[miceblue]

 
Hi everyone, we've been talking to quite a few potential new N6 owners who are still unsure of how awesome this player really is. 

Have any of the other vendors offered to throw a unit around for a tour? 

We are willing to provide one unit for US/Canada.

So, @EmpJ
 messaged me today and it looks like a CTC Audio "Tour de North America" (Canada and the Lower 48 United States) is in the cards for the Cayin N6. We're still ironing out details, but if you're interested in joining the tour, register your interest in this thread by April 15th, agree to the conditions below, and we'll make decisions on a participant list and route at the end of next week.

1) Need to have been a member of Head-Fi since at least the end of 2014.
2) Should have 100 posts or more.
3) Prefer participants who have written reviews in the past and are familiar with the review system.
4) Each participant gets to keep the unit for 7 days, and will then forward it to the next participant at their own cost.
5) Packages must be sent tracked and fully insured (this is not a cheap product).
6) Reviews can appear on the Cayin N6 review thread on the Head Gear page, and we'll start a new Forum thread as well to collect reviews from tour members once they start trickling in.
7) Honour system is king. Don't mess it up for the rest.

Those who've requested to join the tour so far are:

Canada: @peareye
, @150dB
, @x RELIC x
, @Chris J
, @Peter West

USA: @Cotnijoe
, @alpha421
, @nmatheis
, @Ivabign
, @Barra
, @olddude
, @shotgunshane


I'll add to this list as requests come in, and will update this post when the tour list is finalized. Cheers.

Oh, this sounds like an exciting opportunity! I'd like to be a part of the tour and I agree to the terms stated above.

 

[EmpJ]

@miceblue  Where are you based? 

 

[miceblue]

@miceblue
  Where are you based? 

Doh, I forgot to include that.

I'm in the Seattle, Washington area in the USA.

 

[EmpJ]

Doh, I forgot to include that.

I'm in the Seattle, Washington area in the USA.

 
Okay, sure no problem. I'm officially cutting off applications from this point on. As much as we want as many people to try the product, we don't want people at the end of the list to be waiting half a year...lol. 
 
Thanks for all the interest. 

 

[hakushondaimao]

   
Okay, sure no problem. I'm officially cutting off applications from this point on. As much as we want as many people to try the product, we don't want people at the end of the list to be waiting half a year...lol. 
 
Thanks for all the interest. 

Thanks @EmpJ, and welcome aboard @miceblue (will message you later this evening).

 

[miceblue]

Thanks @EmpJ, and welcome aboard @miceblue (will message you later this evening).

Ah, thanks for that; and thank you to EmpJ for including me in the tour! I didn't realise that the cut-off date was actually yesterday.

 

[hakushondaimao]

Ah, thanks for that; and thank you to EmpJ for including me in the tour! I didn't realise that the cut-off was actually yesterday.

 
MICEblue just SQUEAKED in... 

 

 

[nmatheis]

Oh so punny!

 

[twister6]

Congrats to all those selected for Cayin N6 tour.  You are in for ONE BIG TREAT

 

[Chodi]

Without reading through this entire thread I would like to ask is this Cayin dap has an asio driver supplied for the usb connection to a windows computer?

 

[hakushondaimao]

  Without reading through this entire thread I would like to ask is this Cayin dap has an asio driver supplied for the usb connection to a windows computer?

Quote from @twister6's review of the N6: "Furthermore, besides being a standalone digital audio player, N6 also functions as an asynchronous USB DAC which you can connect to your laptop or computer to turn N6 into an external sound card.  One thing you need to know, the internal memory of N6 has a zip file with all the necessary drivers to setup the connection.  Once installation is complete, moving forward it’s a simple plug'n'play operation as long as you have DAC mode enabled in your System setting of N6."
 
Check out his excellent review here.

 

[miceblue]

Quote from @twister6
's review of the N6: "Furthermore, besides being a standalone digital audio player, N6 also functions as an asynchronous USB DAC which you can connect to your laptop or computer to turn N6 into an external sound card.  One thing you need to know, the internal memory of N6 has a zip file with all the necessary drivers to setup the connection.  Once installation is complete, moving forward it’s a simple plug'n'play operation as long as you have DAC mode enabled in your System setting of N6."

Check out his excellent review here.

Right, but since the N6 can play DSD files, ASIO drivers would be required for DSD and 24/96+ playback in Windows, which is what Chodi was asking about. Is there a download link for these drivers?

 

[hakushondaimao]

Right, but since the N6 can play DSD files, ASIO drivers would be required for DSD and 24/96+ playback in Windows, which is what Chodi was asking about. Is there a download link for these drivers?

Not sure. I'm a Mac guy. Maybe @EmpJ will know?

 

[Chodi]

Right, but since the N6 can play DSD files, ASIO drivers would be required for DSD and 24/96+ playback in Windows, which is what Chodi was asking about. Is there a download link for these drivers?

Yep, that was my question. While were at it, has anyone compared this sound of the N6 to some really high end dap's like the ak240 or the Chord? I know they are different price points but that does not make the comparison invalid.

 

[bluesaint]

  Yep, that was my question. While were at it, has anyone compared this sound of the N6 to some really high end dap's like the ak240 or the Chord? I know they are different price points but that does not make the comparison invalid.

The driver for windows is in the root of the N6 internal memory. it's a zip file.  Keep in mind it only supports DSD 64 as USB DAC at this point.  They are working on enabling DSD 128.
If you go back 3-4 pages on this thread, i compared it against AK240, and N6 holds it own just fine, and infact, has a better sound stage than the AK240 by a healthy portion.  
 
For Mac, just plug it in and coreaudio will work.