[bigbeans]

Ok, just tried UM Mason Fusang w/ N30 on Hyper Mode, Tube Classic. Hands down the best combo. The depth in the mids and detail in the voice is phenomenal, such articulation and separation! Yet the emotion is still here.

I wish @UniqueMelody would bring back the Fusang line. Such performance, such value.

 

[Damz87]

Ok, just tried UM Mason Fusang w/ N30 on Hyper Mode, Tube Classic. Hands down the best combo. The depth in the mids and detail in the voice is phenomenal, such articulation and separation! Yet the emotion is still here.

I wish @UniqueMelody would bring back the Fusang line. Such performance, such value.

That's great news although it's also not surprising tbh, because I've noticed all the UM IEMs I've tried with N30LE sound really good (MEST MK2 & MK3, Mentor and of course Amber Pearl)

 

[bossfan48009]

Red Halo FS with the Orphy on the N30LE sounds divine. Clapton unplugged I feel like I'm right next to him!

 

[Crazeee]

Just purchased the AP version N30LE as well. Gonna have a thorough AB test and list the normal one on classifieds!

 

[Steranko]

Just purchased the AP version N30LE as well. Gonna have a thorough AB test and list the normal one on classifieds!

Congrats, grateful if you can try another earphone on it to compare the difference between the AP and non AP one.

 

[Crazeee]

Congrats, grateful if you can try another earphone on it to compare the difference between the AP and non AP one.

Yeah gonna listen to the difference and report back. Some said subtle some said huge difference, gonna debunk the myth myself

 

[timeslip]

Yeah gonna listen to the difference and report back. Some said subtle some said huge difference, gonna debunk the myth myself

Welcome to the crazy club! I kept going back and forth yesterday for hours. I foresee more of that in the coming holiday days

 

[epaulino26]

Anyone done a direct comparison of the AP vs non-AP units now that they’re both available standalone?

Wrote a PM to you

 

[NJoyzAudio]

Musicteck Sold Out of Pearl edition DAP! https://shop.musicteck.com/collections/cayin/products/cayin-n30le-amber-pearl-version-without-iem

Yes they did. It arrives here Friday according to the email I just got tonight. Did not realize my purchase caused them to be sold out.

Eating my words I posted in this thread very early on, where I said I was out, and would not be buying the N30LE.
But I became really intrigued after reading several posters comments on this thread who I not only respect but I've enjoyed reading their impressions here and on other fourms I follow, and have traded comments with several of them on a range of topics.
What caught my attention is normally these writters do NOT get giddy over a new acquisition. They did for the N30LE.
To read their comments, how this is to them the best sounding device they've listened to, and how many are going back through their entire collection of IEM's, headphones, and even cables and find the N30LE is breathing new life into equipment they were not listening to anymore, I started getting curious, even despite the early "teething pains" they/all of you have been through with the N30LE.
As ALWAYS kudos to Andy Kong. He has been influential in my decision with the way he's handled all the comments and concerns, and has given me confidence to go ahead and take the plunge..

CanJam So CA ended up being more expensive for me than I thought it would be.
Thought I'd be buying new IEM's and maybe a new cable for those IEM's.
Musicteck's tables was one stop of many, with the intent of listening to the N30LE to prove there wasn't enough difference over my N8ii or PAW6K. Wrong move. There was a difference, enough that it just kept gnawing away at the back of my brain, saying "BUY ME".
I had a great quarter at work and came into some incentive $'s for exceeding some goals, so this allowed me look at new HW, I otherwise would NOT be able to justify.
I was trying to stay off of Musicteck/Andrew's site but once I saw people posting here they had purchased the AP version without the IEM's it was all over, figuring IF I was going to be in I might as well jump in all the way. I'm talking about you bigbeans...see what you have done? - actually thanks for shove to get me to just do it.

Looking forward to getting through burn in, and then the fun begins of trying the device out. Impressions once I've had some time with the device.
Andrew did warn me at CanJam, my N8ii that I really enjoy may end up in the classifieds for sale. We shall see.

Major dent in the wallet, but its done. Happy but broke
The old adage of Head-fi is alive and well.
Welcome to Head-Fi, sorry about your wallet.

 

[Kobe4ever]

Yes they did. It arrives here Friday according to the email I just got tonight. Did not realize my purchase caused them to be sold out.

Eating my words I posted in this thread very early on, where I said I was out, and would not be buying the N30LE.
But I became really intrigued after reading several posters comments on this thread who I not only respect but I've enjoyed reading their impressions here and on other fourms I follow, and have traded comments with several of them on a range of topics.
What caught my attention is normally these writters do NOT get giddy over a new acquisition. They did for the N30LE.
To read their comments, how this is to them the best sounding device they've listened to, and how many are going back through their entire collection of IEM's, headphones, and even cables and find the N30LE is breathing new life into equipment they were not listening to anymore, I started getting curious, even despite the early "teething pains" they/all of you have been through with the N30LE.
As ALWAYS kudos to Andy Kong. He has been influential in my decision with the way he's handled all the comments and concerns, and has given me confidence to go ahead and take the plunge..

CanJam So CA ended up being more expensive for me than I thought it would be.
Thought I'd be buying new IEM's and maybe a new cable for those IEM's.
Musicteck's tables was one stop of many, with the intent of listening to the N30LE to prove there wasn't enough difference over my N8ii or PAW6K. Wrong move. There was a difference, enough that it just kept gnawing away at the back of my brain, saying "BUY ME".
I had a great quarter at work and came into some incentive $'s for exceeding some goals, so this allowed me look at new HW, I otherwise would NOT be able to justify.
I was trying to stay off of Musicteck/Andrew's site but once I saw people posting here they had purchased the AP version without the IEM's it was all over, figuring IF I was going to be in I might as well jump in all the way. I'm talking about you bigbeans...see what you have done? - actually thanks for shove to get me to just do it.

Looking forward to getting through burn in, and then the fun begins of trying the device out. Impressions once I've had some time with the device.
Andrew did warn me at CanJam, my N8ii that I really enjoy may end up in the classifieds for sale. We shall see.

Major dent in the wallet, but its done. Happy but broke
The old adage of Head-fi is alive and well.
Welcome to Head-Fi, sorry about your wallet.

I didn't think about buying it either, but then I changed by reading the impressions of many experts on this forum, and since yesterday I have my N30LE AP.
And the fun begins.
Congratulations on your choice. Andrew and @MusicTeck always Number 1 !

 

[slumberman]

Where it began and where it ended (for now)….

I couldn’t resist in the end. Let’s see how long until rationality kicks in !

As usual thanks to Andrew @MusicTeck for the exemplary service and always pleasant attitude.

The N8 has upgraded caps by the very talented Steve of NPAudio. He really knows how to expand on the character of the devices he works on.

 

[Andykong]

Announcement on CIEM Amber Pearl IEM

As per to Amber Pearl IEM user's request, they would like to have an option to convert their universally fitted Amber Pearl IEM to CIEM. We have tested the feasibility of this request earlier on, and have finally worked out the CIEM plan.

This is the workflow of the CIEM process:

1. Customers provide ear impression data
2. UM prints a pair of earmoulds using 3D printing
3. Send the earmoulds to customers for fitting test
4. After the customer confirms the fitting, UM will proceed to produce the stabilized Cholla wood chassis in the Amber Pearl finish.
5. Customers send back the original Amber Pearl IEM
6. UM completes the CIEM version of Amber Pearl and sends it back to the customer.

To the best of our understanding, the process might take up to a month but every CIEM is unique, so please take this estimation with a pinch of salt.

The cost to convert a pair of Amber Pearl IEM to CIEM version is US$1400. For those who are interested in this service, please drop an email to Unique Melody directly (jp.service@uniquemelody.org). The service will be provided by UM exclusively, please work out the payment method and detail schedule with UM in person. While we don’t expect a lot of AP users will convert their Amber Pearl into CIEM, we would like to advise you in advance that the process is labor intensive, so the schedule might be affected if we have many customers respond to the CIEM option favorably.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Andykong]

You don't need to charge from 20% to 85% in every charge. Lithium battery-like swallow charges, which means you can charge from 20% to 4x% or 5x% and then start to use it until it reaches 20% again. That means you can listen to 4.5 hours continuously, take a ~1-hour break, and then use it for another 3 hours. I guess most users are willing to take a break after a 4.5-hour continuous music session.

Side note #1: 20% to 85% is one of the many recommendations to prolong the battery life, and 10% to 90% is another recommendation, I have seen ridiculous suggestions such as 20% to 50% per charge. We know for sure that partial discharge reduces stress and prolongs battery life, and so does a partial charge, that's why good practice is to avoid discharging your lithium battery too low (e.g. 3.3v) or charging it too high (exceeding 4.2V). I have yet to see reliable statistical evidence that 20% to 85% will deliver more charging cycles than 10% to 90%. You are taking a generalized guideline as a hard fact, sticking with it, and suffering by your belief. My personal practice is to keep the DAP between 20% to 85% in regular use, but I won't hesitate to extend the range to 10%>90% occasionally. These are guidelines for good practice, I don't see them as hard numbers.

Side note #2: Charging while you playback is technically safe, we do recommend against this if you do this too often because charging during playback will increase the temperature of the battery, but it won't cause a significant impact on your battery life if you are only doing this occasionally, especially when you provided decent ventilation to improve the efficient of the heat dispersion of the DAP. I have also noticed some users placed the DAP on top of a metal chuck or heat sink and reported that the DAP would run cool even in extreme conditions. So how often is it occasionally? Sorry, I didn't notice any meaningful statistic figures along this line, but in my previous consultation with users, I normally quoted once in every 5 charging cycles as a safe bet. For the record, if you stick with 20% to 85% charging practice, 5 charging cycles is equivalent to around 8 rounds of charging (7.7 to be exact). YMMV you don't need to treat this as a highly damaging practice.

Side note #3: If battery life is your main concern, maybe you can budget a battery replacement in advance. Just send in your DAP after 4 years of service, your biggest cost will be the shipping cost from your location to Zhuhai and return. Repair service, including but not limited to battery replacement cost is among the lowest you can expect. For the record, we charge US$35 (¥230 RMB to be exact) to replace an N8ii battery, and US$25 (¥160 RMB to be exact) to replace the N6ii battery. Since you only need to send in your DAP without the accessories and original package, the total logistic cost should be .... around $100?? Please be reminded that Cayin owns the manufacturing facilities and runs the production in-house, we even wind our own transformers and have a decent battery storage inventory in our own building. When you have the facilities, components, and technicians readily available, the maintenance cost of our DAPs are significantly lower than brands that are heavily relied on outsourced manufacturing services

We just received a request to replace the battery of our C5 portable headphone amplifier. I checked our inventory and confirmed that we have the battery in our inventory. For the record, C5 portable headphone amplifier is Cayin's first-ever portable audio product launched all the way back in 2014. If we can provide battery replacement for our humble $200 product, I think our DAP customers should relax by knowing that they can replace the battery of their DAP after 5-6 years of service.

 

[RonaldS86]

We just received a request to replace the battery of our C5 portable headphone amplifier. I checked our inventory and confirmed that we have the battery in our inventory. For the record, C5 portable headphone amplifier is Cayin's first-ever portable audio product launched all the way back in 2014. If we can provide battery replacement for our humble $200 product, I think our DAP customers should relax by knowing that they can replace the battery of their DAP after 5-6 years of service.

It's good to know that my lovely DAP has a long lifetime
Thanks for your never ending support @Andykong and kudos for Cayin's team too

 

[Andykong]

I have received PMs regarding the Double Wipe procedure of N30LE, so I might as well share it here.

The following instructions will guide you to perform a factory reset with wiped data on your N30LE. Please be reminded that this procedure will wipe the cache and internal storage data (known as double wipe), so please backup the internal storage of your N30LE if you have stored your music file in the internal storage before you conduct these procedures. Your firmware should remain at the previously installed version, but please check and make sure you are in the latest firmware before you copy your music files back to the internal storage of your N30LE.

How to enter the Android System Recovery screen on Cayin N30LE

1. Turn off the device.
2. PRESS and HOLD the POWER button and the NEXT button simultaneously.
3. Release both buttons when the Cayin logo appears on the screen.
4. When the text “No command” appears on the screen,
5. PRESS and HOLD the POWER button, then PRESS the PLAY/PAUSE button once.
6. Release the POWER button when the main menu of the Android System Recovery screen appears.
7. In the Recovery screen, scroll the VOLUME dial to navigate, and PRESS the POWER button to select the option.

To wipe data/factory reset

1. Navigate to the “Wipe data/factory reset” and press the POWER button.
2. In the confirmation screen, select “Factory data reset”.
3. It takes about 5 seconds on average to proceed with the wipe operation.
4. When the screen returns to the Recovery menu, navigate to “Reboot system now” and press the POWER button.
5. The device will reboot and proceed an encryption operation, it takes about 1 minute on average.
6. The wipe operation is completed after the device is fully rebooted to the language selection screen