Cayin N3 Hi-Res DAP with AKM4490 DAC, apt-X Bluetooth, and Line, USB & Coax Out for $150

Lost Cosmonaut · Mar 13, 2017 at 6:56 PM

How exactly does the line out work if it's through a USB-C port? Can I simply connect the N3 to an AMP via dongle?

I've never used this mode before.

Andykong · Mar 13, 2017 at 9:09 PM

lost cosmonaut said:
How exactly does the line out work if it's through a USB-C port? Can I simply connect the N3 to an AMP via dongle?

I've never used this mode before.

The USB Type C port does not have line out, you can get S/PDIF output in coaxial format, its a digital out.

The line out of N3 is located at the 3.5mm port besides the USB Type C port, that is a shared port for headphone and line out. The player will assume you are connecting to a headphone by default, you need to go to setup menu to change the output to line out in order to connect the N3 to an amplifier.

Andykong · Mar 13, 2017 at 9:24 PM

m0b1liz3 said:
With the bluetooth feature, would it be possible to use your phone as a remote to select tracks that are on the SD card of the device itself? Just thinking that I could have it plugged into the home stereo that way and benefit from the bluetooth remote function while not loosing any quality due to streaming over BT.

N3 support BT remote control profile, so you can control N3 with a standard Bluetooth remote control to play/pause skip track, previous/next track etc. Theoretically, you can control the N3 with a phone + app if it is fully compatible with Bluetooth remote control profile. We haven't tested this application scene yet, I'll request our Engineering team to check this out and come back to you later. :beerchug:

keygrr · Mar 13, 2017 at 9:27 PM

Hello, new member here and had a question about the N3. I've read in this thread that it has gapless playback which is important to me, but does it have any fade in/fade out or crossfade features? If it does, it is configurable as far as time? It's one of my must-have features that I've come to really depend on in PowerAmp on my S7 Edge, and any DAP I consider would have to have a crossfade feature.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Andykong · Mar 13, 2017 at 9:28 PM

bartsimpson1976 said:
any experiences avilable already with the gapless capabilities of the N3?

My apology, I didn't include any gapless testing material in the N3 demo units at CanJam, I'll revise our show demo music list and include an album for gapless testing in the future.

We have left a N3 demo unit (Engineering Sample) with Jaben Singapore, you should be able to test the N3 in more detail if you can visit Jaben store later this week, that should give you a better understanding on the N3 before you place an order.

Lost Cosmonaut · Mar 13, 2017 at 9:37 PM

andykong said:
The USB Type C port does not have line out, you can get S/PDIF output in coaxial format, its a digital out.

The line out of N3 is located at the 3.5mm port besides the USB Type C port, that is a shared port for headphone and line out. The player will assume you are connecting to a headphone by default, you need to go to setup menu to change the output to line out in order to connect the N3 to an amplifier.

OK, that's also new to me but makes a lot more sense than what I thought. This little device is packed with a lot of interesting features.

Thank you, Andy

Andykong · Mar 13, 2017 at 9:38 PM

crabdog said:
Due to the very limited time I had with the N3 and the noisy environment I can't say much about the actual sound except that at the time I liked what I heard. What really impressed me though was the responsiveness and aesthetics of the UI which is a very important factor for me. As for the haptic feedback I actually found it quite useful just for knowing that the button registered your touch.

Glad you like the N3 at the CanJam. The capacitive touch button is a hate and like scenario, we have received some user feedback during the beta testing stage and decided to allow users to turn off the vibrating feedback if they so desired. I think [@] nmatheis[/@] has turned off the feedback on his unit immediately after the 0.9beta firmware upgrade. I think its good to have a choice.

The demo units at CanJam Singapore are our final version Engineering sample, its functionally identical to the production version but the sound of the production unit will be cleaner. As I mentioned previously, you can check out the N3 demo unit at Jaben store as left one unit with them after the show.

BartSimpson1976 · Mar 13, 2017 at 9:52 PM

andykong said:
My apology, I didn't include any gapless testing material in the N3 demo units at CanJam, I'll revise our show demo music list and include an album for gapless testing in the future.

We have left a N3 demo unit (Engineering Sample) with Jaben Singapore, you should be able to test the N3 in more detail if you can visit Jaben store later this week, that should give you a better understanding on the N3 before you place an order.

Thanks Andy, that was my plan. Just got a quick impression at CanJam which was very positive. Will give it a more detailed try at jaben later this week.

Andykong · Mar 13, 2017 at 9:59 PM

jinxy245 said:
That's where I'm at....or close enough. I'm not (necessarily) looking for the bells nor whistles. My Shanling M2 & Fiio X3(I) still sound good, butI'm looking for a bit of an upgrade, if not a sidegrade with a better display. I'm tired of having to reach for my glasses when I'm curious about a song (Which album was that song on? Is this a FLAC or MP3?). The N3 looks like it has a little more usable real estate on it's screen, but I'd have to see it...I made the mistake of spending all my time with the i5 at canjam, which has an awesome display...sounds great, too. This definitely packs a lot of goodies in for the price, though.

The i5 definitely offered significant better User Interface and offered a lot more features, it also sounds better as we have "slightly" more space to accommodate a better analogue circuit. The N3 is a lot more compact and its old-school hard-button based, its responsive but being limited to 2.4" screen, the content are more text-based, the use small fonts to fit the design but we have tried our best to make sure the text are clear and sharp.

fourrobert13 said:
I've owned the X1 and X3II. I currently own a X5II. I'm looking for something I can leave at work and pair with some decent IEMs. I looked at the AP60 since it's cheaper, but it has some shortcomings that don't appeal to me. I've read about the M1 as well and verdict is still out on it. The X1II is isn't even being considered because regardless of them trying to improve that DAP, they're going backwards IMO. The N3 looks promising, but want to hear more impressions/reviews before jumping on it. I've made that mistake before and don't feel like reliving it.

originalsnuffy said:
We need to see the reviews but my guess is that this would be a "sidegrade" relative to the M2. Of course the N3 has more features. My guess is that it would be an upgrade to the original X3. I own the M2 and M2, and have owned the X3 I and X3 II by the way.

We'll arrange sample to several review HeadFi review site as soon as possible. Our first two production batches sold out really quickly, I'll send out several review sample within this week, hopefully the first review will be online by early April, which is not too long after the actual availability time of N3 in oversee markets.

Andykong · Mar 13, 2017 at 10:34 PM

This is the latest updated of music format supported by production version of N3 (v1.0 firmware). We have managed to squeezed more resolution out of the digital circuit and improved the AIFF and WAV format to 32Bit/384kHz.
(sorry, have to use a photo instead of photo to illustrate the content, take a lot more time to get a table displayed correctly on HeadFi forum)

The USB Audio support has also been revised as follow:

[COLOR=FF00AA]USB Audio[/COLOR] in (i.e., USB DAC)
PCM: upto 24Bit/192kHz
DSD: support DSD64 and DSD128

[COLOR=FF00AA]USB Audio out[/COLOR] (i.e., N3 serve as digital transport)
PCM: same as local music playback (table above)
DSD: Support DSD64 and DSD128 (DoP and D2P, user selectable)
[COLOR=FF00AA]
S/PDIF (Coaxial) out[/COLOR]
PCM: upto 24Bit/192kHz
DSD: D2P mode asupport DSD64 and DSD128, fixed at 88.2kHz), DoP only support DSD64, DSD128 DoP still under development. The bandwidth limitation of S/PDIF is the bottleneck at this point.

originalsnuffy · Mar 14, 2017 at 12:01 AM

andykong said:
The i5 definitely offered significant better User Interface and offered a lot more features, it also sounds better as we have "slightly" more space to accommodate a better analogue circuit. The N3 is a lot more compact and its old-school hard-button based, its responsive but being limited to 2.4" screen, the content are more text-based, the use small fonts to fit the design but we have tried our best to make sure the text are clear and sharp.

We'll arrange sample to several review HeadFi review site as soon as possible. Our first two production batches sold out really quickly, I'll send out several review sample within this week, hopefully the first review will be online by early April, which is not too long after the actual availability time of N3 in oversee markets.

If their are tours or mini tours of this unit I would love to try it. Based on initial reviews I think you have a unit that should sell well, and I am pleased for you. Bringing in new customers to the fold creates demand for more units later. I was very impressed with the sound of the i5; but it makes sense that you could not quite equal the analog sound with the N3. At the price point and smaller size of the N3 that would be expected.

Andykong · Mar 14, 2017 at 1:38 AM

originalsnuffy said:
If their are tours or mini tours of this unit I would love to try it. Based on initial reviews I think you have a unit that should sell well, and I am pleased for you. Bringing in new customers to the fold creates demand for more units later. I was very impressed with the sound of the i5; but it makes sense that you could not quite equal the analog sound with the N3. At the price point and smaller size of the N3 that would be expected.

Definitely, will probably start a N3 world tour by mid April, stay tune for that.

docholliday · Mar 14, 2017 at 2:02 AM

Question, does the N3 have ReplayGain? My smallest player right now is the X1-II and it's a complete pain in the ass - no gapless, no ReplayGain. Nothing like having a set of really sensitive IEMs in and blowing out an eardrum when a song changes tracks from good DR to brickwall, loudness war mixing.

dnullify · Mar 14, 2017 at 9:32 AM

Can anyone tell me whether this will have more driving power and a better DAC than an iPhone 6, from a spec level? I made the mistake of comparing my iPhone to a Sony zx100 using the same lossless song with my rockets at the Tokyo Sony store. It got me looking at trying out an entry level DAP and seeing how much I use it.

MPNow · Mar 14, 2017 at 9:59 AM

andykong said:
N3 support BT remote control profile, so you can control N3 with a standard Bluetooth remote control to play/pause skip track, previous/next track etc.ng team to check this out and come back to you later.

Theoretically, you can control the N3 with a phone + app if it is fully compatible with Bluetooth remote control profile. We haven't tested this application scene yet, I'll request our Engineeri

This feature will come in very handy.

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