[twister6]

Alex, how snappy (or not) is the GUI?
I plan to use a 400GB microSD card, probably 500 albums or so, and worried that navigation & scrolling might be slooooow (think FiiO X5III......)

X5iii was indeed slow, so relative to that N3Pro will be faster. Is it as fast as my android Galaxy phone? Not really. But it will be somewhere in between Tbh, I don't have a lot of albums or a ton of songs for testing, so I can't really tell you how it will perform with 400GB card and 500 albums. I don't want to speculate and would encourage you to visit N8 thread and ask other users because N3Pro has the same interface, the same processor, display, etc. thus can be directly related to N3Pro.

 

[Sven2015]

My expe
I guess many of us are more interested in sound quality. I've never chosen what to listen to by genre so I'm not at all interested in sorting options.

I don't think so. Nearby all players are (very) good in sound, BUT mostly players are crappy in software! Without Android, the OS only app is important, overall (OS) performance, GUI, scan / scrolling / cover art (caching) performance, database sortings / tagging, simple devices settings etc. pp.
I own +30.000 files, mostly CD encoded FLAC files.... database performance is much important than "Hires" 10000000 MBit tube sounds".... you never will hear a difference in a blind test....!

 

[DavidS11]

Just put a pre-order for the N3Pro for portable use. Previously was using a SR15 for portable use but had since sold it off. Didn’t want to get A&K anymore, so I try Cayin (never owned one before). Hope it turn out ok.

 

[eaglesgift]

I don't think so. Nearby all players are (very) good in sound, BUT mostly players are crappy in software! Without Android, the OS only app is important, overall (OS) performance, GUI, scan / scrolling / cover art (caching) performance, database sortings / tagging, simple devices settings etc. pp.
I own +30.000 files, mostly CD encoded FLAC files.... database performance is much important than "Hires" 10000000 MBit tube sounds".... you never will hear a difference in a blind test....!

If that's what you believe, why would you even consider a DAP with a tube?

 

[Sven2015]

I'm searching for a better device...current device is M11 and FiiO does not fix micro gaps / glichtes while BT LDAC connect. Very frustrating with my mobile Sony ANC headphones. Wire connection with my "home phones" is really good...

 

[maira]

Nearby all players are (very) good in sound

Upps....

 

[Sven2015]

make a blind test

 

[maira]

make a blind test

no comment....

 

[staticdynamo]

If I buy Cayin N3 Pro,I will use SSD with portable case like my iBasso DX160.　Never will I use microSD. In data reading speed,
SSD is far faster than microSD, especially in random reading of small data. Optane memory is faster tha SSD, though the memory
capacity is very small (mine is 32gByte) . I have never thought about sorting speed of music files. With SSD, it's so fast.
Though the biggest demerit is shortening of listening time. SSD eats battery's electric power.
But now I can listen to music for about 4.5 hours with iBasso DX160+SSD.
I think Cayin N3 Pro +SSD combo's listening time will be a little longer with bigger than DX160 battery .

 

[rbf1138]

If I buy Cayin N3 Pro,I will use SSD with portable case like my iBasso DX160.　Never will I use microSD. In data reading speed,
SSD is far faster than microSD, especially in random reading of small data. Optane memory is faster tha SSD, though the memory
capacity is very small (mine is 32gByte) . I have never thought about sorting speed of music files. With SSD, it's so fast.
Though the biggest demerit is shortening of listening time. SSD eats battery's electric power.
But now I can listen to music for about 4.5 hours with iBasso DX160+SSD.
I think Cayin N3 Pro +SSD combo's listening time will be a little longer with bigger than DX160 battery .

What difference does speed of file reading make in playing music on a portable player? I’m extremely confused.

 

[twister6]

What difference does speed of file reading make in playing music on a portable player? I’m extremely confused.

Also, while it's a great way to expand the storage, adding SSD will defeat the purpose of "portable" use, but everybody have their own preference of how they use audio players.

One thing I'm curious about, and maybe @Andykong can chime in. This is non-Android DAP, and typically Hiby has limitation of how many songs it can index on DAPs running their non-android OS. So, adding high capacity SSD drive might be counterproductive for those how are hoping to access gazillion songs Btw, typically there is no limitation when browsing by folder.

 

[staticdynamo]

What difference does speed of file reading make in playing music on a portable player? I’m extremely confused.

What differences does the use of SSD strage bring? It mainly appears in sound quality. I don't talk about how it
changes. Only who tried it knows. I think the reading speed of microSD is not sufficient. It causes listening fatigue.
DAP's cpu is not so poerful as PCs. So it can't make so many threads to read data efficiently. I think it is a part of
microSD's bad sound.

If one try to make a portable SSD strage without thinking, it will fail. Especially NVMe SSD strage consumes much
electricity, so it doesn't work with DX160, though with powerful Cayin N8 it worked.

I don't think portable SSD strage "not prtable". This is my iBasso + portable strabe combo. In fact, I carry this one.
SATA M2 SSD is in the portable case. Does it look so heavy?

 

[seanwee]

What differences does the use of SSD strage bring? It mainly appears in sound quality. I don't talk about how it
changes. Only who tried it knows. I think the reading speed of microSD is not sufficient. It causes listening fatigue.
DAP's cpu is not so poerful as PCs. So it can't make so many threads to read data efficiently. I think it is a part of
microSD's bad sound.

If one try to make a portable SSD strage without thinking, it will fail. Especially NVMe SSD strage consumes much
electricity, so it doesn't work with DX160, though with powerful Cayin N8 it worked.

I don't think portable SSD strage "not prtable". This is my iBasso + portable strabe combo. In fact, I carry this one.
SATA M2 SSD is in the portable case. Does it look so heavy?

I have the exact same ssd enclosure. Nvme though, 1TB

Are you using exfat?

 

[staticdynamo]

Oh, I'm so much sorry. As you say, it is a case for NVMe SSD, I used the case with optane memory. It worked.
This picture is correct. M2SATA SSD(500GByte) case with IBasso DX160.

And about the file system, no, I use FAT32. I connected the SSD case to DX160 and formatted with DX160.
And I recognized the file format was FAT32 with my PC.

The reason why my NVMe SSD doesn't work with DX160 is that the NVNe SSD I have is especially power hungry in NVMe SSD I think. Though the reading and writing speed was very good.
It is Samsung 970 Evo Plus (500GByte) .

I usually use SATA M2 SSD with iBasso DX160. The SSD is Western Digital Blue(500GByte) .

 

[kenz]

There's a reason why music players are priced the way they are. One aspect, the read/write speed of the internal card reader.
Makers are "betting" based on the price tag of their players, the user would purchase the lower read/write speed memory cards.

And personally, i've experienced the very subtle differences between a faster card versus a slower card, on a player than has faster/slower card reader.
People who spend loads of cash on subtle improvements on sonic, take close attention to the speed of the player's read/write capability. It makes a difference.

Don't take my word for it, go check out those players with incredible sonic, and see how fast the card is read on them (example: Lotoo Paw series).