[jeffhawke]

Check @PinkyPowers post at the very beginning of this thread

 

[Makiah S]

Ahh cool an Essabre implementation

 

[Ultrainferno]

that's pretty competitive, do we know what chipsets are used internally?

Yeah, the full Design Block Diagram is in my hands right now.

 

[jeffhawke]

Mind sharing it? Thanks

 

[Ultrainferno]

Mind sharing it? Thanks

That's up to Andy.

 

[jeffhawke]

For more detail of line out feature of N5ii, I'll publish a functional diagram of N5ii before end of month, we should be able to explain this in more detail later.

I thought it was already in the public domain

 

[technobear]

How is the battery life?

On page one, it says 'about 12 hours'. That doesn't fill me with confidence that the N5ii will have a very long service life before it can no longer get through a day. I expect to be still using my Plenue D in 10 years time! I'm not up for paying $400 for a device that will be ready for the trash can in 2 years or less.

How much time can I expect playing Red Book FLACS with Wifi OFF and screen mostly OFF using 106dB/mW IEMs?

 

[Makiah S]

How is the battery life?

On page one, it says 'about 12 hours'. That doesn't fill me with confidence that the N5ii will have a very long service life before it can no longer get through a day. I expect to be still using my Plenue D in 10 years time! I'm not up for paying $400 for a device that will be ready for the trash can in 2 years or less.

How much time can I expect playing Red Book FLACS with Wifi OFF and screen mostly OFF using 106dB/mW IEMs?

I imagine longevity is in the mind of not only Cayin but hopefully all Hi-Fi manufacturers when building and designing a DAP. They aren't like cell phones that start to die after 2 years.

To prove that end I've had an HM 601 and HM 901 for 3+ years now with NO changes in battery life. You've all heard the stories of Hifiman's Build quality, but even with their glaring faults in physical interface, both the hm601 and 901 have held up well over the years! No change in battery life or responsiveness of the physical buttons.

Again I have no doubts that Cayin, whose N3 was built impeccably, have designed this to last for a while.

 

[Andykong]

Shhhhhh!
Now they'll raise the prize!

I wasn't aware a price had been finalized yet.

Well, if I get the mathematics right, I assume @Ultrainferno means the N5ii can be priced at US$800, am I correct?

 

[jeffhawke]

Well, if I get the mathematics right, I assume @Ultrainferno means the N5ii can be priced at HUS$800, am I correct?

What's HUS$? "Head-fi US$"?

 

[Andykong]

that's pretty competitive, do we know what chipsets are used internally?

One piece of ESS9018K2M as DAC chipset.

Give us sometime and we'll publish a detail design framework. I was told by a trusted reviewer that Cayin is the only DAP brand that will publish a schematic level block diagram, so we are famous for being transparent in our choice of chipsets and components. Cayin believes the implementation and fine tuning is our core competence. We don't mind if a competitor wants to adopt the same set of components because we are confident that they can't achieve the same quality and sound signature.

 

[Andykong]

What's HUS$? "Head-fi US$"?

Good, someone is reading my post carefully.

 

[jeffhawke]

How is the battery life?

On page one, it says 'about 12 hours'. That doesn't fill me with confidence that the N5ii will have a very long service life before it can no longer get through a day. I expect to be still using my Plenue D in 10 years time! I'm not up for paying $400 for a device that will be ready for the trash can in 2 years or less.

How much time can I expect playing Red Book FLACS with Wifi OFF and screen mostly OFF using 106dB/mW IEMs?

An AK70 (MkI or II) has a battery life, as indicated in many reviews, of about 13 hours (as long as you don't stream on WiFi, in which case it's much less). It costs approx. twice as much as the N5II. I don't think anyone would be throwing an AK70 in the trash after 2 years, or an N5II, for that matter...

 

[Andykong]

How is the battery life?

On page one, it says 'about 12 hours'. That doesn't fill me with confidence that the N5ii will have a very long service life before it can no longer get through a day. I expect to be still using my Plenue D in 10 years time! I'm not up for paying $400 for a device that will be ready for the trash can in 2 years or less.

How much time can I expect playing Red Book FLACS with Wifi OFF and screen mostly OFF using 106dB/mW IEMs?

Our preliminary test suggested that N5ii can last 12 hours on 3.5mm output and just over 9 hours on 2.5mm output.

In our experience, the sensitivity of headphone is not crucial in duration test, keep the screen off, disable WiFi and Bluetooth are more significant. Choice of file format will also affect the duration, obvious I refer to MP3 being more battery friendly and DSD128 is relatively battery hungry.

 

[Makiah S]

One piece of ESS9018K2M as DAC chipset.

Give us sometime and we'll publish a detail design framework. I was told by a trusted reviewer that Cayin is the only DAP brand that will publish a schematic level block diagram, so we are famous for being transparent in our choice of chipsets and components. Cayin believes the implementation and fine tuning is our core competence. We don't mind if a competitor wants to adopt the same set of components because we are confident that they can't achieve the same quality and sound signature.

That's true for any one, using a single ESS9018 chipset gives me a very basic idea of the sound, I'm farmillar with how the ESSSabre family of chips renders, an frankly I prefer it over the AKM 499XX that seem so popular these days, but just as and if not more important than the DAC are the opAmps used as well as the design of the circuit as a whole AND on top of ALL of that is the Firmware! So everything kinda works together, knowing the Dac and OPamps kinda let's me know what... signature to expect but non of the details or specifics can be assumed as implementation really is everything

An speaking of... I really need to give the N6 a listen! I love the PCM chip set family, much more than anything I've heard from ESS Sabre BurrBrown or AKM