[Wiljen]

I was bored so decided to open my N3 to have look inside.




For the original photo where you can see the IC markings etc. (click on raw)
http://i66.tinypic.com/vktqh.jpg

As you can see there is no shielding on the Ingenic ic and a coil on the left has a bit of ferrite broken off.

Braver man than I, mine isn't coming apart unless something tragic happens and it breaks that way.

 

[xLoud]

How does it compare with fiio x3 2nd? Sound quality wise.

 

[Wiljen]

How does it compare with fiio x3 2nd? Sound quality wise.

I found the N3 to be more transparent and a bit cleaner, with a much more open soundstage than the X3. Power is better on the N3 as it did a better job of running high impedance phones without having to max the gain setting.

 

[TheoS53]

Can anyone perhaps comment on how the N3 sounds when hooked up to the Fiio A3?

 

[gLer]

I found the N3 to be more transparent and a bit cleaner, with a much more open soundstage than the X3. Power is better on the N3 as it did a better job of running high impedance phones without having to max the gain setting.

Any comparisons out there with something "more advanced", like the X5 Gen 3?

 

[TheoS53]

Any comparisons out there with something "more advanced", like the X5 Gen 3?

I was curious about that too. This seems very promising:
https://twister6.com/2017/04/15/cayin-n3/3/

 

[xLoud]

Seems like Cayin N3 is a decent upgrade from Fiio X3, at least sound quality wise. I am about to pull the trigger then.

 

[colburnbri]

That happens to be a design rather then a bug, the Song category will list all music file exhaustively, our original logic is to display Track Title as first option, and then fall back to File name if Track Title is not available. Unfortunately this will create a very inconvenient sorting result if the users has mixed collection of both (e.g., FLAC and WAV in 50:50), so we finally decided to adopt the filename approach in Song category.

We can change this back to Track Title as priority and then File name as fall back if users think this make more sense, but please consider the final result when not 100% of the music files are properly tagged.

I would vote to use Track Title first when displaying the Song category. Otherwise it is basically impossible to search for a specific song.

 

[Wiljen]

Any comparisons out there with something "more advanced", like the X5 Gen 3?

Send me one and I'll be happy to oblige

 

[Leglatz]

Let me introduce the first Cayin N3 custom firmware v1.2 by Vortex: link

- English, French and Russian language strings were corrected (by gLer, Leglatz and Vortex);
- Custom themes and boot animations by gLer;
- Highly optimized graphics, fonts (removed Chinese) and binaries for maximum speed;

Enjoy.

Hi Guys,
Thank you so much for this good work! I have now the pleasure of using the N3 with no French spelling mistakes
And it seems to be more reactive now, that's true.
For the background image, it is true that it is not very suitable for work... and I use it at work
So yes in the future it would be nice to have some themes in relation with music, or just Cayin for example.
Thanks again !

 

[MusicLover99]

I have been using i5 and N3 for the past 6 months. I love their SQ, but I have a question. I keep hearing 'pop' or 'klik' sound between songs. Is there anything I can do to eliminate this, or this is normal in Cayin's products? I don't hear this in Onkyo, Fiio or Opus products.

Besides, if I play ISO, some of the songs in this ISO file cannot be played till finish. It will jump to next songs. Does anyone encounter this as well?

Thanks.

Hi @Andykong,

Do you have any advice on how to get rid of the 'pop' sound in between of songs? Thanks.

 

[gLer]

Hi Guys,
Thank you so much for this good work! I have now the pleasure of using the N3 with no French spelling mistakes
And it seems to be more reactive now, that's true.
For the background image, it is true that it is not very suitable for work... and I use it at work
So yes in the future it would be nice to have some themes in relation with music, or just Cayin for example.
Thanks again !

I can't take any credit for making it faster, that's all @XVortex. I'll for sure be making more 'work-friendly' themes for the N3, and have already asked Cayin to consider giving us tools to make it easier to unpack/repack the firmware files to create custom firmware. I've also asked them to remove the built-in startup piano image to give the custom firmware a 'clean slate' startup screen. Hopefully they'll help us out and help make this powerful little player a real cult product!

 

[equalspeace]

I could name like 5 DAPs that cost 100s of dollars more that don't sound as good as the N3. This little DAP that could is simply amazing!

 

[Kumar Saurav]

Hi head fiers, greetings from India. I am facing a weird issue that when i charge my N3, the blinking light stop and start being continous around 93-94%.
Any one else facing this issue? I am on firmware 1.2.
Thank you.

 

[Leglatz]

Hi head fiers, greetings from India. I am facing a weird issue that when i charge my N3, the blinking light stop and start being continous around 93-94%.
Any one else facing this issue? I am on custom firmware 1.2.
Thank you.

Hi Kumar,
I am charging it right now and at 98% it is still blinking. So no problem for me in v1.2 too.