Cayin N6 - New Audiophile DAP (Updated with new pics)
Sep 20, 2014 at 5:06 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 166

kova4a

Headphoneus Supremus
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Apparently, it was time to make a thread for the new kid on the block - Cayin N6.
Sayin say that the N6 was inspired by turntables and vinyls.
 

Apparently, the people at Cayin don't want to fool people with imitations, so the back of the N6 will be actual carbon fiber.
 



 
 





 












 
 
 
 
The screen is 2.4 inches IPS (Sharp) with 400 x 360 resolution.
[size=12.8000001907349px]The CPU will be dual-core XBurst at 576mhz. [/size]
[size=12.8000001907349px]In the new pics can be seen that apparently the N6 uses the Ingenic JZ4650B cpu like fiio X5.[/size]
8GB internal memory and a microSD slot.
Cayin N6 will have two TI PCM1792A chips running in mono - one for each channel. 
N6 will double as an 24/192 asynchronous USB DAC.
 
Supported files.

 
N6 will support native DSD playback

 



 
 
 
 
 
The announcement video (give it some time to load) http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzgyODYwNDgw.html
The pricing hasn't been announced yet but they used something like "good sound, honest price" as a tagline, so hopefully it won't be too high.
 
I will add more pics and info later.
 
Sep 20, 2014 at 5:06 AM Post #2 of 166
- DSD playback and DSD native output.
- Seperate crystals for 44.1 kHz PCM, 48kHz PCM and DSD to reduce the crosstalk from the clock signal and decrease jitter.
- Support high performance Asynchronous USB Audio 2.0.
- Dual PCM1792A DAC chips from Texas Instruments are used for highest sound quality. Each chip for each channel converts the digital signal to analog signal.
- MCU can judge from the playback situation and give order to setup PCM1792A at its best listening situation. PCM1792A can work in both PCM and DSD operation state. It can switch between different modes and realize DSD native decoding and playback.
- Volume control takes high performance volume chip PGA2311 from Texas Instrument.
- N6 comes with three output ports: headphone out, line out and coaxial digital output.
- Apart from connecting directly to headphones, you can also connect it to other DACs and amps.
- Dual BUF634 with a driving capacity of 250mA are used for headphone drive.
- Seperate power supply circuit for the Digital and Analogue ciruict.
- Precise I/V conversion circuit, low pass filter circuit and high performance amplification circuit.
- Build in battery with capacity of 3.7V 5600mAh.
- 8GB internal storage with one extra TF card slot.
 
Sep 20, 2014 at 6:12 AM Post #3 of 166
Carbon fiber just makes it look more silly, maybe their design team is unfamiliar with DAP's, What I've seen the C5 and stuff have classic nice look, but this is some weird attempt at a very current look, when the outcome is a prop from a futuristic film made in the 70s.
 
Not that it matters... it's fun to criticize... and I kinda like the tackiness of it...
 
Sep 20, 2014 at 9:10 AM Post #4 of 166
  Carbon fiber just makes it look more silly, maybe their design team is unfamiliar with DAP's, What I've seen the C5 and stuff have classic nice look, but this is some weird attempt at a very current look, when the outcome is a prop from a futuristic film made in the 70s.
 
Not that it matters... it's fun to criticize... and I kinda like the tackiness of it...

 
I think Cayin is going for a classic-modern look using a mix of different elements to really stand out from the crowd, though carbon fiber back is a direct shot at AK-series
wink.gif
  With it's dual DAC architecture, I wonder if they are targeting AK120 crowd.
 
Sep 20, 2014 at 12:17 PM Post #6 of 166
  I hope the price will be competitive.

 
Curious, what is a price range you would consider as competitive?  After X5 ($350), I thought Hidizs AP100 price of $300 was very competitive and reasonable since they were on a similar level.  Even DX90 is for sale at $360 now  With N6, I keep thinking of a higher sound quality level.  AK120 cost $1k while AK120II cost $1.7k.  Perhaps 1/2 of original AK120 might be a reasonable/competitive pricing?  What do you think?  Hopefully Cayin is reading this thread
biggrin.gif

 
Sep 20, 2014 at 12:44 PM Post #7 of 166
   
Curious, what is a price range you would consider as competitive?  After X5 ($350), I thought Hidizs AP100 price of $300 was very competitive and reasonable since they were on a similar level.  Even DX90 is for sale at $360 now  With N6, I keep thinking of a higher sound quality level.  AK120 cost $1k while AK120II cost $1.7k.  Perhaps 1/2 of original AK120 might be a reasonable/competitive pricing?  What do you think?  Hopefully Cayin is reading this thread
biggrin.gif

Well, they mentioned somewhere that they won't be competing with the AK DAPs, so we can assume it will be less than $1k 
biggrin.gif
. Now, as much as everyone wants it to be a $300 DAP, the more expensive parts and stuff like carbon fiber will drive the price higher. Hopefully they'll announce the price soon as right now we can only guess and wishful thinking can be our enemy but I wouldn't mind if they manage to keep the price at 500 bucks or below 
rolleyes.gif

 
Sep 24, 2014 at 10:49 AM Post #11 of 166
  updated with new pics of the internals.

 
I see they're no longer have white-wires, which means that hopefully pwb (printed wiring board) artwork has been finalized and updated to incorporate the fixes
wink.gif
  Looks like they are moving to a final production build!
 
Sep 24, 2014 at 10:57 AM Post #12 of 166
Hmmm dual PCM Dacs chips for each channel, I wonder if it'll out perform the 1704 I've got in my hm801 [with 2 running in dual mono it might] consider me interested. Just wish it didn't have that round face :\ 
 
Sep 24, 2014 at 11:47 AM Post #13 of 166
  Hmmm dual PCM Dacs chips for each channel, I wonder if it'll out perform the 1704 I've got in my hm801 [with 2 running in dual mono it might] consider me interested. Just wish it didn't have that round face :\ 

 
I'm actually a bit surprised with dual PCM DACs they don't offer a balanced headphone mode option.  Or maybe it's a feature to be announced.  Would have loved to try my RE400B on something beside HM700 (don't have any other hifiman daps).
 
With round face, the display is still square, just a round design detail of the case body.  I think it goes along with a scrolling "round" navigation wheel.  Would be curious what kind of a design they are going to come up with for a protective case to fit this shape.  Considering retro look of C5 amp, I guess N6 is another example of a design to stand out from the crowd, though I put sound quality and ergonomics of controls at the top of my priority list.
 

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