[LostnAmerica]

How about moving the phone away, problem solved and just enjoying the music? Cayin already told us no streaming and those who buy it will be exactly who should buy it. Maybe this isn't for you?

I like this idea of a Puritan DAP that you buy and just focus on listening to music. FYI local music on a quality shielded Micro SD Card always sounds a little better than the same Hi-Res streamed file that has to go through all that WIFI or BT noise, and go through onboard Memory which isn't always the highest quality even on $1000 DAPs I've tested (N3 Ultra has 16GB but reserved for system use only)

So again let's appreciate;

1) - Cayin made another small portable Tube DAP.

2) - They removed as much interference as possible to give us the cleanest sound quality they can at a mere $529.

3) - We get the real Cayin Music software as on their more expensive DAPs.

4) - We now get the tube sound via Balance 4.4.

That's enough to make me happy but if it's not for you, wait for something else from someone else or Cayin down the line.

We ask for too much functionality sometimes, then complain when it doesn't work well together.

Well said. All the talk about: no Wi-Fi, no BT, no this or that. I'm just looking for the musicality of the dap, and that it functions as intended without too many glitches with the software. My only concern, and albeit minor, is I hope Cayin doesn't quickly abandon the software update process. I feel the N3Pro (that I have and love) update lifespan was cut short. My 2¢... I'm saving for this one...
Cheers

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

How about moving the phone away, problem solved and just enjoying the music? Cayin already told us no streaming and those who buy it will be exactly who should buy it. Maybe this isn't for you?

I like this idea of a Puritan DAP that you buy and just focus on listening to music. FYI local music on a quality shielded Micro SD Card always sounds a little better than the same Hi-Res streamed file that has to go through all that WIFI or BT noise, and go through onboard Memory which isn't always the highest quality even on $1000 DAPs I've tested (N3 Ultra has 16GB but reserved for system use only)

So again let's appreciate;

1) - Cayin made another small portable Tube DAP.

2) - They removed as much interference as possible to give us the cleanest sound quality they can at a mere $529.

3) - We get the real Cayin Music software as on their more expensive DAPs.

4) - We now get the tube sound via Balance 4.4.

That's enough to make me happy but if it's not for you, wait for something else from someone else or Cayin down the line.

We ask for too much functionality sometimes, then complain when it doesn't work well together.

Perfectly said! I hope mine ships next week from Musicteck

 

[trcwjl]

MQA Support??? in the future??

 

[InvisibleInk]

MQA Support??? in the future??

In the past, I hope

 

[Currawong]

This has reminded me to get the N3 Pro out of my drawer. I still think it's the nicest-sounding player in the $500 range. The 4493 tends to sound a bit harsh as a DAC, but Cayin managed to tame it quite well. It's nicer in the N3Pro than the ESS DACs in other DAPs IMO.

MQA Support??? in the future??

Let's not go there. It's a dead format.

 

[mt877]

Love to see the PEQ 10 bands not 5 @Cayin please

From page 1 of this thread, Andy posted this:
"Parametric EQ

This is a feature that has been on our To-Do List for several years. Yes, we heard you, and late is better than never.

We are still working on the PMEQ UI so the final control might be slightly different from the screen photo I showed below. You can add up to FIVE bands in the PMEQ section, each band is equivalent to a digital filter that enables you to shape the sound output of the DAP. To properly specify the characteristic of each band (filter), you need to specific...."

I count 6 bands total. Picture of PEQ shows bands 0 thru 5, so 6 bands total?

Spoiler: 6 bands(?)

And for extra confusion... found this at the MusicTeck N3U page.

Spoiler: 10 bands of PEQ

EDIT: It's now confirmed by @twister6, 10 band PEQ.

Perfectly said! I hope mine ships next week from Musicteck

I'm hoping for that shipment too.

 

[twister6]

N3 Ultra's PEQ has 10 bands:

 

[jotaerre]

Yes, it is already named in the descriptions: "The DAP offers three different timbre options, 10-band PEQ"

I almost have it in my hands!

 

[Andykong]

Love to see the PEQ 10 bands not 5 @Cayin please

Spot on, I did mention 10 bands PEQ on the product poster and feature icons photo on the opening post after the official launch. I mentioned FIVE bands in the pre-CanJam NYC update and that was based on a beta firmware I tried before the show, sorry if I had misled our users with a beta version firmware.

 

[Andykong]

N3 Ultra's PEQ has 10 bands:

Thanks Twister.

When I wrote the English product description, I didn't have the player with me, I described the feature based on the photo and details provided by my Zhuhai colleagues. My initial response was 9-band PEQ, but then my colleagues corrected me saying the EQ filters were numbered from band-0 to band-9, so this is actually a 10-band PEQ. A peculiar numbering system in my opinion, but I can understand the Engineers want to stick with 6 characters in the band descriptor, so instead of going from band 1 to band 10, they number it as band 0 to band 9.

 

[Andykong]

How about moving the phone away, problem solved and just enjoying the music? Cayin already told us no streaming and those who buy it will be exactly who should buy it. Maybe this isn't for you?

I like this idea of a Puritan DAP that you buy and just focus on listening to music. FYI local music on a quality shielded Micro SD Card always sounds a little better than the same Hi-Res streamed file that has to go through all that WIFI or BT noise, and go through onboard Memory which isn't always the highest quality even on $1000 DAPs I've tested (N3 Ultra has 16GB but reserved for system use only)

So again let's appreciate;

1) - Cayin made another small portable Tube DAP.

2) - They removed as much interference as possible to give us the cleanest sound quality they can at a mere $529.

3) - We get the real Cayin Music software as on their more expensive DAPs.

4) - We now get the tube sound via Balance 4.4.

That's enough to make me happy but if it's not for you, wait for something else from someone else or Cayin down the line.

We ask for too much functionality sometimes, then complain when it doesn't work well together.

Thank you very much for your kind words.

There was a critical turning point in our product strategy and that was the release of the E01 Audio Motherboard back in December 2019. TBH, that was kind of a big gamble when we realized a product that only offered a 3.5mm single-end phone output in 2019/2020. The swiss-knife approach (A01 and T01 Audio Moterboards) was the norm at that time but we decided to detour and went for specialization. We received a lot of doubt and challenge, from users as well as dealers, but we also ran into a lot of happy users who sincerely appreciated the E01 Audio Motherboard, to a lot of younger users, that their first encounter with discrete circuit and Class A amplification. E01 has reinforced our thinking that the audiophile business is and should be different from consumer electronics. Sometimes a "subtraction" attitude (to devote our biggest effort to a smaller scope) works better than an "addition" (to expand the scope to the largest extent within limited resources).

In our humble opinion, completeness does not always mean including everything in one basket, it can also mean delivering something in its complete form.

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,
a question about the player, can I use the player to download my Tidal playlist to the memory card and play it in the N3pro, or does it only play AacMp3 ect?
I also assume that Roon Arc alone will definitely not work on the N3Pro and you generally need a streamer or phone, laptop, etc. as a source?

 

[jotaerre]

Superior, in short with 10 bands.

A question Andy: will the launch be global?

Thanks!

 

[cliffjnr]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_grade

such a crock of crap

 

[Splutje]

I can't wait for a review or first impression of this DAP.
Very curious about the balanced implementation.