[riffrafff]

I had a really weird thing happen last night with my N3. My husband wanted me to try some new buds of his with the N3 to see if it would drive them (they are 400 ohm). I was getting plenty of volume and enough bass with medium gain ( I usually use low gain with iems and buds). Something did not sound quite right though.

I started playing a song which has a certain sound way off to the left... and it was coming from the right! Checked to make sure I had the buds in right and that the cables were attached correctly. They were. So I told my husband that they had the channels reversed somehow. He did a check with a program online and said they were fine. So I tried one of my own buds and it was also reversed! Tried one of my headphones as well. Same problem. Checked all the N3 settings and nothing was set incorrectly... in fact, there is no setting to reverse the channels.

Well, standard tech advice is usually "have you turned it off and on again?" I rebooted the Cayin and everything went back to normal.

Has anyone ever had this happen? What could cause such a thing?

Meanwhile, I have no idea if I would have liked his buds or not. Now I have lost interest in trying them. I have enough of my own gear to enjoy.

Huh. Never happened with my N3. In fact, I just played a left/right test track, just to make sure. But, yeah. turning anything off and back on again works waay more that it should. lol.

 

[groucho69]

I had a really weird thing happen last night with my N3. My husband wanted me to try some new buds of his with the N3 to see if it would drive them (they are 400 ohm). I was getting plenty of volume and enough bass with medium gain ( I usually use low gain with iems and buds). Something did not sound quite right though.

I started playing a song which has a certain sound way off to the left... and it was coming from the right! Checked to make sure I had the buds in right and that the cables were attached correctly. They were. So I told my husband that they had the channels reversed somehow. He did a check with a program online and said they were fine. So I tried one of my own buds and it was also reversed! Tried one of my headphones as well. Same problem. Checked all the N3 settings and nothing was set incorrectly... in fact, there is no setting to reverse the channels.

Well, standard tech advice is usually "have you turned it off and on again?" I rebooted the Cayin and everything went back to normal.

Has anyone ever had this happen? What could cause such a thing?

Meanwhile, I have no idea if I would have liked his buds or not. Now I have lost interest in trying them. I have enough of my own gear to enjoy.

hard reset solves most issues

 

[mbwilson111]

hard reset solves most issues

Yes, but what could cause such an odd problem to happen?

 

[DBaldock9]

Yes, but what could cause such an odd problem to happen?

I believe the digital audio is processed serially, with the Left & Right channels interleaved.
If the processing software somehow got out-of-step by one byte, then it could be possible that the Left stream would end up at the Right DAC output, and vice versa.

 

[groucho69]

All device firmware/software can become erratic due to many potential causes, most commonly I believe is power related (under or over current). Hard reset allows everything to return to correct functioning status.

 

[musedesign]

Cayin USB-C to Coaxial adapter cable is kind of plug and play, it is a proprietary embedded signal and has nothing to do with USB format, we just "borrow" the USB connector to do that, therefore you don't to change any setting in order to get the coaxial output to work.

When you said your tried on another DAC and with that DAC no sound output at all, can you tell me the coaxial input is LOCKED correctly? You should either see a green LED light up, or the screen will display the Bit depth and Sampling frequency correctly.

If you have chopped up signal within one DAC, and cannot lock correctly with another DAC, that it likely something is wrong upstream, it can be the cable or the Coaxial output from your N3 DAP. In either case, the easiest thing to do is to drop by your dealer and test your Cayin USB to coaxial cable with their Cayin DAP demo units.

Hi Andykong,
Thank you for getting back to me ! I am using a TDA1387 R2R Dac. You are correct the Dac cannot lock onto the signal, the "Lock" LED blinks on and off. Any suggestions ? I live in Mexico City, I do not think there are any Cayin dealers here.

 

[doowap]

Question regarding line out on the N3: I have a fiio A5 portable amp which works great with most of my phones. Is there any advantage to using the A5 with the line out on the N3, even if I do not need the extra power? For example, I have been stacking N3 and A5 to drive my very sensitive hifiman re-600 iems, and it sounds marginally better to me than driving them straight from the N3. Could be placebo. Considering that line out on the N3 does not bypass the headphone amp (as in a true line out), is there any technical reason why it might sound better stacked with the Fiio A5? Just curious if anyone knows.

 

[skaktuss]

I've noticed the same. I use my N3 with Topping NX1s. The sound somehow becomes more alive and more saturated. Another advantage is a bass boost.

 

[waynes world]

I had a really weird thing happen last night with my N3. My husband wanted me to try some new buds of his with the N3 to see if it would drive them (they are 400 ohm). I was getting plenty of volume and enough bass with medium gain ( I usually use low gain with iems and buds). Something did not sound quite right though.

I started playing a song which has a certain sound way off to the left... and it was coming from the right! Checked to make sure I had the buds in right and that the cables were attached correctly. They were. So I told my husband that they had the channels reversed somehow. He did a check with a program online and said they were fine. So I tried one of my own buds and it was also reversed! Tried one of my headphones as well. Same problem. Checked all the N3 settings and nothing was set incorrectly... in fact, there is no setting to reverse the channels.

All I can tell you for sure is that it was your husband's fault!

 

[mbwilson111]

All I can tell you for sure is that it was your husband's fault!

You might be on to something there

 

[Andykong]

Hi Andykong,
Thank you for getting back to me ! I am using a TDA1387 R2R Dac. You are correct the Dac cannot lock onto the signal, the "Lock" LED blinks on and off. Any suggestions ? I live in Mexico City, I do not think there are any Cayin dealers here.

I am completely ignorance about this DAC, and I have no idea if there is any setting or procedure involved in the S/PDIF decoding function. How long have you been using this DAC? What source have you been feeding to the DAC before you have N3?

The only way to crosscheck right now is to use a different source to connect to your DAC in coaxial and confirmed that the coaxial is working, and/or connect the coaxial output of N3 to another DAC to confirm if it is not working correctly.

 

[Bdoro]

Hello, I am a proud user of one of Cayin's N3, a very good product for the money...I have one request if anybody can help me, since was discussed even on this forum: I know that I have the possibility to listen Spotify from my Android phone trough N3 but I couldn't find anywhere the exact procedure.... Thank you in advance, Bogdan

 

[Mitchell Goode]

wondering if anyone has tried this adapter ??
https://www.amazon.co.uk/CHOETECH-V-CH0018-Type-HDMI-Cable/dp/B01M02FLYO

 

[DBaldock9]

wondering if anyone has tried this adapter ??
https://www.amazon.co.uk/CHOETECH-V-CH0018-Type-HDMI-Cable/dp/B01M02FLYO

There's no video output from the N3, but it can output audio via USB.
I don't think the USB signals are available at the HDMI end - so I doubt it would actually do anything, when connected to the N3.
What would you be plugging the HDMI end in to?

This news article from 2016 announces the change to the USB-C spec [ https://www.cnet.com/news/new-version-of-usb-c-enables-hdmi-output-without-dongles/ ] -
~~~
HDMI Licensing has announced a new version of USB-C that has native HDMI support. That means you'll be able to connect compatible tablets, phones and laptops directly to a display without the need for a separate converter.

A simple USB-C-to-HDMI cable will replace the $70 dongles that currently exist, though the source device will need to have been designed to output HDMI via USB-C. According to HDMI Licensing it's not backwards compatible with existing devices or upgradeable via software.

Called "HDMI Alt Mode" the new standard supports up to HDMI 1.4b, a version that supports resolutions up to 4K and extras such as Audio Return Channel (ARC), 3D, HDMI Ethernet Channel and Consumer Electronic Control (CEC).
~~~

 

[Mitchell Goode]

@ DBaldock9
Plugging into denon receiver or blu-ray ,
was hoping the audio would be available on the hdmi pins..

see 2:32 for audio from phone to TV.
Have an Hdmi audio only input on my Oppo 203 UHD blu-ray player.
WTH might give it a try anyway .."only" $20
Thanks for info