[CayinSupport]

I really wish Headfi kept the "search posts in forum" option (nvm thank you velasfloyd)...but anyways:
I recently received a N3 unit but am noticing a certain loud buzz in the left earpiece of my ATH-CKR9LTD (dual dynamic) - the right side has a very minute amount of hiss. The loudness of the buzz is constant (from level 0 to 18+) I've tried rolling back firmwares, messing with the digital EQ filters, channel balance, etc, but to no avail. The left earpiece also distorts much more noticeably at (super) high volumes compared to the right. The earphone itself is fine with iphone4/ATH microphone/yulong D100 output. On the other hand, N3+HE400/VE MONK all sound perfectly fine...

Has anyone had similar experiences/insights?

Hi,on the right top of the thread, you can see the search option.

Did it happen on all the songs or only one song? What your current Firmware? Could you please try another headphones?

 

[eaglesgift]

While Lithium battery installed in N3 does not have memory effect, it does has what we called inaccurate gauge issue, and this problem is quite common when a battery has been idled and/or drained for a long time. If you run into inaccurate battery reading or sudden power off when the duration period didn't add up, I suggest you do a gauge calibration to verify the problem. In fact this is something that we all should be doing occasionally. I normally do this after 15-20 charging cycle (2 times 50% charging is count as one cycle) An inaccurate gauge can lead to the fact that the the battery capacity values are are wrong. The battery may report that it still has reasonable capacity when in fact it has a much lower value, and this causes the computer to shutdown unexpectedly. You can google the terms "Calibrate Gauge" on Lithium Battery.

To calibrate the gauge of a lithium battery, you simply need to do a full discharge followed by a full charge, so this is what I advice:

(1) turn on the LED screen to maximum brightness and set the screen to "always on", keep it running until the player turn off itself.
(2) Charge the battery overnight, till you see 99% or 100% on the meter
(3) Set the screen to minimum brightness and 30sec duration only, set it to playback on any CD quality files (Wav or FLAC) continuously til the player power off again. Keep the screen off and check the battery reading every hour, and drop down the battery readings for record.

Hopefully the duration and accuracy of battery reading will go back to an acceptable level after the calibration. If not, we'll have some data to determine if this is a hardware problem or a software problem.

I will try this but I really can't see how a battery gauge inaccuracy issue would see it go from 80% to 0% in 5 days while turned off.
When you say leave it on with screen at maximum brightness/screen always on, do you mean play music as well or just leave it on?

Thanks

 

[Bop]

Hi,on the right top of the thread, you can see the search option.

Did it happen on all the songs or only one song? What your current Firmware? Could you please try another headphones?

Hi,on the right top of the thread, you can see the search option.

Did it happen on all the songs or only one song? What your current Firmware? Could you please try another headphones?

-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)

 

[groucho69]

I have a feeling that we won't get any help from Cayin on finding glass protectors, as they don't even offer their own film protectors for sale. I had spent a bit of time in the past looking around Aliexpress and emailing a few sellers to see if they'd make a custom protector, what the minimum order quantity would be, and costs. I never did get a response from most of the sellers. From the ones that I did, they gave me a ridiculous minimum order (1000-10000 pcs). I think we need to find somebody in mainland to do the communications directly.

Most of the quoted prices were cheap, $1-2 each. I don't need 10 glass protectors, but I'd be willing to drop $10-20 just to get one piece if needed!

I'd do 10 as well. So now we need 98 others at 10 each....

 

[riffrafff]

I'd do 10 as well. So now we need 98 others at 10 each....

I'm in.

I just now placed $20 in the "Reserved For Ultra-Zoot N3 Glass Screen Protectors" envelope.

 

[svetlyo]

@CayinSupport - Will you consider sorting the Albums by year (only when browsing by Artist and looking at all albums for the given artist) ? Alphabetically is fine for easy finding of albums, but sorting by year gives you a more natural view of the artist discography - "Do I want to listen to their latest album?", "Let's try their classic stuff, the early ones", etc. It could also be an option in the Music settings.
What do you think?

 

[Slater]

@CayinSupport - Will you consider sorting the Albums by year (only when browsing by Artist and looking at all albums for the given artist) ? Alphabetically is fine for easy finding of albums, but sorting by year gives you a more natural view of the artist discography - "Do I want to listen to their latest album?", "Let's try their classic stuff, the early ones", etc. It could also be an option in the Music settings.
What do you think?

Why not just add the year as part of the title or organize it into the folder structure? That's what I do.

 

[svetlyo]

Why not just add the year as part of the title or organize it into the folder structure? That's what I do.

Because that means changing the 'album' tags for all my songs. Do I have to do that only on the microSD card that I use for Cayin N3? Or in my master music library and break iTunes Match? The tags for 'year' are already there for all my songs (they are very rarely missing) - all that metainformation is there for a reason, why not use it properly?

 

[gLer]

Because that means changing the 'album' tags for all my songs. Do I have to do that only on the microSD card that I use for Cayin N3? Or in my master music library and break iTunes Match? The tags for 'year' are already there for all my songs (they are very rarely missing) - all that metainformation is there for a reason, why not use it properly?

Let's face it, the N3 is not really a sophisticated device when it comes to sorting and managing songs by tags. Heck it doesn't even have a basic search function (unless you consider the HiBy search option) or tell the time, both of which are dead simple to implement.

For me it's a straight up playback device that prioritises sound quality and functionality (like BT and HiBy) over everything else, including features, build (not that it lacks build quality) and accessories.

For years I held out on buying a DAP because my iPhone is far more advanced when it comes to actually using and managing my music library anyway, and any DAP smarter than my iPhone would also cost more than my iPhone.

The only reason I bought a DAP (and the N3 is my first) was to take advantage of its superior audio hardware and ability to carry hundreds of gigabytes of high-res files with me. I wouldn't spend hundreds to do that, but at $150 for the level of SQ on offer, it's a no-brainer. Add HiBy Link to the mix (once HiBy wakes up to the fact that there's more than one mobile OS on the market) and it's a sweet marriage between smartphone smarts and DAP hardware.

I've asked for plenty of basic features on this thread, only to be rebuffed time and again, until I realised that Cayin probably sees it the same way too - an 'entry level' software product that didn't cost them much in development time built on a very solid hardware platform. And that's it. Want more than that? You'll have to pay for it.

 

[svetlyo]

Let's face it, the N3 is not really a sophisticated device when it comes to sorting and managing songs by tags. Heck it doesn't even have a basic search function (unless you consider the HiBy search option). For me it's a straight up playback device that prioritises sound quality and functionality (like BT and HiBy) over everything else, including features, build (not that it lacks build quakity) and accessories.

For years I held out on buying a DAP because my iPhone is far more advanced when it comes to actually using and managing my music library anyway, and any DAP smarter than my iPhone would also cost more than my iPhone.

The only reason I bought a DAP (and the N3 is my first) was to take advantage of its superior audio hardware and ability to carry hundreds of gigabytes of high-res files with me. I wouldn't spend hundreds to do that, but at $150 for the level of SQ on offer, it's a no-brained. Add HiBy Link to the mix (once HiBy wakes up to the fact that there's more than one mobile OS on the market) and it's a sweet marriage between smartphone smarts and DAP hardware.

I've asked for plenty of basic features on this thread, only to be rebuffed time and again, until I realised that Cayin probably sees it the same way too - an 'entry level' software product that didn't cost them much in development time built on a very solid hardware platform. And that's it. Want more than that? You'll have to pay for it.

It that particular case it is just a policy decision, the implementation is trivial. The question here is if sorting by year makes more sense than doing it alphabetically. Some product owner from Cayin can make the call and we can have this in 2.2. We, here in the thread are just giving them food for thought...

 

[gLer]

It that particular case it is just a policy decision, the implementation is trivial. The question here is if sorting by year makes more sense than doing it alphabetically. Some product owner from Cayin can make the call and we can have this in 2.2. We, here in the thread are just giving them food for thought...

What I was saying is that most of this type of functionality, in my opinion, will never be built in to the N3 because Cayin just aren't going to dedicate any serious development effort other than basic fixes given the price point. If anything you'll see these functions added to HiBy, which is why there's been such a big noise made about that feature (and it is big...unless you're an iPhone user). Your suggestion makes perfect sense / and in fact will make the N3 much more versatile - but so will a time function (which is built into the firmware by the way, just not activated), a search function, a button remapping function... None of these will happen because they cost money (programming resources, testing) to implement, and from what I've seen here, that money ain't coming the way of N3 development.

I'm very happy with the N3 - for what it costs it's probably the best DAP in its class on the market - especially now that I managed to rid myself of the crappy built-in themes and animations. Personal choice and view, but loving the sound, size and flexibility. Everything I need and want in a DAP.

If I was looking for better file management, better artwork support, better graphics, better library management, wifi, UI flexibility etc. there are far better (albeit far more costly) alternatives.

 

[eaglesgift]

Because that means changing the 'album' tags for all my songs. Do I have to do that only on the microSD card that I use for Cayin N3? Or in my master music library and break iTunes Match? The tags for 'year' are already there for all my songs (they are very rarely missing) - all that metainformation is there for a reason, why not use it properly?

Why do you have to change the song tags? I just include the year in the folder name, e.g. "1980 - Back in Black".

 

[Slater]

Why do you have to change the song tags? I just include the year in the folder name, e.g. "1980 - Back in Black".

Exactly. Or "(1980) Back In Black".

There's free utilities that will rename your whole music collection.

 

[BroncoVA]

What I was saying is that most of this type of functionality, in my opinion, will never be built in to the N3 because Cayin just aren't going to dedicate any serious development effort other than basic fixes given the price point. If anything you'll see these functions added to HiBy, which is why there's been such a big noise made about that feature (and it is big...unless you're an iPhone user). Your suggestion makes perfect sense / and in fact will make the N3 much more versatile - but so will a time function (which is built into the firmware by the way, just not activated), a search function, a button remapping function... None of these will happen because they cost money (programming resources, testing) to implement, and from what I've seen here, that money ain't coming the way of N3 development.

I'm very happy with the N3 - for what it costs it's probably the best DAP in its class on the market - especially now that I managed to rid myself of the crappy built-in themes and animations. Personal choice and view, but loving the sound, size and flexibility. Everything I need and want in a DAP.

If I was looking for better file management, better artwork support, better graphics, better library management, wifi, UI flexibility etc. there are far better (albeit far more costly) alternatives.

Therefore there's still room for a lot of implementations ....let say.... by a rockboxed version of the N3 (change fonts, size, scrolling menu, and why not sorting by year as one of many other options)
Cayin can't please everybody, but a simple thing like font sizes... The N3 is not usable on the beach or while running for example, as you can't read the tiny letters that are scrolling without a great amount of attempts.

 

[docholliday]

@CayinSupport - Will you consider sorting the Albums by year (only when browsing by Artist and looking at all albums for the given artist) ? Alphabetically is fine for easy finding of albums, but sorting by year gives you a more natural view of the artist discography - "Do I want to listen to their latest album?", "Let's try their classic stuff, the early ones", etc. It could also be an option in the Music settings.
What do you think?

Sorting by year doesn't make much sense...what about those who don't take the time to tag their files completely? Or how about the improperly tagged ones (there's so much bad metadata out there that show the wrong year!)? Or what about remastered/hi-res albums?

I've seen many that were say from 1970, but remastered in 2014 (HDTracks!). Some of the albums reported year as 1970. Yet, others reported 2014 in the YEAR metatag. How would you tag those? I have a set of albums that was originally released in 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1987. But, all the remastered hi-res version were done in the same year - 2015. I store the folder structure as "1983-2015. album (24-96 HDA, remastered)". You can't put that data into the YEAR field - you'd have to use the ORIGYEAR to store the 1983 and YEAR for the 2015. And, there's very few programs that read the ORIGYEAR correctly.

I for one, know the order of release on all the artists in my collection. I don't have the release years commited to memory, but I know the release order.

Also, the N3 wasn't meant to be a do-it-all DLNA type device. It was designed as a cheap, good-sounding, hi-res player. I have some 30+ phones sitting around here, but I have zero music on any of them. I use them for their best-performing feature, as a phone. I use the N3 too for it's best-performing feature, music playback. I'll do the complicated sorting, tagging, and reorganizing on the device best suited for it (with processor power and memory to spare) - my computer.

If Cayin spent the time, money, and resources to implement these functions, it could exceed the processing power or RAM requirements (and make it run like a Fiio X1II). But what would more likely be the problem is that it's draw resources and income from their higher-end line of devices that are designed to be the ultimate player.

I, for one, think that the N3's set of features is perfect where it is, especially at the cost and performance of the device. Now if we could only get enough people to get a glass screen protector...