Review: Cayin YB04 – Up in there

The YB04 is tight, precise and fast and it always feels in control (of its signature). Bass is tight, fast but comes with a good punch. Dynamics and detail retrieval, decay and delivery are spot on, and it comes combined with excellent decay and precision. Especially in the upper mids and lower treble region.

At the same time the Cayin YB04 is dynamic and there’s just enough body and smoothness in the mids to present everything with a musical touch which is not to be mistaken for warmth. The YB04 isn’t cold sounding at all, but it surely isn’t warm sounding either. It’s musically neutral, that’s the description that suits it best in my opinion.

The vocals in the YB04 are really good and energetic. The precision is exemplary and the presentation is a slightly bit forward, but it works beautifully with the slightly bodies, smooth characteristics of the mids.

If you’re looking for a warm, thick, full bodied sound then this is really not the IEM to look into. The lighter bodied YB04 however is a perfect IEM for those who appreciate a neutral tuning, in combination with precision and clarity, topped with a musical delivery. Some might say it’s the perfect high-end sound, and well, the YB04 fits just hat description. A mid-fi price and a high-end sound, what’s not to like?

Sound – Tips

As Cayin went trough the effort of finding different tips with their own impact on the YB04’s sound signature, we’ll briefly describe the different tuning with the five sets. Sources used for this section are the Cayin N6ii, the Astell&Kern SP1000 and the Luxury&Precision LP6.

Bass Eartips

Surprise surprise. After multiple weeks the YB04’s bass tips have gone from weird to being my favorite ones. If you want to get more bass (and lower mid) body from the YB04 and a bigger low-end impact, the you have no choice but o go for the bass tips. For me they make the YB04 exciting and foot-tapping, while it keeps it fast, precise and neutral – yet musical – tuning/presentation.

The bass tips have no impact on the upper mids or treble section at all, and especially is slightly more noisy environments, this is also the tip selection I would suggest. The effect of the bass tips works perfectly with the voice tuning of the Y04, making it he best combo for me.

Vocal Eartips

We earlier in this article already reported that the YB04’s way to present vocals is very good. With the vocal tips this gets even better.

You get a linear, neutral presentation with an improved focus on the upper mids and the vocals. The sound is fast, tight, very price. The depth, width and layering stays untouched and are at a high level. What improves even more here is the decay, micro detail and dynamics of the upper mids and treble, and with vocally strong music, these tips are certainly recommended. With a fuller, heavier sounding DAP these tips are also the recommended ones for me.

Balanced Eartips

With these tips you logically get the most balanced, linear presentation from the YB04, the way it has been described earlier in this review.

Beautiful stereo presentation and spot on from lows to highs, great dynamics. A spacious presentation with a natural timbre, great detail, decay and depth. As said, if technicalities are your thing, this combo is the one you’ll love the most.

Bi-flange Eartips

I’ve never liked these kind of tips as they just don’t fit my ears very well. I can’t get a good fit with these on the YB04 either and it results in a lighter presentation an overly spacious feeling. They also sound light for me body-wise and I’m just not getting the detail and everything the YB04 excels in. They might work perfectly for you, but for me the bi-flange tips are the least exciting.

Memory Foam Eartips

I’m a big fan of foam tips in general but with the YB04 this isn’t the case. The dense and thick foam of the tips, in combination with the thicker nozzle of the YB04 make the foam tips quite hard for me to insert in my canals. As a result they feel less comfy and they stick out. The seal is there but it doesn’t look or feel very nice. I’d need bigger ear canals for this tip selection.

Sound-wise these maybe sound a bit fuller, but I feel the sound stage width, layering and spaciousness with these don’t perform up to the level compared to the other tips. You get a more mellow, relaxed, soft sound but with enough energy left to keep it foot tapping. For me it feels like the tips want to change the YB04 into something it isn’t and to my ears, that’s not always pleasing.

More on Sound and pairings on the last page of the article, click click click