[Francesco Montanari]

Keep in mind the battery gauge will become more accurate after a few charge cycles. That said it's optimistic to expect the full 12-hours battery life (advertised for playback of CD-quality music anyway). If you're playing high-res flac or DSD files the processor has to work harder and therefore eats up more battery. Also if your screen is on a lot, and set to high brightness, it will suck your battery dry. Keep it off as much as possible (unless you're into following lyrics), and set it only as bright as you need to clearly see the display. Hammer it with all guns blazing, sonto speak, and you'll probably find your battery life will drop substantially.

PS. It's rare that I need to use my N3 on long trips, so as long as it lasts a few hours each day and I can top it up every other day, I'm happy. Heck I'm charging my phone twice a day, so 2-3 times per week for a device is a luxury!

Thanks a lot for your answer.

BTW My N3 is always off with brightness on default setting (level 2). The strange thing is the stand by battery drain... With no use it drops 2/3% per hour

 

[gLer]

Thanks a lot for your answer.

BTW My N3 is always off with brightness on default setting (level 2). The strange thing is the stand by battery drain... With no use it drops 2/3% per hour

I don't think the N3 has a "deep sleep" mode like some of the Fiio DAPs. Best to activate the auto-shutdown feature after an idle period, if you know you're not going to be using it, and as a general rule, check the battery every night in case you know you'll be using it and it needs a top-up. I'm still amazed these tiny devices can power studio-sized headphones with HiRes sound for an entire day. How Sony gets some of their Walkmans to play for 30 hours is beyond me - then again they cost as much as ten N3s!.

 

[Francesco Montanari]

I don't think the N3 has a "deep sleep" mode like some of the Fiio DAPs. Best to activate the auto-shutdown feature after an idle period, if you know you're not going to be using it, and as a general rule, check the battery every night in case you know you'll be using it and it needs a top-up. I'm still amazed these tiny devices can power studio-sized headphones with HiRes sound for an entire day. How Sony gets some of their Walkmans to play for 30 hours is beyond me - then again they cost as much as ten N3s!.

Thanks a lot mate, i Will Activate Scheduled Power off

 

[ngoshawk]

My written review is now live. A hearty thank you to @Andykong for this fine little critter. @Cayin should be very proud of this fine device:

https://www.head-fi.org/f/showcase/...lity-digital-audio-player-black.22343/reviews

Video review, if you dare...

 

[Leglatz]

My written review is now live. A hearty thank you to @Andykong for this fine little critter. @Cayin should be very proud of this fine device:

https://www.head-fi.org/f/showcase/...lity-digital-audio-player-black.22343/reviews

Video review, if you dare...

Hi Lynn,
Thanks for this nice review.
Just a point: it is now (with fw v1.2) possible to lock the right buttons, in System Settings > lock screen:ON

 

[vessel]

Heads up to anyone who gets a defective unit... I contacted Cayin about my issues, they were very helpful and responsive but agreed it was defective and needed replacing. They contacted the distributor I bought it from, Rebound Audio. I waited several days and didn't hear anything from Rebound. I contacted Cayin again letting them know, they re-contacted Rebound to remind them to get in touch with me. Rebound finally emailed me saying to just request a refund via Amazon. So, if you buy through Amazon and have a defective unit you will save a lot of time by just going straight to Amazon once Cayin confirms your device can not be fixed. I ordered a replacement because I don't want to be without an N3 while I'm waiting for Amazon to give me a refund, hopefully Amazon isn't weird about it because the device sometimes seems like it works if you just turn it on for a few minutes. Since I can't turn it off when it's having the display issue it drains the battery, after that it will work again for awhile so if they receive it and charge it they will think it's fine if they just give it a quick test.

 

[fish1050]

I don't think the N3 has a "deep sleep" mode like some of the Fiio DAPs. Best to activate the auto-shutdown feature after an idle period, if you know you're not going to be using it, and as a general rule, check the battery every night in case you know you'll be using it and it needs a top-up. I'm still amazed these tiny devices can power studio-sized headphones with HiRes sound for an entire day. How Sony gets some of their Walkmans to play for 30 hours is beyond me - then again they cost as much as ten N3s!.

I think you are forgetting the A series Sony DAP's that start at $299.00 at least in Canada. The N3 sells for $219.00 CDN so not a huge price difference and the A25 and A35 come with 16 GB of memory so not that much more than the N3. Oh and battery life is closer to 40 hours.

 

[mer]

The Sony has many optimizations, including CPU/kernel, they are more experienced with the custom android OS/chips they use. But also one main difference is the sony digital amp ( class D ) instead of OPA1622 but don't forget the Sonya35 can only output 35mw while the N3 says 130mw. The sony digital amp is more efficient and gives absolute black background, but I prefer the OPA1622...it's loud... I tested the a35 and I like it a lot but I bought the cayin n3 in the end.... I love the cayin n3, I believe the ak4490+opa1622+sony xba-n3 is a really good combination.

High gain madness

 

[velasfloyd]

by the way, I have a little confusion about this 4 options:

- idle shutdown: if the device should get off after a time
- idle shutdown time: the time before the device will turn off (if previous option is on)
-scheduled power off: ??
- sleep shutdown time: ??

can someone help me with the later 2 options? i dont find why they are different from the first ones, thanks

Enjoying my red N3

 

[equalspeace]

The N3 is the little awesome DAP that could. It's a keeper!

 

[fish1050]

The Sony has many optimizations, including CPU/kernel, they are more experienced with the custom android OS/chips they use. But also one main difference is the sony digital amp ( class D ) instead of OPA1622 but don't forget the Sonya35 can only output 35mw while the N3 says 130mw. The sony digital amp is more efficient and gives absolute black background, but I prefer the OPA1622...it's loud... I tested the a35 and I like it a lot but I bought the cayin n3 in the end.... I love the cayin n3, I believe the ak4490+opa1622+sony xba-n3 is a really good combination.

High gain madness

You can't compare the power of the two based on specs alone. The Class D digital amp in the A35 is alot more efficient than the A/B class amp chip in the N3. The efficiency of the Class D amp is a big reason why the A series gets such good battery life. My A17 at only 15 mW per channel can power my B&W P5S2's headphones just fine. I have to imagine the 35 mW of the A35 would add a nice boost. I am not sold on either one just yet as they have both just become available in Canada. Once the A35 makes it into a retail location where I can demo it only then would I compare the actual power of the two along with sound quality. It would be hard for me to get use to the major drop in battery life going from my A17 to the N3. The N3 would need to sound noticeably better to win out.

 

[Intensecure]

I am not sold on either one just yet as they have both just become available in Canada

That shows the disparity between markets. I don't know when a new replacement Sony player is expected, but in Malaysia the A35, which has been on sale for nearly a year (?) is being treated as end of life - it sells locally for just $140, whereas the N3 is $180, making it a tough choice. I'm currently looking at both, but the very low price and superb battery life leans me towards the Sony. The Bluetooth integration and other sound features leans me back to the N3.
Tough call.

 

[Andykong]

Hi Guys, I bought this amazing DAP few days ago and I installed latest firmware but I noticed an huge battery drain... also in standby after 3 cycles. Tonight it dropped from 39 to 6% in 7 hours... I think it's not normal.

I tried resetting, reinstalling firmware but it behaves always the same.

Could you please share your battery performance?

PS: Now listening 10 minutes it's dropped from 100 to 96%

Did you plug in any headphone? When you switch on N3, it will go into standby mode with default output set to S/PDIF, this mode will disable all analogue circuit and this is our power saving mechanism. When you plug in a headphone or line out, the analogue circuit of N3 will activate and this will consume more power even when idled.

gLer has suggested "Schedule Power Off" and this is my take to the issue as well, I set Schedule Power Off to 10 minutes and whenever I finished my listening session I'll unplug my headphone and let the N3 power off itself after 10 minutes. I hope this will enhance your experience with N3 while we continue to improve the power management of the player.

Correction： we should use idle shutdown instead of scheduled power off for power saving. To try out this function, set idle Shutdown to "ON" and then Idle Shutdown Time to 10 minutes.

 

[rad7]

So, I've been using my N3 for a couple of months now. I like it for it's neutral presentation and clarity but I feel it lacks the punch in the bass department. I listen to a lot of psybient and chillout trance, trap music, liquid DnB, etc, so I would love if it has a stronger & punchier (but not overwhelming) bass. So, can anyone tell me what changes should I make to the EQ? And what digital filter should I use (if it even makes any difference; I only have 192 kbps & higher quality mp3s)?

Also, are there any good budget IEMs (around $50 or less) that have a fast, deep & punchy bass, warm & detailed mids, good soundstage, crisp & precise, but non-fatiguing highs? I am not a bass head by any means, but I do like a punchier bass when listening to some of my music. I currently own several KZs (ED10, ZST, ZS3), MEMT X5 and Somic V4. Of these the ZS3 & the X5s have decent bass but they lack in other departments like soundstage. ZST is pretty good, but it is too bright & fatiguing for me. So, I tend to use the Somic V4 more often than others, but I find their bass response to be a little anemic.

 

[Andykong]

I got the case as part of the review tour and I think it should be mandatory. All the issues I had with pressing the wrong button with the silicone case stopped cold with the leather since the buttons are recessed.

I posted my review today here: https://www.head-fi.org/f/showcase/...lity-digital-audio-player-black.22343/reviews

Meanwhile, I have the family talked into a father's day present my new N3 with the leather case should be on order by this weekend.

Thank you very much, I think your final action is the strongest statement to your review, what more can we expect when a reviewer decided to buy a brand new unit out of his pocket after he returned the review sample? I agree with you that the N3/UM Martian combo tends to a little bit bass shy, I changed to comply tip to enhance the bass response of the UM Martian, maybe you can try that later.