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Cayin N6ii, Unlimited Possibilities: a fully modularized smart DAP

Apr 28, 2021 at 10:28 AM Post #5,851 of 8,308
I was chatting me Liang from Cayin yesterday, and he sent me this pic, which means: Don’t trust whatever he says until the actual product is launched. 🤣
8570B13F-6E12-4840-AA51-1096A644B38C.png


He said he likes to have teasers before the product launches. However, the actual new product may be of a surprise and differ from what we think the teaser offers. :wink:

So, I probably need to retract my certainty for what the new products are. However, one thing is for sure, Cayin is planning on some interesting new products. We shall hopefully see them soon.
 
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Apr 28, 2021 at 1:57 PM Post #5,852 of 8,308
bluestorm1992 said:
I was chatting me Liang from Cayin yesterday, and he sent me this pic, which means: Don’t trust whatever he says until the actual product is launched. 🤣
8570B13F-6E12-4840-AA51-1096A644B38C.png

He said he likes to have teasers before the product launches. However, the actual new product may be of a surprise and differ from what we think the teaser offers. :wink:

So, I probably need to retract my certainty for what the new products are. However, one thing is for sure, Cayin is planning on some interesting new products. We shall hopefully see them soon.
Click to expand...
So not a CS DAC then, perhaps an R2R DAC with balanced tube output stage. :)
 
Apr 30, 2021 at 10:06 PM Post #5,853 of 8,308
20210501_092349_HDR.jpg


@Andykong I would like to propose something to Cayin. Would it be possible for you to reach out to Master Three Stone? the legendary amp maker of MiniBox E+. The last I read about him was his service and expertise being utilized by Hifiman to produce their range of MiniBox Amp Cards for their line of modular DAPs. I believe he's based in Shenzen?

Well as you see in the pic above, finally I was able to mate my Cayin N6ii E02 with the venerable MiniBox E+ with my custom SPC DIY 4.4mm to 3.5mm SE Interconnect. And man, I am completely blown out by the results of this pairing. Suffice to say, they outclassed my Desktop setup of ASIO > Topping D10s (ES9038Q2M) > Topping A50s by some respectable margin. And bear in mind the A50s is a 3500mW x2 super clean, transparent and vibrant powerhouse, yet this N6ii with MiniBox E+ clearly tops that (and I set the LO gain at Low!).

I must say this is the best output I have ever heard from portable devices. My Etymotic ER4SR was able to capitalize on the juicy quality of the output to the fullest extend. What excite me the most was how audibly pronounced the Micro and Macro details with razor sharp precision and articulation from low to mids to highs, all equally presented in the most neutral manner possible yet retaining velvety finesse that's nowhere being sibilant or peaky. And the texture/layering were outright delicious for the senses to savor with deep bass extension and engaging mids that's well placed not to be too frontal. And the highs! the highs....my favorite....so resolving sparkly and yet very analogue in tonality, doesn't sound artificial at all.

If I may say this, the true power of E02 board has been unleashed and I am assuming that the bottleneck for it is the Opamps stage?. But honestly I did not see it that way before this as I have always been wowed by E02 as a whole, it is just with the pairing to an exceptional external amp like the MiniBox E+, any remaining restraint are unlocked no matter how small the restraints were.

Hence the thought that perhaps Cayin should collaborate with Master Three Stone himself and develop a new DAC/AMP board for the N6ii. And I am aware similar results could still be achieved with N6ii A02 + C9 however I am not a fan of Tube amps or clunky stacks. So perhaps it is entirely possible to concoct a compact SS solution on the DAC/Amp board itself. Pretty plleeassseeeee:ksc75smile:
 
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May 3, 2021 at 3:50 PM Post #5,854 of 8,308
Hey guys, sorry If I just rudely ask right away instead of reading the 400 pages.
How good is the N6ii?
Also does it offer any EQ options?

I came here After seeing the new A&K Se180, which has a similar modular Design.
 
May 3, 2021 at 4:31 PM Post #5,855 of 8,308
ThanatosVI said:
Hey guys, sorry If I just rudely ask right away instead of reading the 400 pages.
How good is the N6ii?
Also does it offer any EQ options?

I came here After seeing the new A&K Se180, which has a similar modular Design.
Click to expand...
How good? about the very best you can spend on $1300 for a totally competent DAP that have so many options. Yes A&K finally catching up offering DAC/Amp swappable module but N6ii has been doing it for a while and soon we will have 6 modules to choose from. On top of that A&K will be asking for $200 more for the base unit which offers only single DAC/Amp solution. So the choice between N6ii or A&K SE180 boils down to a few things, for one you cannot deny the flashy fashionable nature of A&K, the Prada of audio world. But if you fancy a DAP that's built like a tank with industrial black look and feel, then N6ii is the obvious choice. As I said above, N6ii have the potential and capability to rival even some desktop setup and I am saying this from experience - no no worries on quality there

EDIT:
And yes being an Android device Cayin includes EQ option, even if I never use it. Good to have
 
May 3, 2021 at 4:44 PM Post #5,856 of 8,308
OspreyAndy said:
How good? about the very best you can spend on $1300 for a totally competent DAP that have so many options. Yes A&K finally catching up offering DAC/Amp swappable module but N6ii has been doing it for a while and soon we will have 6 modules to choose from. On top of that A&K will be asking for $200 more for the base unit which offers only single DAC/Amp solution. So the choice between N6ii or A&K SE180 boils down to a few things, for one you cannot deny the flashy fashionable nature of A&K, the Prada of audio world. But if you fancy a DAP that's built like a tank with industrial black look and feel, then N6ii is the obvious choice. As I said above, N6ii have the potential and capability to rival even some desktop setup and I am saying this from experience - no no worries on quality there

EDIT:
And yes being an Android device Cayin includes EQ option, even if I never use it. Good to have
Click to expand...
Well from the looks I prefer the Cayin anyways.
I had Cayin Desktop amps before and was very satisfied with build quality, so I just needed to make sure that it delivers in the sound quality Department.

Unfortunately it costs 1600€ here in germany so it doesn't have the price advantage over the A&K (furthermore I got good Relations to an A&K dealer, so I probably could get the A&K cheaper than the cayin)

What's the 6th Module?
A01,A02,E01,E02,T01 what's the Last?
Any Chance in R2R? (That would be an Instanz buying Argument for me)
 
May 3, 2021 at 4:53 PM Post #5,857 of 8,308
ThanatosVI said:
Well from the looks I prefer the Cayin anyways.
I had Cayin Desktop amps before and was very satisfied with build quality, so I just needed to make sure that it delivers in the sound quality Department.

Unfortunately it costs 1600€ here in germany so it doesn't have the price advantage over the A&K (furthermore I got good Relations to an A&K dealer, so I probably could get the A&K cheaper than the cayin)

What's the 6th Module?
A01,A02,E01,E02,T01 what's the Last?
Any Chance in R2R? (That would be an Instanz buying Argument for me)
Click to expand...
If you can actually get A&K cheaper then it makes sense to get it. For the rest of the world it is the other way round.

The 6th module about to be released is C01, which is a Cirrus DAC I suspect. Me I personally glued to the E02 for the dual ES9038Q2M implementation that I loved so very dearly
 
May 10, 2021 at 3:28 AM Post #5,858 of 8,308
ThanatosVI said:
Well from the looks I prefer the Cayin anyways.
I had Cayin Desktop amps before and was very satisfied with build quality, so I just needed to make sure that it delivers in the sound quality Department.

Unfortunately it costs 1600€ here in germany so it doesn't have the price advantage over the A&K (furthermore I got good Relations to an A&K dealer, so I probably could get the A&K cheaper than the cayin)

What's the 6th Module?
A01,A02,E01,E02,T01 what's the Last?
Any Chance in R2R? (That would be an Instanz buying Argument for me)
Click to expand...

Cayin will host a product announcement live podcast on 13 May evening, I should be able to post English announcement by midnight our time.
 
Cayin Stay updated on Cayin at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
http://en.cayin.cn/
May 10, 2021 at 9:28 AM Post #5,859 of 8,308
0C237BCA-6A78-4044-B12D-93AF1F0EC554.png
 
May 11, 2021 at 12:34 AM Post #5,860 of 8,308
Isn't it obvious? The lack of ports on the mystery module means Cayin will finally do the unthinkable, and add a cellular antenna!

"A phone, a music player, a revolutionary internet communicator"... Today Cayin will reinvent the phone!

:dt880smile:

1620707527642.png
 
May 11, 2021 at 9:19 PM Post #5,861 of 8,308
and another teaser update. So, maybe C01 stands for "Climax" when you reach your eargasm :p

1620782229761.png
 
May 11, 2021 at 9:20 PM Post #5,862 of 8,308
God damn, I hope I made right choice getting A02.

I want my climax!!!
 
May 12, 2021 at 9:05 AM Post #5,865 of 8,308
A little bit of a preview: I will be doing a “live” update tomorrow morning here about the new Cayin release. Stay tuned!

I am sponsored by myself. :sunglasses:
 
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