[seanwee]

Technical characteristics is a first "quantify" filter for choice DAP. Next criteria is simple: if I want to listen to further or I want turn off as soon as possible. Because the sound may be too detailed, lifeless, too bassy or too bright and so on.
I'm looking for pleasure when I'm listening to the music, not details or technicalities.

At some point you can get everything. Details and musicality are not mutually exclusive. I've basically reached the end of my journey in that aspect, I'm just chasing presentation/soundstage (grand) at this point. Every detail to be heard has been heard with the most emotion the song has to offer.

I do find it more helpful to chase your preferred tonality, details and technicalities on the iem side then only flavour it with the source. The best source can't fix a bad iem.

how hot are these vents ? if I put it in my pocket, can my pants catch fire ?

These "vents" are the window to the soul of the N3 Ultra.

Not for heat dissipation.

 

[laleeee]

At some point you can get everything. Details and musicality are not mutually exclusive. I've basically reached the end of my journey.

I do find it more helpful to chase your preferred tonality, details and technicalities on the iem side then only flavour it with the source. The best source can't fix a bad iem.

These vents are for display only and not for heat dissipation.

Can you compare the N3U with "top" dongles ? is there an audible difference?

 

[seanwee]

Can you compare the N3U with "top" dongles ? is there an audible difference?

I haven't heard the N3U yet but definitely want to try it.

 

[laleeee]

I haven't heard the N3U yet but definitely want to try it.

"I've basically reached the end of my journey" What does that mean ?

 

[Currawong]

Regarding the display of your thumbnail album art, may I suggest you take out the SD card, perform a music scan without the card, this will wipe the existing index, and then insert the card and search again. It would be even better if you could identify the album art that can't be displayed, copy the specific files to another newly formatted SD card, and test if this will display correctly. I want to make sure this is not a software glitch or card compatibility problem before we dig into the file format of your embedded album art.

I recall some software having issues with files that had album art images over a certain size. This may be something worth checking. 500x500 px used to be the norm, but I've heard of people using images over 1000px, but I don't know what the standard now is, if any.

how hot are these vents ? if I put it in my pocket, can my pants catch fire ?

Not at all. After the N3 Ultra had sat playing music for a whole day, I can touch the vents and feel almost nothing. The heat seems to get distributed across the chassis, so the DAP becomes warm. I haven't tried it in a pocket, though I don't imagine it getting hot enough to matter.

Can you compare the N3U with "top" dongles ? is there an audible difference?

I'm intending to do that in my review against the Woo Audio Tube Mini at least.

 

[laleeee]

I recall some software having issues with files that had album art images over a certain size. This may be something worth checking. 500x500 px used to be the norm, but I've heard of people using images over 1000px, but I don't know what the standard now is, if any.



Not at all. After the N3 Ultra had sat playing music for a whole day, I can touch the vents and feel almost nothing. The heat seems to get distributed across the chassis, so the DAP becomes warm. I haven't tried it in a pocket, though I don't imagine it getting hot enough to matter.



I'm intending to do that in my review against the Woo Audio Tube Mini at least.

But can you compare with non tube dongles like the iBasso DC04 Pro or tha Shanling UA4 ?

 

[seanwee]

"I've basically reached the end of my journey" What does that mean ?

Best iem that has the tonality I like (crisp, detailed, extended but refined [a combination I've only heard with the annihilator 2021] and dynamic with huge soundstage), close to top end source (Nothing past kilobuck is quite worth the small sq bump just yet imo)

 

[KESM]

Day one: I have the Ultra paired with 64 Audio 6t CIEMs. They’ve never sounded better.

 

[mt877]

You know someone was gonna attempt something like this... well it works great.

N3Ultra > Creative BT-W5 > Grell TWS1
BT-W5 aptX HD connection to TWS1

Volume knob has no (zero) control of the bluetooth volume. I purposely selected my old neglected pair of Grell TWS1 for this test because they have built in volume control via the right side touch panel. The Creative BT-W5 is a USB C soundcard frontend to bluetooth transmitter.

 

[laleeee]

Day one: I have the Ultra paired with 64 Audio 6t CIEMs. They’ve never sounded better.

Any treble harshness or lack of bass kick ?

 

[mt877]

Like everybody else is saying, the N3U is an excellent sounding DAP. The Android 8 is really bare bones. I thought there would be a battery saver / health setting, but none to be found. I found that even though the pulsar light at the Home button can be turned off in the Display settings, it does not save permanently. On next startup the pulsar light is reenabled, you have to go back to the Display setting and turn it off each time. For those people like myself that need to have 'stealth' mode it would be convenient to have the pulsar light config setting saved between power cycles. Even though @Andykong doesn't reply to all messages, I hope he is reading them all and taking notes to pass back to Cayin engineering.

 

[Currawong]

But can you compare with non tube dongles like the iBasso DC04 Pro or tha Shanling UA4 ?

Here's the short answer:
Dongle is ESS-based: Sounds slightly edgy, with some degree of harshness in the treble. Newer models maybe slightly more refined.
Dongle is CS-based: Sounds slightly smoother, with varying degrees of clarity. Timbre is a bit flat.
Some variation to be allowed for what they are connected to, and maybe ever-so-slightly with what cable, but not enough to shift the character.

The N3Ultra doesn't sound like a dongle DAC of those kinds at all.

 

[seanwee]

But can you compare with non tube dongles like the iBasso DC04 Pro or tha Shanling UA4 ?

Here's the short answer:
Dongle is ESS-based: Sounds slightly edgy, with some degree of harshness in the treble. Newer models maybe slightly more refined.
Dongle is CS-based: Sounds slightly smoother, with varying degrees of clarity. Timbre is a bit flat.
Some variation to be allowed for what they are connected to, and maybe ever-so-slightly with what cable, but not enough to shift the character.

The N3Ultra doesn't sound like a dongle DAC of those kinds at all.

Curious about price comparable usb-dacs like the DC Elite. How those fare.

 

[mikaik]

Can you compare the N3U with "top" dongles ? is there an audible difference?

The soundstage is larger than RU7. The bass is better, not only in quantity, but more textured and articulated. Highs are energetic and not harsh at all, but that also depends on your headphones.
It all sounds very engaging and I, for one, can't get the IEMs out of my ears anymore .
There's also the easy to use EQ (not all my IEMs are equal and don't feel like changing them when moving on to the next album), that's also a plus.
The the same holds true of you compare it with the LP W4. Soundstage, in particular. But it also depends on how you compare them. Both RU7 and LP W4 sound much larger to my ears when coupled with a good cable, like the Brise Accurate USB.
All the above apply to tube timbre. In solid state, I don't hear a huge difference over RU7.
This is what I hear, others might perceive it differently.
Definitely bigger soundstage and more refined than DC04 Pro, but also the price difference is important here.
I don't have the DC Elite...
Hope this helps.

Edit: corrected some spelling mistakes, thanks to those who spotted them.

 

[kcsound777]

The soundstage is larger than RU7. The bass is better, not only in quantity, but more textured and articulated. Highs are energetic and not harsh at all, but that also depends on your headphones.
It all sounds very engaging and I, for one, can't get the IEMs out of my ears anymore .
There's also the easy to use EQ (not all my IEMs are equal and don't feel like changing them when moving on to the next album), that's also a plus.
The the same holds true of you compare it with the LP W4. Soundstage, in particular. But it also depends on how you compare them. Both RU7 and LP W4 sound much larger to my ears when coupled with a good cable, like the Brise Accurate USB.
All the above apply to tube timbre. In solid state, I don't hear a huge difference over RU7.
This is what I hear, others might perceive it differently.
Definitely bigger soundstage and more refined than DC04 Pro, but also the price difference is important here.
I don't have the DC Elite...
Hope this helps.

Edit: corrected some spelling mistakes, thanks to those who spotted them.

Hi, are you able to create a custom playlist from your songs and rearrange them within that playlist?