DAP Review

Cayin N3

GUI.

Once you power up N3, you will feel like at home being familiar with menu settings due to similarities with other (non-Android) Cayin models as well as other DAPs designed in collaboration with Hiby. The main menu is very clear, with all the main icons visible left to right and corresponding text labels explaining the functionality in the middle of the screen as you step through.

Music Category will take you to a carousel of Playlist (M3U supported), Songs, My Favorites, Recently Played, Album, Genre, and Artists, sorted according to the tags in your song file. Music Library takes you to microSD card, OTG, or to update the music library. I personally prefer the folder view, thus go straight to microSD folder and step through the songs in there. When you have a long list, holding the touch buttons scrolls through the list faster. Pressing Menu touch button (upper left button), brings up a shortcut menu to start playback or to tag the song as favorite or to delete the track. You can also start the playback by simply pressing middle round button. When you are searching through songs from Music Category under Songs, pressing Menu button brings up ALL or alphabetic song search where you can jump to a specific letter without a need to scroll down.

Next in the menu is Playing Now icon to take you to the currently playing song, which you can also get to by pressing a Back/Return button. Btw, long pressing Back/Return button also brings you to main N3 menu. Music Setting is the next icon with a selection of Gain (Low, Mid, High), DSD gain compensation, Replay gain (by track, album, or to disable – this came in the last fw update), EQ with 10 paragraphic bands where you can adjust the gain or step through 8 genre specific presets, or to customize your own. Digital filter refers to AK4490 DAC and I will go through its presets later in the review. Play mode is self-explanatory (repeat all, repeat one, random, play through). Output selection switches between Headphone output and Line Out, both of which are shared from the same 3.5mm output. When selected, Cayin displays a warning to disconnect your headphones since LO has direct output from DAC at max volume. S/PDIF has a dual setting for either DoP or D2P. Then you have Breakpoint resume, Gapless, Max Volume and a Start Up volume setting, L/R balance, and enabling/disabling Lyrics and Album art.

In Bluetooth setting menu you can toggle it on/off, as well as enable/disable aptX, and view the list of Paired and Available devices. In my opinion, the Bluetooth Wireless functionality of N3 is what makes it stand out from many other DAPs. In addition to being able to pair up N3 with wireless headphones, you can also pair up your smartphone or any wifi enabled player with N3 to transmit the audio which turns this little DAP into a wireless BT dongle. Just imagine when you are streaming Spotify or Tidal or any other audio app from your smartphone, instead of using your phones HO, you can drive headphones remotely from N3 that functions as a wireless DAC/amp. It will not only save your phone battery, but will also give you a higher output power and definitely improved sound quality. And on top of that, you can remotely control your smartphone to Play/Pause, Skip, and change Volume straight from N3.

Last, but not least, is a System Setting where you can select Language, Theme (different color themes), switch USB mode for either DAC or USB mode, enable/disable haptic feedback of Capacitive touch buttons, Backlight time, Brightness level, Folder operation (play through), Idle shutdown and the shutdown time, Scheduled power off and sleep shutdown time, About the player, Reset (to restore factory setting), and System upgrade.

The main Playback screen has a clear view of the song artwork (if one is embedded), and if not – N3 will display a default artwork for a song. The status bar above it has a volume icon with a current volume setting, the gain level, the play/pause icon, playback mode, and a battery icon with a % of the remaining capacity. Underneath of the screen you have a time bar with a current song play position, total time, and song index number within a folder. As I mentioned before, in a Playback screen, direction buttons either skip the song when short pressed, or fast forward through the song when you press’n’hold them. Pressing Menu button brings up a menu with quick shortcuts, including Gain, Play mode, selecting Favorite, HO or LO selection, adding to Playlist, and Trash icon to delete the song.

Overall, there was no surprises with GUI, I knew exactly what’s going on since all the menus looked familiar. The only complaint some might have is that you’re dealing with 2.4” screen where everything is scaled down and could be hard to read, though icons are self-explanatory. Also, once you are done with all the settings, just enjoy the playback using either hw control buttons on the side, or in-line headphone remote, or from wireless headphones and their associated controls.

Page 3: Sound analysis, Comparison, Pair up, Connections, and Conclusion.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

75 thoughts on “Cayin N3”

  1. Hi, would like to ask if there is a degrade in quality when I use the N3 to stream from Tidal from my iPhone? Wanted to know if streaming directly would still be better?

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    1. two different signatures. PICO is more neutral-reference, brighter tonality, less bass impact, while N3 is warmer and more musical. Keep in mind, no display on PICO, but I love them both. PICO is the smallest hi-res DAP i have seen/heard.

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  4. Hi Alex, if you have money just enough to buy one of these two, which would you chose: Fiio X5 2nd gen or Cayin N3? I’m thinking on buy the N3… Tks a lot for the review.

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      2. Sonically, I still prefer N3 tonality, just better layering and separation of the sound. You can follow my comparison of N3 to X5iii and in my X5iii review the comparison of X5iii to X5ii… Cayin did a great job tuning N3, considering it sounds almost the same as its big brother i5.

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      3. Thankyou, for responding. I had purchased Cayin N3 based on your review according to which Cayin N3 beats X5ii and even X5iii despite those dual DACs. After reading the review i thought maybe the DAC is not everything as sound quality also depends upon implementation and internal tuning and maybe this is where Cayin N3 shines over the Fiio …

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      4. N3 sound shines not because of the DAC, but their internal headphone amplifier section. Cayin been in business long enough, designing desktop system, so they know their analog circuits pretty good. FiiO is a great consumer electronics company, but they need to raise their head-amp game. I love X5iii with their E12A portable amp, when you by-pass their internal head-amp through Line Out.

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      5. Hi, i was running DSF files on Cayin N3(high gain) with my audio technica m50x and i started playing with the S/PDIF settings on the N3 during playback. I just wanted to know whether a headphone can be damaged if the S/PDIF setting is touched during playback. Your response will be greatly appreciated

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      6. It’s a good idea to play with port settings when song is idling, just hit that play/pause button 😉 But s/pdif is your digital output from usbc interface, nothing with headphone output, so you are ok. But be careful when you switch between a shared HO and LO.

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      8. I have one last question, sorry for being so bothersome. I have some SACD DSF files and i played some DSF files on ‘high gain’ at volume levels 60-65. Can ‘High gain’ damage my M50x Headphone or the inbuilt amp-section on N3?

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      9. M50x can take some power 😉 and if you are listening at the level where your ears are not bleeding – your headphones will be fine!

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  6. Hi.excellent review as always.
    Did you tested dsd and flac 96/24 files with n3?
    I use fiio x3ii+ e12a and despite good sound quality,i am not satisfied with processing heavy files and it has jitter and lags.
    I am looking for a more powerfull player in processing audio files.
    Thanks

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    1. I have a rather small collection of high res files, but n3 handles both dsd and flac with ease. It supports up to dsd256, actually native decoding and played flac well too, no buffering/stuttering issues. I think the issue with x3ii that some of the formats get converted to pcm and not handled natively.

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    1. A5 is a little more neutral in comparison to N3 built-in amp section. Personally, I prefer E12A, still my favorite neutral amp for IEMs and efficient headphones. A5 doubles the power of E12A and adds a touch of body, but still more neutral than N3. A5 and E12A are great if you want to hear the true sound of your DAP’s internal DAC 😉

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      1. Hi, can you suggest what could be the best ‘gain’ setting for N3 and M50x(38 ohms) in terms of sound clarity. I am indecisive between Medium or high

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      2. it’s all up to your ears and your hearing sensitivity 🙂 I don’t like to listen to music very loud, so typically go with lower gain. When you are dealing with 3 gains like in N3, why don’t you find the setting where you don’t have to raise the volume to the max (if you are in low gain) or set the volume very low (when in high gain). As long as you have some headroom and you are not maxing is out – you will be good. But it’s all up to a personal preference.

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  8. “and then you can connect your wired headphones to N3, and use N3 playback controls and volume to control Spotify streaming directly from your N3”

    Hi thanks a lot for your review, can you advise any difference on the sound when Bluetooth from phone to N3, against play the same song directly at N3?

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    1. It will depend more on headphones than sources in this case because you are comparing direct wired connection to N3 vs wireless connection from phone through N3 or even wireless connection from N3. Bluetooth 4.x is not perfect and there is some compression after all. So, a revealing signature wired headphones will retrieve more details in comparison to a wireless connection and wireless headphones which are typically not on the same level…

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  9. Heya Alex.

    Quick question, in your comparisons you spoke of the M1s. Do you mean M1, or M2s?

    If you had to buy only 1 of the DAPs you’ve mentioned, largely based on sound quality, which 1 would you pick?

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    1. Hahaha, that’s a problem with too many X-series and M-series daps from different manufactures 🙂 This one is Aune M1s model. Purely on sound quality, N3 it is. It sounds amazing, but I’m not too crazy about those front touch buttons. My ideal portable dap would be with a sound of Cayin N3, design of Shanling M2s, and additional balances output based on Aune M1s. How about that!!! But seriously, M2s design with low impedance HO output and sound quality of N3 would be ideal.

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      1. Oh right! Haha, yeah damn all these similarly named DAPs!

        Really, you’d prefer the M2s design? I agree that it looks nice, but how easy would it be to control once stacked with an iDSD, for example? Of course, you could use Hibylink to control it…but I don’t think I would want Hibylink to be my PRIMARY interaction with the device.

        Last Q…you haven’t perhaps hooked up the N3 with the Fiio A3? I’m just wondering if the A3 (in your opinion) is a better or worse sounding amp (or no change at all) than that of the A3. The reason I ask is because I plan on stacking the N3 with the A3 for portable use as my Pinnacle P1 is a bit taxing on DAPs, so looking at using the A3 to extend battery life a bit as well as having a nifty little bass boost at hand when wanted.

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      2. have no idea where a3 is now (I have it under their original name, before they changed their naming). But I remember it didn’t sound as good as E12A, though I like E12A because it’s neutral, while other people want to add some color to their sound so A3 will be perfect 😉 Why not trying P1 as is from N3? and compare to A3. At the end of the day, it’s not what I like or prefer, but what YOU like and enjoy 🙂

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  10. I have a E10k and a Sen HD 598 SE. Considering Cayin has a good built in amp+Dac, would it make signficant difference to sound by connecting it to an external DAC like E10k. pleae advise. I am planning to buy Cayin soon.

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    1. e10k doesn’t have a resolving/clear sound. It’s ok, but at the lower budget end… Also, don’t think you can connect E10k to N3 through usb. Maybe through USB OTG connection? But then, e10k could be drawing too much current for it. If you want to use N3 as a pure transport to drive external amp/dac, better use their special usb-c spdif cable which puts out digital output. Don’t recall if E10k has spdif input (it has been a long time since I played with it). If it does, the connection will be easy to N3. But then, it will downgrade the sound because N3 sound is superior.

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  11. thanks for your advise. In that case – I will probably use E10k only for laptop/desktop purposes – it still does drive my cans.

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  12. Two final questions. 1. Can N3 drive the power of my Senn 598 SE through its built in DAC or would you recommend me to use a good IEMs that N3 drives well?
    2. What are the ways in which I can connect N3 to my Iphone SE? Would appreciate your valuable advise on these 2 questions as well please.

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    1. Never tried 598, so don’t want to speculate 😉 Smart phone connection better through bluetooth, like you would connect your wireless headphones.

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    1. there are multiple hundreds of headphones out there. All depends on your budget, anywhere from $100 to $3k 😉 Another problem, I have been focusing lately mostly on flagship IEMs, and those are very expensive. $1k and up. But you can get something more natural and at a decent price, like NEW Primacy 3way hybrid ($300). Or, a crazy budget earbuds by VE Monk, those are $5 (if your ears fit earbuds) – very good sound.

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  14. Has anyone noticed that the newer build of the Cayin N3 Sounds a lot better than the earlier builds even after I updated my firmware to N3V2 my wife’s N3 still sounds more detailed more real and natural and sweeter than mine:(
    so looking to see if I can trade mine back for newer build.
    Also GRADO SR80 and higher headphones work so well with the N3, more vivid, detailed much quieter background

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  15. After applying the N3V2 and testing again I think the two Cayin N3 sound similar now I realized mine was like actually two versions behind. So all is good. Definitely get the new Firmware the improvement is NOT SUBTLE

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  16. would you pick this over the fiio x3ii. I’m in love with the x3’s warm intimate sound sig. unfortunately it doesn’t have aptx which I really need at the moment.

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    1. I like more revealing forward sound of N3, so for my personal taste prefer it over X3ii. But if you like the sound sig of X3ii, past weekend FiiO already announced X3iii which going to look similar to X1ii and will have dual aptX BT similar to N3 and also will add 2.5mm balanced output, while price remains $199. You might want to look into that, though I’m not 100% sure if the sound sig will be the same.

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  18. you mentioned in your review that N3 internal amp has more body and a more musical organic tonality than Fiio E12A..would you perhaps recommend pair it via headphone out instead of LO?
    better signal but with more driving power…is this a good idea?

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    1. you can try that, but I’m not a big fan of double amping which is what going to happen when you drive external amp from HO. that’s why external amp is better to drive from LO where internal amp is bypassed.

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  19. Did you get to listen to the n3 before the burn in? Fresh out of the box sounds great but I feel that the bass sounds very soft and lacks dynamics.

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      1. Ok, now I’m listening to a great dynamics. The bass now hits hard and spreads much more. Definitely the burn in on this device yes it is necessary.

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  20. great review mate, im intrested in buying the cayin n3, however i have the Pinnacle 1 as my main IEM now, is there a way to make them pair better?!
    perhaps change the filter settings to slow?

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      1. sorry for the late reply :p
        my current source is fiio x3ii, P1 sound bright and hot in treble with these too.
        perhaps fiio x3iii would be upgrade?
        is there any plans for fiio x3iii review?
        thanks

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    1. if you are going to use it as a transport driving mojo, then you already know how it sounds 😉 the post important part of the sound chain is DAC/amp which in this case provided by mojo. But, even directly from N3 – K10UA sounds great!

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  22. Hi again.i am tired of x3 ii because of stuttring issues.
    I mainly use e12a with player.
    I want to change my player.
    Between n3 or m2s,which one is better to use with e12a and which one as a DAC has better SQ and processing files?
    Or i wait and go for something like ibasso dx200?

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    1. I don’t have any experience with x3iii but read plenty about it to draw a conclusion that n3 has a better sound tuning, faster interface, and more features. N3 would be my choice.

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  24. Hi! Great review 🙂
    I already have the Cayin N3 and love it, but would love to know what you think about pairing up the Cayin n3 with the Fiio a5.

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  25. Hi, how are you?

    You think the fiio A5 would be a good amp for Cayin N3? I will use with the iBasso it01.

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    1. A5 is a powerful amp, actually too much power, good for demanding headphones. NO need to use it for N3, it has plenty of power to drive it01 directly. Save yourself money 😉

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  26. hi, nice review, so I have a soundmagic e10 earphone and I like it, but I want to go to a more quality sound but with the same style of sound, maybe a little more sparkle but with nice bass reverberation or rumble. Can you recommend me some alternatives. thank you

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      2. I think we wanted to know, how much money you wanted to spend 🙂

        (don’t know if it is more sparkle than the soundmagic e10, but the Ibasso it01, sound great!)

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      3. IT01 is a great recommendation! I don’t review too many budget iems, IT01 is the cheapest one I have reviewed in awhile, but it definitely should work! I also just tried Tin T2 iem, that one is $50 and it surprised me with a great performance, but needs a good seal for a bass to shine. Using it with their stock blue foam tips, great isolation and with bass going deeper. So, I can recommend it as well.

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      4. Sorry for the delay, I have this cayin n3 but the sound is a little too dark and te midbass is muddy, I want more brighter mids and a little more sparkle. thanks for reply.

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  27. hello.

    When making the connection between the N3 and th desktop pc, the N3 display window shows a record/tonearm representation and says “44KHz/24Bits” , but flac archive from pc is 24 bits y 192 kHz. Why?

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