Cayin Launches iDAP-6 Desktop Transportable
Cayin are well-known for their personal audio products – in particular their i5 and N-series of DAPs, as well as their C5 portable headphone amplifier. The iDAP-6, however, is a whole other beast, somewhat similar in concept to something like the Chord Electronics Dave.
The iDAC-6 falls more inline with Cayin’s other type of products such as the iDAC-6 and iHA-6 amplifier. They’re relatively large devices intended for desktop use. However, strictly speaking, the iDAP-6 is transportable, just not particularly portable.
Feature-packed
The iDAP-6 offers features such as Bluetooth 4.1 (and AptX), Airplay, and UPnP-based wireless streaming. Other connection ports include LAN, XLR, HDMI, COAX, USB, SD-card slot, as well as an Optical port. Quite a jam-packed device, really.
A large 3.95-inch display sits proudly on the front of the device, and (judging from the pictures) seems to be of respectable quality.
HibyLink Included
One feature that has been making some waves in the portable DAP world is HibyLink. This feature is included in both the Shanling M1 and M2s, as well as Cayin’s own N3, and also in the Hidizs AP200 and upcoming AP60 II. Essentially, HibyLink allows you to use the HibyMusic app on an Android or iOS smartphone to connect to the DAP, in which case the smartphone would then be used as a remote control for the DAP. This allows the user to not only change tracks, but to browse through the media library too, as well as change the volume. It really is a pretty innovative feature, and so it’s great to see this included on the iDAP-6 as well.
File Handling
The iDAP-6 will handle digital files with PCM sampling-rate of up to 384kHz/32-bit, and native decoding of up to DSD256.
Pricing
The price for the iDAP-6 seems to be around the $800 mark at the moment. However, with the introduction of the iDAP-6, Cayin have dropped the prices of the iDAC-6 and iHA-6 from $999 each to $699 each.
