Cayin N5 DAP - Product Info (Post #2), Resources (Post #3) and Discussion

[capnjack]

SQ using DAC USB is simply great, the same which Come from the player itself. You should know I sold my Onkyo DAC-HA200 cause the N5 replaced it. It is powerful enought to drive any kind of headphones without any amp. N5 is now my DAP, as well as my portable dac usb/Amp!

It truly is a powerful dap!
Not sure I'd get rid of my amps tho. just dunno what I might buy next !!

 

[RollsRoys]

Is n5 great with monks?
Waiting for my pair. Planning to recable it to balanced litz as they arrive

 

[capnjack]

Give them a listen before you rip 'em apart, they sound great standard!
Admittedly they don't look much, but hey for $5.I mean that's barely a coffee....
Lee is some sort of magician with what he supplies for the money

 

[MontMozart]

@samuelboy, I agree with your suggestion...I would definitely like the song to be paused on startup...especially with firmware 3 because the player turns the equalizer back off on power up (Andy says this will be fixed in the next version of the firmware), and by turning the equalizer off, you are adding +6db, if I remember correctly...definitely louder than when listening pre-power off.  

 

[svmusa]

SQ using DAC USB is simply great, the same which Come from the player itself. You should know I sold my Onkyo DAC-HA200 cause the N5 replaced it. It is powerful enought to drive any kind of headphones without any amp. N5 is now my DAP, as well as my portable dac usb/Amp!

 
Thx -  while being used as USB dac and lineout to amp, can one change sound settings using built in EQ?

 

[alwass89]

So I bit the bullet and ordered one of these, it is going to arrive on Wednesday. I am currently using a FiiO X5 II. From the reviews I've read it seems that the N5 sounds similar to the X5 II, but what intrigued me about this N5 is the 2.5mm headphone jack and the USB 3.0 which allows for faster data transfer. I ordered a cable from Surf Cables for my Sony MDR-1A that has the 2.5mm TRRS jack. I'm hoping that with this cable and the N5, there will be a bigger soundstage with more detail than what I can get on the X5.

 

[Andykong]

It was short lived, Dell did not sell enough to keep on producing them. Several IT Tech's got them at my work years ago because our University had a great deal with Dell:wink_face:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Digital_Jukebox

Here you go:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2006/feb/09/guardianweeklytechnologysection.dell

I see, so that is a Creative NOMAD/Creative Zen equivalent, interesting. Too bad Dell gave up the portable player market, otherwise we might have more choice from a different market perspective.

 

[Andykong]

I am in search of a device that can be a desktop DAC and portable DAP for my travel needs, N5 seems to be the only reasonable DAP that is capable to do these both with 2.0 volts line out which is what a typical desktop DAC would do. I was not able to track any DAP  In the same price range as N5 that can output 2.0 Volts on line out.

How is the DAC quality of N5 using USB input?

Does N5 allow you to change EQ with line out or is it only meant for headphones?

Thx

I believe other N5 users has covered the first part of your questions.

The EQ in N5 will only work for local music files to headphone output, it won't work for Line Out, nor when used as a USB-DAC playing music files from external source.

 

[Andykong]

Hello Andy,

A few pages back, I was wondering if after a power off, when the power was turned back on, if the song could continue where it left off.  You came back with an answer that the song will resume, but from the beginning the song.  I was satisfied with that answer.  However, over the last week or so of playing music at work, the song is coming back playing right where it left off, mid-song!!!!  I couldn't believe, but I tried it a couple of times and it seemed consistent.  So then I wondered if was during a hard power off/on only or would do the same thing after a soft power off from sitting idle too long and I believe, upon power on, it resumed the song mid-song, does this sound crazy or what???

One other suggestion. Do you think it would be possible to have the main button in the middle of the wheel turn on the display after it goes dark during playback.  When I am sitting at my desk working and I want to see a song title real quick, I need to stop working, use both hands and hold the player while it the power button on top.  It would be nice to just have to hit the big button on the front of the player, which only takes one hand as the player is sitting on the desk.  

Still loving the N5...great product.

Thanks as always,
MontMozart 

Just to add on pertaining to this "breakpoint resume" function...

When the song resumes after power-on, it begins playing automatically. Now, if the user decided to plug in a different pair of phones with very different power requirements, it can be quite a shocker... Would it be better that after power-on, the player goes to that position (whether is 0sec or exact last position) and pause it there?

Great idea!

Just checked, you are correct, the breakpoint resume will resume playback at exactly where the player was paused previously, my mistake indeed.

If you were to use multiple pairs of phones with N5 (or 6), the problem will not limited to breakpoint resume. Cayin has provided certain volume control setup features that are helpful for users with multiple headphones.

If you have, for examle, three IEMs that might be used with the DAP, I suggest you should determine the appropriate volume for each IEM, and then set the "Startup Volume" to Custom, and the "Setup Startup Volume" to the lowest volume among the three IEMs. This will safeguard your IEMs and your hearing by lower the volume to fit the most sensitive IEM in your collections everytime you power up.

 

[Andykong]

My N5 has a start up volume set to 20. If I remember rightly it was set to that from the factory settings

If you set the "Startup Volume" to custom, then the "setup startup volume" feature will activated and the default setting is 20. If you set the "Startup Volume" to Memory, the "setup startup volume" will be deactivated and the value in this field will not affect the volume setting at all.

 

[Andykong]

Thx -  while being used as USB dac and lineout to amp, can one change sound settings using built in EQ?

EQ will not work when N5 is used as a USB DAC.

 

[Andykong]

So I bit the bullet and ordered one of these, it is going to arrive on Wednesday. I am currently using a FiiO X5 II. From the reviews I've read it seems that the N5 sounds similar to the X5 II, but what intrigued me about this N5 is the 2.5mm headphone jack and the USB 3.0 which allows for faster data transfer. I ordered a cable from Surf Cables for my Sony MDR-1A that has the 2.5mm TRRS jack. I'm hoping that with this cable and the N5, there will be a bigger soundstage with more detail than what I can get on the X5.

N5 with Sony MDR-1A in balanced? This is an interesting setup indeed, the Sony is not a difficult load, if you like the sound of Sony 1A, this should work out pretty well, please come back and tell us what you think when you receive your new toys later this week.

 

[alwass89]

N5 with Sony MDR-1A in balanced? This is an interesting setup indeed, the Sony is not a difficult load, if you like the sound of Sony 1A, this should work out pretty well, please come back and tell us what you think when you receive your new toys later this week.

Hey Andy. Yep, I will definitely report back and post pictures once I have everything. It looks like the player will be by me befoe the balanced cable for my headphones so once I have everything I will be able to tell you what I think.

 

[alwass89]

I received the N5 yesterday, a day early! I don't have the balanced cable yet, so I've been listening with my Sony MDR-1As through the regular headphone jack. It sounds great.
 
I used the same 2 cards from the X5 and updated the music library and everything flowed over perfectly.
 
I have a playlist that I set up externally on the 1 TF card and that works perfectly as well too, although it is not showing up in the Playlist section of the "Music Categories" I can only access it if I go into the TF Card 1 folder in the Music Library. Is there a way to have the playlist show up in Music Categories?

 

[michaelgordon]

Got the refund on my N5 from EA Audio and got a good deal on an N6 from the forums here, its coming from Singapore so hopefully here in the next couple of weeks.  Looking forward to comparing the two.