DAP Review

Cayin N3

Sound analysis.

This is becoming repetitive, but I do have to say the same thing under Sound analysis of most of my DAP reviews – it’s not easy to describe the sound of the DAP because often it goes through a “filter” of your headphones sound sig where it gets colored. To really get into DAP sound, you need to go through different pair ups and comparison testing with other headphones and DAPs to understand the sound of your source. Once I started listening to N3, after a proper 100hrs of burn in, I had to do a double take to make sure my ears are not playing a trick on me because I was experiencing i5 deja vu. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, N3 and i5 don’t just share the same DAC/opamp DNA but they also sound very similar.

Once I realized that, I continued taking my notes which came down to very similar results I found when testing i5. To my ears N3 has a neutral-warmish full body clear detailed sound, with excellent dynamics, and wide soundstage (limited only by your headphones performance). To my very pleasant surprise, N3 has a great bass extension, full body lower mids, clear, detailed, smooth, organic upper mids, and a well-defined treble with a nice sparkle. We are talking about a balanced sound that oozes with natural, musical, neutral tonality, slightly tilted toward the warmer side.

This was expected from AK4490 DAC performance, but you should always keep in mind that amp section also plays a very important role. But still, you can’t take DAC out of the sound shaping equation, especially AK4490 with its digital filters. As a matter of fact, here I was able to hear a difference when switching between the filters where I found the following. Maybe not as drastic, but still audible:

  • Sharp – faster note response/speed, a little more sparkle, more digital tonality.
  • Short delay sharp – a little smoother, but still with a sparkly edge.
  • Slow – even smoother, more musical, with more warmth and a bit less sparkle.
  • Super slow delay – I hear it similar to Slow filter.
  • Short delay slow – I hear it similar to Slow filter.

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Comparison.

During the comparison with other DAPs, I used UERR, Zeus XRA, and W900, and made sure to volume match by ear as close as I can.

N3 vs N5 – N3 is a touch (literally only a touch) narrower in staging; N5 bass is a little bit tighter, and N5 lower mids are just a touch more neutral, while both have nearly the same upper mids and treble. The difference in sound is very subtle, where N5 is just a “touch” brighter, but in terms of over all tonality, resolution, and transparency – they are close.

N3 vs i5 – N3 soundstage is a bit narrower in width, the rest is nearly identical.

N3 vs M1s – Nearly identical soundstage expansion, M1s sound is a little bit more neutral and with a little more transparency, while N3 is a little warmer and smoother in comparison.

N3 vs AP60 – N3 soundstage is wider, while both have the same staging depth. They also have a similar tonality, but when you start looking closer into the technical performance, N3 sound is more resolving and more transparent. Also, N3 dynamics of the sound is a little more expanded, while AP60 is a little more compressed.

N3 vs X1ii – N3 soundstage is wider, depth is similar. X1ii has a little stronger mid-bass punch, while I hear N3 bass being a little tighter and more layered. Also, X1ii mids are a little warmer and thicker, while N3 is a little more transparent and with better retrieval of details. I also hear a little more crunch in treble with N3. Overall, X1ii has a little warmer tonality, and overall sound is not as dynamic or transparent like N3.

N3 vs X3ii – N3 soundstage is noticeably wider. Overall, X3ii sound a little warmer and flatter in comparison to a relatively more neutral and more dynamic sound of N3. In more details, N3 bass is a little tighter and more controlled, lower mids are more neutral, upper mids are similar, and N3 treble has a little more sparkle.

N3 vs X5iii – N3 soundstage is wider. After the latest fw update, X5iii tonality is not as warm and less congested, and very close to N3. But I still find N3 to have a little tighter bass and crisper treble. And dynamics of N3 sound is a little better in comparison to X5iii.

N3 vs Paw5000 – N3 soundstage is slightly wider, while they have a similar depth. N3 has a little more rumble in sub-bass, while mid-bass punch is similar. Also, I hear a lot of similarities in tonality of mids and treble, but in comparison to N3, P5k sounds less dynamic, not as layered, and a little more compressed.

Cayin family picture: N6, N5, N3, and i5.

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Pair up.

All pair up testing was done in medium gain, and I also noted the volume level after “M” prefix.

PM-3 (M57) – spacious soundstage, very detailed balanced smooth sound with an excellent extension and impact of the low end, clear smooth detailed mids, and well defined treble sparkle. PM-3 planar magnetic cans are very picky when it comes to a source and the sound could easily get veiled and congested, but this pair up was great.

EL8C (M67) – average soundstage width with a great depth, a revealing analytical sound with a tight fast bass response, neutral lower mids, revealing micro-detailed upper mids, and a crisp treble. Here I’m glad to report that I didn’t sense any metallic sheen typical of some EL8C pair ups. The sound wasn’t too thin either, so I was happy with this planar magnetic pair up.

T5p2 (M49) – very spacious soundstage (like open back), very detailed and highly resolving balanced sound with a natural tonality, deep sub-bass rumble, excellent mid-bass impact, clear mids with an excellent retrieval of details, well defined airy treble with a crisp sparkle. Really enjoyed the combination of resolving detailed sound with an organic tonality. N3 drove these Tesla cans to their full potential.

Pinnacle 1 (M58) – very spacious soundstage, bright mid-centric signature, with a slower smoother bass, neutral lower mids, bright revealing upper mids that a little more forward and a bit thin, and crisp airy treble. There was no sibilance, and N3 drove these higher demand IEMs pretty good. Not the best pair up due to a brighter sound, but definitely no issues driving these iems.

Zen (M59) – spacious holographic soundstage, detailed balanced signature with a natural tonality, nice low end rumble, fuller body lower mids, clear detailed upper mids with an organic tonality, well defined clear treble. The synergy with these 320 ohm earbuds was excellent and N3 drove them to their full potential.

W900 (M36) – very spacious expanded soundstage, detailed balanced signature with an organic tonality, deep sub-bass rumble with a meaty mid-bass impact, full body lower mids, very detailed organic upper mids, very defined clear extended treble. Excellent pair up, though a bit on a warmer side.

Zeus XRA (M28) – very spacious expanded soundstage, a detailed slightly mid-forward signature with a revealing tonality, neutral tight bass, close to analytical revealing upper mids (never sibilant), and crisp airy treble. I’m sure many will wonder about hissing due to high sensitivity of Zeus. I found with N3 while idling (in pause) there was no audible hissing, also I can’t hear it while music is playing, but while playing and lowering the volume to zero, I do hear a noise floor with a synthetic hissing, but it’s not audible during the playback.

U12 w/M15 (M33) – a wide soundstage expansion, full body balanced signature with a warmer tonality, warm round analog quality bass, full body lower mids, smooth detailed upper mids, smooth well defined and a little rolled off treble. The signature was a bit too warm and smooth for my taste.

VEGA (M34) – a wide soundstage expansion, full body slightly L-shaped signature with a deep low end extension, warm punchy mid-bass impact, full body lower mids, clear detailed upper mids, and crisp well defined treble. The sound was warm and analog, very lush, not as resolving, but great if you want to enjoy analog quality dynamic driver bass performance.

ERIB-1C (M44) – very spacious holographic soundstage, slightly mid-forward signature with a neutral revealing tonality, tight fast bass, neutral lower mids, very revealing micro-detailed upper mids, crisp airy treble. Pair up with N3 gave ERIB a little bit of body, especially in low end region, and kept the tonality natural without any harshness.

W80 (M30) – a spacious holographic staging, a very balanced detailed signature with a natural tonality, excellent bass extension with a nice sub-bass rumble and fast mid-bass punch, neutral lower mids, clear detailed upper mids with a very natural tonality, clear well defined treble with a moderate amount of crispness and airiness. Great pair up. No hissing while idling or during playback, but when playing with volume down to zero, I hear a synthetic hissing noise, probably due to W80 very low impedance.

UERR (M44) – very spacious holographic staging, a neutral-balanced signature with a detailed organic tonality, tight punchy bass with a north of neutral impact, neutral lower mids, clear and very detailed natural tonality upper mids, crisp well defined airy treble. Very good pair up.

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Connections.

I know that N3 considered to be an “entry” level DAP, but there is nothing “entry” about its performance, sound quality, and variety of connections.

N3 + Micro iDSD (w/Cayin SPDIF cable) – works great as a transport, very clean, transparent, undistorted sound.

N3 + E12A (LO connection) – Cayin’s C5 is good but it colors the sound, so instead I used E12A since it’s very transparent, and indeed it shows the clean dynamic output of N3 DAC. When comparing N3 vs N3+E12A, you can hear that N3 internal amplifier stage adds a little body and a more musical organic tonality to the sound.

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N3 as USB DAC – need to install Cayin USB Audio Driver (V3.30.0), easy install on my Win7 ThinkPad, recognized right away, clean USB DAC solution with a signature N3 sound.

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Bluetooth Connection:

With Bluetooth, you can either connect N3 to your phone or connect headphones to N3, but not both at the same time since headphones can simply pair up with a phone directly without N3 being in the middle. Thanks to CSR8811 Bluetooth transceiver and its low sensitivity, I was able to use wireless headphones almost 60ft away from N3.

Connecting headphones wireless to N3 was fast and easy. Here, I have it with the latest Sennheiser Momentum In-ear Wireless headset where I can control playback and volume from headphones:

Or you can pair up N3 with your phone:

cayin_n3-bt-03

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:

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or playback from your favorite audio apps, like Neutron (play/pause, skip next/prev, and volume works from N3):

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or enjoy watching movies, like Netflix streaming with play/pause and volume controls supported:

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And the BT wireless connection works not only with a smartphone, but also any other source supporting wi-fi, like for example here with DX200 DAP, paired up and streaming Spotify:

Conclusion.

I said it many times already, DAP market is saturated and people are overwhelmed with choices. Also, Android and streaming support is no longer a rarity, plus majority of manufacturers use the same few DACs and opamps, and you no longer have to pay arm’n’leg to get a decent sound. With so much competition it’s a daunting task to come up with something new, something fresh, something that going to make your product stand out from the crowd. And that’s exactly what Cayin N3 was able to accomplish under $150. Without sacrificing sound quality, which is literally on par with their other mid-fi models, N3 delivers a very compact, slim, portable audio player for audiophiles on the go. It’s relative cheap, has a great build quality, excellent sound tuning, decent battery life, and flexible connection options.

Despite being labeled as an entry level DAP, you get both HO and LO, digital S/PDIF with an optional type-c coax cable, USB DAC functionality, and support of wireless and wired headphones, even with in-line remote.  And if that wasn’t enough, you can pair it up (though BT wireless connection) with your smartphone and other sources to be able to stream audio and remotely control those sources.  With an exception of capacitive touch buttons which I personally still getting used to (much better now after I disabled haptic feedback), based on its price, functionality, sound quality, and flexibility of wired and wireless connections, this little guy from Cayin hits close to perfection in my book.

Manufacturer website: Cayin.

For sale on MusicTeck and Amazon.

 

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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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