[Andykong]

@Andykong Quick question: are stocks still planned to reach retailers by mid-August?

A quick update on our production line:

We have five sets of AP at production line checking the freshed assembled N3Pro before packing. We should be able to ship the N3Pro as schedule, but the first production batch will allocate to local dealers in China. There are serious delay in overseas logistic right now, we are trying our best to sort this out, hopefully the carriers will be ready when we roll out our second production batch.

For the record, we sent out a set of N3Pro to Alex Twister on 3 August, but there is no movement from DHL until 10th August, the delays are simply unpredictable at this stage.

 

[NewEve]

A quick update on our production line:




We have five sets of AP at production line checking the freshed assembled N3Pro before packing. We should be able to ship the N3Pro as schedule, but the first production batch will allocate to local dealers in China. There are serious delay in overseas logistic right now, we are trying our best to sort this out, hopefully the carriers will be ready when we roll out our second production batch.

For the record, we sent out a set of N3Pro to Alex Twister on 3 August, but there is no movement from DHL until 10th August, the delays are simply unpredictable at this stage.

Thanks — ordered mine from Singapore so I guess I'll have to wait a bit.

 

[buonassi]

This is like commenting a girl looks "confusing" when she only finished her makeup on the left eye.

- interesting analogy

 

[Barndoor]

I'm keen to hear some reviews on the N3Pro. There is no Cayin dealer in my area, so any purchase for me has to be based on reviews.

Tube sound in a relatively affordable dap is appealing to me, other features like streaming not so much as I mostly listen to whole albums that I own (plus can use my Pioneer/Mojo combination for occasional streaming).

For some reason I have never auditioned daps, despite hearing a lot of different headphones. I suppose I always assumed that when money allowed I would aim for a decent desk top solution.

However, from what I read DAPs have improved significantly over the last few years and some higher end headphones have become easier to drive.
My direction is therefore away from desk top and purely on portable. I want to be able to listen to my music wherever and whenever I want.

Having not upgrade for a few years I recently got the urge and found a good deal (and had some available funds!) which resulted in me purchasing the Focal Stellia.

I now feel that my aging Cowon P1 and ancient Colorfly C4 are probably not getting the best out of the Stellia.
Do I think that the N3Pro will? No, I don't, but I do wonder how a mid-tier dap of today stacks up against the 5 year old P1 and 10 year old Colorfly, considering how much progress I have read about.

I know I probably need a higher level dap to get the best out of the Stellia, however funds won't allow that for a year or two.

If the N3Pro isn't considered a big step down from the above players and offers a nice tube flavour that I know I will really enjoy then I may add to my collection.

The early reviews don't translate well on google, so hard to form an opinion as of yet. To me they seem to be fairly positive about the tube sound, but my interpretation of them is that perhaps the sub bass quantity might not be there in the lower ranges.

 

[nhumdorn]

Waiting to audit this unit. Love 4.4mm Lineout feature a lot.

 

[abitdeef]

Personally I don't care if you call it

'Alfalfa OU812' or codename Bababooey, it doesn't seem to really have much in common with the n3. But wgaf, I'd love to hear one

 

[twister6]

Personally I don't care if you call it

'Alfalfa OU812' or codename Bababooey, it doesn't seem to really have much in common with the n3. But wgaf, I'd love to hear one

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop the clock! and just call it Noine Pro (and, if you are not a diehard Stern fan, just never mind).


Now, for "green case" naysayers, apparently it is NOT solid green. It is aged green with a shade of infused gold. Interesting color combo.



And tubes do glow

 

[rbf1138]

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop the clock! and just call it Noine Pro (and, if you are not a diehard Stern fan, just never mind).


Now, for "green case" naysayers, apparently it is NOT solid green. It is aged green with a shade of infused gold. Interesting color combo.



And tubes do glow

If I had this player my personal life would be a noine right now.

 

[twister6]

If I had this player my personal life would be a noine right now.

I hope your personal life is not at a two now.

Will keep N3Pro on burn in for a few days. But out of the box, this is definitely NOT an entry level DAP.

 

[Zachik]

Will keep N3Pro on burn in for a few days. But out of the box, this is definitely NOT an entry level DAP.

@twister6 - which DAPs do you plan on comparing the N3Pro to?
Also, I assume you plan on commenting on the GUI responsiveness? I own (among others) FiiO's X5III and M11, and while the former is a GUI tortoise, the latter is very zippy and a pleasure to handle. Nowdays when 400GB and 512GB microSD cards are reasonably priced - DAPs are met with a very large (500+ albums) music collections...

 

[rbf1138]

@twister6 - which DAPs do you plan on comparing the N3Pro to?
Also, I assume you plan on commenting on the GUI responsiveness? I own (among others) FiiO's X5III and M11, and while the former is a GUI tortoise, the latter is very zippy and a pleasure to handle. Nowdays when 400GB and 512GB microSD cards are reasonably priced - DAPs are met with a very large (500+ albums) music collections...

FWIW, I’d especially like to see comparisons to the iBasso DX160, as thats probably the best rated player within $200 of the N3Pro.

Would also love a look at the UI...anything new or different from N8? How does the wheel feel? Does it get hot?

 

[Barndoor]

@rbf1138 - Twister has reviewed the DX160, so you could be in luck. Might be worth you reading his review of the DX160 to see if it aligned with your take on the device.

The comparison that interests me is with the Shanling M6, which is roughly the same price, is packed full of features and according to reviews punches above it's price.
I'm not interested in the Shanlings features, just the sound quality.
Like the N3 Pro, there is no where near me to hear the M6 either.

 

[twister6]

FWIW, I’d especially like to see comparisons to the iBasso DX160, as thats probably the best rated player within $200 of the N3Pro.

Would also love a look at the UI...anything new or different from N8? How does the wheel feel? Does it get hot?

It has been 2yrs since I reviewed N8, which I had on loan for review, but looking at N8 interface pictures I see that N3Pro is a carbon copy. I think the touch display is probably the same 3.2" IPS as well. And instead of physical home button with led indicating sampling rate, N3pro has a touch home button which changes the color according to playback sampling rate as I indicated in pictures above. Been running burn in with ibasso load cable for the last 5hrs while on a charger, and DAP is cool, including the volume wheel.

Btw, N3pro is only $69 more than DX160. Sure, I can compare to DX160, DTR1, M5s/M6, AK25. But something to keep in mind, besides that pricing is no longer an indicator of "superiority" but rather what each manufacturers considers as worthy MSRP, there are so many other apples-to-oranges factors. 2 daps might have a big gap in pricing, while one is non-Android and other is Android. Is one better value than the other? Or if they have a different tonality due to solid state output vs vacuum tube output, how do you determine if one is better than the other when they are just different due to a difference in timbre and pair up synergy? Thus, comparison with N3pro is a bit tricky because there is no other DAP in the same price range with vacuum tubes.

But anyway, here are a few more pics:

 

[Barndoor]

I agree, could be a tricky one to review.
I think we are all expecting this to be a warm sounding device and probably more so than any other device out there at this price range. How to articulate that could be quite challenging and perhaps be a little more subjective than you would like, in that you may need to comment on the actual performance compared to your preconceived expectations.
That being said, you've done many great reviews, so shouldn't a problem for somebody with your talent!
I'm keen to hear your views on sound stage, layering, separation, frequency extension, etc

 

[normie610]

It has been 2yrs since I reviewed N8, which I had on loan for review, but looking at N8 interface pictures I see that N3Pro is a carbon copy. I think the touch display is probably the same 3.2" IPS as well. And instead of physical home button with led indicating sampling rate, N3pro has a touch home button which changes the color according to playback sampling rate as I indicated in pictures above. Been running burn in with ibasso load cable for the last 5hrs while on a charger, and DAP is cool, including the volume wheel.

Btw, N3pro is only $69 more than DX160. Sure, I can compare to DX160, DTR1, M5s/M6, AK25. But something to keep in mind, besides that pricing is no longer an indicator of "superiority" but rather what each manufacturers considers as worthy MSRP, there are so many other apples-to-oranges factors. 2 daps might have a big gap in pricing, while one is non-Android and other is Android. Is one better value than the other? Or if they have a different tonality due to solid state output vs vacuum tube output, how do you determine if one is better than the other when they are just different due to a difference in timbre and pair up synergy? Thus, comparison with N3pro is a bit tricky because there is no other DAP in the same price range with vacuum tubes.

But anyway, here are a few more pics:

Makes me curious how is this compared to N6ii E02. I hope you’ll do the comparison in your review.