Cayin N3 Hi-Res DAP with AKM4490 DAC, apt-X Bluetooth, and Line, USB & Coax Out for $150

[SybilLance]

I've had mine since the beginning and used it all around the world. It's been dropped, thrown, stepped on, rolled over, banged around in flight cases, and vibrated all over the top of speaker cabinets. I use mine quite often, in and out of the studio. Never had an issue with mine. I use 256GB, 400GB, and 512GB cards in it with all sorts of custom IEMs and studio headphones. For the price, it's one of the best units you can get. Yes, I know that some people don't like the "buttons", but I've not had any issues with those either. For $109, I'd get one in a heartbeat.

Probably the most comprehensive yet concise, straightforward endorsement of the Cayin N3—or of any DAP—I've ever read. And I daresay an authoritative one at that.

Thanks for the insight. I agree that for the price, it looks like a steal and a perfect way to get into a DAP for listening to FLAC. I need to see if I can find some videos on how the interface works. Coming from a Mac/Iphone background, I have been accustomed to the ease of use in playlist creation / organization and making the move to a dedicated DAP, the UI is going to be vastly different, and something that has delayed my purchase.

Having to relearn how to organize files and transfer / create playlists, etc... and find a decent UI that is easy enough without getting into an Android based bloated UI to kills the battery life.

Go for it. I also came from an iPhone and was quite apprehensive about the N3's UI learning curve. Turns out it's actually simple and intuitive. Like many here I access my music from the main directory index since I prefer listening to entire albums. It was only lately that I began accessing albums, artists and particular files directly. I've been using foobar2000 to rip CDs and have learned how to create custom playlists with it.

Setup is easy, too. Rich feature set, and an ideal transport for an amp if you need more power. In my case the N3 is connected via line out to the Topping NX4 on medium gain to rouse the HIfiMAN HE-400i so...it then sings and the soul soars (say that last part fast 10X).

 

[Andykong]

It's been a bit over a year or so since I got it, and my N3 seems to no longer be recognizing the SD cards I have inserted into it; I've tried multiple cards now, both 128GB and 64GB formatted to exFAT and FAT32, fully reformatted them all twice and I'm still getting nothing. The N3's display screen says "No memory card Please insert memory card" when I try to access the files on it, and I can't even update or change the firmware version on it, as when I try I get the message Operation failed Upgrade file not found" despite the fact I have the .upt file in the root of the SD card inserted into it. It was running the 3.0 custom firmware from this thread if I remember right. Oddly when I plug it into my computer (Windows 10 PC) it is recognized as a thumb drive and I can access all the files I had loaded to it. The N3's Bluetooth functionality still seems to be working fine, as it seems I can stream audio from my phone to it no problem. Anyone have any ideas on how I can fix this?

Yes, multiple times/through every kind of "reset" I can think of: I've tried resetting the power, using the little needle reset button thing, and using the "Reset" option in the "System setting" menu. The system does seem to recognize when I put an SD card in (physically) as it displays something like an "SD card inserted/removed" message when I do that, but when I try to update the database it again says no SD card found. As I mentioned, because it seems it can't recognize the content of SD cards inserted in it I don't think I can update/reflash(?) the firmware.

Tried plugging it in OTG and it recognizes the drive I put there, but I don't know how to run an update file off OTG, or if there is a way to?

I mentioned it before, but I don't think it's a problem with the card slot physically because my computer sees the SD card in the N3's slot when I plug it in there (with a USB cable), but the N3 itself sees nothing when I try to open the SD card's files on the device/try to update the firmware. My computer is seeing the N3 as like a thumb drive with the SD card and all the music files I have on it

First of all, you can't update your firmware from OTG storage. OTG storage function is not natively supported by the SoC (System on Chip) used by N3, it is a feature enabled by our firmware, so when the system enter low-level operation such as firmware update, it won't recognise the OTG storage device.

Since you have rest the N3, it is unlikely completely software problem because the player should have resume to original status already. If the TF card can be recognised as a USB storage device when connected to the computer, but is not recognised by the MCU, that might suggest the problem is related to the MCU or the FPGA that handle the digital audio processing, and I guess the MCU is more likely causing the issue.

You seems to exhausted all the software option already, so we probably need to examine your player physically before we can arrive at a conclusion. You are from Los Angeles according to your profile page, so I assume you bought your N3 from MusicTeck. Contact Andrew at info@musicteck.com and show him your transaction record on Amazon. If your N3 is within warranty period, Andrew will take care of you. If the player is out of warranty, you have to check with him on the repair process and cost. In our experience, the mailing cost is the biggest truck of the repair transaction.

 

[Andykong]

I think you misread my message as I didn't say anything to the effect of complaining about users here not helping with my first issue, just dissatisfaction with the support I've gotten for the product from the manufacturer. I contacted Cayin directly and they didn't help. Here is the response I got at that point if you're interested:

service@cayin.cn <service@cayin.cn>
Mon, Oct 9, 2017, 8:06 PM
to me

Dear Parker,

Sorry to hear this problem. This N3 need to be repair if reset still cannot do any help. Please contact with the dealer on amazon to deal with it. Thank you.

I requested the original email from our CS. Your email was received on 6 Oct 2017, which, as you have mentioned in the email, was in the middle of our National Day holiday week. CS responded to you on 10 Oct 2017 11:am which was the second day (morning) after we resume from holiday.

You can criticize their language ability, but I agree with their advice to your question. I'll rephrase the email as follows to illustrate my point:

Dear Parker,

I am sorry to heat that your N3 is not working as intended. Since the player failed to complete the boot-up process after your multiple attempt to reset the player, we believe the problem might involve hardware issue and need to be repaired. Since your player is still under warranty, the best option is to contact the dealer (through amazon or the vendor who fulfilled the order) and let them process the warranty service for you.

Maybe the phrase "deal with it" sound harsh to you, but the CS has advised the right thing: contact your local dealer. let them solve your problem. This need to another issue that I would invite other members/frequent participants of this thread to join our discussion.

FWIW if you read my message from a few days ago mine's essentially bricked and nobody's given me an answer here as to what might be wrong with it/concrete things I could do to fix it lol.

I had another issue with it shortly after I got it in which it became completely unresponsive on the boot up screen, couldn't reset it or anything, and I wrote the manufacturer's support on their site and was told to take my issue up with the vendor who sold it to me on amazon, so no real help then either. What fixed it that time was letting the battery run completely down to 0 and then charging it up again. All these other folks seem to love it though, so maybe I just got a rare bad copy.. I'm quite dissatisfied though and I feel like I completely wasted my money on it.

Why contact the manufacturer who are 7000 miles form you, in a different time zone, spoke a different language, and was in the middle of national vacation week? Why not contact your local dealer as they should speak your language fluently and can provide service promptly? The local dealer is responsible for the after-sales support on the items they sold, shouldn't them?

I am not familiar with Amazon system as I use Taobao more often (yeah, I am stating the obvious here ). In my side of the world, if I bought something from Taobao and it screwed up in three months, I'll try to contact the seller first (yes, there is a button designated for that purpose in my transaction history page). If the seller is not responding or I don't like how they treated me, I'll seek help from Taobao (the online trading platform), And if the shop has closed down and Taobao can't do anything about that, I'll find my way to the manufacturer as my final resort. Now can someone enlighten me if similar instance were happened in Amazon?

 

[Andykong]

Is @Andykong aware of your problem?

Unfortunately, I don't because that was October 2017, not Oct 2018, and the previous inquiry was dated 29th Nov.2018 Thursday (my time zone), only two working days from today.

 

[mbwilson111]

Unfortunately, I don't because that was October 2017, not Oct 2018, and the previous inquiry was dated 29th Nov.2018 Thursday (my time zone), only two working days from today.

Oh wow, I had not noticed that was from 2017!

 

[sadie]

I requested the original email from our CS. Your email was received on 6 Oct 2017, which, as you have mentioned in the email, was in the middle of our National Day holiday week. CS responded to you on 10 Oct 2017 11:am which was the second day (morning) after we resume from holiday.

You can criticize their language ability, but I agree with their advice to your question. I'll rephrase the email as follows to illustrate my point:

Thank you for the response! I had/have no problem with the language ability of whoever responded to my message from last year, nor waiting for the holiday to be over for a response, so it's a bit funny to me that you've decided to attack me over those points but I guess my disappointment with my experience has somehow offended you personally, so I apologize for bringing anything up. From my perspective, someone came on this thread asking for purchase advice, so I shared what I'd experienced, and that's it. I do have a problem with you using information from a private exchange I had with your company to doxx my full name in this thread out of nowhere, so could you please edit that out of this post when you are able? That was really uncalled for. Thanks,

 

[Andykong]

Thank you for the response! I had/have no problem with the language ability of whoever responded to my message from last year, nor waiting for the holiday to be over for a response, so it's a bit funny to me that you've decided to attack me over those points but I guess my disappointment with my experience has somehow offended you personally, so I apologize for bringing anything up. From my perspective, someone came on this thread asking for purchase advice, so I shared what I'd experienced, and that's it. I do have a problem with you using information from a private exchange I had with your company to doxx my full name in this thread out of nowhere, so could you please edit that out of this post when you are able? That was really uncalled for. Thanks,

My apology, I have edited the post immediately. That was my mistake for not adopting the same detail you have disclosed previously. Protecting the privacy of our client is our utmost important duty, I shall be more carefully in the future.

I have no idea why this become an attack to you. I have merely point out that the more efficient approach is to contact the dealer who are there to help immediately. My intention is to advice all users to make good use of the after sales support from local dealer instead of channeling all the inquiries to the manufacture support email. I have no problem to have someone coming in sharing a negative opinion to our product or to me, those who hang around long enough will observe this in multiple instances already.

 

[sadie]

My apology, I have edited the post immediately. That was my mistake for not adopting the same detail you have disclosed previously. Protecting the privacy of our client is our utmost important duty, I shall be more carefully in the future.

I have no idea why this become an attack to you. I have merely point out that the more efficient approach is to contact the dealer who are there to help immediately. My intention is to advice all users to make good use of the after sales support from local dealer instead of channeling all the inquiries to the manufacture support email. I have no problem to have someone coming in sharing a negative opinion to our product or to me, those who hang around long enough will observe this in multiple instances already.

Your post went from doxxing my full name to criticizing me for not being sensitive to Chinese national holiday scheduling(?), so please forgive me for taking it as aggressive if it wasn't intended to be. I'm just going to bow out from this thread now, cut my losses and take my business elsewhere because this really isn't worth the headache for me.

 

[trellus]

Just got the Cayin N3, and it's taking me a little time to get used to the capacitive buttons on front -- I find that when I am trying to tap the top left "button", I fat finger the bottom left one also, unfortunately, and it registers that and performs that instead!

I otherwise do like the UI and the speed of operation. Even just changing tracks is faster in comparison to my Sony Walkman NW-A35.

I'm also happy with the sound so far. I'll just need to use it for longer to see if the tiny, capacitive controls will spell doom as far as me keeping this. The other DAP I bought recently (Black Friday sale) was the Hidizs AP60 Pro, and I may also pick up the Xduoo X3ii, which of these three, seems to have the most "buttony", physical controls, and I suspect may end up being what I keep unless I can reconfigure my brain and fingers and thumbs to control the N3 properly.

Oh, and I love the cyan color!

 

[mbwilson111]

Just got the Cayin N3, and it's taking me a little time to get used to the capacitive buttons on front -- I find that when I am trying to tap the top left "button", I fat finger the bottom left one also, unfortunately, and it registers that and performs that instead!

I do use my figures sometimes but actually prefer to use a stylus when I am just sitting on the sofa... I use it for my tablets as well so it is always there.

When you want to use the top left just make sure your finger is well above the line for the light... closer to the screen. It will become second nature.

 

[murphy917]

Just got the Cayin N3, and it's taking me a little time to get used to the capacitive buttons on front -- I find that when I am trying to tap the top left "button", I fat finger the bottom left one also, unfortunately, and it registers that and performs that instead!

I otherwise do like the UI and the speed of operation. Even just changing tracks is faster in comparison to my Sony Walkman NW-A35.

I'm also happy with the sound so far. I'll just need to use it for longer to see if the tiny, capacitive controls will spell doom as far as me keeping this. The other DAP I bought recently (Black Friday sale) was the Hidizs AP60 Pro, and I may also pick up the Xduoo X3ii, which of these three, seems to have the most "buttony", physical controls, and I suspect may end up being what I keep unless I can reconfigure my brain and fingers and thumbs to control the N3 properly.

Oh, and I love the cyan color!

Nice looking N3...Congrats!

With regard to the most "button-y" of the players you mentioned, the Xduoo X3ii is only buttons, so that would probably be the one.

 

[CayinSupport]

Just got the Cayin N3, and it's taking me a little time to get used to the capacitive buttons on front -- I find that when I am trying to tap the top left "button", I fat finger the bottom left one also, unfortunately, and it registers that and performs that instead!

I otherwise do like the UI and the speed of operation. Even just changing tracks is faster in comparison to my Sony Walkman NW-A35.

I'm also happy with the sound so far. I'll just need to use it for longer to see if the tiny, capacitive controls will spell doom as far as me keeping this. The other DAP I bought recently (Black Friday sale) was the Hidizs AP60 Pro, and I may also pick up the Xduoo X3ii, which of these three, seems to have the most "buttony", physical controls, and I suspect may end up being what I keep unless I can reconfigure my brain and fingers and thumbs to control the N3 properly.

Oh, and I love the cyan color!

Wow, what kind of earphone you used? The color of your earphone matches to the cyan N3 perfectly!

 

[trellus]

Wow, what kind of earphone you used? The color of your earphone matches to the cyan N3 perfectly!

Yes, they match perfectly and what’s funny is that I just happened to have them on me paired to my iPhone when the N3 arrived - it wasn’t even planned but when I noticed how perfectly they matched, I had to include them in the picture with the N3!

They are the Sony MDR-EX750BT, otherwise known as the h.ear Wireless, and they have LDAC and aptX and as a great feature can also be used wired with the included micro-USB to 3.5mm cable.

 

[SybilLance]

Yes, they match perfectly and what’s funny is that I just happened to have them on me paired to my iPhone when the N3 arrived - it wasn’t even planned but when I noticed how perfectly they matched, I had to include them in the picture with the N3!

They are the Sony MDR-EX750BT, otherwise known as the h.ear Wireless, and they have LDAC and aptX and as a great feature can also be used wired with the included micro-USB to 3.5mm cable.

Goodness! If it's possible to like a post more than once I'd have done that by now.

 

[mbwilson111]

Yes, they match perfectly and what’s funny is that I just happened to have them on me paired to my iPhone when the N3 arrived - it wasn’t even planned but when I noticed how perfectly they matched, I had to include them in the picture with the N3!

They are the Sony MDR-EX750BT, otherwise known as the h.ear Wireless, and they have LDAC and aptX and as a great feature can also be used wired with the included micro-USB to 3.5mm cable.

Oops.. .everything on my monitor just turned green