A revisit to my original review
I wrote a review on here a while ago regards the Cayin iDAC 6 II, in which I sang it's praises against an admittedly far cheaper Cambridge Audio CXN. To be fair, that is not even a fair comparison and I will explain why. Since that review I have upgraded my amplifier, I now have a Cayin CS100A with KT88's. A great amp and a fantastic pairing for the iDAC 6 II. However I wanted to go further. Since buying my iDAC 6 II, I have also bought a Gustard R26 DAC (RRP £1649) and now I own a Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 (RRP £2500). I have also for a brief period owned a Cambridge Audio Edge A, with its own inbuilt DAC and own an Eversolo DMP-A6 Master Edition, which I use for streaming but, which also has it’s own ESS Sabre DAC chip.
I therefore now have a number of comparisons to compare the Cayin iDAC 6 II against, two being other Delta Sigma, one an R2R ladder DAC and one a much rarer DSD DAC. Against the Gustard R26, the Cayin iDAC 6 II has a smaller soundstage, it is not as expansive and feels closer, more intimate. I found for some music I preferred the Gustard R26, but for much of my listening I always ended up back listening with the Cayin. It’s hard to imagine a Delta Sigma based DAC sounding warmer than a very well regarded R2R DAC, but that’s exactly what the Cayin did.
With the Cayin iDAC 6 II there is absolutely no digital glare, no harshness, it does not sound at all clinical. There is a such a mellow sweetness to the sound, it is organic and wholesome sounding, there is sophistication and it is totally beguiling. Compared to the Cambridge Audio Edge A’s built in ESS Sabre DAC, they are chalk and cheese. The DAC in the Edge A is multiple times better than that of the CXN from my last review. The Edge A is very revealing and holographic, it is lifelike to the point of ‘being there’ if you understand. Play Alicia Keys Unplugged Live at the Brooklyn Academy and by God, you may as well be there listening to the performance live. However, for all that outstanding realism the Edge A still has that Delta Sigma trait of becoming fatiguing, at least to my ears, after a long listening session. It simply lacks the sweetness or lush sound of the Cayin. Maybe this could be the exceptionally revealing nature of the ribbons on my speakers but after a while I found myself switching back to the Cayin.
The DAC in the Eversolo DMP-A6 Master Edition is very good, considering the cost of the unit and what it does. For some this may be all they need. It is not as revealing or lifelike as the Edge A, but it retains the slam and attack and sounds slightly fuller. You could probably listen to the Eversolo without the ear fatigue of the Edge A, but it still lacks the warmth and lushness of the Cayin iDAC 6 II.
This brings me to my final comparison, to the Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0, which is neither a R2R or Delta Sigma DAC, instead it upsamples any signal fed to it to convert it to DSD 128, 256, 512 or 1028. With each increase the sound becomes smoother, more ‘analogue’ in nature. This is both fantastic but some may feel a little flawed. The soundstage is wide and deep, instrument separation ‘air’ is good, top end details are there and it is a nice sound indeed. It is like musical treacle, thick and sweet. However, the flaw of this DAC is that in making everything sound exceptionally smooth and ‘analogue’ it lacks bite, slam and attack on certain tracks. An example, going back to Alicia Keys Live at the Brooklyn Academy. The last track ‘Love it or Leave it’, the lifelike ‘Twack’ of the drum is missing. You can hear the drums, you can hear every instrument but it no longer sounds as if you are sitting there listening to the live musicians. So, for some music tastes it may be a persons ‘end game’ DAC, but for others it may just be a little flawed.
Wrapping up this revisit to my original review, this is why I love the little Cayin iDAC 6 II. It manages to do so much so well. It has a smoothness and lushness that to date I have never heard on any of the DACs I have owned, it can compete with DACs like the Gustard R26, which in themselves have been compared to much higher priced R2R DACs, it also sounds more lifelike than the CenGrand DSDAC 1.0, which costs almost twice as much.
It is for the reasons stated above that the Cayin iDAC 6 II can hold it’s head up high. You can spend so much more and get a less rounded DAC. The Cayin iDAC 6 II has not had much media coverage and there are only a couple of reviews online, which is a shame as I really do feel this DAC deserves way more praise than it gets.
Tony | London | April 2024
Great DAC
There are many great DACS around, and this is one of them. Do not be fooled into thinking a cheaper DAC will sound anything like this. My experience with the Cayin iDAC6 MKII compared to an admittedly cheaper Cambridge Audio CXN v2 is the two are night and day. Whereas the CXN v2 had detail, it sounded lifeless, flat, and two-dimensional when connected to my PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium. However, that changed when I bought an iDAC6 MK II. Music had detail, but now sounded, richer, fuller, lusher, enveloping, natural. Music took on life and became a pleasure to listen to, as it should be. As I am sitting here listening to Maksym Rzeminski's rendition of 'Arrival' On the nature of daylight on Quobuz via my USB to the iDac6 I can but smile as it is as if the pianist is playing in front of me on a real piano. There is emotion in the music. I prefer the timbre of the tube, which has a slightly softer presentation, but there is also the option of bypassing this. Overall I am especially pleased with this DAC, it really is an enormous improvement over more budget DACs, which you will only appreciate once you compare the two.
Tony | London | February 2022
Great DAC
There are many great DACS around, and this is one of them. Do not be fooled into thinking a cheaper DAC will sound anything like this. My experience with the Cayin iDAC6 MKII compared to an admittedly cheaper Cambridge Audio CXN v2 is the two are night and day. Whereas the CXN v2 had detail, it sounded lifeless, flat, and two-dimensional when connected to my PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium. However, that changed when I bought an iDAC6 MK II. Music had detail, but now sounded, richer, fuller, lusher, enveloping, natural. Music took on life and became a pleasure to listen to, as it should be. As I am sitting here listening to Maksym Rzeminski's rendition of 'Arrival' On the nature of daylight on Quobuz via my USB to the iDac6 I can but smile as it is as if the pianist is playing in front of me on a real piano. There is emotion in the music. I prefer the timbre of the tube, which has a slightly softer presentation, but there is also the option of bypassing this. Overall I am especially pleased with this DAC, it really is an enormous improvement over more budget DACs, which you will only appreciate once you compare the two.
Tony | London | February 2022
This is the real deal !
When you buy something new, and it literally takes your breath away, then you simply have to put pen to paper and make others aware of it !
This iDAC6Mk2 is just amazing - it has so much to offer that I probably don't have space to list it all, but suffice to say that if it was 3 times the cost, you would still be utterly delighted - I've owned it for about 3 months now, and last night listening to Pearl Jam was so sensational that I had to write this review - paints as realistic a soundstage that I have ever heard.........
Chris Morrison | Gwent | November 2020
