[PopZeus]

While still in a bit of disbelief over the internals, I'm really digging the refined design of the metal and glass body. That's a big step up from the N3 too.

 

[Andykong]

This is going to be a tough one to translate...
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/6851606634

I basically use the technical information in the article and write the English product introduction from scratch. Translate the content don't works very well in my past experience.

Thanks Andy. Can you share other specs? Apps? Streaming? Cayin OS features? Storage?

Yes, definitely. I'll go through the digital audio and other aspects tomorrow, including technical specifications. The vacuum tube session take a lot longer than expected to write up, and the content is also a lot longer then originally planned.

How I wish the N3Pro can install certain APKs like the AK daps. Would make for a more versatile dap.

I believe AK DAPs are Android based, Can non-Android based DAP install APK at all? I didn't aware of any, please fill me in if I missed something important here.

IIRC the tubes they'll be using don't actually glow?

Yes, the JAN6418 will glow when connected, but barely noticeable in regular daylight.

What about a follow up to the N3 in the same budget price?

We didn't have any plan to do that at this moment. N3Pro will remain our entry level DAP for quite a while.

I have the N6 ii. all the motherboards......
Would love to see a tube board released.
Thinking Cayin might be saving that just for the N8,
Surprised it was released on a lower model.
Hopefully someday the N6 will get a tube amp.

We didn't reserve tube technologies for N8, the form factor of N6ii Audio Motherboard is the bottleneck to install a tube inside the module. We are still looking for solution that can fit into the Audio Motherboard.

 

[muths66]

We didn't reserve tube technologies for N8, the form factor of N6ii Audio Motherboard is the bottleneck to install a tube inside the module. We are still looking for solution that can fit into the Audio Motherboard.

so use on 4.4 the tube aint working at all?

 

[Andykong]

Well, it looks like rumors were true! Very impressive specs. It's like a mini N8, which is TOTL, except this costs a lot less. Maybe one day, I'll get to read how Cayin did that. Very curious to see listening impressions as well. My interest is very piqued now, though I am really looking for a DAP that can drive a headphone like the Aeolus with enough current.

Those are some really impressive power specs. With all the fun and excitement happening with the single-ended tube stage (mos def wanna know more about the timbre circuit as well), the amount of features in this are almost overwhelming. And then on top of all that, the balanced out on the N3 Pro manages to get over 100mW into 300 ohm headphones. That's bananas! Again, can't wait to see reviews for this. I hope the baseline sound quality is up there.

While still in a bit of disbelief over the internals, I'm really digging the refined design of the metal and glass body. That's a big step up from the N3 too.

If I remember it right, the Aeolus is 300 Ohm 99dB. This is not a portable friendly headphone. N3Pro is very powerful given its size and price, it can drive the Aeolus to very loud level, but unlikely deliver satisfactory performance, The soundstage will be congested and unnatural and the dynamic range will be compressed. Probably OK with simple music such as vocal with one instruments, but once the music become complicated, you'll notice the lack of separation problem. Adding a decent portable amplifier will make a lot more sense.

As I mentioned previously, the R&D involvement of N3Pro is out of proportion for entry level DAP. Cayin is pushing the envelope again. We sincerely hope this will be well-received by the market. We are aiming at a niche market within a niche market, we know that in advance.

so use on 4.4 the tube aint working at all?

The Tube Timber only available to 3.5mm phone out, it is not available to 4.4mm phone out nor 3.5mm line out.

 

[muths66]

The Tube Timber only available to 3.5mm phone out, it is not available to 4.4mm phone out nor 3.5mm line out.

tks. was hoping tube side produce more power on it.

 

[linux4ever]

Who will be the sellers in USA? I'm interested in this for sure. When will mid August come?

Interesting specs and excellent price makes for an interesting combination.

 

[Nayparm]

We didn't reserve tube technologies for N8, the form factor of N6ii Audio Motherboard is the bottleneck to install a tube inside the module. We are still looking for solution that can fit into the Audio Motherboard.

Make a longer N6ii module thats then flush with the n6ii shape. The thickness required for tubes will then be there and the tubes could then glow under the screen like N8/N3Pro, a new case will be required but who cares if it sounds good

 

[twister6]

Who will be the sellers in USA? I'm interested in this for sure. When will mid August come?

Interesting specs and excellent price makes for an interesting combination.

I assume it will be Musicteck since they been selling and supporting Cayin products in US for years.

 

[ipaddy]

How do you burn water?

Start by running electricity through it, and you'll get hydrogen. Which should do nicely.

Cayin announced a new DAP N3Pro today. While the Pro suffix suggested that this is an upgrade from our previous N3 DAP back in Q1 2017, the bar of audiophile DAP has been raised significantly over the past 4 years, and Cayin decided to develop a new DAP from scratch instead of refining the very well-received N3. In fact, if you look at the N3pro carefully, you’ll notice Cayin has passed down a lot of technologies from other premium products to N3Pro, making it one of the most sophisticated and powerful dedicated entry level DAP.

The digital part of N3Pro features two AKM AK4493EQ DAC chipsets in mono mode and can natively decode up to DSD256 and 32 Bit/384kHz. The analog audio circuit is fully balanced by design, providing 4.4mm balanced and 3.5mm single-ended phone out. We have also provided a dedicated unamplified 3.5mm single-end line out and a shared 4.4mm balanced line out to connect N3Pro to portable or desktop amplifiers.




Dual Timbre: Vacuum Tube and Solid State

The most attractive part of N3Pro is definitely the Dual Timbre function. This will allow users to select Vacuum Tube or Solid State timbre from the pull down menu. This feature was first seen in Cayin’s desktop iDAC-6, which was pretty straight forward to implement. When the feature was introduced in N8 DAP, it was revolutionary. Vacuum tube suffers from microphonic by nature, and its non-rigid structure also makes it very sensitive to shock and vibration. Cayin has developed a spring-loaded suspension system with custom build shock absorption silicon housing to install a KORG Nutube into the N8. It works beautiful and the innovative technologies become an instant hit back in 2018.

We were excited by the Nutube experience and started to look for opportunity to do this again with other DAPs. The Nutube is definitely the best choice in the market technically in view of its unique form factor and its low-heat, low power consumption nature. Unfortunately it is fairly expensive and limited its application. With our decades of tube amplification experience, we finally identified another candidate JAN6418 and this turned our N3 revision plan to a completely new direction.

When you plug in a 3.5mm headphone, the pull down menu will enable the Timbre selection option and you can select Tube Timbre or Solid-State Timbre. This selection is disabled if you were using 4.4mm headphone or if you didn’t plug in any headphone. The vacuum tube requires 5 seconds to warm up otherwise you’ll hear distortion in playback, that’s why we mute the player for 5 seconds when you enter Tube Timbre. However it takes around 15 seconds to arrive optimum condition, so you might still be able to hear small audio changes in the first 10 seconds.



Raytueon JAN6418 Miniature pentode vacuum tube

The USA made Raytheon JAN6418 used in N3Pro is vintage NOS vacuum tube manufactured back late 70/early 80. It is a miniature vacuum tube originally designated in military communication and hearing-aid applications. The prefix JAN stands for Join Army-Navy and that is a clear designation of military grade products. The tube is inexpensive but please underestimates the audiophile value of this miniature tube because of that. For instance, Audio-Technica installed one JAN 6418 sub-miniature tube in AT3060, one of the first tube condenser microphones that don’t need an external power supply. The mic is retailed at $600 (USD) and music professionals often describe this microphone as having a warm classic tube sound.

When Cayin decided to use JAN6418 in DAP, the first thing we do is to build up our inventory. NOS vintage vacuum tube is a very volatile market. When a particular tube become popular or new application (and demands) surfaced suddenly, the price will go up and the availability will become unstable. Cayin has spent 3 years to stock up around 40K units of NOS JAN6418 gradually and this is a hefty inventory investment as well as time consuming exercises. We probably will continue our procurement depends whether we have new project using JAN6418 down the road but our customer can rest assured that Cayin has taking care of this important part to safeguard a steady supply of JAN6418 in our production plan.





The JAN6418 is direct-heated tube. Its miniature form factor and long life low power consumption characteristic makes it ideal for portable applications. Max plate and screen grid only require 15-22.5V, its tube filaments are 1.2V and draw just 10mA. It is only slightly warm when you touch it, and you can barely see the tubes glowing in a dark environment.

N3Pro uses a matched pair JAN6418 in its single-ended tube timber circuit. Similar to the Nutube application in N8 DAP, we can’t offer Timbre selection in balanced headphone amp. Circuit because that will required 4 pieces of JAN6418 in total. The cost of extra tube is minimal, but a balanced amplification circuit will required matched quad which is exponentially more difficult than matched pair in mass production. The extra spaces required and shorten playback time are also deal breaker constraints that make this impossible for N3Pro.

The JAN6418 Tube Timber circuit will offer a smooth, liquid and warm sound signature, this will work well with vocal and pop music. Alternatively, the Solid State Timbre circuit will offer stella dynamic and separation and we recommend that for music requires authorities and transparency



Dual Operation Mode: Triode and Ultra-linear

Unlike the KORG Nutube, the JAN6418 is miniature pentodes tube and we can connect the vacuum tube to the audio circuit in standard, triode mode or ultra-linear mode. Wiring the JAN6418 in standard mode will generate serious ringing effect in music playback, making it inappropriate for DAP purpose. The triode mode and ultra-linear mode will generate different amount of feedback, distortion, harmonic and output impedance.

The sound signatures of these two operation modes are noticeably different. In triode Mode, the presentation and soundstage will be tighten up, sounds more sophisticated and elegant, images is focused and the mid-range will be more up-front. This is a good setting for string and vocal-based music, especially with songs that are intimated and refined

When change to Ultra-linear mode, the transient will be enhanced and soundstage will open up. You can feel the space and dimension immediately and the music become lively, clean and energetic. This is good for instrumental, especially for music that requires a lot of punch, dynamics and control

When you plug in a 3.5mm headphone and selected Tube Timbre, the Dual Operation Mode will be enabled and you can select either Triode mode or Ultra-linear mode from the pull down menu. Please be reminded that we use electronic trigger to change between Operation Modes and this will involve a series of electrical adjustments. Please don’t switch between Operation Modes rapidly, wait at least 1 sec before you change mode again. Rapid mode changing will result in loud pop sound.



Microphonic and Shock Treatment

The biggest challenge to implement JAN6418 into a DAP is handling the microphonic and shock treatment the best we could. Unlike our previous experience with KORG Nutube in N8 which use LED technologies, the JAN6418 is a traditional vacuum tube with filament, and the filament will vibrate when the tube encounter even minor shock. This will produce microphonic effect and affect your listening experience.

Cayin has spend months of R&D in this exercise. We have tried out 4 different shock absorption silicon housings and 6 rounds of Flexible PCB design, and we have conducted lot of test in each round to determine the effectiveness against different practical shock and vibration scenario. The R&D difficulties are in proportional to the entry level position of N3Pro.

Our final take is to suspend the shock absorption silicon housings over a specially crafted slot and connect to the main PCB through a flexible PCB. Users can now walk around or place the player in a backpack while listening with nominal detrimental effects. However microphonic effect might be audible when jogging, knocking on DAP, holding the DAP and then place it on table or knocking on table when DAP is placed on it

Do these tubes burn out? If so, how long do they last? What is manufacturer policy on this?

 

[CANiSLAYu]

Do these tubes burn out? If so, how long do they last? What is manufacturer policy on this?

All tubes will give out eventually, probably 10,000 hours. That's 4 hours a day for almost 7 years, so the unit be well out of warranty by then, if people are even still using it.

 

[linux4ever]

Are the tubes user replaceable?

 

[billyleungkt]

If I remember it right, the Aeolus is 300 Ohm 99dB. This is not a portable friendly headphone. N3Pro is very powerful given its size and price, it can drive the Aeolus to very loud level, but unlikely deliver satisfactory performance, The soundstage will be congested and unnatural and the dynamic range will be compressed. Probably OK with simple music such as vocal with one instruments, but once the music become complicated, you'll notice the lack of separation problem. Adding a decent portable amplifier will make a lot more sense.

As I mentioned previously, the R&D involvement of N3Pro is out of proportion for entry level DAP. Cayin is pushing the envelope again. We sincerely hope this will be well-received by the market. We are aiming at a niche market within a niche market, we know that in advance.

Hi Andy,

The tubes are user replaceable? How long do they last from factory spec? Do you have international warrenty e.g if I get from China taobao directly? Thanks.

Cheers,
Billy

 

[PopZeus]

If I remember it right, the Aeolus is 300 Ohm 99dB. This is not a portable friendly headphone. N3Pro is very powerful given its size and price, it can drive the Aeolus to very loud level, but unlikely deliver satisfactory performance, The soundstage will be congested and unnatural and the dynamic range will be compressed. Probably OK with simple music such as vocal with one instruments, but once the music become complicated, you'll notice the lack of separation problem. Adding a decent portable amplifier will make a lot more sense.

As I mentioned previously, the R&D involvement of N3Pro is out of proportion for entry level DAP. Cayin is pushing the envelope again. We sincerely hope this will be well-received by the market. We are aiming at a niche market within a niche market, we know that in advance.

Thanks for the detailed response. I knew it might've been stretch to get it to play well with the Aeolus. Still excited to hear more about the N3 Pro. I can always use it with the LCD-GX. That's much easier to drive.

 

[dadracer2]

Are we saying that it will not stream Tidal/Qobuz or indeed other streaming services? That would be an issue for me as I don't have a lot of music in files.

 

[DUNU-Topsound]

We want to extend our congratulations to @Cayin and @Andykong for the release of the N3 Pro!

We're big fans of how features of the N8 were trickled down to such an accessible price point!

Our guys happened to get their hands on a unit to get a feel of its pairing characteristics with our own products, and decided to take some glamour shots! Enjoy!

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