[CayinSupport]

I haven't been following every single post lately - but has anyone else mentioned that, with the way the side buttons are labeled, and how the tracks are listed on the screen - when you press the upper "Next Track" button, the pointer moves down the list to the next track.

That's how I expect it to behave.

Yes, that's the design.

 

[CayinSupport]

I just had 20 minutes of hell on earth the G.U.I edition.

Navigation was so horrible i almost lost my gdam mind.

WHAT??

Come on here...check 1st post and noted the 2nd set on touch controls under the ones on top. I was leaving the screen cover on as a courtesy but it caused me not to see the other cap buttons and getting pulled in and out of menus like a sick mind game.

Everything is fine now.

There is a small sensor or pin hole on the bottom left of screen. What is that?

The pin hole is the reset button of N3.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

The pin hole is the reset button of N3.

No it's a perfect circle with a tiny circle in the center of it like a pin.
@Brooko will be getting this unit so he can see for himself.



I reviewed and love the item. That was a curious thing. It is under the glass
Awesome item for $150

 

[CayinSupport]

Hello everyone,

Is this a correct assumption that I can use de n3 as a usb DAC out of my android phone, but not with the stock cable ?

N3 has "limited" support to Android device. The problem is Android is a big family and not all mobile phone manufacturers perceive the Android connectivity (esp OTG implementation) at the same page. So we have encountered some Android devices that is not fully compatible with N3. In addition, N3 will charge up and drain the battery of Android devices, we are unsatisfied with the Android/N3 experience so we decided to not recommend Android support at this stage.

N3 can't connect to iOS devices directly, you need a CCK and Apple endorsement in order to claim iOS suppport.

 

[Andykong]

Hello Andy. Any chance their might be an increase in the 12,000 title limit in the future? I know a lot of folks use only lossless titles which do eat up more space and it would seem that 12000 titles would be more than enough(I have 13770 files on a 128GB card and still have 8 GB remaining) But I am sure their are a good amount of folks that want to use this device with mp3s as well, and we could fit more files than that on a 256 card down the road. I would definitively be willing to wait a little longer for the database to process, if that were a side affect. You might be able to grab more customers who have larger libraries and to whom the limit might be deal-breaker when deciding whether or not to buy this device. Just my thoughts and my hope to add this to my firmware wishlist.

Here's what Andy Kong from Cayin said specifically in regards to this issue, you can find his original post at the bottom of page 146 of this thread:

"The N3 has a maximum index limit of 12,000 titles. This limit does not affect folder browsing or playlist operation, but it will affect the features under the Category menu. Upgrade to v1.2 firmware will not change maximum index limit.

We though 12,000 titles should be enough for 1 TF card (upto 256GB), now that we know some of our customers will go beyond that. I have no idea whether we can extend the limit further because this will increase the processing loading and will take up more internal memory, the system resource is indeed a bit tight with N3, we have to be very calculative in order to offer this level of digital audio capability and sound quality at the entry level budget."

Thanks nplateau for helping out by quoting my previous respond on the maximum file limit on Music Category function. I have submitted an optimization request to my team last Wednesday, literally immediately before I get on my plan to US (well, the plan was delayed for 6 hours, so I have some extra time to handle that promptly). From what I was told today, we can increase the title limit to 20,000, this is technically feasible and probably hitting the limit of N3 hardware (CPU processing power and RAM available for processing). The final availability will depend on actual testing after implementation. We cannot 100% guarantee that the feature will roll out in next firmware upgrade, we'll implement the feature but the final result will depends on actually testing, we do not want to downgrade our user experience and UI smoothness because of this feature.

For the meantime, you can access to all music files of your TF card by using the Music Library function of N3. By the way, may I ask if you are coming from an ipod/itunes background? I must say N3 is significantly behind the iTunes in terms of music management. The iTunes is a much larger project then N3 and embrace a comprehensive database library concepts. N3 is an index-based library when compare to iTunes. The current Music Category feature of N3 is fairly primitive when compare to iTunes, we can and we shall improve the Music Category feature of N3 down the road, but I don't want to create a false hope that we can compare with iTunes later on. We won't have that resource nor N3 has the appropriate architecture for something like that. There were some very high quality discussion about migration issues (and mentality) from iPod/iTunes users to N3 or similar DAP about a month back, unfortunately I don't have my reading notes with me while I am traveling, if someone can recall that, please post the reference again.

So is he saying I could create a playlist with all 13700 of my files and it would still play all of them at once? If so, would i need to create a playlist externally (m3u)? Thanks again for your help.

I mean you can access the undetected file from Music Library and Playlist, I was emphasis on the accessibility at that post. N3 cannot handle a playlist with 13700 music files. In fact, N3 has a maximum playlist entries limit of 1000 titles only, significantly below the maximum file number of Music Category function. The processing power required to handle playlist is enormous because this feature is not supported by the X1000 CPU directly and we need to implement this feature by our firmware coding, imagine the playlist is just a text based file, we need to load the metadata of the files in the playlist in advance otherwise we cannot allow users to scroll up and down the playlist smoothly, that's why we need to set a limit to the maximum number of playlist entries.

PS. By the way, I'll resume duty at Hong Kong on 12 June, will chime in again as soon as I get back on track, but until then the forum is supported by the Cayinsupport account, she is our new CS and is still in training period, I hope she is still in one piece when I get back to office.

 

[Andykong]

Cayin n3 purely for transport any issues with a stack with the mojo?

Thats how I am currently using it. I don't have any issues. I am using a straight usb-c to micro-usb cable. One thing to be aware of though is that the N3 does not seem to offer bit-perfect output. Whether thats an issue to you or not, is up to you. What it does mean though is that if you are using straight usb as I am, you can still control EQ on the N3, and if you are using usb-c to coax, you will also be able to control volume and gain as well on the N3. I personally cannot notice any quality difference between the N3 and bit-perfect output from my phone through the mojo.

On top of the USB Audio option, you can also connect N3 to Mojo through a special Type C to 3.5mm coaxial cable, we are working on this cable right now, and expect to received a prototype by mid June. The sample I showed below is a modded version of the 1m Type C to RCA coaxial cable, the cable is too tough (thick) to bend in sharp corners hence we need to test new connectors and cable material before we can mass produce this short Type C Coaxial cable.

Regarding the volume and EQ control in digital output, we shall revise the digital output setting in near future, all digital output will be fixed at "native volume" eventually.

 

[Andykong]

I want to ask if n3 has an option to change stereo output to mono output?

Sorry, N3 does not have this function, you probably need to downmix the music file before you use it in N3.

 

[docholliday]

No it's a perfect circle with a tiny circle in the center of it like a pin.
@Brooko will be getting this unit so he can see for himself.



I reviewed and love the item. That was a curious thing. It is under the glass
Awesome item for $150

Um, that's a speck of dust under the screen protector. The reset hole is to the left of that, on the left side of the unit, near the bottom.

 

[Andykong]

The only problem i'm noticing right now, is that the cayin usb drivers do not work well on my windows 10 creators update computers. There's always noticeable lag even on the lowest latency settings. But the built in windows DAC drivers work fine. Hopefully the USB driver can be updated.

Yes, we are aware about the compatibility problem of Cayin's Universal USB Driver with the latest Windows 10 update, we regret Microsoft has changed their original USB Audio Class 2 support without prior notice. We are working on a revised Universal USB Driver right now.

For the moment, may I suggest you to try out our "old" version USB driver. This was developed for N5 and N6 but is compatible with N3:

http://en.cayin.cn/download/show?id=13473

Please be reminded that you need to disable Window's driver signature endorsement temporally before you install this driver.

 

[Sylean]

N3 has "limited" support to Android device. The problem is Android is a big family and not all mobile phone manufacturers perceive the Android connectivity (esp OTG implementation) at the same page. So we have encountered some Android devices that is not fully compatible with N3. In addition, N3 will charge up and drain the battery of Android devices, we are unsatisfied with the Android/N3 experience so we decided to not recommend Android support at this stage.

N3 can't connect to iOS devices directly, you need a CCK and Apple endorsement in order to claim iOS suppport.

Yet, is it possible ? Usb audio out works on my smartphone, would it work with the N3 ?

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

Um, that's a speck of dust under the screen protector. The reset hole is to the left of that, on the left side of the unit, near the bottom.

No,
The reset button ( no relation to this whatsoever)
It is not under the screen protector because there is no screen protector on the device in this photo

 

[docholliday]

No,
The reset button ( no relation to this whatsoever)
It is not under the screen protector because there is no screen protector on the device in this photo

If there isn't a protector on the screen, then that is a spec of dust between the LCD panel and the cover glass. That is NOT a reset button that you show in the picture. The reset button is on the side of the unit.

 

[Wiljen]

I have had the N3 for a couple days now on the tour and am really impressed for the most part. The one little annoyance I am finding is I wish the buttons were more tactile as with the buttons for volume and track change opposite each other I keep changing songs while trying to adjust volume. Probably just me being clumsy, but it would be nice if it was easier to operate one handed as when I do my thumb sits on the track forward button while adjusting the volume.

 

[gLer]

We cannot 100% guarantee that the feature will roll out in next firmware upgrade, we'll implement the feature but the final result will depends on actually testing, we do not want to downgrade our user experience and UI smoothness because of this feature.

Hi Andy, great to have you back here. Your lady back at the office has been doing a great job! Speaking of UI, I hope John passed on the comprehensive list of firmware suggestions I sent him, most of which are basic grammar/spelling/inconsistent graphics requests. I even offered to help debug all your N3 English interface errors free of charge! (I do this for a living) A few simple tweaks and I think the N3 will be head-and-shoulders the slickest DAP in its price range - and even better than those costing significantly more.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

If there isn't a protector on the screen, then that is a spec of dust between the LCD panel and the cover glass. That is NOT a reset button that you show in the picture. The reset button is on the side of the unit.

I never mentioned the reset button. Cayin and you did

Cayin:
The pin hole is the reset button of N3.

You:
Um, that's a speck of dust under the screen protector. The reset hole is to the left of that, on the left side of the unit, near the bottom.

(You quoted me but maybe were talking to Cayin?)


Me:
The reset button ( no relation to this whatsoever)


Communication breakdown..

Whatever,

Probably is some imperfection between the layers of something.

So back on topic. This tour unit has that defect. Sound and everything is obviously fine just that one cosmetic thing. A commenter on my YT video bought one and got it today and had no such issue so it's a one off. No biggie.