Q ‘n A Saturday: Cayin

HFN: What makes the N5ii stand out from the crowd?
AK: There are three things that we are determined to to get it right with N5ii, and they are sound quality, portability and user experience, and they are prioritized in this order.

Cayin is an audiophile brand, we always put sound quality first, and we achieve that by doing a good job in design and implementation. Premium components are our means but they are not a necessary. By portables we are looking at combined issues such as dimensions, weight, battery duration, pocket friendliness and ultimately pleasing look and feel. When something looks ugly, you don’t want to carry it with you, so that ruins the portability of a DAP. User experience is also a big basket, this is the area where we are working very hard to improve ourselves. Other then the overall layout and choice of UI, we also need to make sure all controls, including touch screen inputs, are accurate, smooth and responsive.

A DAP is like a Swiss-knife nowadays, they are feature-packed and there are always newcomers around the corner, the market is so tough that we, as a stakeholder in this industry, must figure out where we are heading to as early as possible. When we developed the N5ii, we had also put in as many features as we could: WiFi, Bluetooth, Google Play, DLNA, you name it and we got it, but Cayin considers these features as something nice to have, but they are not the bread and butter to Cayin.

HFN: You launched a complementing streamer for your iDAC and iHA desktop system, the iDAP. What are the key strengths of it?
AK: The iDAP-6 is a digital transport with networking capability. Cayin has extensive experience in making CD players and transports, the iDAP-6 is no different in principle, the technologies and means might vary, but the sound requirement remains. When we set off to develop the iDAP-6, we wanted to make it sounds like our CD transport: natural, dense, smooth and musical. With that in mind, we replaced the servo and mechanical driver with SD card and USB storage, fine tuned it to meet our expectations on audio performance, then we added the networking components into the package to make sure it serves the purpose for the CAS users. Last but not least, we added I2S (HDMI) as the latest digital output option, making sure the iDAP-6 has provided all the available digital output options.

Priced at $799, we believe the iDAP-6 offer incomparable features and quality at the sub-$1000 Digital Transport market.

HFN: Are there any plans to get the iDAP-6 Roon Ready?
AK: We don’t have any plan to go Roon Ready with iDAP-6, the existing architecture is not ideal, meaning we could do it if we absolutely wanted to, but the cost will be very high and the result might not be very impressive.

HFN: The N3 is one of the best budget players, now N5ii, will there also be a new generation of N6?
AK: Yes, we are working on that too but since it is in very early stage of development I can’t tell you anything in detail other than it will go through similar but more dramatic transition like N5 to N5ii, in other words, it will be an Android based DAP.

The delay of the N6 successor is because we are working on a new flagship DAP, it will be Cayin’s end-game DAP for a while, we have devoted a lot of R&D resources to this new DAP, a lot of WOW factors for sure, and we’ll keep Headfonia informed as soon as we have latest update.

HFN: The N6 has a very unique design, what was the idea behind it?
AK: Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, let me show you the first conceptual design of N6:

Cayin being a major tube amplifier manufacturer, we rooted deep into analogue sound systems, so when we were planning our first DAP, we want to make it a “miniature LP player”, which is the meaning of the three Chinese character appeared on the conceptual photo.

The problem is, as the project went along, we have put in far too many components in order to achieve the sound quality and signature that we had in mind, so the player became longer and thicker, and we have to enlarge the four navigation buttons to fill up the space, and then we arrived at the unique design that Head-fi’ers in China called us “the Cayin washing machine”.

HFN: How do you think is the portable audio market going in the next five years?
AK: I personally am expecting the following scenario to show up:

1. Wireless will become inevitable: while wireless headphones are growing tremendously, audiophiles are still skeptical about them, but I expect an ice-breaking product will show up very soon and “audiophile“ wireless headphones will become very popular. At the same time when Android based DAPs start to move from Lollipop and Marshmallow based to Oreo (Android 8) based, LDAC will become a native component, and using the DAP as a wireless DAC for your mobile device will become inevitable.

2. “HiFi“ mobile phones will storm the mass consumer market and become the most popular Head-Fi source, DAPs will remain active in two market segments: the high-end DAPs where they will out-perform the HiFi mobile phone by a large margin, they’ll serve a niche group of customer who are willing to pay for the premium of audio quality. The entry-level DAPs and mid-tier DAPs will gradually developed as a mobile phone “companion“. They can’t compete with the mobile phone directly, so they transform to live with the mobile phone, become an “accessory“ to co-exist with the mobile phones

3. Headfonia will grow into a “reference“ online media for portable audio, and Lieven will become one of the godfathers of personal audio reviewers

HFN: Was there a special product that made you instantly fall in love with it?
AK: The Kennerton Odin headphone, no doubt about that. When I came across the Casques Headphones booth at the second day of Munich High End Show 2015, I was attracted by the Egoista 845 headphone amp from Viva Audio, so I stopped by and want to listen to that, Mr. Pierre Paya, owner of Casques Headphones, passed me a headphone and the moment I put it on, I was completely shocked. I ask Mr. Paya what headphone is this, he pointed to a gentleman standing at my back, and that was the first time I met Mr. Valentin Kazanzhi, CEO of Kennerton and Fischer Audio. Mr Kazanzhi helped me to adjust the headphone so that I can have a good fit, and by the time I finished the song, I fell in love already. So this is not instantly as I took around 3 minutes to realize that. Mr Kazanzhi told me a lot about the Kennerton Odin headphone, the concept, the technologies, the problems he encountered etc. During the remaining three days, I went to the Casques booth and check out the Odin heaphone 2-3 times a day. I also recommend every media/reviewer to check out the Kennerton headphone, and drag my Cayin colleagues to audition the Odin/Egoista 845 combo. To make sure my passion was directed to the Odin and the Odin alone, I borrowed the Odin headphone form Mr. Kazanzhi and bring it to Cayin booth. I listen to it with my own gears and was impressed again by its synergy with Cayin HA-1Amk2 tube headphone amplifier. By the end of the show, I know I couldn’t depart from this headphone any more, so I placed an order with Mr. Kazanzhi and the Odin become my personal reference since that day.

HFN: Is there any other field in audio you‘d like to explore?
AK: 3D Audio Simulation. I attended an A16 Realizer demonstration by Mike Smyth of Smyth Research back in CanJam Singapore 2017 and that was nothing short from jaw-dropping. The A16 Realizer can simulate the sound field and audio signature of a multi-channel sound system with a regular headphone. When I took off the headphone and listen to the multi-channel setup again, I was so impressed. I can safely claim that the headphone has preserved 90% of the multi-channel system and I had quickly pointed out some enhancements to the system if we are not limited by the time and equipment to setup the demo at a show environment. As an audio enthusiast, the first thing that comes to my mind is whether I can use this technology to simulate the sound signature of a mega-dollar two-channel Hi-Fi system. So if I were to start over again, this is the field that I want to get involved.

HFN: What is your personal favourite DAP? Headphone? Earphone? Please explain why.
AK: As for the DAP: the N6. This is the affordable best sounding DAP. I reviewed this DAP as a beta Tester for Cayin, that was before I joined Cayin and their staff. While there is a lot of imperfections with this DAP, Cayin got the sound right, so it’s a long term keeper IMHO.

Headphone: Obviously the Kennerton Odin. Maybe their forthcoming flagship Tror will challenge this position, but till then, I am going to stick with Odin.

Earphone: Olasonic Flat4 Kaede Type II. I am a big fan of Olasonic Flat4 IEM. I have owned the Kuro twice, the Nami (TH-F4N), Kaede Type II and Akazakura Plus. Among the Flat4 I owned and auditioned, Kaede Type II win my heart for its gentle and balanced tonal signature.

Thank you very much Andy for being part of this series! We wish you the best of luck for your and Cayin’s future and are looking forward to more exciting products coming from Cayin. And a very special thanks to Andy for pulling this interview off on such a short term!