amazon Cayin N5iiS reviews
At the time of launch, Cayin’s high-quality music player, the Cayin N5ii, made a huge splash in the audio industry at the time. But not long after, Cayin has launched a new upgraded model called Cayin N5iiS and announced the discontinuation of the old model that surprised many fans. What made Cayin make that decision and whether Cayin N5iiS is a worthy upgrade for Cayin N5ii or not, you follow this article.
Life is full of surprises and challenges, we face all situations, turn around every situation. That’s exactly what happened out of control, Cayin faced the challenge of the lack of components they designed on their Cayin N5ii. Right on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its founding, Cayin has run out of touch screen supplies for his music player.
Realizing that it was necessary to find an alternative, the company decided to introduce the Cayin N5iiS model – a special steel frame version of Cayin N5ii and the use of a new display panel. The core design remains the same but the shortcomings on the Cayin N5ii have been quickly refined. This article will focus on analyzing the differences between 2 products, 2 old and new versions.
The special edition deserves changes right from the boxed version to distinguish it from the regular version. Cayin did it by adding more premium accessories to give it a premium feel. It has replaced the cheap silicon case with a leather case. Upgrade the USB Type-C cable that comes with the wire is wrapped with high-class fabric and is stronger.
What interests me is that the new leather case design allows for easy memory card replacement without removing it like the previous silicon version. Not many music players on the market today come with two Micro-SD expansion card slots, Cayin N5iiS will really become a good choice for Hires music lovers.
Once you get the Cayin N5iiS out of the foam box, you’ll really appreciate the ruggedness and sleekness of this machine. For me, the previous version of Cayin N5ii was very solid but actually the stainless steel cover on Cayin N5iiS gave me a different level of experience. Luxurious and more classy.
DESIGN
There is no doubt that when you put the two devices side by side, you will see the Cayin N5iiS is longer and bigger, although the screen is a bit smaller. The difference is very small, only a few millimeters, when the thickness of the machine remains at 15.3mm but the width is larger than 117mm x 59mm instead of the old size of 115mm x 57mm. The use of stainless steel material obviously changes the weight significantly, from 150g up to 248g.
The layout of the control keys and connectors port on the Cayin N5iiS remains the same on the old Cayin N5ii. There is nothing noticeable in this section so I will skip.
The most notable change in the design here is the new stainless steel frame, PVD plating that helps improve strength and rigidity. In addition, the 3.5-inch LG IPS panel replaces the old AU Optronics 3.67-inch panel. Before turning on the screen, it is difficult to see a significant difference. The display is a bit smaller, but the color and sharpness of the image makes the Cayin N5iiS clearly stand out. IPS panel for wider viewing angle, deeper black so when looking at the album cover will be beautiful and much more detailed.
CONFIGURATION
The internal design of the Cayin N5iiS remains the same with the 4-core processor, allowing the ability to handle decoding of PCM formats up to 64bit / 384kHz and DSD native up to DSD 256, including many formats lossless and lossy are different. The device still uses ESS9018K2M DAC chip and independent amplifier architecture for 2 separate 3.5mm and 2.5mm outputs. Like before, you will find 3 separate pulsed quartz for PCM and DSD formats with different sampling frequencies. You can also turn Audio Priority Mode on and off so the entire software focuses on processing music.
A whole bunch of old things, so what’s new on the Cayin N5iiS worth the money to buy?
I seem to have mentioned a new upgrade in the 3.5mm and 2.5mm CUI connectors. These 2 jacks are more durable, have less noise and transmit better signals than the old jacks. In addition, the RAM of the device has been increased from 1GB to 2GB and the internal memory has also been increased from 32GB to 64GB. I find raising the internal memory does not make much sense, maybe to run the 3rd application only 2 micro SD card slot expansion of 800GB is more than enough. Doubling the amount of RAM is really meaningful as it will improve the speed and user experience.
Running AnTuTu BenchMark V7.1.0 test on Cayin N5ii and Cayin N5iiS, I found that the score on Cayin N5iiS is slightly better. CPU score from 9377 to 9515 and UX score from 11625 to 11688. Unlike the noticeable difference of the new screen, this is not a huge difference in configuration but this is clearly an improvement.
Another big change on the Cayin N5iiS is the switch from using Tantalum capacitors to Polymer-Tantalum Audio-grade capacitors for the source filter coming from Panasonic. All 8 analog capacitors are upgraded. In theory, these capacitors will have lower internal resistance and better electrical conductivity. I tried blind-testing 2 of these machines to feel the difference. I found that the Cayin N5iiS clearly has a darker, quieter background, which makes the details of the blocks better, the sound clearer and the layers clearer. The capacitor in this audio is very important, you can just ask the Hi-fi players. Just a small change but it was extremely worth it.
where can you get a Cayin N5iiS online
Cayin N5iiS Android Based Master Quality Digital Audio Player: Buy it now
Cayin Android Based Master Quality Digital Audio Player N5iiS (Stainless Steel Enclosure)【Japan Domestic Genuine Products】【Ships from Japan】: Buy it now
Cayin N5iiS Portable Android Lossless Music Player Stainless Steel Upgrade,HiFi MP3, Bluetooth, WiFi, DLAN, Air Play, 2G+64G, USB DAC,2.5BL, OTG (Titanium + 64GTF Card): Buy it now
CONNECTED WIRE AND WIRELESS
In this section, I do not see anything new compared to the previous Cayin N5ii. I have tested the Bluetooth connection to see if the new steel frame has an effect on the transceiver, but it still looks the same on my Sennheiser Momentum 2 Wireless earphone. The optimal distance is 45ft.
USER INTERFACE
This section will also be identical to the review of the previous Cayin N5ii, not surprising at all, except for upgrading RAM from 1GB to 2GB that in the previous section I said. Both the Cayin N5ii and Cayin N5iiS are not designed for complex Android applications such as games or graphics. The permission to install applications from Google Play is to run music streaming apps like Spotify. Obviously, 2GB RAM on Cayin N5iiS has been effective when the application experience was smoother and less jerky than the old Cayin N5ii.
COMPARISON OF SOUND QUALITY
Cayin N5iiS vs Cayin N5ii
In general, the negative colors (neutral, celestial light) and expanded soundstage are almost the same. But the performance performance of the Cayin N5iiS is clearly above the Cayin N5ii thanks to the newly upgraded capacitors. I turned on the two devices at the same volume level and played the same music. In this blind-test I realized a clear difference in darker background, more solid details, better layering, faster melody notes, clearer and tighter sound on the Cayin N5iiS .
Cayin N5iiS vs iBassso DX150
Both have the same wide soundstage. They also have in common a neutral bias, full tonal bands, but the Cayin N5iiS has a slightly brighter and brighter treb band while the DX150 treb is wider and smoother. I think this is probably the characteristic of the 2 DAC chips ESS and AKM. I also really like the ability that 2 players pair with headphones in the impact on the bass band.
Cayin N5iiS and FiiO X5III
The soundstage of Cayin N5iiS is a bit wider than Fiio X5III. But the first thing you notice is that the Cayin N5iiS is quieter, with no hiss when compared to background noise and hiss as much as on the FiiO X5III, especially with high-sensitivity headphones. There is also a clear difference in tonal color when the Cayin N5iiS has a more neutral, clear and layered disposition when compared to the smooth, full, musical sound and the FiiO X5III’s good dynamics.
Cayin N5iiS vs Hiby R6
Both have similar soundstage widths. When it comes to tonal colors, I find the Hiby R6 a bit brighter, a bit thinner while the Cayin N5iiS body is fuller, more neutral. When I first bought the Hiby R6, I found that the old Cayin N5ii sound quite similar to it. But after a while of Burn-in, the Hiby R6 sounded brighter.
CONCLUDE
The launch of Cayin N5iiS surprised many people including myself. Even when I learned that Cayin intended to launch a special edition steel case to celebrate the 25th anniversary, no one thought that it was redesigned to fit the new screen.
A little upgrade on RAM configuration and internal memory, but the biggest improvement that I found worthwhile was about the screen and filter capacitors inside. It really makes the sound of Cayin N5iiS inherently better. In addition to being extremely tough and classy, the Cayin N5iiS deserves a special edition to celebrate Cayin’s 25th birthday.