twister6
Android Expert
This is a review of Cayin C5 portable hi-fi headphone amplifier. Cayin Spark C5 Stylish Portable HiFi Audio Headphone Amplifier (2014 New) - Professional Audio Store - Shenzhenaudio.com
As I mentioned in one of my recent reviews, headphone amplifiers opened up to me a new world of sound shaping. Though I don't have any power hungry or high impedance headphones, I was in for quite a surprise with a number of my IEMs and how much sound improvement you can get from a well designed portable amp used either with your smartphone or digital audio player (DAP). Unfortunately, with a few amp models that I tested, the results were better when driven from Line Out (LO) versus Headphone Output (HO) where bypassing internal output amp played a better role in synergy with an external amp. All good if you have an advance DAP with LO, but a lot of us still using smartphone or common mp3 players (like Clip+) to play a music. Without expecting too much, I got a hold of Cayin C5 review sample and so glad that I did!!! Here is what I found.
Arrived in a very sturdy and eco-friendly box, it was packaged quite well and secure. Inside you will find C5 headphone amp, instruction manual (all in Chinese), two rubber bands (for attachment to your phone or DAP), 4 sticky rubber bumps (to use as mounting legs), a draw string storage pouch, a short 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable jumper, and micro-USB to micro-USB short cable (since you can use this amp as an external battery for your smartphone). I have been told that Cayin team is working on updated instruction manual with additional English text, though I didn't find it as a showstopper to start using and enjoying this little gem.
Starting with a design, I found it to have an overall shape resembling E18, though C5 was a little bit longer. Unlike a lot of other portable amps/dacs that come in black color, this one stands out with a very unique blend of gold/silver finish. The body of this amp is solid metal, very well build, and absolutely no panel flex. At the bottom you have a thicker plastic cover with 2 screws and a pair of micro-USB ports, one labeled as PWR IN (to charge the amp) and the other one as CHG OUT (as external battery to charge your smartphone or a tablet at 1A output). At the lower bottom edge you also have 3-led battery indicator, and on the opposite side - a reset pinhole. On a right side closer to the top, there are two triangular shaped slide switches for Gain (high and low), and Bass (on and off). At the top you have a volume potentiometer (Japanese made ALPS) which also turns the unit on, and 3.5mm Line In and Headphone Out ports. The top of the amp has a semi-transparent black plastic cover which can be removed. I found it to add an interesting touch to the design, just not sure how durable it's going to be if you drop this amp on the ground.
The spec of this amp is very impressive with a selection of top rated components including highly regarded Burr-Brown SoundPlus high performance OPA134 opamp from TI, output power rated at 800mW + 800mW (w/32 ohm load), 1000 mAh battery (at 11.1V) with a running time of about 10-12hrs, super low distortion, high signal-to-noise ratio, and so on. For some it will mean a lot, but the main question is how does it translates into a real world sound test, especially driven from HO?
In my test I used Galaxy Note 2 with ATH-IM03 IEMs. With headphones connected directly to HO of the phone, you get a congested sound with mediocre clarity/details and average soundstage. Using E18 as amplifier, you get a marginal improvement with sound still being a bit darker and not as detailed, and not much of soundstage improvement. Kicking it up a notch with E11k, it brightens the sound in comparison to E18 amp, and you starting to hear more details with a perception of a wider soundstage. But once you switch to C5 - BAM!!! you just can't believe your ears how clear and detailed sound gets with a new additional texture and previously missed sound layering, a bass that comes alive, and MASSIVE 3D soundstage. I have a guilty pleasure of watching movies on my Note 2, and adding C5 turned my phone into a mini-theater experience. Since I'm planning to upgrade to Note 4, perhaps adding Gear VR and C5 will turn it into 3D Theater Experience!
Running the same comparison test from HO of my Thinkpad laptop also showed a drastic improvement in sound quality. My laptop HO output is even worth than my smartphone, that's why I always use it with E10k. Here with C5 it added more details and wider soundstage even in comparison to E10k, though you would probably want to keep C5 charging from USB port of laptop while using it this way. Btw, the same with a smartphone. Though it will cut down on battery life of C5 using it as an amp and external phone charger, you will not drain your smartphone battery as much. Furthermore, running a similar test from LO of my X5 yielded the same consistent results between E18, E11k, and C5 where sound quality and soundstage had a noticeable improvement.
Overall, I found Cayin C5 amp to have quite a remarkable performance considering being able to take a lo-fi HO output and to make it shine! It might not be as versatile as some other Amp/Dac units where you can connect it through OTG USB or USB to your laptop to use as external sound card. Also, it doesn't have as spectacular battery endurance since it uses power hungry components and design architecture. But it makes up for all of these shortcomings with an amazing sound improvement that you gotta hear it to believe it. For under $160 some might consider it a bit pricey since it's still a one trick pony, but it does that one trick like a First Class Magician!!!
Here are the pictures.
As I mentioned in one of my recent reviews, headphone amplifiers opened up to me a new world of sound shaping. Though I don't have any power hungry or high impedance headphones, I was in for quite a surprise with a number of my IEMs and how much sound improvement you can get from a well designed portable amp used either with your smartphone or digital audio player (DAP). Unfortunately, with a few amp models that I tested, the results were better when driven from Line Out (LO) versus Headphone Output (HO) where bypassing internal output amp played a better role in synergy with an external amp. All good if you have an advance DAP with LO, but a lot of us still using smartphone or common mp3 players (like Clip+) to play a music. Without expecting too much, I got a hold of Cayin C5 review sample and so glad that I did!!! Here is what I found.
Arrived in a very sturdy and eco-friendly box, it was packaged quite well and secure. Inside you will find C5 headphone amp, instruction manual (all in Chinese), two rubber bands (for attachment to your phone or DAP), 4 sticky rubber bumps (to use as mounting legs), a draw string storage pouch, a short 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable jumper, and micro-USB to micro-USB short cable (since you can use this amp as an external battery for your smartphone). I have been told that Cayin team is working on updated instruction manual with additional English text, though I didn't find it as a showstopper to start using and enjoying this little gem.
Starting with a design, I found it to have an overall shape resembling E18, though C5 was a little bit longer. Unlike a lot of other portable amps/dacs that come in black color, this one stands out with a very unique blend of gold/silver finish. The body of this amp is solid metal, very well build, and absolutely no panel flex. At the bottom you have a thicker plastic cover with 2 screws and a pair of micro-USB ports, one labeled as PWR IN (to charge the amp) and the other one as CHG OUT (as external battery to charge your smartphone or a tablet at 1A output). At the lower bottom edge you also have 3-led battery indicator, and on the opposite side - a reset pinhole. On a right side closer to the top, there are two triangular shaped slide switches for Gain (high and low), and Bass (on and off). At the top you have a volume potentiometer (Japanese made ALPS) which also turns the unit on, and 3.5mm Line In and Headphone Out ports. The top of the amp has a semi-transparent black plastic cover which can be removed. I found it to add an interesting touch to the design, just not sure how durable it's going to be if you drop this amp on the ground.
The spec of this amp is very impressive with a selection of top rated components including highly regarded Burr-Brown SoundPlus high performance OPA134 opamp from TI, output power rated at 800mW + 800mW (w/32 ohm load), 1000 mAh battery (at 11.1V) with a running time of about 10-12hrs, super low distortion, high signal-to-noise ratio, and so on. For some it will mean a lot, but the main question is how does it translates into a real world sound test, especially driven from HO?
In my test I used Galaxy Note 2 with ATH-IM03 IEMs. With headphones connected directly to HO of the phone, you get a congested sound with mediocre clarity/details and average soundstage. Using E18 as amplifier, you get a marginal improvement with sound still being a bit darker and not as detailed, and not much of soundstage improvement. Kicking it up a notch with E11k, it brightens the sound in comparison to E18 amp, and you starting to hear more details with a perception of a wider soundstage. But once you switch to C5 - BAM!!! you just can't believe your ears how clear and detailed sound gets with a new additional texture and previously missed sound layering, a bass that comes alive, and MASSIVE 3D soundstage. I have a guilty pleasure of watching movies on my Note 2, and adding C5 turned my phone into a mini-theater experience. Since I'm planning to upgrade to Note 4, perhaps adding Gear VR and C5 will turn it into 3D Theater Experience!
Running the same comparison test from HO of my Thinkpad laptop also showed a drastic improvement in sound quality. My laptop HO output is even worth than my smartphone, that's why I always use it with E10k. Here with C5 it added more details and wider soundstage even in comparison to E10k, though you would probably want to keep C5 charging from USB port of laptop while using it this way. Btw, the same with a smartphone. Though it will cut down on battery life of C5 using it as an amp and external phone charger, you will not drain your smartphone battery as much. Furthermore, running a similar test from LO of my X5 yielded the same consistent results between E18, E11k, and C5 where sound quality and soundstage had a noticeable improvement.
Overall, I found Cayin C5 amp to have quite a remarkable performance considering being able to take a lo-fi HO output and to make it shine! It might not be as versatile as some other Amp/Dac units where you can connect it through OTG USB or USB to your laptop to use as external sound card. Also, it doesn't have as spectacular battery endurance since it uses power hungry components and design architecture. But it makes up for all of these shortcomings with an amazing sound improvement that you gotta hear it to believe it. For under $160 some might consider it a bit pricey since it's still a one trick pony, but it does that one trick like a First Class Magician!!!
Here are the pictures.