[dnelsonn]

They're going to tell you to contact the seller first for warranty and/or replacement.

Hm yeah to be honest I figured this was probably the case. I got it from massdrop but nothing about a warranty was posted. Wanted to try and get a confirmation before bugging massdrop, but I probably will anyway

 

[fish1050]

Yeah, I've been burned before. A few times on audio products, and other times on other types of Chinese electronics (Mini PCs, tablets, charging cables, li-ion batteries, handheld gaming devices, kids toys, clothing, etc).

It's really a crapshoot. Often the seller offers a partial refund. Other times they expect you to ship it all the way back to China for service or refund (which the shipping costs alone often exceed the original cost of the item). And asking Aliexpress etc to step in and help doesn't always work out in your favor either.

In the cases where I'm looking to lose all of my money, I tend to settle for a partial refund (ie losing some money is better than losing it all). In other cases, I just eat it if it's just a few bucks. Or other times they are willing to reship the item.

If you use sites like Amazon and ebay, you pay more for the items up front, but you have the power of ebay or Amazon behind you. I had some $80 headphones that I got from Amazon recently, and they died after 3 days. I printed the return label right from the Amazon site and shipped them back for a full refund. Took 5 minutes, and was easy as pie. A similar thing happened to some IEMs I got from Aliexpress a few months ago, and I ended up losing all of my money because the seller wouldn't do anything, and Aliexpress basically told me I was SOL when I did a dispute. I spent hours of my time over the course of 2 weeks sending evidence videos, photos, and going back and forth with messages. I was going to them dispute it with my credit card company, but by that point it just wasn't worth my time over some $12 IEMs.

So basically you accept that you'll win some and lose some.

Yeah that is why I try and stick to brands I can buy locally. Bought a couple of Cowon DAP's when they still had dealers in Canada. After they were dropped had to get repair service on my D2+. Cost me over $30.00 to ship to Cowon and it was returned weeks later with a different defect and it wasn't even my unit (full of German folk music I think) and they insisted it was the unit I shipped them. I insisted that they pay the shipping for the reship back to fix the second problem. They agreed but it came back to me twice because Cowon left it sitting at the postal depot both times and never picked it up. In the end I had to eat the unit cost and the shipping cost as they refused a third attempt. I will never buy another Cowon product after that experience and I always verify how the warranty service is handled on all future purchases

 

[CayinSupport]

-It happens with all songs: mp3/FLAC
-Issue persists when using N3 as a USB DAC
-I updated the firmware to 2.1 then "Reset to factory settings" then re-updated to 2.1 again
-I tried the VE Monk and HE-400 both were fine
-No change after 12H of usage

If it was a simple hissing issue I would probably try and impedance adapter, but I find the extra buzz in one channel to be atypical

Note:
*ATH-CKR9LTD (110dB/mW & 12 Ohms)

from your description, I guess it maybe the hardware issue.May I know which country are you from? You can contact your retailer to the warranty.

 

[CayinSupport]

Hello. It was a bit late for this advice as I drained the battery last night just by leaving screen always on, at maximum brightness. I think it took around 10-11 hours but I'm not completely sure as I fell asleep.

Now I have charged it to 100%, reset screen to minimum brightness and turn off after 30 seconds. I started playing a FLAC file on a loop just over 3 1/2 hours ago and I'm checking it every hour. Will post results when I'm finished.

EDIT: I still can't post the result as 12 hours and 22 minutes later it's still going...at 14%!

I've finally finished the test.

Played a 44.1KHZ/16-bit file on loop, volume = 42, gain = HdB.

I didn't check exactly on the hour every hour, as I have other things to do obviously but here are the figures I did jot down:

08.15 - Started at 99% (Dropped from 100%-99% as soon as I started using it)
09.15 - 91%
10.15 - 85%
11.15 - 78%
12.15 - 72%
13.25 - 65%
14.15 - 59%
15.33 - 48%
16.15 - 43%
17.21 - 35%
18.16 - 28%
19.16 - 23%
20.34 - 14%
21.38 - 6%
22.15 - 2%
22.40 - 0%

Although some of my times weren't on the hour, I did get a fairly even set of 2-hour blocks for the first 12 hours, save the last 2, which was actually 2 hours and 18 minutes:

2 hour blocks = 14%, 13%, 13%, 16%, 15%, 14% (2 hours 18 minutes),

The final 2 hours of playing time drained the last 14% so I think it's safe to say that all 2-hour blocks ranged from 13%-16% during this test.

Total running time was, as you can see, 14 hours and 25 minutes. This is great news as far as how well my battery performs when being used but I don't yet know whether it will still drain when the player is turned off.

Thanks for any insights you can provide.

EDIT: 10 hours later I turned it back on for a quick check and it's already dropped to 96% with no use. I can't help but think this unit is defective - the fact it was at 0% when I first got it would seem to indicate a problem with the battery draining when not being used.

Thank you for your cooperation! That's because the battery reading is an estimated based on the voltage measurement, it is NOT an exact figure as it appears, and the estimation is not as accurate at both end (near 100% and near 0%)., that;s why most DAP will only offer 5-bar or 3-bar meter on battery reading only.

Besides, all the electronic devices will consume power even when it is off. It's just a different degree deciding by storage condition. For you have said your N3 run out of its power 5 days. To see whether your N3 is normal or not, you can do a full discharge followed by a full charge several times . At last, recharge the N3 to 100%, and place it in right place without using it ,and see how long does it take for N3 to run out of battery power .

 

[CayinSupport]

Hello guys,

So today I have finally pulled the trigger and bought myself a red N3 from a local AV Fair. A couple of questions I have:

1) how does one plug in the USB-C cable? It looks symmetrical, so should I plug the cable with "Cayin" facing the front or the "USB" symbol facing the front? Or it does not matter at all how I plug it?
2) as I was browsing this thread, I saw some mention of a custom firmware? My current firmware is Ver1.0 or 1.1, should I install the custom firmware or install the official firmware from cayin? Are there any known bugs?

Sorry in advance if any of these questions have been asked, but being the lazy ass that I am, I cant fathom the effort to filp through 213 pages of this thread.

Thank-you

Hi, sorry for the late reply!
1) USB-C cable works either way.
2) We recommend customers to install the official firmware from cayin. And if you install any " custom firmware" unauthorized by Cayin, it may damage your device and void the warranty.

 

[CayinSupport]

Well. As my week with the N3 tour unit is approaching it's end on Sunday, I have decided I really need more time. So I just bought a red one from Amazon/MusicTeck. I will go into more details with a formal review, but this is what has helped me pull the trigger on my own player...

The usb out from the N3 is able to directly connect to my Ray Samuels Audio Intruder and Predator amps. Up to this point, I have only been using the RSA amps with line level inputs. The digital signal into the Intruder provides the capability for the intruder to have a wide, and spacious soundstage.

So I will give the N3 two thumbs up as a digital transport. This meets a need that I have and has allowed me to get better sound out of my current equipment. I will provide more info, as I said, in a review. But if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Thank you for your kind feedback!

 

[CayinSupport]

@CayinSupport I made a post a bit ago about issues with my power button on my N3. At this point it's safe to say that it's a hardware problem and the button is essentially broken. It has been difficult to use since the day I received it and as of now the button doesn't even register a press. Is there any warranty in place that can allow me to send it in for repairs or receive a replacement N3?

They're going to tell you to contact the seller first for warranty and/or replacement.

Do you know if sellers have to return defective units to Cayin for repair? If my battery issue continues I'll have to return mine and I'm wondering whether I'm looking at being without it for 3-4 weeks or more...

I'm not Cayin, but I've been following this thread since it was started and they always say contact the seller first. As long as you bought your N3 from an authorized dealer, then then seller should take care of it. Hopefully @Cayin or @CayinSupport can chime in and confirm this for you guys, but most of the overseas manufacturers operate this way so you can avoid shipping it overseas and waiting forever for repairs or replacement.

I've already contacted the seller and they stated that the warranty covered repair rather than replacement (assuming it is repairable I guess) so I'm not sure how they can take care of it without sending it back. You'd think I would know what they were going to do with it having already contacted them but I'm in Thailand and getting a straight answer when things go wrong can be difficult. At first, they claimed that standard procedure was for customers to make a short video (?!) about the problem, for them to review - quite mad in my opinion.

I'm hoping that my problem has already been resolved (having followed the advice given by Cayin) because I can see the return/repair procedure being a complete pain but I have to leave it turned off for another 4-5 days before I'll know for sure.

Thanks for your reply anyway

This is the one area most people overlook when purchasing portable audio. What will you have to do in order to get repair service? It is one of the main reasons I am apprehensive buying Chinese DAP's. Cayin is kind of an unknown entity and I will be waiting to see how N3 buyers experience Cayin repair services. I have had very good experiences with Sony and Fiio regarding product repair/replacement and a total nightmare with Cowon.

Yeah, I've been burned before. A few times on audio products, and other times on other types of Chinese electronics (Mini PCs, tablets, charging cables, li-ion batteries, handheld gaming devices, kids toys, clothing, etc).

It's really a crapshoot. Often the seller offers a partial refund. Other times they expect you to ship it all the way back to China for service or refund (which the shipping costs alone often exceed the original cost of the item). And asking Aliexpress etc to step in and help doesn't always work out in your favor either.

In the cases where I'm looking to lose all of my money, I tend to settle for a partial refund (ie losing some money is better than losing it all). In other cases, I just eat it if it's just a few bucks. Or other times they are willing to reship the item.

If you use sites like Amazon and ebay, you pay more for the items up front, but you have the power of ebay or Amazon behind you. I had some $80 headphones that I got from Amazon recently, and they died after 3 days. I printed the return label right from the Amazon site and shipped them back for a full refund. Took 5 minutes, and was easy as pie. A similar thing happened to some IEMs I got from Aliexpress a few months ago, and I ended up losing all of my money because the seller wouldn't do anything, and Aliexpress basically told me I was SOL when I did a dispute. I spent hours of my time over the course of 2 weeks sending evidence videos, photos, and going back and forth with messages. I was going to them dispute it with my credit card company, but by that point it just wasn't worth my time over some $12 IEMs.

So basically you accept that you'll win some and lose some.

Cayin is a manufacturer operates through an International distributor/dealer network. If in the unfortunate event that your equipment requires any form of warranty or repair service, you should contact your original seller and submit your DAP or amplifier through them. Cayin don't sell to international customers directly, and our products do not come with unlimited International warranty. Please do not send your equipment to Cayin directly, we shall refuse to accept any repair or warranty request without proper RMA procedure.

For your case, my suggestion is that you can follow the advice by the reseller. If you still have any problem, please feel free to let me know.

 

[eaglesgift]

Thank you for your cooperation! That's because the battery reading is an estimated based on the voltage measurement, it is NOT an exact figure as it appears, and the estimation is not as accurate at both end (near 100% and near 0%)., that;s why most DAP will only offer 5-bar or 3-bar meter on battery reading only.

Besides, all the electronic devices will consume power even when it is off. It's just a different degree deciding by storage condition. For you have said your N3 run out of its power 5 days. To see whether your N3 is normal or not, you can do a full discharge followed by a full charge several times . At last, recharge the N3 to 100%, and place it in right place without using it ,and see how long does it take for N3 to run out of battery power .

Thanks for your reply. I checked it this morning and it was at 94%, 2 1/2 days after recharging it and not using it (which is perfectly acceptable in my opinion). I'm going to leave it until the end of the week and as long as it hasn't drained an unreasonable amount, I will be happy with it. The seller has not responded to my last email but they did indicate a willingness to accept a return for repair when I first contacted them and from my experience, Thai vendors need to be chased when following up complaints.

Thanks again for your help

 

[gLer]

2) We recommend customers to install the official firmware from cayin. And if you install any " custom firmware" unauthorized by Cayin, it may damage your device and void the warranty.

I can assure you custom firmware v2.0 is perfectly stable, and is in fact faster and more polished than the official Cayin firmware. Can't help you with v2.1 at this stage as I haven't been able to create that version yet. I suggest, unless you have any charging issues that v2.1 is supposed to rectify, that you try custom v2.0. Just remember to flash back to official if you have to send it back in for service.

 

[gLer]

2) We recommend customers to install the official firmware from cayin. And if you install any " custom firmware" unauthorized by Cayin, it may damage your device and void the warranty.

I can assure you custom firmware v2.0 is perfectly stable, and is in fact faster and more polished than the official Cayin firmware. Can't help you with v2.1 at this stage as I haven't been able to create that version yet. I suggest, unless you have any charging issues that v2.1 is supposed to rectify, that you try custom v2.0. Just remember to flash back to official if you have to send it back in for service.

 

[marvinjt]

Hi! I'm still waiting for my n3 to arrive and I was wonderin if it would be safe to charge it with a 12W apple charger having the a power output of 5.2 V 2.4 A? I read somewhere that the charger's voltage should be the same with the device's input. Would the apple charger damage the n3?

 

[groucho69]

I can assure you custom firmware v2.0 is perfectly stable, and is in fact faster and more polished than the official Cayin firmware. Can't help you with v2.1 at this stage as I haven't been able to create that version yet. I suggest, unless you have any charging issues that v2.1 is supposed to rectify, that you try custom v2.0. Just remember to flash back to official if you have to send it back in for service.

It certainly is more polished and quicker.

 

[dnelsonn]

Cayin is a manufacturer operates through an International distributor/dealer network. If in the unfortunate event that your equipment requires any form of warranty or repair service, you should contact your original seller and submit your DAP or amplifier through them. Cayin don't sell to international customers directly, and our products do not come with unlimited International warranty. Please do not send your equipment to Cayin directly, we shall refuse to accept any repair or warranty request without proper RMA procedure.

For your case, my suggestion is that you can follow the advice by the reseller. If you still have any problem, please feel free to let me know.

Sadly it looks like massdrop has no warranty issued for the N3, and only had their 30 day return policy. They are allowing me to return and get a full refund though which is nice and I might consider that.

I'm not sure if going through that and then rebuying from another seller would be worthwhile, but it looks like my only option.

Would anyone else bother doing all that in hopes a new model will work fine? I love this little guy but I almost would want to get a more known brand with proper warranty attached

 

[fourrobert13]

Sadly it looks like massdrop has no warranty issued for the N3, and only had their 30 day return policy. They are allowing me to return and get a full refund though which is nice and I might consider that.

I'm not sure if going through that and then rebuying from another seller would be worthwhile, but it looks like my only option.

Would anyone else bother doing all that in hopes a new model will work fine? I love this little guy but I almost would want to get a more known brand with proper warranty attached

If you like the N3, then of course it's worth it. I also see your frustration as well. I've never purchased anything from massdrop, but your story leads me to stay away just due to warranty issues. However, they are refunding you so you could order one from music teck and have better warranty service. There's also other DAPs to try, but it's up to you.

 

[dnelsonn]

If you like the N3, then of course it's worth it. I also see your frustration as well. I've never purchased anything from massdrop, but your story leads me to stay away just due to warranty issues. However, they are refunding you so you could order one from music teck and have better warranty service. There's also other DAPs to try, but it's up to you.

Yeah if I rebuy it i'd by from musictek through amazon, especially since I can get the N3 with the leather case for only 150 still.

Another DAP could be an option, I've been looking at the sony NW-A35 but honestly it still seems like the N3 is the best for the money. I would definitely need other's opinions on other DAPs, very new to this stuff and the N3 was my first departure from an iPod classic. Lol