[musicday]

Shakur1996 try Tera Player if you haven't seen it yet.Battery life best and sound amazing if you can afford it.

 

[Andykong]

Nope, I don't have DSD libary and I don't plan to have one. Only 16bit/44.1kHz FLAC files.

In that case, N6 is a better DX100 replacement for you, IMHO.

I said this because I am in similar situation, Red book audio files are and will be dominated my music library.

 

[shakur1996]

Shakur1996 try Tera Player if you haven't seen it yet.Battery life best and sound amazing if you can afford it.

I'm fully aware of this player but it is too expensive for me and I have limited funds to be used for audio. So I prefer to invest in a TOTL CIEM than in expensive DAP.
Although I would love to listen to Terra I don't think it would fully match my preferences. I prefer open, airy, balanced sound over warm, organic sound.

 

[shakur1996]

In that case, N6 is a better DX100 replacement for you, IMHO.

I said this because I am in similar situation, Red book audio files are and will be dominated my music library.

I was very excited about N6 but when I saw your pictures it seems to me that it just a tad less bulky than dx100. For me, player on the go must have dimensions not larger than FiiO X5 or iBasso dx90.

 

[shakur1996]

Andykong, one more thing. You wrote in one of your posts that N6 is not the best sounding DAP because this goes to Lotoo PAW Gold.
 
Does this Lotoo beats dx100 as well?
 
In what way Lotoo is better from dx100 and N6?

 

[Andykong]

Shakur1996 try Tera Player if you haven't seen it yet.Battery life best and sound amazing if you can afford it.

I'm fully aware of this player but it is too expensive for me and I have limited funds to used for audio. So I prefer to invest in a TOTL CIEM than in expensive DAP.
Although I would love to listen to Terra I don't think it wouls fully match my preferences. I prefer open, airy, balanced sound over warm, organic sound.

I have always been interested in the Tera Player, but the chance to test it in Hong Kong is just unlikely.

I can assume it sounds fabulous, but I can't figure out how can I move around folders or pick a song correctly. I can easily store 5000 songs into a 128G SD card, and that probably means 300+ folders (one folder per album), steering around the SD card without a screen is beyond my imagination.

 

[Andykong]

I was very excited about N6 but when I saw your pictures it seems to me that it just a tad less bulky than dx100. For me, player on the go must have dimensions not larger than FiiO X5 or iBasso dx90.

Well, looks like your requirements are:
(1) on pair in the sound performance with dx100
(2) 8+ hours battery life, 10 is even better
(3) Size of X5 or DX90
(4) inexpensive

May I ask what headphone/IEMs you are using or plan to buy?

I really can't think of anything that will fit all the bills, even the forthcoming Fiio X7 or the long awaited DX100 successor will unlikely satisfy all the requirements. Maybe this is possible if you are using a really easy loaded IEMs such as Weston W4r or TF10 etc, but I guess when you are addicted to DX100, your probably will be using more demanding IEMs then these.

I do hope you find your DX100 replacement as that will likely be something that attracted me as well. Life is full of compromise, especially when financial resource is limited.

Andykong, one more thing. You wrote in one of your posts that N6 is not the best sounding DAP because this goes to Lotoo PAW Gold.

Does this Lotoo beats dx100 as well?

In what way Lotoo is better from dx100 and N6?

Lotoo is in par with DX100 even at default setting, the sound is balanced, and you can't fault the PCM1792 on resolution and musicality when it is executed correctly. It is one of the most powerful DAP on market and yet offer 10+ hours battery life.

On top of these, I am sure I can get better result after I mastered it PMEQ function. I have studio friend who explained to me how PMEQ works and how it different from the regular multi-band EQ. I am sure this is the end-game on portable digital music or HeadFi in general. With a speaker system, there are tons of trick that we can adopted to fine tune an audio system, correct speaker placement and room acoustic treatment played an important role but non of these are available with HeadFi hobby, which mean when we run into a mix and match problem, or when we have dips or peaks that we need to get rid of, EQ is the most effective or even the only solution. Being the only DAP comes with PMEQ, I'll definitely put the Paw Gold ahead of everything in terms of audio performance.

Unfortunately the PAW Gold is way beyond my budget, and I have some reservation on the form factor of the player. I want something thin that can put into jean pockets, I don't mind it being slightly longer or wider if it is slim enough, that's why I used to put Calyx M as my upper limit of DAP dimension.

 

[shakur1996]

Andykong, with DAP I'm using only CIEMs ie my current ones SE 5ways and coming soon Custom Art Harmony 8 Pro.

If FiiO X7 has SQ on pair with dx100 then it will tick all the boxes (according to the initial specs it should have dimensions of X5 and around 10hours of playtime and it will cost up to 700 USD).

 

[Andykong]

Andykong, with DAP I'm using only CIEMs ie my current ones SE 5ways and coming soon Custom Art Harmony 8 Pro.

If FiiO X7 has SQ on pair with dx100 then it will tick all the boxes (according to the initial specs it should have dimensions of X5 and around 10hours of playtime and it will cost up to 700 USD).

SE 5 ways is very uncommon in Hong Kong, so I didn't read a lot about this CIEM nor having any friends using it, I can't comment on the synergy of this CIEM with the DAPs we have discussed, but from what I read, this is a demanding IEM and you do need good power and control to handle it well, so if budget is tight, I think finding a capable DAP will not be easy.

I have no idea if X7 SQ will be on par with DX100, I like Fiio DAPs, but mainly because of it design and user interface. The modular design sure looks promising, so it is certainly something that I am looking forwards to but I won't put in a lot of expectation until I get to hear their first demo.

As X7 is still under development, the specification are subject to change. For example the latest update rated the X7 battery as > 8 hours instead of > 10 hours as stated previously. Regarding the size of X7, the latest update suggested that it is actually quite a bit bigger then X5. X5 is 114mm, X7 is 128mm (tentative), N6 is 126mm, so if size the your only concern with N6, please don't expect X7 will be that much smaller.

James said his current estimation is May 2015, and if that is ETA of first batch in China, that means July will be the time for X7 to be readily available in North America (with reference to the launch schedule of Fiio X5), so that is a long wait ahead. Since there are over 20 DAPs rolled out in 2014 already, so between N6 and X7, there might be more then 10 new DAPs surfaced, and I sure won't hold my 2014 purchase till Q3 of 2015.

 

[Andykong]

Cayin has displayed the production version N6 PCB and a more detail design framework, I'll see if I can translate the design framework into English later.



I have cross-examined the new board against the old board, there are significant improvement in workmanship, I'll put the top half of the two PCB side by side and you can check it out, I am not a PCB or DIY expert, so I can't compare if the circuit and components have been improved as well, if you are knowledgeable on this area, please feel free to comment.



Looks like the official announcement will be rolling out very soon, I am discussing with Thomas on the new specification right now, will post the revised figure later today or early tomorrow.

 

[Thomas Cayin]

Thank you, ANDY.
 
N6 will be formally sale price in China is RMB3799, the price in other overseas countries is $ 599, of course, perhaps because of the different national tax rates vary.
 
When looking N6 official release, there are more friends to share their feelings, this will be our CAYIN valuable asset.

 

[Luvdac]

Dear Andykong, thanks so much for all this great info. Did you by chance get to compare it to the ibasso dx90? Although the ibasso is limited in its playback of dsd files (it converts them to pcm 24/88 as far as I know) It would be interesting to note the sound differences as they both seem to be using the same dac chips......The cayin is almost twice the price, which begs the question is it almost twice as good....???

 

[Andykong]

Thank you, ANDY.

N6 will be formally sale price in China is RMB3799, the price in other overseas countries is $ 599, of course, perhaps because of the different national tax rates vary.

When looking N6 official release, there are more friends to share their feelings, this will be our CAYIN valuable asset.

Great, this is "official" leaking before the formal announcement, I am in, can't wait to lay my hand on my production version N6, this will be my best 2014 Christmas gift for sure. :atsmile:

 

[Mimouille]

Will the production version look any different from what we have seen so far?

 

[Thomas Cayin]

Will the production version look any different from what we have seen so far?

Of course, the details of the lens surface treatment and housing, we have to improve a lot.
 
At the same time, but also because ANDY and other testers, firmware version has been updated and solve all kinds of BUG, is now stable. Thank them very much.
 
The biggest difference from the sound performance, in fact, when we send out beta version, we do not raise hopes too much sound advice testers, because we think that is not the best we can achieve state, but the time, we need a lot of validation testing BUG, also in this case, N6 dedicated test machine from us.
 
The official version, we once again from the design architecture optimized for all hardware parts. And held in Guangzhou, China in November acoustic show by some people were listening, and certainly get their consistency.
 
I can't say N6 is a best DAP, but the sound performance, N6 represents our 21 years of the Hi-Fi understanding, I believe, N6 will be true, like the high-quality people who love music, this is also CAYIN goal has always been.