[US TOUR] Cayin iDAC-6 (Dual AK4490 DAC) and iHA-6 (Full Balanced Headphone amp) - Reviewers Wanted

[Andykong]

[COLOR=FF00AA]Introduction[/COLOR]

Cayin has been well received on our DAPs and portable amplifiers in HeadFi forum, but our desktop products don’t seem to draw the same level of attention so far. Cayin has always been a strong player in traditional HiFi market and we are confident that our iDAC-6 Digital Analogue Converter and iHA-6 Headphone Amplifier are thoroughly designed to fit the latest HeadFi/DeskFi needs and are extremely competitive at their price range. The recent iDAC-6/iHA-6 review from InnerFidelity is a strong endorsement to this little combo, and we cordially invite US Head-Fiers to try out our iDAC-6 and iHA-6 in your home system.



(Subsequent posts will detail further information about the Cayin Desktop Stack)

[COLOR=FF00AA]Tour arrangement:[/COLOR]

[COLOR=FF00AA]Tour Schedule:[/COLOR]

• 19 July 2016: Tour Application Starts
• 2 August 2016: Tour Application Ended
• 4 August 2016: Tour Reviewers announced and mailing addresses confirmed
• 7 August 2016: Items will be sent to the first reviewer

[COLOR=FF00AA]Sign Up:[/COLOR]

For those who are interested in trying out the iDAC-6/iHA6 combo, you can apply to join the tour by replying to this thread and including the following information.

• Your location (City)
• Headphone(s) and HeadFi equipments you owned currently
• Cayin product(s) you possess (if any)
• Link to previous impression(s) or review(s)

[COLOR=FF00AA]Logistic Arrangement:[/COLOR]

• Since the combo is circulating among Head-Fiers in Seattle, Cayin will cover the cost from Seattle to first reviewer on the list.
• Each tour reviewer is responsible for paying the shipping costs to the next tour reviewer. The Package weights around 10kg and measured at 19"x19"x13"
• The last reviewer in the list will be responsible to ship the combo to a designated US address (most likely our hotel for CanJam RMAF).
• No Ground shipping - Only air mailing unless the next tour reviewer is close enough for the package to arrive within 3 days .
• Please use trackable mailing service with signature required.
• To avoid tax consequence and hefty logistic cost, we shall limit our reviewers to Contiguous United States only.
• We encourage Head-Fiers from the same city apply together, pass the equipment in person, and share the final logistic cost.

[COLOR=FF00AA]Terms and instruction[/COLOR]

• Each reviewer can keep the unit for maximum 7 days, please plan your audition and be prepared to ship/pass the combo on the 7th day.
• By signing up to the tour, you are agreed to post a formal review and/or some form of impressions within 14 days after your audition period, and Cayin can use your review of the iDAC-6/iHA-6 for promotional purposes.
• We are particularly interested with the headphone you used during the review, and is most appreciated if you can include photo of the iDAC-6/iHA6 with associated equipment in your writing.
• We shall taking into consideration your past participation on tours, previous reviews, and reputation in HeadFi when we select our reviewer, Cayin reserves the right to select the reviewers in the tour,

[COLOR=FF00AA]Publication guideline[/COLOR]

Please do not post your impression in this thread, we want to make this an event management thread. Please direct all the discussion and sharing to the main iDAC-6 and iHA-6 discussion thread and HeadFi head gears review pages, and post the link in this thread after you have uploaded your review/impression.
.
iDAC-6 Discussion thread
iDAC-6 Product page at Head Gear
iHA-6 Discussion thread
iHA-6 Product page at Head Gear

• On top of the HeadFi forum, you are welcome to post your review/impression to your local HeadFi forum/blog/magazine etc., but please provide the link or electronic version of your writing in this thread as previously suggested.
• In your review/impression, please state that the iDAC-6/iHA-6 is a free loan unit from Cayin, and you have/shall return the unit to Cayin at the end of review period.
• You can free to write up your sharing or impression as long as it represents your true feeling and opinions toward the product.

If you’ve got any suggestions about the tour, feel free to raise your concern here and we shall try our best to enrich the Tour as much as possible.

We are really appreciated for your time and look forward to your participation.

__________________________________________________________________

Will Add Tour Updates and Announcement here:

8 August 2016

Tour reviewer list:
Dillan - TN, received 12 Aug 2016 - Friday
MWSVette - FL, received 23 Aug 2016 Tuesday
fjrabon - GA, received 1 Sept 2016 Thursday
Analog24 - GA, received 15 Sept 2016 Thursday
yage - VA, received 30 Sept 2016 Friday
sahmen - MA, received 19 Oct 2016 Friday
Trogdor - NJ, received 7 November 2016 Monday
oneguy - JPN, received 30 November 2016 Wednesday

 

[Andykong]

[COLOR=FF00AA]Product Reviews and Impressions[/COLOR]

Cayin develop and build good products, but we are not particular strong in marketing and promotion. We used to believe that it is up to the market and the users to tell how good we are. So if you are interested in the iDAC-6 and iHA-6, please check out the following reviews and impressions:

Cayin iDAC-6 and iHA-6: A Dynamic Duo,
By John Grandberg, InnerFidelity (Jun 14, 2016)

CAYIN IHA-6 & IDAC-6 REVIEW
By grizzlybeast, HeadFi (May 20, 2016)

In case you want to find out more about the iDAC-6 and iHA-6 after checking out these two reviews, please read on.

[COLOR=FF00AA]Concept and Design[/COLOR]

The i-series is a brand new attempt from Cayin, on top of satisfying the most demanding audiophile requirements, we want the iDAC-6 and iHA-6 to become the music companion to families and individuals. We have been focused on hobby centric market in the past, we believe it’s about time to pursue a new product concept that is more lifestyle and household friendly, something that you can setup anywhere in the house without hesitation.

• Fashionable design, compact and minimal, can easily blend into SOHO or household environment.
• Solid chassis with aluminum alloy and sand blast finishing, can eliminate exterior interference effectively.

Good audio products always start from a good circuit design, and fulfilled when premium components are used correctly. iDAC-6 and iHA-6 illustrate how you can establish a cost-performance benchmark by observe these two simple rules.



[COLOR=FF00AA]iDAC-6 Digital Audio Converter[/COLOR]

[COLOR=FF00AA]Design Highlights[/COLOR]

• Left/right channel of digital circuit, DAC circuit and analogue circuit are also powered by independent power supply system, reduce power interference among different circuit, and make sure all components will have clean power all the time.
  
• Employ state-of-the-art high resolution USB Audio technology, will accept and decode Hi-res digital audio bitstream through USB interface, a centerpiece of a high-end CAS playback system.
• Supports DoP (DSD over PCM)on Coaxial digital input, decode DSD at 1 bit (require front end digital equipment supports DoP output on Coaxial)
• Versatile to fit different needs, user can select RCA (single-ended) or XLR (balanced) output for their needs, and the RCA output provides choice of transistor or vacuum tube output for different sound signature.
• Output can be configured as Line out or Pre-out (with volume control), can fit into different systems easily.
• Deploy OLED display screen and mounted at 15 degree cutout, increase visibility as well as adding a glimpse of vivid into the design

[COLOR=FF00AA]Technical implementation [/COLOR]

• Incorporated two pieces of AK4490 DAC chipset from AKM,andeach chipset will work for a single channel.
• A genuine balanced DAC circuit with 4 channel active LPFthat will fully explore the potential of the two DAC chipset.
• Built-in 5 digital filter at your choice
• Deploy dedicated, high quality Op-Amp for Low Pass Filter circuit
• Deploy 4 pieces of 6N1B vacuum tube at buffer stage, appealing and good for day-long listening.
• Built-in Phase selection to ensure perfect playback
• Extensive Mute protection and noise control, minimize pulse noise when Power on/off, and noise generated at changing of operational stages such as UNLOCK.

[COLOR=FF00AA]iHA-6 Headphone Amplifier[/COLOR]

[COLOR=FF00AA]Design Highlights[/COLOR]

• Independent power supply to Left and Right channel, reduce power interference among different circuit, and make sure all components will have clean power all the time.
  
• Quadruple amplifier circuit with full discrete components and fully-balanced circuit design.
• Innovative Current and Gain control to maxima the compatibility with high or low impedance dynamic headphones and the latest planar headphones.
• Two sets of audio inputs: one for RCA single-end and one for XLR balanced audio.
• Four sets of headphone outputs: two sets of 6.3mm (High/Low impedance) TRS, 1 set of twin 3-pins XLR (balanced) and 1 set of 4-pins XLR (balanced).

[COLOR=FF00AA]Technical implementation [/COLOR]

• Push-pull amplification design with high power ultra-low on-resistance power MOSFET at power amplification stage, offers excellent dynamic performance.
• Toshiba audio-grade FET were used in differential input circuit, to ensure common-mode noise and high quality audio performance
• Premium grade ALPS 4 channel rotary potentiometer imported from Japan directly, durable, reliable and reputable audio quality.
• Extensive protection to amplifier and headphone through comprehensive protection circuit including output DC offset voltage, delay mute when power up, and noise compensation when power down.
• In-house designed premium grade toroidal transformer with low magnetic leakage and high power efficiency.
• High capacitance filter capacitors were used (in excess of 40000uF)

 

[Andykong]

Reserve for Tour Reviews and impression links.

Review from Dillan
http://www.head-fi.org/products/cayin-iha-6/reviews/16731
http://www.head-fi.org/products/cayin-idac-6/reviews/16730

 

[yage]

I'm interested in getting on the tour. Thanks for the opportunity.
 
Location: Springfield, VA
 
Equipment:
Amps - DNA Sonett 2, HeadAmp GS-1 w/ DACT and Dynalo+ modules
Headphones - Audeze LCD-XC, Sennheiser HD 600
Sources - Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP, Ayre Acoustics QB-9 DSD
 
Cayin products owned: None
 
Links to selected reviews:
 
Meze 99 Classics Gold
Simaudio Moon Neo 430HAD
Ayre Acoustics Codex
Chord Mojo

 

[chowmein83]

Hello, I'm interested in trying and reviewing this set! Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.
 
As for my information, here goes:
 
Your location (City):
 
Corona, CA
 
Headphone(s) and HeadFi equipments you owned currently:
 
Headphones:
HiFiMAN HE1000
HiFiMAN HE-400i
Sennheiser HD700
Sennheiser HD598
Fostex T50RP (modded, based on BMF's DBV3 but with tweaks)
 
IEM:
Etymotic ER4PT (with P-to-S converter)
 
DAC/AMP combo:
Aune T1
NuForce UDH-100
FiiO X7
 
Standalone amp:
Cavalli Audio Liquid Carbon
 
Cayin product(s) you possess (if any):
 
None, unfortunately.
 
Link to previous impression(s) or review(s):
 
Reviews:
FiiO X7
FiiO X7 AM3 amp module
Cayin Spark C5 DAC
Aune X1S
 
Impressions:
Audeze EL8 at CES 2015
HE1000 vs SR-009 vs Abyss
Senneheiser Oprheus 2 (HE1) at CES 2016
Hifiman Shangri-La at CES 2016
SoCal CanJam 2016
Focal Elear and Utopia impressions and comparisons
 
Hope I get to listen to these!

 

[Dillan]

Your location:
Nashville, TN

Headphone(s) and HeadFi equipments you owned currently:
LCD-4 and Noble K10
Vi Dac Infinity
(Lots and lots more)

Cayin product(s) you possess (if any):
None currently

Link to previous impression(s) or review(s):
Part time marketing writer, but no full reviews posted yet but soon!

 

[nikfung]

Hi, I have just brought both of them!
 
The story is " A guy brought an Ether C and try to find an headphone AMP to bring out some bass from it!!"
 
My first option is AK380 copper + AK 

PEF21 ​

(Balanced Cable by Crystal Cable) to iHA-6 (A nice guy lent me for 2 weeks)​

I have tried these for a week and It meet my requirement, but something still missing....​

 

So I went to the shop and comparing my option 1 to a setup of ​

AK380 copper + cheap optical cable to iDAC-6 + a pair of interconnect to iHA-6.
The Ether C seems have a pair of extra driver to produce "enough" bass.....and decision made
 
Now my AK380 copper + QED Reference optical cable to iDAC-6 + ALO Green Line 0.5m XLR interconnect to iHA-6 works fine with my Ether C , Abyss and TH600

 

[grizzlybeast]

This combo is a knockout for the price. Especially the IHA-6. Price to performance is simply what should be standard. 

 

[oneguy]

Your location (City):
Yokosuka, Japan but with a U.S. domestic mailing address (no additional costs associated if mailed via USPS priority mail)

Headphone(s) and HeadFi equipment you currently own:
DAC/Amp: LH Labs Pulse Infinity


Amp: Audo-gd Master-9


Headphones: HiFiMAN HE-1000, Sennheiser HD-800 and Audio Technica ATH-M50



Cayin product(s) you possess (if any):
None

Link to previous impression(s) or review(s):
http://www.head-fi.org/t/780733/anticables-level-3-1-reference-series-usb-cable



http://www.head-fi.org/t/795235/chord-mojo-loaner-program-signup-and-review-thread#post_12318465



http://lhlabs.com/force/general/4364-demoed-he-1000-at-hifi-trader-in-sydney#68030


my reference to the above post (http://www.head-fi.org/t/748334/hifiman-he1000-planar-dynamic-flagship/4965#post_11759123)

http://www.head-fi.org/t/815138/wywires-platinum-vs-mit-vero-reference-cable-with-he1000

 

[Trogdor]

Application questions:

• East Coast US (I will give me personal address privately)
• I own a wealth of audio gear, but for this review I will be using a LCD-4, HE1K, and a SINE.
• I don't own any Cayin products.
• My reviews on Head-Fi as well as other reviews from my site.

I have participated in numerous beta programs in the past and am extremely easy to work with and contact.

 

[fjrabon]

Atlanta, GA
Gear I will use: Sennheiser HD800 (SE & balanced), HiFiMan HE1000 (SE & balanced), HE400i (SE & balanced), Fostex THX00, Grado SR225e, Matrix HPA3B, HPA3U, Grace m9XX, Beezar Torpedo III
I've previously had a spark but don't currently have it
http://www.head-fi.org/products/fostex-th-x00-massdrop-exclusive/reviews/14803
http://www.head-fi.org/products/grace-design-m9xx-compact-usb-dac-with-integrated-headphone-amp/reviews/14760

Additionally, depending on the timing of when I got it, I may be able to show it off at the Atlanta meet I am organizing in early September. This usually consists of around 20-30 people that are head-fi members or members of AVCOA (audio visual club of Atlanta).

I will likely be able to get a few more Atlanta head-fiers in the tour, and will edit this post if/when they join.

 

[Andykong]

Your location (City):
Yokosuka, Japan but with a U.S. domestic mailing address (no additional costs associated if mailed via USPS priority mail)

Headphone(s) and HeadFi equipment you currently own:
DAC/Amp: LH Labs Pulse Infinity


Amp: Audo-gd Master-9


Headphones: HiFiMAN HE-1000, Sennheiser HD-800 and Audio Technica ATH-M50



Cayin product(s) you possess (if any):
None

Link to previous impression(s) or review(s):
http://www.head-fi.org/t/780733/anticables-level-3-1-reference-series-usb-cable



http://www.head-fi.org/t/795235/chord-mojo-loaner-program-signup-and-review-thread#post_12318465



http://lhlabs.com/force/general/4364-demoed-he-1000-at-hifi-trader-in-sydney#68030


my reference to the above post (http://www.head-fi.org/t/748334/hifiman-he1000-planar-dynamic-flagship/4965#post_11759123)

http://www.head-fi.org/t/815138/wywires-platinum-vs-mit-vero-reference-cable-with-he1000

We are most appreciated on your interested in iDAC-6 and iHA-6 combo. May I ask how long will it take if we send the iDAC-6/iHA-6 to you from California state? and the time for you to send back to US will be roughly the same? Do you We have to consider the turnaround time as well as the logistic cost involved.

Do you stationed in Japan? or you are a cross-pacific frequent traveler? Maybe we can work out a special schedule to fit into your traveling schedule in case you have joined the US tour finally.

 

[Andykong]

I'm interested in getting on the tour. Thanks for the opportunity.

Location: Springfield, VA

Equipment:
Amps - DNA Sonett 2, HeadAmp GS-1 w/ DACT and Dynalo+ modules
Headphones - Audeze LCD-XC, Sennheiser HD 600
Sources - Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP, Ayre Acoustics QB-9 DSD

Cayin products owned: None

Links to selected reviews:

Meze 99 Classics Gold
Simaudio Moon Neo 430HAD
Ayre Acoustics Codex
Chord Mojo

Sorry for my late response, your prompt respond to the tour is most impressive, we are sincerely appreciated and is looking forward to your participation.

By the way, I love Ayre Acoustics and is an admirer of Mr Charles Hansen. Meet him at CES back in the early 2000 and is most impressed by his insight in digital audio, Its our honor to place our products alongside to Mr Hansen's line up.

 

[Andykong]

Hello, I'm interested in trying and reviewing this set! Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.

As for my information, here goes:

Your location (City):

Corona, CA

Headphone(s) and HeadFi equipments you owned currently:

Headphones:
HiFiMAN HE1000

HiFiMAN HE-400i

Sennheiser HD700

Sennheiser HD598

Fostex T50RP (modded, based on BMF's DBV3 but with tweaks)

IEM:

Etymotic ER4PT (with P-to-S converter)

DAC/AMP combo:

Aune T1

NuForce UDH-100

FiiO X7

Standalone amp:

Cavalli Audio Liquid Carbon

Cayin product(s) you possess (if any):

None, unfortunately.

Link to previous impression(s) or review(s):

Reviews:
FiiO X7
FiiO X7 AM3 amp module
Cayin Spark C5 DAC
Aune X1S

Impressions:
Audeze EL8 at CES 2015
HE1000 vs SR-009 vs Abyss
Senneheiser Oprheus 2 (HE1) at CES 2016
Hifiman Shangri-La at CES 2016
SoCal CanJam 2016
Focal Elear and Utopia impressions and comparisons

Hope I get to listen to these!

Dear sir, glad to have a Californian shows up in the queue, Your headphone collections is very impressive, and they will be benefited by a more powerful DAC/amplifier setup for sure, I hope the iDAC-6 and iHA-6 will have the honor eventually.

By the way, I used DAP as digital source to iDAC-6 and IHA-6 occasionally, I am amazed how good they can be when compare to my desktop network player, but you'll need a not-so-common 3.5mm to RCA 75ohm digital cable to complete the connection. I hope you can have the opportunity to test this out as well, this is definitely worth exploring.

 

[Andykong]

Your location:
Nashville, TN

Headphone(s) and HeadFi equipments you owned currently:
LCD-4 and Noble K10
Vi Dac Infinity
(Lots and lots more)

Cayin product(s) you possess (if any):
None currently

Link to previous impression(s) or review(s):
Part time marketing writer, but no full reviews posted yet but soon!

Wow, the Vi Dac Infinity is very interesting.

The LCD-4 is indeed an all round winner, it would be nice to pair up the iDAC-6 and iHA-6 with the Audeze flagship, this definitely will be a highlight that everyone is looking forwards to .