Cayin N6iii: Nothing is Impossible with Gen2 User-replaceable Audio Motherboard

[German Expat in Vietnam]

I tried some DSD512 file and flac. Some transitions have a very loud click.

Some? Mine is if there’s a sampling rate change, it will click quite loud every time

The iBasso DX320 also had this noise at the beginning. It really banged. iBasso solved the problem with a software update. I think Cayin will fix it too.

 

[casperks]

The iBasso DX320 also had this noise at the beginning. It really banged. iBasso solved the problem with a software update. I think Cayin will fix it too.

I think my problem is that only my set click every single time, checked with a few n6iii owner, demo set and only mine do that.

 

[Andykong]

Why my n6iii always click/pop on the beginning of the playback when there are a sampling rate change?

I think my problem is that only my set click every single time, checked with a few n6iii owner, demo set and only mine do that.

I would like to clarify the problem you have encountered before going into debug/confirmation stage.

You mentioned click/pop on the beginning of the playback when there are a sampling rate change, did you hear it from the player itself? do you hear the "noise" through your IEM/headphone? or was it a noise that was produced by the player itself?

In my previous dealings with DAP users, click noise are referred to the a small "tick" sounds emitted from the DAP when a mute relay kicks in, and pop noise aren referred to the noise generated by the DAC chipset when they recieved a new bitstream with different sampling rate change, and this pop noise will included in the phone or line output and heard through the output devie but the click noise will not.

 

[casperks]

I would like to clarify the problem you have encountered before going into debug/confirmation stage.

You mentioned click/pop on the beginning of the playback when there are a sampling rate change, did you hear it from the player itself? do you hear the "noise" through your IEM/headphone? or was it a noise that was produced by the player itself?

In my previous dealings with DAP users, click noise are referred to the a small "tick" sounds emitted from the DAP when a mute relay kicks in, and pop noise aren referred to the noise generated by the DAC chipset when they recieved a new bitstream with different sampling rate change, and this pop noise will included in the phone or line output and heard through the output devie but the click noise will not.

Tick through iem or headphone on the beginning of every single track when there is a change of sampling rate. Tried using the fade in relay but still the same.

 

[casperks]

I would like to clarify the problem you have encountered before going into debug/confirmation stage.

You mentioned click/pop on the beginning of the playback when there are a sampling rate change, did you hear it from the player itself? do you hear the "noise" through your IEM/headphone? or was it a noise that was produced by the player itself?

In my previous dealings with DAP users, click noise are referred to the a small "tick" sounds emitted from the DAP when a mute relay kicks in, and pop noise aren referred to the noise generated by the DAC chipset when they recieved a new bitstream with different sampling rate change, and this pop noise will included in the phone or line output and heard through the output devie but the click noise will not.

Hi andy, apparently my set had more issues. The distributor is going to give me a new set. Thanks

 

[Tabikinoya Cephas]

The iBasso DX320 also had this noise at the beginning. It really banged. iBasso solved the problem with a software update. I think Cayin will fix it too.

There are no noise in my set. Tried it several times and its quiet. Maybe its a standalone issue.

 

[Andykong]

Tick through iem or headphone on the beginning of every single track when there is a change of sampling rate. Tried using the fade in relay but still the same.

This is not right. You need to return the N6iii to our dealer for inspection.

Let me explain the most likely problem that we have get into.

DAC chipset receive a new bitstream with a different sampling frequency from what it is currently decoding, it will generate a pop noise during the transition, the noise level might vary with different DAC chipset, but almost unavoidable in most modern delta sigma DAC chipset.

To stop this pop noise from leaking into the analog outputs, we added a mute relay to mask the pop noise. We have spend a lot of time to fine tune the timing of the mute relay, trying our best to mask the pop noise completely but without cutting off the first tone of the music track. Occasionally we receive user complaint that they can hear the pop-noise under a certain combination of different sampling frequencies, but they should be able to mask off majority of pop noise.

In your case, I suspected the mute ralay in your C201 Audio Motherboard is having some problems, that's why you hear the noise everytime you changed to a different samplinlg frequency. This is a hardware failure, rarely happened but technically explain the problem you have encountered. To verify my wild guess, I suggest you work this out with your dealer. You can send the C201 Audio Motherboard to your dealer and ask them to compare it with their shop sample, or send in the DAP and let the dealer perform a complete check on your DAP. Unfortunately we are in the early stage of the N6iii project, your dealer does not have extra copy of C201 Audio Motherboard with him at this moment. When we release more Audio Motherboards down the road, the dealer can handle similar instance promptly by sending you another C201 Audio Motherboard to let you verify the problem.

 

[casperks]

This is not right. You need to return the N6iii to our dealer for inspection.

Let me explain the most likely problem that we have get into.

DAC chipset receive a new bitstream with a different sampling frequency from what it is currently decoding, it will generate a pop noise during the transition, the noise level might vary with different DAC chipset, but almost unavoidable in most modern delta sigma DAC chipset.

To stop this pop noise from leaking into the analog outputs, we added a mute relay to mask the pop noise. We have spend a lot of time to fine tune the timing of the mute relay, trying our best to mask the pop noise completely but without cutting off the first tone of the music track. Occasionally we receive user complaint that they can hear the pop-noise under a certain combination of different sampling frequencies, but they should be able to mask off majority of pop noise.

In your case, I suspected the mute ralay in your C201 Audio Motherboard is having some problems, that's why you hear the noise everytime you changed to a different samplinlg frequency. This is a hardware failure, rarely happened but technically explain the problem you have encountered. To verify my wild guess, I suggest you work this out with your dealer. You can send the C201 Audio Motherboard to your dealer and ask them to compare it with their shop sample, or send in the DAP and let the dealer perform a complete check on your DAP. Unfortunately we are in the early stage of the N6iii project, your dealer does not have extra copy of C201 Audio Motherboard with him at this moment. When we release more Audio Motherboards down the road, the dealer can handle similar instance promptly by sending you another C201 Audio Motherboard to let you verify the problem.

yup, sent it in already after confirming the demo dap in the store don’t have that issue. They are getting a new set for me.

 

[Andykong]

yup, sent it in already after confirming the demo dap in the store don’t have that issue. They are getting a new set for me.

Glad your dealer have acted promptly.

 

[Tabikinoya Cephas]

There are no noise in my set. Tried it several times and its quiet. Maybe its a standalone issue.

My bad, now that i deliberately hear it, its there, but so subtle I almost did not notice and sometimes it did not have the sound at all.

 

[casperks]

My bad, now that i deliberately hear it, its there, but so subtle I almost did not notice and sometimes it did not have the sound at all.

I think as long as it is not like mine basically tick noticeable on every tracks when it change the sampling rate then u are fine. If not you might need to sent it too.

 

[Andykong]

@Andykong there is a screen protector applied already on the front display? If so it’s been put on so cleanly that I can’t tell.

The back has this bit of plastic on it though.

Yes, that was the first thing I wondered too then I just add the screen protector on it. Does your n6iii click/pop when sampling rate change on the beginning of the playback like every time?

I checked with the QA team and confirmed the N6iii does not have the screen protector pre-applied.

This is my careless mistake because I copied the N6ii screen cover to the N6iii but didn't cross out the screen protector clause. What happened was, that N6ii used a 2.5D screen that had a slight curvature at the edge of the glass display, we couldn't apply a regular tempered glass screen protector to N6ii because of that, so we custom-ordered a hydrogel screen protector for N6ii, and bundled a temper-glass screen protector as backup. The hydrogel screen protector is a bit difficult to install perfectly, so we bought a machine to pre-apply the hydrogel screen protector on N6ii, hence I added the remark at the bottom of the N6ii screen cover.

We received numerous users' feedback that they didn't like the 2.5D screen on N6ii, so we gave that up and went with a flat screen on all our DAP after N6ii. As a result of that, we didn't pre-apply the screen protector on N30LE, N8ii, N7, and N3Ultra. I should remove the clause when I draft the N6iii screen cover, I am sorry for all the inconvenience because of my negligence.

 

[aaf evo]

I checked with the QA team and confirmed the N6iii does not have the screen protector pre-applied.

This is my careless mistake because I copied the N6ii screen cover to the N6iii but didn't cross out the screen protector clause. What happened was, that N6ii used a 2.5D screen that had a slight curvature at the edge of the glass display, we couldn't apply a regular tempered glass screen protector to N6ii because of that, so we custom-ordered a hydrogel screen protector for N6ii, and bundled a temper-glass screen protector as backup. The hydrogel screen protector is a bit difficult to install perfectly, so we bought a machine to pre-apply the hydrogel screen protector on N6ii, hence I added the remark at the bottom of the N6ii screen cover.

We received numerous users' feedback that they didn't like the 2.5D screen on N6ii, so we gave that up and went with a flat screen on all our DAP after N6ii. As a result of that, we didn't pre-apply the screen protector on N30LE, N8ii, N7, and N3Ultra. I should remove the clause when I draft the N6iii screen cover, I am sorry for all the inconvenience because of my negligence.

No worries. Thanks for the clarification. I’ll apply it today.

 

[Tabikinoya Cephas]

No worries. Thanks for the clarification. I’ll apply it today.

=_= i will apply it today as well.

 

[German Expat in Vietnam]

I also ordered the N6iii today. Should arrive on Monday. Let's see what I like better, the N6iii or my N7. I'm already excited