[Riolist2]

Not much written as of yet about the sound quality, so let me be one of the first...
 
1. Definite improvement with a few hours burn-in.
2. Overall impression: 'Neutral' which to me is good. It means the personality of your headphones will come through, and the sound you perceive will be dependent on the quality of the tracks you listen to, both in  bit rate and recording/mastering.
3. In short, pair the N3 with some decent ear/head phones and some decent recordings, and it will not disappoint you, indeed, it will reward you. 

 

[fish1050]

  Those cards aren't as flimsy as people have made them out to be. I pull my card at least once or twice a day to change out a different version of an album (HDA vs DSD) or a different edition. Until they release a 512GB MicroSD, I'll be swapping quite often! And even then, I'll probably still be swapping as more room means more albums loaded!
 
But, it sounds like in your case, one agonizing day to load will be worth saving the extra cash!

For me on a $200.00 DAP like this I would be using mostly 16 bit flac or 320 kbps mp3 so I could get 9 to 10 thousand songs on a 200 GB microsd card which is plenty.  If I needed more on a temporary basis I would consider going for USB OTG vs swapping cards.  My fat thumbs have damaged more than a few microsd cards over the years to make me wary, better safe than sorry!

 

[HiFlight]

Not much written as of yet about the sound quality, so let me be one of the first...

1. Definite improvement with a few hours burn-in.
2. Overall impression: 'Neutral' which to me is good. It means the personality of your headphones will come through, and the sound you perceive will be dependent on the quality of the tracks you listen to, both in  bit rate and recording/mastering.
3. In short, pair the N3 with some decent ear/head phones and some decent recordings, and it will not disappoint you, indeed, it will reward you. 

I agree entirely. The N3 is indeed a very nice sounding player that scales well with the quality of your music files.

 

[scott1]

Agreed! 
 
I also wanted to add that it can also provide adequate power to my ZMF Vibro II planar headphones. I definitely didn't buy it specifically for this purpose but I am surprised by the volume you can get through the ZMFs with the high gain setting.

 

[Riolist2]

I agree entirely. The N3 is indeed a very nice sounding player that scales well with the quality of your music files.

I like the versatility that is part of the N3's DNA: 3-level gain setting, AptX bluetooth, dual coax/usb digital out, side-mounted physical controls - all well thought out and implemented with a sound engine that brings all that versatility back to the bottom line that makes it all worthwhile. At this price it may be the best bang for the buck currently available.

 

[BogdanUK]

With the EQ can be achieved a deep punchy bass without overpowering the treble? I can not say I am a bass head but close to it.

 

[Riolist2]

  With the EQ can be achieved a deep punchy bass without overpowering the treble? I can not say I am a bass head but close to it.

I found that burning in the player for a few hours 'developed' the bass far better than the EQ. It may sound unbelievable, but I can't deny what I heard. Out of the box the bass seemed to lack authority; a few hours of listening and it was like looking at a polaroid develop in front of your eyes.
 
Also, the headphones you use will have an effect.

 

[groucho69]

Still waiting for mine to arrive. Does it play M4A?

 

[dnullify]

Is the DP-X1A yours? How do you like it? I just ordered the AP60, but tempted to cancel before it ships for a full on DAP and just sell off the Mojo.

I talked my dad into buying himself one while we were in Japan, in e-earphone. The pricing there was excellent what with the dollar being strong and not paying tax. I would have bought myself one too, but I've been in between jobs for a while now and that would have constituted my entire hobby budget for the foreseeable future.

I'm liking it quite a bit though. I've been using a HRT microstreamer out of my laptop for the past couple of years which had me tethered to my desk when I was doing any kind of quality listening. Didn't realize how bad my iPhone 6 was for day to day listening till I A/Bd it with some real DAPs in Japan.

 

[scott1]

I did mess around with the EQ a little bit. I don’t think it made a night and day kind of difference but it is noticeable, more with my Grados than ZMF’s. There are several presets and as well as custom. I found the treble and mids more prominently changed by the eq than bass though. 
 
I did read somewhere else in this post that EQ wasn’t functional if you are using the output to an external DAC but I think I did get mine to work that way. My USB-C to Coax cable had a short in it though so I had to send it back to MusicTeck and didn’t really get to screw around with it too much. By the way, Andrew is selling some kind of 3^rd party cable right now but hopes to have the Cayin branded ones in soon. Given my experience, I plan on waiting till the Cayins show up to get a new one.

 

[swaroopanil]

I was planning to get a x3-ii when I came across this player. Can someone please throw some light on how this pairs with ath-im02 and the 1more triple driver. I'm looking for a neutral sound signature with slight bump in the bass; more musical than analytical.
Please note that this will be my first dap.
Thanks in advance.

Bump?

 

[DBaldock9]

Yes, when you connect N3 to a desktop or notebook computer, N3 will be charged by the computer while functioning as an USB-DAC.
The USB-DAC function of N3 DAP is conformed to USB Audio Class 2. If you were to use an iOS or Linux device with N3, you shouldn't need a USB driver because these system has included an USB Audio Class 2 drivers already. If you were to use it with Window based device, you'll need an USB Audio Class 2 Drivers, and you can download this driver from the following link:

Cayin Universal USB Audio Driver V3.30.0 (For Windows 7 and above)

Cayin Universal USB Audio Driver V2.29.0(For Windows XP and Vista)

We call this "Universal USB Driver" because this USB driver will work for ALL Cayin USB-based products, bit it desktop DAC or portable DAPs.
The download page has provided detail installation instruction to install the driver, please make sure you have downloaded the correct version of USB Audio Driver according to your Windows system. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 users, please download and install the V3.30.0 USB Audio driver.

I have not tested the USB Audio Class 2 drivers that are now being included in Windows 10 because I am still using Windows 8.1 with my notebook and desktops. Theoretically this should work just like the standard iOS and Linux environment where N3 can work with those system without installing any additional USB drivers. I can arrange a test on this condition later, but probably will take sometime to setup a Windows 10 station for the test.

 
@Andykong - Thanks for that information!
 
Well, I placed an order for an N3 from MusicTeck, and it should be here sometime next week.
Once I've tried it with the PC at work (which I can not install drivers on), I'll let you know if it works as a USB DAC using that version of Windows 10.

 

[Barndoor]

Now is perhaps the right time to change the thread title to remove the "Coming soon" and change the price to $150?

 

[nmatheis]

Yes, N3 plays m4a (AAC + ALAC)

 

[groucho69]

Yes, N3 plays m4a (AAC + ALAC)

Thought so