gallionetech
Head-Fier
My N30LE AP randomly yesterday stopped working. I left it in the charger all night but unfortunately have had no luck. It has no indication it’s charging, and won’t turn on. I was using it yesterday with my C9.
Cayin N30LE DAP: A Transformative Milestone (30th Anniv. Limited Edition)
Press the power button and the rew button (button bellow power button) at the same time for 10 sec
gallionetech
Head-Fier
that fixed it thank you so much!!! Any ideas what happened to cause this or what that function does?
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I think it is a common issue with the chipset of the device and not Cayin related. But not 100% sure.
jwilliamhurst
Headphoneus Supremus
Personally I think this could be caused by multiple things. Synergy, mood, how much sleep we’ve had, food, etc in my opinion all affect how we perceive the world around us which includes how we listen. I just posted a few days ago that Qobuz via The Hiby app sounded better than the stand alone Qobuz app. I tested it today back and forth and they sound identicalAfter the dust was settled and after 4 weeks of constant listening to the N30LE i was going back to my DX314 and was quite surprised what the DX300 + Amp14 has to offer in regards to the N30LE.
DX300 has wider soundstage, blacker background, more space around notes, more airiness, midds are more forward but in a good way.
When i got the N30LE, i was blown away by it. I dont understand what happened in the meantime. It was superior to the DX300 not only in the amp section but also in the dac section. I heard certain detail on N30LE that are not present anymore. While N30 was holographic and had good soundstage and imaging at the beginning, it is now all gone in some regards. Also Vocals were superb and the star of the show when i got it, the layering and deepness was remarkable, it made my hair stand up.
Maybe it has something to do with the new firmware 1.1 update, i dont know.
It feels like the device is running on two cylinder instead of four.
The firmware was released quite fast one week after the delivery of the first batch and after some guys reported some issues with theyr devices, i suspect that Cayn had a special firmware in theyr sleeves for such events.
Who knows.
This is of course all speculation or my paranoia
In my opinion perception can often be skewed when it comes to aural memory. However if the DX300 is more your flavor you can save yourself a-lot of $$ 
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jwilliamhurst
Headphoneus Supremus
The Dap went into safe mode. Not sure what causes it but it happened to my N6ii often! Hasn’t happened with my N30…yet.
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I happen to own both of them, Cayin N30LE being the recent addition and Sony WM1ZM2 as my reference dap for the past year or so. N30LE is still in the burn-in phase, but the overall signature is easily discernible. Having spent some time in direct comparison for a couple of hours earlier today, I can give my impressions on each of them.
WM1ZM2 I believe is the superior dac by a mile, meaning better instrument separation, timbre, micro-dynamics, time-domain performance (all notes played are very solid and authoritative with no discernible wavering effect that is typical for almost all chip-based dacs). This is especially noticeable e.g. in double bass notes where Sony gives absolutely phenomenal texture detail in each note. Same with all instruments and vocals - you can clearly hear vocalists breathing while singing and their movement in relation to the microphone, without any of these details being an annoyance, just a superb resolution of texture. However, Sony has a very weak output stage IMHO and thus can sound anemic and lacking body when driving headphones directly without an outboard headphone amplifier even though volume is not an issue. This holds even though my version is non-EU, i.e. full gain, so I can assume the EU version is even weaker. Also, I prefer single ended 3.5 mm output on the WM1ZM2, as the balanced sounds incoherent somehow. It is as if the left and right channels have some very tiny inconsistency in performance, but this may be just the fault of my particular unit. In terms of formats, WM1ZM2 is phenomenal with MQA but only through its native Sony app with all filters disabled (direct). PCM is very nice, even though I prefer MQA which is more believable when listening somehow. DSD is so-so.
Now as regards Cayin N30LE, it is a very capable dac, one of the best akm implementations I have heard according to my taste (besides Questyle QP2R and LPGT). It is very pleasing to listen to and enjoy the music when not in critical listening with high-end audiophile expectations. It has a lot of detailed resolution, but the time-domain performance is not superb IMHO, meaning there is some slight wobbliness in the notes and some very very slight metallic flavour to the music, yet much less than Sabre chips tend to have. It has a slightly muffled low end resolution, where notes are softly delineated - but that is also a typical signature of akm. The overall texture complexity is in general inferior to WM1ZM2. Yet it is a very enjoyable dac and one of those that 'get out of the way' when listening to music in a non-critical mode. Certainly more on the 'fun' side especially if compared to more neutral AK signatures. As far as filters are concerned I prefer 'slow' as it seems to give the cleanest and most time-coherent sound. PCM is best, DSD is OK but not as good as in QP2R. MQA I believe is not properly implemented as it sounds worse than regular PCM at least to my ears.
Having said that, I believe it is absolutely fantastic when it comes to output stage and driving iems and headphones directly without any external head amp. I prefer class A, P+ and classic tube, but the choice in tuning itself is fantastic and adds significant value even compared to the Sony which requires additional amplification to sound best. It may very well be the best you can buy in one transportable box these days, irrespective of cost. By the way, I did not find the 'Hyper' mode as best with revealing iems such as Oriolus Traiilii as it was too euphoric for my taste and one step too far away from believability in music realism. Yet, Hyper was best when pairing with all BA Andromeda 2020, so go figure
It came out as quite a write-up. I intended only a few pointers, but got carried away. I hope this helps. If you deem my comments of a too nit-picking nature, you are probably right, as both of these daps are phenomenal. In case you wonder where I come from with my dac experience, I own Berkley Audio Alpha Reference 3, Mola Mola Tambaqui and several other very capable dacs, as well as reel-to-reel source for reference what a master quality sound should be like.
After the dust was settled and after 4 weeks of constant listening to the N30LE i was going back to my DX314 and was quite surprised what the DX300 + Amp14 has to offer in regards to the N30LE.
DX300 has wider soundstage, blacker background, more space around notes, more airiness, midds are more forward but in a good way.
When i got the N30LE, i was blown away by it. I dont understand what happened in the meantime. It was superior to the DX300 not only in the amp section but also in the dac section. I heard certain detail on N30LE that are not present anymore. While N30 was holographic and had good soundstage and imaging at the beginning, it is now all gone in some regards. Also Vocals were superb and the star of the show when i got it, the layering and deepness was remarkable, it made my hair stand up.
Maybe it has something to do with the new firmware 1.1 update, i dont know.
It feels like the device is running on two cylinder instead of four.
The firmware was released quite fast one week after the delivery of the first batch and after some guys reported some issues with theyr devices, i suspect that Cayn had a special firmware in theyr sleeves for such events.
Who knows.
This is of course all speculation or my paranoia
I’m about to buy the N30 but all of this worry me. Especially if it changes to the worse. Maybe I should hold on for a while longer?Personally I think this could be caused by multiple things. Synergy, mood, how much sleep we’ve had, food, etc in my opinion all affect how was perceive the world around us which includes how we listen. I just posted a few days ago that Qobuz via The Hiby app sounded better than the stand alone Qobuz app. I tested it today back and forth and they sound identical
It may be due to capacitor burn in. It is expected behaviour to start nicely for a very brief period, then go roller coaster and stabilise after significant run in time. Some recommend at least 200 hours to come back to stable nice performance.After the dust was settled and after 4 weeks of constant listening to the N30LE i was going back to my DX314 and was quite surprised what the DX300 + Amp14 has to offer in regards to the N30LE.
DX300 has wider soundstage, blacker background, more space around notes, more airiness, midds are more forward but in a good way.
When i got the N30LE, i was blown away by it. I dont understand what happened in the meantime. It was superior to the DX300 not only in the amp section but also in the dac section. I heard certain detail on N30LE that are not present anymore. While N30 was holographic and had good soundstage and imaging at the beginning, it is now all gone in some regards. Also Vocals were superb and the star of the show when i got it, the layering and deepness was remarkable, it made my hair stand up.
Maybe it has something to do with the new firmware 1.1 update, i dont know.
It feels like the device is running on two cylinder instead of four.
The firmware was released quite fast one week after the delivery of the first batch and after some guys reported some issues with theyr devices, i suspect that Cayn had a special firmware in theyr sleeves for such events.
Who knows.
This is of course all speculation or my paranoia
Nice to hear! I was all excited before reading the last few posts haha.
Do you if those « metal filters » supplied with the Amber Pearl are just similar replacement parts or if each pair offer different tuning to try ?
Thanks
Btw: which tips are you using with your Amber Pearls ? Despite having a large collection of tips, I have a hard time finding the best for the UM AP
(
Thanks
Btw: which tips are you using with your Amber Pearls ? Despite having a large collection of tips, I have a hard time finding the best for the UM AP
(
I had several times experienced this kind of spooks. But i constantly comparing both DAPs since three days and while this kind of spooks can be mood dependent or often the reason of exposure to to much noise for a day or so, there are highly uncommon to occur over a longer period of days. If so, it also should occur with the DX300.Personally I think this could be caused by multiple things. Synergy, mood, how much sleep we’ve had, food, etc in my opinion all affect how was perceive the world around us which includes how we listen. I just posted a few days ago that Qobuz via The Hiby app sounded better than the stand alone Qobuz app. I tested it today back and forth and they sound identical
I dont know, take my last post with a pinch of salt.
Which Firmware are you on?
Could be, had these experience with Amps, Tubes, DACs etc. lets hope for the best!
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jwilliamhurst
Headphoneus Supremus
I’m on the most recent 1.1 I believe
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