Cayin CP6 Portable Tube CD Player, USB DAC & Headphone Amplifier

The Cayin CP6 is a portable CD player with a real tube stage, bringing Cayin’s long experience with tube CD players into a compact, transportable design. A matched pair of Raytheon JAN6418 military-grade tubes alongside a solid-state path gives three sound modes, two Cirrus Logic CS4308P DACs and a fully balanced discrete amplifier deliver up to 1,300mW per channel, and it doubles as a USB DAC, a CD ripper, a digital transport and a two-way Bluetooth 5.4 transceiver: one source for headphones, active speakers or a full hi-fi system.

Three timbres from real tubes

Rather than simulating tube warmth digitally, the CP6 runs its two new-old-stock JAN6418s in a dual-channel Class A circuit with a dedicated 22V low-noise supply and DC filaments to keep noise and hum down. One touch of the Timbre button switches between Classic Tube (warm, smooth and rich in vocals), Modern Tube (spacious, detailed and dynamic) and Solid-State (clean, neutral and transparent), and the chosen timbre applies to the headphone, line and Bluetooth outputs.

Tubes are sensitive to vibration, so each JAN6418 has a custom damping sleeve and shielding cover in a suspended chassis structure, and local feedback between stages steadies the multi-stage tube supply and filament current, suppressing microphonics.

Dual DACs, differential output

Two Cirrus Logic CS4308P 32-bit, eight-channel DACs run in mono mode for fully parallel differential current output, followed by dual TI OPA1612 I/V and low-pass filter stages for very low noise and distortion. Fully independent left and right channels improve separation and give a darker background and more precise imaging.

Fully balanced four-channel amplifier

The discrete, fully balanced headphone amplifier pairs a voltage stage built on dual TI OPA1652 op-amps with a push-pull current stage of four Nexperia PHPT610030NPKX high-power transistor pairs, for strong current, low output impedance, full bass and solid dynamics. It drives headphones from 8Ω to 600Ω and switches between Class A (warmer, smoother, lower distortion) and Class AB (more efficient, stronger dynamics and output). On external power the 4.4mm output gives up to 1,300mW + 1,300mW into 16Ω (1,100mW into 32Ω) and the 3.5mm output up to 600mW + 600mW, with two gain levels; on battery the 4.4mm output still gives 1,100mW into 16Ω.

A JRC NJW1195A four-channel volume controller gives fully balanced volume in 0.5dB steps, with excellent channel separation and no clicks, and an onsemi FSA2275 audio switch handles signal switching with low distortion and no pops.

More than a CD player

Inputs are CD, USB and Bluetooth. The 3.5mm and 4.4mm sockets work as headphone outputs or fixed-level line outputs, and there are coaxial and optical digital outputs (up to 24-bit/192kHz; the optical shares the 3.5mm socket, with an adapter supplied) plus Bluetooth transmission, so it is a CD player, digital transport, USB DAC and Bluetooth transceiver in one.

• USB DAC: a 16-core XMOS XU316 with an asynchronous design and a high-precision clock plays PCM up to 384kHz/32-bit and native DSD256 (or DoP), in UAC 2.0 or UAC 1.0 mode. Cayin describes it as plug-and-play on Windows, macOS, Android and Linux; if Windows doesn’t recognise it, install Cayin’s USB audio driver.
• Bluetooth 5.4: a Qualcomm QCC3083 receives LDAC, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, aptX, AAC and SBC, and transmits aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, aptX and SBC to wireless headphones and speakers, with the tube timbres still available.
• CD ripping: copy CDs losslessly to USB storage (FAT32 only).

A professional CD mechanism

A custom anti-shock CD mechanism with a precision laser pickup and a professional servo system reads discs stably and efficiently, and strong error correction keeps playback faithful. It plays 12cm CDs and CD-Rs.

Clean power, battery or DC

The 7,300mAh (28Wh) battery gives up to 7.5 hours from the 3.5mm headphone output in Class AB solid-state mode, or about 10.2 hours from the line output; life varies with the output, amplifier mode and timbre. Charging is managed by a TI BQ25895 charging chip with thermal control so you can listen while it charges, with QC/PD fast charging (about 2.5 hours, or 3.5 hours normally). Switch to DC mode on external USB power and the amplifier supply is optimised for its full 1,300mW. Dual LT8334 controllers with TLV61046, TLV62568 and TPS61087 converters form an efficient DC-DC supply, and fifteen LP5907 ultra-low-noise regulators with multi-stage filtering keep the background very dark. Standby power is very low, preserving the battery in storage.

Made for your CD collection

The body is 6063 aerospace-grade aluminium with an ultra-fine 180-grit sandblasted, hard-anodised finish that resists fingerprints, wear and corrosion. A metal mesh tube window cuts RF interference while showing the tube glow. The damped lid stays at any angle, and its tinted window reduces laser exposure (the CP6 is a Class 1 laser product). A 2.3-inch 76 × 284 display shows playback and settings, buttons give direct control, a finely textured wheel sets the volume, and a Hold switch prevents accidental presses. Cayin’s Control app (Android only, from Cayin’s website) adds deeper settings.

Good to know

• The Cayin Control app is Android only.
• In the box: mini-TOSLINK to standard optical adapter, USB-C cable, cleaning cloth and user manual.
• For a portable CD player without tubes, see the Shanling EC Play.