad that you can't ship the battery alone.

 

[Andykong]

I tried your method yesterday but today it still shut down at around 65%. Maybe the battery is damaged. Too bad that you can't ship the battery alone.

Please email service@cayin.cn if you want to send the player to Cayin factory for battery replacement. We wish there is an option to send Lithium battery by air, that'll solve a lot of our maintenance problem too.

 

[bluedolphin]

I have a Cayin i5 Player i have been thinking about if i should purchase Cayin N5
Since i never owned it and like to have this legendary player, and very impressed with the sound of Cayin i5.
I can get it for 380 euro plus shipping where i live, is it worth it.
I am not so intressed in N5 II like i5 better.

One question spring to mind about N5
Is the conexion to pc avaible in MTP mode?
my biggest issue with my cayin i5 was that usb mode was slow, and mtp was faster so i used Mtp
hopefully i would not have the same issue with N5, but just to be sure if i have both Mtp and Usb mode?
I dont like that Cayin discontinue N5 i think is a legend and should be kept in the Hall of fame
This player was the one that made me intressed in Cayin.

I had so many issue with my cayin i5 but compared to other players
i keep comming back to Cayin i5 because it has Excelent 10/10 sound quality combined with Vmoda M100 and Denon Mh-400 headphones
and the Eq Settings i used is like a Dream.
I have not heard any sound that is better than Cayin so far.

I wish i had changed Cayin i5 and got another one maybe the freeze and conexion to pc issue would have been solved, but for now i have Cayin N5 i like the Retro look of it.

 

[ForgottenSpy]

N5 has one mode only, USB mode.
N5 has no it's own internal memory, so connection speed is limited just by micro sd-card's speed.
There is USB 3.0, so it could be pretty fast if card supports high speed.

PS IMO it is crazy to pay 380 euro for N5 now, if i were you i'd rather take second-handed one for $200-250.

 

[TimeSnow]

Hello everyone... someone not on Head-Fi asked me if the N5 could be used with the Dragonfly Red... I googled it, but... inconclusive.

Anyone know?

 

[ForgottenSpy]

N5 has no OTG, so there is no way for Dragonfly to get the signal from N5 for via USB.
And other option, like coax is not available for Dragonfly.
So i do not see how it could be compatible, and i am not sure it is ever possible.