Cayin N5ii Android based Master Quality Digital Audio Player

[PlaZid]

I have no sound in mixcloud. How to solve a problem?
Firmware version 1.4en. In the foobar2000 and Neutron sound works.

 

[AndroidVageta]

After a lot of research I have sort of dwindled my DAP choice down to this as far as features/price goes. Sabre based is a requirement for sure as well.

So do we have a general consensus on this thing? Pro reviews look rather decent but Amazon reviews paint a pretty mixed bag of reliability, software bugs, etc. I mainly plan to use it for local SD music of the more MP3 variety and USB DAC for my PC.

Anyways, I guess just a yes or no if I should get one lol! Thanks!

 

[Metalomaniac]

After a lot of research I have sort of dwindled my DAP choice down to this as far as features/price goes. Sabre based is a requirement for sure as well.

So do we have a general consensus on this thing? Pro reviews look rather decent but Amazon reviews paint a pretty mixed bag of reliability, software bugs, etc. I mainly plan to use it for local SD music of the more MP3 variety and USB DAC for my PC.

Anyways, I guess just a yes or no if I should get one lol! Thanks!

For your use my main concern would be the weak and plastic 3.5mm jack, which I doubt will last for years in regular use. Some have had it fail after a few months, and mine is considerably looser after 8 months, and I try to minimize insertions. But there's the 2.5mm as backup for when it fails.

UX is pretty bad, but that's mainly for Spotify use. For Mp3s it's not awful. Buggy software, sure, and Cayin sometimes gives weird or no reasoning for retaining "features, not bugs."

Apparently the audio quality can't be beat for the price, and it's definitely good enough for me.

 

[AndroidVageta]

For your use my main concern would be the weak and plastic 3.5mm jack, which I doubt will last for years in regular use. Some have had it fail after a few months, and mine is considerably looser after 8 months, and I try to minimize insertions. But there's the 2.5mm as backup for when it fails.

UX is pretty bad, but that's mainly for Spotify use. For Mp3s it's not awful. Buggy software, sure, and Cayin sometimes gives weird or no reasoning for retaining "features, not bugs."

Apparently the audio quality can't be beat for the price, and it's definitely good enough for me.

I bought one anyways...$259 with a free leather case new from MusicTeck is an offer I can almost resell and make my money back if I don't like it lol.

And yeah the limitations and issues are worrying...know of any tutorials on how to open this? Maybe a bit of epoxy to reinforce the headphone jacks perhaps? Outside that not seeing a lot of other hardware issues (crappy screen perhaps?).

 

[CayinSupport]

I have no sound in mixcloud. How to solve a problem?
Firmware version 1.4en. In the foobar2000 and Neutron sound works.

Hi, does mixcloud work on your cell phone? Could you please send your mixcloud apk to community@cayin.cn to me for a test?

 

[PlaZid]

Hi, does mixcloud work on your cell phone? Could you please send your mixcloud apk to community@cayin.cn to me for a test?

Yes, mixcloud works on Nokia 6. I downloaded this application from Google Play Market. I don't know how to get apk file.

 

[alter4]

About noise in headphones when player is loading, to Whom It May Concern I can provide the following facts.
1) Firmware 1.4 makes things better - less hiss is audible.
2) My Falcon C - high sensitivity, low impedance, mostly affected by issue.
2) Xiaomi Mi In-Ear Pro HD - average sensitivity, 32ohm impedance, affected by issue but just 1 second hiss.
2) Audio-Technica ATH-M50x- average sensitivity, 40ohm impedance, hardly audible.

So the issue is audible with My Falcon C those are really super sensitive ones, but they sound great even with my phone so I an fine.

 

[bluewrecK]

About noise in headphones when player is loading, to Whom It May Concern I can provide the following facts.
1) Firmware 1.4 makes things better - less hiss is audible.
2) My Falcon C - high sensitivity, low impedance, mostly affected by issue.
2) Xiaomi Mi In-Ear Pro HD - average sensitivity, 32ohm impedance, affected by issue but just forMy f second hiss.
2) Audio-Technica ATH-M50x- average sensitivity, 40ohm impedance, hardly audible.

So the issue is audible with My Falcon C those are really super sensitive ones, but they sound great even with my phone so I an fine.

I have the same issue with my massdrop+ iems(10ohms) which are very sensitive as well. I've noticed running it in audio priority mode reduces it more, but when streaming it's really noticeable. I also have a 3.5 TRRS cable I use through a 2.5 TRRS adapter with the same issue.

I don't have this issue through my HD6xx or HD58x.. All 3 setups running out of balanced 2.5 so it does seem isolated to very sensitive IEMS which is surprising since the output impedance is 0.6ohms.

Edit: I'm using N5iiS

 

[KuroKitsu]

I have the same issue with my massdrop+ iems(10ohms) which are very sensitive as well. I've noticed running it in audio priority mode reduces it more, but when streaming it's really noticeable. I also have a 3.5 TRRS cable I use through a 2.5 TRRS adapter with the same issue.

I don't have this issue through my HD6xx or HD58x.. All 3 setups running out of balanced 2.5 so it does seem isolated to very sensitive IEMS which is surprising since the output impedance is 0.6ohms.
.

Most likely not OI related if it matches with the 1/8th. The noise floor can also cause hiss. The problem is that there is no standard in how that can be quantified making its inclusion in specs useless.

 

[bluewrecK]

Most likely not OI related if it matches with the 1/8th. The noise floor can also cause hiss. The problem is that there is no standard in how that

Agreed, but something had to change. Colors had the exact same setup not too long ago and did not have any issues from what I remember? He was using the N5ii+massdrop iem+Ares 2.5 cable, but I don't think there should be a difference with the cable from my testing.

If anything, N5iiS should have a more black background with the internal hardware update.

 

[SusanoO]

Dear Susan, did you put dual cards into the N5ii? If yes, this problem is a known issue and you can see our reply here:https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cay...tal-audio-player.862763/page-73#post-13991523
By the way, I understand your frustration but still appreciate your patience and kindness! We are still trying our best to work on our firmware. Hopefully the problems can be settled quickly. Finger crossed!

Just for the record, this is SusanoO (in reference to the anime Naruto ), but thanks for the reply @CayinSupport !
As an update to my issues, after the FW 3.6en got released, what I did was a factory reset of my N5ii, reformatted my two TF cards (1 Sandisk Ultra 128Gb and 1 Samsung Evo 128Gb) to FAT32 (32kb allocation unit size), reinstalled both Tidal and Spotify, as well as Rocket Music Player.
I logged in to all my accounts (Google, Spotify, Tidal), and set up Spotify to have it save my downloaded songs to one of the TF cards. I also put some of my music (some 10Gb or so) on the other TF card.
I am happy to report that after doing all that, the player now seems to work perfectly (both music from the TF, as well as Tidal and Spotify online and offline), the only thing that I sometimes experience is a little sluggishness, but not too bad, so I am fine with it.
So far I tried my Fiio FH1 (only one I have with a 2.5 balanced cable), and my Fostex TX-0 from Massdrop. Used both at middle gain and slow roll-off settings and they do sound great, lots of detail and clarity (coming from a Cayin N3).
I still need to try my others (Sennheiser HD6XX, 1More triple driver earphones and over-ear headphones, Magaosi K3 Pro, M&D MH30) to see which pairing is best.
Only thing I would probably like is a little more bass (as I listen to a lot of hip hop), will try to see what I get from pairing with my Cayin C5 DAC/Amp, but I wanted to keep it as a very portable rig, so maybe I should look into buying good basshead earphones!
Any suggestion regarding that? Maybe something like Basso IT-01 / Dunu Falcon C / Massdrop + IEM? Not sure if any would be better to what I already have with regards to bass.
Might need to sell some of my older stuff to make some money for that!!! Willing to get rid of my Cayin C5, Cayin N3, Topping NX1s, Philips Fidelio L1/28, AKG K7XX if anyone is interested.

Thanks again @CayinSupport for the new FW release, I am now very pleased to be using my N5ii and fully enjoy its amazing SQ!

Best wishes to all!!!

 

[KuroKitsu]

Agreed, but something had to change. Colors had the exact same setup not too long ago and did not have any issues from what I remember? He was using the N5ii+massdrop iem+Ares 2.5 cable, but I don't think there should be a difference with the cable from my testing.

If anything, N5iiS should have a more black background with the internal hardware update.

I havent seen any N5iis reviews indicating whether it hisses with senstive IEMs tbh. I know that N5ii did have some hiss.

Im terms of hiss, it's always subjective to the person. Some can deal with it some can't. Case in point, I just upgraded to the AK SE100 and I just couldnt make it hiss when I demo'd it with the Zeus R which is in the high end of senstivity. I did some late night listening when my house was dead silent and it was only if I played something and turned the volume down to 0 that it hissed, which to be honest would normally not happen.

 

[SoundDouble]

Just picked up a n5ii, as a gift, and loving the sound. Updated to latest firmware and just one sdcard for now.
I don't plan on using the bluetooth really, since my htc supports aptx, aac, and ldac out. But again the dap sounds so much better wired.

Only annoyance for me is the pause delay.

Edit: I had to disable protected management frames on my wifi router in order for the dap to connect. I have seen this before on a tablet.

 

[darkwing]

I have a hiss with the DM6 too, it is a high sensitivity iem, just bought an IEmatch

 

[Colors]

I havent seen any N5iis reviews indicating whether it hisses with senstive IEMs tbh. I know that N5ii did have some hiss.

Im terms of hiss, it's always subjective to the person. Some can deal with it some can't. Case in point, I just upgraded to the AK SE100 and I just couldnt make it hiss when I demo'd it with the Zeus R which is in the high end of senstivity. I did some late night listening when my house was dead silent and it was only if I played something and turned the volume down to 0 that it hissed, which to be honest would normally not happen.

The N5ii definitely hisses with sensitive IEMs. Hence, why I got a XDP-300R.

For example, Andromeda, Orion, Supra-II, ESR, Apollo, Hermes and Zeus definitely hissed with it. EE BA's and the mentioned CA BA's are particularly prone to hisses and I definitely noticed them in the background using a the lowest gain. Haven't tried with any new updates yet (I have 3.6EN installed).