[FooFighter]

Anyone using Apple Music on N7?
App is crashing after latest Apple Music app update latest after starting playback, mostly even after starting just the app only
Unfortunately no other DAP with me right now to check if it's happening elsewhere too

 

[gadus]

Can n7 compete with a desktop dac?
Or as good as it is in the end it's just a portable player?

 

[Andykong]

Can n7 compete with a desktop dac?
Or as good as it is in the end it's just a portable player?

It is just a portable player. It can't compete with $2k desktop DAC.

 

[sk57rus]

Anyone using Apple Music on N7?
App is crashing after latest Apple Music app update latest after starting playback, mostly even after starting just the app only
Unfortunately no other DAP with me right now to check if it's happening elsewhere too

After the last update, Apple Music works for me without any crashes

 

[gadus]

It is just a portable player. It can't compete with $2k desktop DAC.

thanks for the honesty!
But why actually it can't.
Because of the small dimensions?

 

[gadus]

An audiophile friend told me that he connected the n7 to a stereo system worth 500k
According to him, it was very difficult to distinguish the differences between the n7 and the prestigious dac in the system...

 

[111MilesToGo]

An audiophile friend told me that he connected the n7 to a stereo system worth 500k
According to him, it was very difficult to distinguish the differences between the n7 and the prestigious dac in the system...

Sounds like an interesting experiment. Could you provide more details of what he did? In particular, what output of the N7 he ran into his system, and what the receiving stage was (pre-amplifier?).

I‘m asking this since - as a ballpark rule - the sound characteristics of a DAP are imprinted more by its amplifier stage, and less by its DAC stage. Thus, when you take the DAP true line out, its amp is bypassed, leaving the DAC and only its characteristics in the game. That ballpark rule holds for standard DAPs/DACs with off-the-shelf converter chips - I wouldn‘t know whether it also holds for devices like the N7.

Your comments are highly welcome.

 

[Nostoi]

Sounds like an interesting experiment. Could you provide more details of what he did? In particular, what output of the N7 he ran into his system, and what the receiving stage was (pre-amplifier?).

I‘m asking this since - as a ballpark rule - the sound characteristics of a DAP are imprinted more by its amplifier stage, and less by its DAC stage. Thus, when you take the DAP true line out, its amp is bypassed, leaving the DAC and only its characteristics in the game. That ballpark rule holds for standard DAPs/DACs with off-the-shelf converter chips - I wouldn‘t know whether it also holds for devices like the N7.

Your comments are highly welcome.

I'll be posting a review soon where I pair the N7 with various amps. Spoiler alert - it scales up nicely.

More generally, in my experience, the amp stage of any DAP is always the most critical aspect (which of course can mean a DAP is restricted by its internal amp stage).

 

[FooFighter]

I'll be posting a review soon where I pair the N7 with various amps. Spoiler alert - it scales up nicely.

More generally, in my experience, the amp stage of any DAP is always the most critical aspect (which of course can mean a DAP is restricted by its internal amp stage).

Looking forward to your review.
I have been switching between
- N7-to-C9 and
- N7-to-Ferrum_Oor and
- Holo_Spring3_KTE-to-Oor
… listening to my Aroma Jewel (as I am on an IEM hype train currently - my MEze Elite hasn‘t seen much listening time lately…)

Differences are noticable where I see that mixing different sources with different amps is certainly leading to different listening impressions.
I find the stock tuning on N7 very pleasant with my Aroma Jewel with a nice organic presentation which has the right balance of detail and smoothness plus a nice small bass lift making Jewels DD thump pleasantly.
Class A is mostly my prefered mode both with N7 standalone as with C9.
N7 plus C9 is making the presentation more transparent, stage is maybe a tad wider especially in tube mode and bringing a nice engaging and lush experience.
Connecting N7 to Ferrum Oor (with Pentacon to Cinch as I don‘t want to mess around with switching XLR on Oor) is interestingly bringing a very technical signature with relatively leaner mids, dryer and distinct bass and top notch instrument seperation.
Nice for analyzing music or electro but missing a bit on timbre for Vocal, Jazz etc.
Playing Jewel with Oor connected to Holo Spring3 is more coherent and warmer without missing on details.

The intersting point I want to make is that I find the tonal balance with N7 alone or connected to C9 perfect with Jewel and I don‘t feel like I am missing anything compared to the big desktop stack with Oor plus Holo Spring when listening to my Jewel

 

[Andykong]

An audiophile friend told me that he connected the n7 to a stereo system worth 500k
According to him, it was very difficult to distinguish the differences between the n7 and the prestigious dac in the system...

I wish we can mske similar claim in our marketing campaign.
I can only wish

 

[Z_Showmaster]

I'll be posting a review soon where I pair the N7 with various amps. Spoiler alert - it scales up nicely.

More generally, in my experience, the amp stage of any DAP is always the most critical aspect (which of course can mean a DAP is restricted by its internal amp stage).

Certainly that'd be true. And if there's a downstream amp that can take care of the heavy lifting, which can provide a big power supply and abundant output devices, then N7's limitations as just a portable source is mitigated somewhat.

And I've been vocal before here too about the quality of N7's discrete small-signal stage that I find responsible for so much of its sound quality. As just a line source, it's brilliant. Which makes me wonder what Cayin might achieve with similar technology in desktop size...

I've just been back from Munich. And I heard some of the most phenomenal sound from a "portable" amplifier that shall as yet go unnamed, with N7 acting as both DAC and pre-amp (with N7's volume control enabled)...

We hope to share more regarding that last bit soon.

 

[FooFighter]

There‘s always something „better“, e.g. Brise Audio Tsuranagi
Question imho from a use case perspective is if a relatively affordable C9 is better longterm value with changeable batteries plus different tunings with Class A/AB and Nutube/SS

I will stick to that for now

 

[Loftprojection]

I wish we can mske similar claim in our marketing campaign.
I can only wish

I said it before Andy, maybe you guys are going to listen to my wish! Hahaha. Take the N7 DAC section to make a dedicated small desktop or ever better transportable form factor DAC. With the upgraded parts the bigger form factor will provide versus N7 (or RU7), you will have another ultimate winner to market and we will have another option to get the great Cayin sound.

 

[Tom75]

There‘s always something „better“, e.g. Brise Audio Tsuranagi
Question imho from a use case perspective is if a relatively affordable C9 is better longterm value with changeable batteries plus different tunings with Class A/AB and Nutube/SS

I will stick to that for now

I’ll report to you, when the Tsuranagi arrived.

 

[FooFighter]

A new shiny IEM just came in - awesome combo both stock and through C9.
As @MatW used to say: dark chocolate taste - yummy