For anyone who is curious about C9 and A02 + N6ii. The line out on this A02 is like a Black hole!! Now, I know why Cayin has no plan for a dedicated DAC with line out, because it has already been made !!
A02 with many options in Low Pass Filters is also very enjoyable. I happened to have found my favorite setting for PCM files, the greatest soundstage in X/Y/Z For A02
LPF ===> DSD or 3rd order
PCM Antialiasing filter (digital filters) ====> Short Delay Sharp Roll-Off
DSD Antialiasing Filters ======> Wide Bandwidth
Pregain: High
I also played around with Pre Out or Line out, and I gotta say that I do prefer Line out into C9, which contradicts what I read and researched between Andy personal preferences and A02 technical specs. I found the Line out to have better extensions on upper high, quick and decisive low but also very punchy with great controls. This especially shines with Class A + Korg
The A02 is also very light, can stack on the C9 so nicely, especially shaves off a lot of weight from Max. This also preserves the Max to be a stand alone player by itself
!! A very worthy additions. To anyone who can’t or refuse to grab Max as a dedicated source to the C9, I dearly recommend the N6II A02
Now, I just need to be able to “Rotate my screen”
@Andykong
The A02 is also surprisingly very Neutral tuning for AKM chips, Vocal is surprisingly well placed together with mid, a little denser highs when compare to Max just typical AKM vs Sabres again here, but bass and mid is very well balanced and neutral enough that it has great synergies with C9 while having a little different signatures Vs Max just exactly the way AKM vs Sabres should be