[nmatheis]

Kerouac: I'm hoping for Cayin C5 sound signature in DAP form...

WIN!!!

 

[Kerouac]

@Kerouac: I'm hoping for Cayin C5 sound signature in DAP form...

WIN!!!

Yep...almost every morning when I get up and want to listen to some music, my X5/C5 stack usually is the first thing I grab for. Cayin C5 really has a very nice sound signature...X5 has 2 micro sd slots, so when the sound of N5 comes close to C5, it will be time to sell that stack

 

[dogmusic]

  http://www.head-fi.org/t/771208/cayin-n5-dap-rumours-and-discussion-thread/195#post_11791014

Missed that one. Thanks!
 
Makes it about $450.00 Canadian at today's miserable rate.

 

[Andykong]

Dear friends of Cayin,

Cayin will participated the 2015 Hong Kong High-End Audio-Visual Show, all Hong Kong based Headfier are welcome to visit our booth at X17 of Hall 3, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in the next few days (7-9 August).
http://www.audiotechnique.com/av_show/hifi_show.htm

We have finished our setup at around 10pm, here are a few snap for your preview.






I am sure you all noticed that N5 is on display, we have grabbed the first trail production unit from Engineer's desk yesterday so this version is one step closer to the real thing from the Production Candidate on displayed at Shenzhen on 19 July 2016. There is another N5 on statics display and visitor can try out the UI while they queue on other demo units.

The N6 is on display as well, and I shall cover this in the N6 thread separately.

Since the N6 is mentioned, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself properly. Some of you might noticed that I was the Beta Tester and thread starter of N6, I come across Cayin since last November and have been keep in touch with the factory since then. All along I was a hobbyist looking for high C/P products from China and Cayin was one of the brand that I feel comfortable with. Since they focused on portable device but I am more into Desktop headphone system so I was kind of a friend to Cayin rather then a fans at that stage. it was not until Cayin comes to Hong Kong for a trade show on April 2016 that I find out Cayin's product development plan in second half of 2015, I must say I was excited and keep exploring their forthcoming product while the Product Engineer are at hands. That was the time someone suggested since I am so interested, I should be a game player rather then a floor audience.

The invitation was a surprise and it tooks months to sort out a lot of things before I finally decided to jump on board. One of the key reason was the establishment of Product Research and Development Center in Shenzhen back in June 2015, that saved me a lot of traveling to and from Zhuha (well, still took me two hours per trip from Hong Kong to Shenzhen office). Anyway to cut a long story short, I joined Cayin on early July and I shall look after their marketing function outside Mainland China. I probably shall involve in new product development later but right now my focus in on the DAP, DAC and headphone amplifiers scheduled to launch in the next few months.

I have enjoyed my honey moon with Cayin and picking up their technologies and product development process gradually, the Hong Kong Show is the first event that I shouldered and we are looking for more opportunities to meet with fellow headfiers in subsequent events and exhibitions. A glimpse in my wish list suggested that the next potential opening will be end of September at you-know-where ，I shall keep you all informed when I have a firmed plan on hand, so please stay tuned for that.

 

[nmatheis]

Welcome to the new role Andykong!

Are you going to be one of Cayin's headfi ambassadors?

 

[twister6]

Dear friends of Cayin,

Cayin will participated the 2015 Hong Kong High-End Audio-Visual Show, all Hong Kong based Headfier are welcome to visit our booth at X17 of Hall 3, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in the next few days (7-9 August).
http://www.audiotechnique.com/av_show/hifi_show.htm

We have finished our setup at around 10pm, here are a few snap for your preview.


.....

 
Andy, is there a reason why KEF M500 on Cayin display?

 
Also, can you please post a few pictures of N5 right next to N6, for comparison of overall size and thickness?  Thanks!!!

 

[Andykong]

No kidding! The danger is forgetting that you switched over to LO, plugging in some headphones, and getting a nasty surprise when you get full volume through your HP - or worse yet, your highly sensitive, low impedance IEM :eek:

Cayin handled the shared HO/LO output through an user-control parameter at the Setup Menu. This is the screen cap (from my mobile) on the latest, pre-released firmware.



So the user will need to manually select the output mode in the menu. We believe this is more flexible and sounds better then auto-detect feature as by no means adding more sensor into the circuit might introduced minor but possibly audible inference. We are not worrying about switching from LO to PO even with highly sensible IEMs. This is because the N5 (and in fact this applied to N6 as well) line out is far from a simple full-power output, the functional diagram which I am preparing will suggested that the LO has skipped the voltage amplification and headphone amplification completely, and the signal level will be lower then the PO mode significantly in most practical situation. We shall tested this in detail before we endorse the UI design officially, I just want everyone to know that Cayin understands the potential thread and is working hard to protect the best interest of our client.

Will keep everyone informed when we have finalized the UI by end of month.

 

[hakushondaimao]

Dear friends of Cayin,

Cayin will participated the 2015 Hong Kong High-End Audio-Visual Show, all Hong Kong based Headfier are welcome to visit our booth at X17 of Hall 3, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in the next few days (7-9 August).
http://www.audiotechnique.com/av_show/hifi_show.htm

We have finished our setup at around 10pm, here are a few snap for your preview.
 

Spoiler: Show pics.

Spoiler: AK intro

I am sure you all noticed that N5 is on display, we have grabbed the first trail production unit from Engineer's desk yesterday so this version is one step closer to the real thing from the Production Candidate on displayed at Shenzhen on 19 July 2016. There is another N5 on statics display and visitor can try out the UI while they queue on other demo units.

The N6 is on display as well, and I shall cover this in the N6 thread separately.

Since the N6 is mentioned, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself properly. Some of you might noticed that I was the Beta Tester and thread starter of N6, I come across Cayin since last November and have been keep in touch with the factory since then. All along I was a hobbyist looking for high C/P products from China and Cayin was one of the brand that I feel comfortable with. Since they focused on portable device but I am more into Desktop headphone system so I was kind of a friend to Cayin rather then a fans at that stage. it was not until Cayin comes to Hong Kong for a trade show on April 2016 that I find out Cayin's product development plan in second half of 2015, I must say I was excited and keep exploring their forthcoming product while the Product Engineer are at hands. That was the time someone suggested since I am so interested, I should be a game player rather then a floor audience.

The invitation was a surprise and it tooks months to sort out a lot of things before I finally decided to jump on board. One of the key reason was the establishment of Product Research and Development Center in Shenzhen back in June 2015, that saved me a lot of traveling to and from zh-hant (well, still took me two hours per trip from Hong Kong to Shenzhen office). Anyway to cut a long story short, I joined Cayin on early July and I shall look after their marketing function outside Mainland China. I probably shall involve in new product development later but right now my focus in on the DAP, DAC and headphone amplifiers scheduled to launch in the next few months.

I have enjoyed my honey moon with Cayin and picking up their technologies and product development process gradually, the Hong Kong Show is the first event that I shouldered and we are looking for more opportunities to meet with fellow headfiers in subsequent events and exhibitions. A glimpse in my wish list suggested that the next potential opening will be end of September at you-know-where

，I shall keep you all informed when I have a firmed plan on hand, so please stay tuned for that.

 

 
Welcome aboard, @Andykong. Look forward to news from you on the various Cayin threads.

 

[twister6]

 

No kidding! The danger is forgetting that you switched over to LO, plugging in some headphones, and getting a nasty surprise when you get full volume through your HP - or worse yet, your highly sensitive, low impedance IEM

Cayin handled the shared HO/LO output through an user-control parameter at the Setup Menu. This is the screen cap (from my mobile) on the latest, pre-released firmware.



So the user will need to manually select the output mode in the menu. We believe this is more flexible and sounds better then auto-detect feature as by no means adding more sensor into the circuit might introduced minor but possibly audible inference. We are not worrying about switching from LO to PO even with highly sensible IEMs. This is because the N5 (and in fact this applied to N6 as well) line out is far from a simple full-power output, the functional diagram which I am preparing will suggested that the LO has skipped the voltage amplification and headphone amplification completely, and the signal level will be lower then the PO mode significantly in most practical situation. We shall tested this in detail before we endorse the UI design officially, I just want everyone to know that Cayin understands the potential thread and is working hard to protect the best interest of our client.

Will keep everyone informed when we have finalized the UI by end of month.

 
Typically LO is an un-amplified DAC output, so if you previously selected LO as you play mode and the next day forgot about it and plugged in your headphones - wouldn't you get blasted with a full LO output into your headphones?  When you LO selected in FiiO DAPs, everytime you plug in a cable it warns you to make sure you are not pluging in headphones.  That warning is actually very helpful.

 

[nmatheis]

Typically LO is an un-amplified DAC output, so if you previously selected LO as you play mode and the next day forgot about it and plugged in your headphones - wouldn't you get blasted with a full LO output into your headphones?  When you LO selected in FiiO DAPs, everytime you plug in a cable it warns you to make sure you are not pluging in headphones.  That warning is actually very helpful.

I'm all for a warning before my eardrums implode :eek:

 

[Vartan]

Welcome Andykong!!!

 

[Andykong]

Welcome to the new role Andykong!

Are you going to be one of Cayin's headfi ambassadors?

Many thanks. Yes, I shall be the flying man in the team, judging by the growing frequency of HeadFi event, my mileage probably will be building up pretty quickly soon.

Welcome aboard, @Andykong
. Look forward to news from you on the various Cayin threads.

Indeed, looking forwards to take meeting all the Cayin friends down the road, we couldn't have reach this far without everyone's contribution.

Welcome Andykong!!!

Nice to meet you Vartan, I assume you read Chinese, so we probably can chat in Chinese via PM if you have any question regarding Cayin's products, keep in touch.

 

[Andykong]

Andy, is there a reason why KEF M500 on Cayin display?

Also, can you please post a few pictures of N5 right next to N6, for comparison of overall size and thickness?  Thanks!!!

The lighting at our rooms is far from satisfactory, so taking good photo will be a problem, I'll need to take the DAP to a brighter location to do good compare shoots. I probably will keep one demo unit in Shenzhen for another day or two after the show, and I can do these photo easily by that time.

Our Hong Kong dealer is putting up combo sales on N6 with KEF, so we have a few KEF headphone around. I find that very useful as the HK AV Show is a very crowded event, so using IEM will be a bit of clumsy as we need to clean the IEM after every visitor. We are sharing a room with a traditional HiFi system, so the closed back KEF M500 is actually a better choice against open cans in our room.

 

[Andykong]

Typically LO is an un-amplified DAC output, so if you previously selected LO as you play mode and the next day forgot about it and plugged in your headphones - wouldn't you get blasted with a full LO output into your headphones?  When you LO selected in FiiO DAPs, everytime you plug in a cable it warns you to make sure you are not pluging in headphones.  That warning is actually very helpful.

I'm all for a warning before my eardrums implode :eek:

Trust me, the output from LO mode is significantly lower then the PO even at a relatively low volume setting. I suggest you can try this out staring with some not-so-sensitive IEM with N6 if you have these around. Start with something that require around Vol. 30-40 at Low Gain and plug into the LO, and you can experience how low the sound level will be, by then you probably will be more confident in trying out the LO with more sensitive IEM as well.

Yes, I have tried that myself. I can't speak for other DAP, but with N6 and the forthcoming N5, this should be the case.

 

[BartSimpson1976]

will there be a proper leather case with the N5 in the box?
I assume there will be no aftermarket cases later on from any maker.