There are people who prefer Burr Brown dacs compared to the new ess/akm/etc. I guess I’m one of them too.
Fiio X5 2nd and Cayin N6 both use PCM1792 which is supposed to be a better version of DSD1793 that iFi use in their dacs. The specs of them are very similar but the Fiio is a lot cheaper.
Do you (especially people who like iFi dacs) think it’s worth it to buy the Fiio? Or the implementation of iFi is doing a miracle for Burr Brown dacs?
PCM1792 or DSD1793?
So imo the cayin n6 is nicer sounding, but personally I prefer the fiio ui more, both are solid players, but they are older daps. It would depend on what price you can get them for if it would be worthwhile. I think it’s all dependent on implementation and I think cayin does a bit better than fiio in this regard (more refined, better detail and control but still smoother leaning), but the fiio isn’t a slouch either. iFi actually has a warmer implementation than both, but I wouldn’t call the ifi implementation a miracle, they just have their house sound.
Thanks.
I want it mainly for the dac. Do you think it’s capable enough to get connected to high end amps e.g. THX 789? Can I count on it as a desktop dac?
I don’t care about the amp section of the fiio that much.
So the cayin has a line out, and it would be just fine as a desktop dac, but I don’t personally know if that would be my first pick for a desktop dac as you would be paying extra for features you wouldn’t use
Sorry I was talking about the fiio. The cayin is just too expensive for me considering they’re very similar.
Gotcha, the fiio would kinda be a similar statement as above, but assuming you can get a good deal it would be pretty nice.
If we compare the line-out only, can the fiio perform similar to Zen Dac or Hip Dac? I mean in term of sound signature, clarity, micro detail, resolution, etc.
I think so, the hip dac has no line out so that one is harder to compare, but vs teh zen dac, the zen dac would be on the warmer side of things moreso than the fiio, I think both are on a similar tier of detail, but the ifi also has more impact than the fiio. Really both are more similar than not. For a desktop setup I would prefer the zen dac imo, mainly because for the stronger output and imo just convenience here
Thanks. Sorry I’m asking so many question lol.
Can I connect the fiio via usb to another dac to use it as digital out like what you can do with a smartphone?
What about usb in? To connect my phone to the fiio?
So the fiio cannot output a usb signal to another dac, but it does have a spdif out so you could connect it that way. You can connect the fiio to your phone and use it as the dac tho, that would be fine
I was looking for the measurements of the fiio and the cayin. Is this website reliable?
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac/fiio-x5-ii-steep.php
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac/cayin-n6.php
The fiio THD is @-103.3
The cayin THD is @-87.6
Also the crosstalk is almost double for the cayin.
The gap is huge. I thought the cayin would be better because it uses two dacs. Since the webiste and the analyzer is the same, I guess the implementation of the fiio is better. Am I missing something?
If you go by numbers then yes the fiio is technically better implemented, I’m just going by sound here. Raap is typically reliable for the info it has