Cayin is not unfamiliar with this brand. The N5, N6, and I5 portable audio players previously introduced are notoriously good, but they are considered to be products with a certain reputation. However, the price of the previous product is basically above 2K, and the latest ones are for sale. N3 was only 1099 yuan, of course, buy buy buy!
Kaiyin (CAYIN) N3 Portable Lossless Music Player ç šçŸ³é»‘1099å…ƒ Jingdong direct link 
N3's packaging at first glance looks a bit like a certain brand of facial mask products. The front of the white paper box is clearly marked with the N3 model, and the bottom is the Logo of Cayin.
Which player or earphone now does not have this little golden label, it is definitely a matter of losing face. Even the proud A5 amp has this gold standard, it is a bit bad street rhythm, but it also shows the coward's hand The industry standard strategy is still very successful.
There is a transparent plastic film wrapped around the outside of the package, with small ears hanging above. Because of its relationship with the international market, the N3's packaging, in addition to the Chinese and English versions, actually has a Japanese version.
The back also listed some of the basic features of the N3 selling point, of which the most prominent is the AK4490's DAC chip, and support DSD 256,1000 in the end did not have to continue to listen to bad ESS9018K2M. There is also a two-way Bluetooth function, which can be used to connect Bluetooth headphones to listen to songs, and also to use as a Bluetooth audio receiver.
The interior of the package adopts a drawer-type design. The lower layer is a high-density sponge containing N3, and the upper one is equipped with an annex, data lines and other accessories.
Manufacturer's packaging design is very hard, in addition to extracting the N3 host inside the package of small handles, there is another small handle for direct extraction of N3, the importance of small details has always been worthy of extra points!
There is a black version known as "black stone", and there is a bright blue version of "turquoise blue". I like low-key devices like portable players.
Attachments In addition to the required paper manuals and certificates, there is a Type-C USB cable, a black silicone case, a protective screen with touch keys, and two "Hi-Res AUDIO." The golden label sticker - but this sticker is more general workmanship, not a good one I bought on a treasure.
Use a moving picture to show the appearance of N3 360 degrees.
The appearance size of N3 is almost the same as a cigarette box. The weight of bare metal is about 96 grams. Even if it is wearing a silicone protective sleeve, it is only 118 grams. It is not as bulky as traditional country bricks, but it also has a certain amount of weight. Looks too cheap.
Inferred from the feel, N3 shell using oxidation blackened matte aluminum alloy material ("turquoise blue" should be paint or plating process), matte texture is very smooth and smooth, indicating that the processing process is very good. More than 60% of the front area is covered by a glass panel, which includes a 2.25-inch color LED screen, 4 touch buttons, and a round physical button. The machine has been attached with a protective film at the factory, and an additional one is delivered, enough for daily protection.
The left and right sides of the N3 adopt a nearly symmetrical layout of keys. In addition to the power button on the left side, there is a volume-type +/- key on the teeterboard. The small hole near the bottom is for reset. On the right is the physical play control button. From top to bottom (from right to left in the figure) is the next, play/pause, and previous, and near the bottom is the TF card slot.
N3's operating logic supports two sets of playback controls simultaneously. In addition to using the right three physical buttons for control, the user can also achieve the same control through the positive "<" and ">" and round entity buttons. This design is indeed more convenient for users to choose their preferred mode of operation, and when the N3 is placed in a pocket, it can be easily switched or paused without even having to use it.
N3 supports the 256G TF card. At first, I thought that the manufacturer's conscience sent a TF card with the machine. The result was that it was only a protection film. Therefore, it was still an old and honest TF card. Here to make a small suggestion, the machine TF card slot next to the back and there is no card inserting the direction of the prompt, the correct way to insert is like the above picture, the gold finger turned up and up direction.
The top of the N3 is not equipped with any buttons and ports. The bottom setup is also very simple. There is only one CTIA standard 3.5mm audio output port, and a Type-C USB port for charging/data transmission. However, this USB port incorporates USB AUDIO input/output and OTG and S/P DIF output functions. However, the N3 does not come with cable for OTG and S/P DIF, and it needs to be purchased by the user.
Since it is equipped with a CTIA standard 3.5mm audio output port, N3 also naturally supports headphones with a line control function, and can use the remote control to play / pause, fast forward, rewind function, which adds a lot of convenience and fun .
In addition, 3.5mm audio output port also supports Line-out, the user can switch the headset output and LO output in the system menu, but the LO output will increase the volume, so you must first turn the volume down.
N3's back does not use the same aluminum material as the front, but uses a plastic bottom shell + leather finish. The benefits of doing so are not only to facilitate the integration of the front and rear shells, but more importantly, the back of the cortex (which is not known as the dermis or the artificial leather) is not easily worn in everyday use. However, there is still room for improvement in the craftsmanship of the veneer, and the trim of the existing products is also enough to fit. There is not only a gap of about 1 mm at the edge, but also an overflow of glue and slight curling.
Through the back of the said, N3 supports 5V/2A power input, which makes the charging efficiency can be greatly improved, the actual test can be fully charged in about 2.5 hours, and then even if the DSD file can play 12 + hours of battery life. However, greedy as I still feel that since the use of Type-C USB port, whether it can consider supporting QC or other high-speed charging solution!
The N3 adopts a very mature domestic player field in the field of XIONG X1000 platform control solutions, including a 32-bit XBurst single-core CPU with 1GHz frequency, support for open source Linux 3.10 operating system, and support for WIFI, Bluetooth and other external ports. In fact, I was very much looking forward to the N3 can output high-quality wireless audio through the WIFI port, but Cayin finally only uses a relatively conservative but more suitable for mobile scene Bluetooth 4.0, with CSR8811 support relatively good quality APT-X wireless audio legend mode.
However, the 1GHz CPU does make the N3's operation interface very smooth. Although it doesn't go to the fruit phone, it is definitely better than many 1, 2 thousand audio players on the market.
The start-up formula first comes with a very slogan of slogans, "never be the same again," and the translation with high-end ones is probably "not the same".
N3 boot is not very fast, from press the switch to enter the interface about 7-8 seconds, the display accuracy of the screen can not be very delicate, but it is basically enough, and supports backlight brightness adjustment, which is very intimate design .
The first time you turn on your phone, you need to set the system language. In addition to Simplified and Traditional Chinese, the N3 also supports multiple languages. This also means that the display support for the song name will be very good. There is no song name that cannot be found during the actual use. .
Level 1 main menu is divided into 6 major items, the left is the music category, but this is actually of little use, at least I am rarely used; followed by the music library, music player these two commonly used major items; the fourth is The music settings include frequently used music setting options such as gain, equalizer, filter, and output mode; Bluetooth switch and connection management are individually assigned to a large item. It can be seen that N3 is important for Bluetooth functions; The machine's own settings menu, but it is strange that the N3 actually put the USB mode into this, when you need to use the USB AUDIO, you must switch from the USB mode to the DAC mode (not mentioned in this manual).
When the N3 is used as an external DAC, when the ios device is connected, there will be cases where the port power consumption is too high to be used. I use the original CameraKit with the Type-C USB cable that comes with it, and it is estimated that it needs to use the Lightning charging port. That kind can be used. It works normally when MBP is connected, but only digital audio output of 192kHz/24Bits or less can be used at this time. Higher specifications will not sound normally.
Because N3 supports bi-directional USB AUDIO, it can be used as a digital turntable output to other external DACs. I have tested it with the N3+ Sonata iDSD, but I'm afraid there will not be such a toss! However, this does significantly increase the playability of the N3, making it more convenient for users with higher-end DAC decoders.
Moreover, CAYIN added support for DoP digital audio transmission mode in the N5 and N6 upgrade firmware. N3 has integrated this function in native firmware, but it is necessary to purchase additional corresponding cables before it can be used. Can only use the D2P mode ... It is said that DoP has an ear uplift compared to D2P, but I also do not have a matching advanced DAC device, so I have not specifically tested whether it is so powerful.
Music library management, in addition to the use of built-in TF card audio files, N3 even OTG way to play songs connected to other storage devices on the Type-C USB port, which for players with massive lossless music library It can be described as a super intimate design.
N3's playback interface is very similar to a mobile phone, and the top is followed by the current volume setting, gain mode, output mode (default is S/P DIF when the headset is not plugged in), playback status (play/pause), play mode (list, loop, Random, single), battery power, and battery status (whether it is charging or not). The lower part is the information of the currently playing song name and the adopted encoding format, the progress of the song playing time, and so on.
It can be seen that N3 has left most of the playing interface space on the CD cover display, but the cover display function of N3 is indeed very powerful, in addition to the cover image embedded in the file, it also supports the content contained in the playlist. image. In addition, N3's identification of the CUE track files is also in place, and no unidentifiable situation was found.
In addition, the user can summon a conventional music control menu through the “menu†key among the four touch keys, and the basic control options such as a gain mode, a play mode, an audio output mode, and a deletion file can be set therein.
As mentioned earlier, the N3 supports two-way Bluetooth audio transmission, which can be used as a Bluetooth transmitter or as a wireless audio receiver. However, I don't always feel bad about the sound quality of Bluetooth, so I simply tested the reliability of the connection and did not delve into how it sounds. I used the iPhone 6, MBP, and Skullcandy UPROAR respectively for connection tests. The N3 can identify and connect successfully.
The conventions use the OSX system report to look at the N3 Bluetooth connection information, as advertised as the chip that uses CSR Bluetooth 4.0 (the OSX system ID is 0x6). The connection stability test was performed with Skullcandy UPROAR, which also uses the CSR Bluetooth 4.0 chip. In the case of a distance of more than 5 meters, the N3 will have occasionally intermittent sound, and it will not be completely connected until about 8 meters. Although the shell uses a lot of metal materials, the Bluetooth signal of N3 has not been affected much and it is stable and usable.
To be sure, Cayin's official N3 hard shot was matched with Tactics 5 of Tektronix, so I used T5 to audition for the listening test.
Of course, I also took the innovation Live! 2, AIR, white teeth DT880 to test the N3 with different types and styles of headphones.
The official claim that N3 "uses the SA2500 for DSD hard solutions" is a bit misleading, and this chip is more used as a clock control management FPGA, with the main control chip to complete the digital audio system. The real responsibility for the DSD hard solution is actually the AK4490EN this DAC, 4490 many people will not be unfamiliar, its positioning is very close to the ESS9018, even the chip purchase price is much cheaper than 9018. However, the mainstream of the thousand-dollar players see more of the 9018 than 4490, but more than 2,000 yuan more than the price of the national brick will use more AK4490. There are currently 2 versions of the AK4490, the 4490EQ and the 4490EN. It is said that the EN will be better than the EQ. The least certainty is that the 9018 and 9018K2M are not castrated relations.
Since the AK4490 series is a voltage-type output DAC chip, it does not need to go through I/V conversion from the principle, directly into the LPF link. N3 is also set up according to this architecture, and uses OPA1652 as a low-pass filter, eventually giving the signal to the OPA1622 op amp to complete the entire DoP process. Although this structure is not luxury, it can be regarded as a very real framework, coupled with the quality of the DAC AK4490EN itself is very high, support hard 11.2MHz DSD256 solution, which in the thousand yuan level audio player is quite outstanding indicators Now.
And N3 can provide 130mW * 2 (32 ohms) of audio output power, to cope with most of the mainstream specifications of the market headphones should not be much pressure, even pushing the 250 ohm impedance DT880, the quality of the show can also meet the general Need for listening.
Subjective hearingThe open feeling of N3 is roughly balanced, which makes it more neutral and graceful. Compared with Sonata iDSD, there is no such high-quality but stereotyped digital sound as 9018. The mid-range is thick and full, and the style is warmer, which brings a good sense of hearing; high-frequency emphasis on control, even if the high frequency is too bright headphones like the T5 will not have too many harsh teeth Voice; low frequency seems to have always been the weak point of the AK4490, but the N3's low frequency shows a good transient, although it will make people feel a little relaxed and look restrained, but overall it can be regarded as a decent level.
N3 has enough output power to drive low-resistance and high-sensitivity headphones such as T5 and AIR even in low-gain mode, and shows good control. Listening to the "Butterfly Lovers" solo guzheng (FLAC format 44.1kHz/16Bits), N3's transient clean, crisp, even when faced with great dynamics is still easy and full, the details and density are very good. Moreover, the AK4490EN is not as stiff as the ES9018K2M, even when the headset is tilted at a high frequency such as the T5, the control of the tooth sound is just right, which not only retains enough dynamic range, but also does not make people feel harsh.
Even with the DT880 with a resistance of 250 ohms, the N3 is not enough to push it completely, but at least it guarantees that it will not produce bad sounds. The fiddle tones at the beginning of "I'm Forrest Gump" (FLAC format 44.1kHz/16Bits) are smooth and smooth, giving people a feeling of smooth stretch, and they still have a clear positioning even in the mid-late ensemble.
The midrange part of the N3 shows a very good sound thickness. This is due to the denseness of the high density of the sound. On the other hand, the soft and smooth appearance of the transients makes the vocal performance very warm and delicate. For a relatively low-end player product, it is very favorable, after all, users of this consumer segment will have more demand for vocal pop music.
But this does not mean that N3 is not suitable for instrumental music. In fact, the sound of N3 is full of tension, and the good performance of separation makes it not easy to mix together all kinds of instruments. Although it is slightly weaker in terms of dynamics, When used with headphones with low resistance and high sensitivity, you can still get a good sense of hearing.
Compared with iDSD, N3's voice is more gentle and there will not be too straightforward "digital sound"; compared with Hifiman MegaMini, on the one hand, N3 has obvious advantages in terms of noise floor, on the other hand, The state is not as slow as the opponent, which is not so easy to lose control when dealing with some big scenes.
Compared with high frequency and intermediate frequency, the low frequency of N3 is relatively weak, mainly because the overall shape of the N3 is weak due to weak interpretation. When dealing with some large scenes, it will be more mixed, but if you just listen to the popular, or some small The instrumental joy of the scene is not a big problem. This problem will be more intense when paired with Live!2 or a similar low-frequency headset itself, but the corresponding details will be weaker; while in the match T5, N3's low frequency in the sense of change The situation will look refined.
This item is listed separately because N3's rich music setting options will give users a flexible listening experience.
N3 provides 3 levels of gain modes for users to choose for matching different types of headphones, in addition to the [music settings] menu can be switched, you can also use the menu button to call out the sub-menu switching in the playback interface. The sound volume between the three gains does not change much, about 20% or so, the details of the LdB low gain mode is more exquisite, and it can easily reach the appropriate sound when used with a flat headed earplug like AIR. Pressure and loudness. Although there is a certain loss of detail in the HdB high-gain mode, it can bring a more full sound texture, and even the DT880 of 250 ohms is also likened.
The EQ equalizer seems dismissive to some people (in fact, it includes myself), but it does, to a certain extent, make the tri-band distribution more in line with personal preferences. In addition to providing 8 kinds of pre-made EQ settings, N3 also allows users to customize the adjustment design of plus or minus 6 dB for 10 bands. The users who like tossing can try it slowly. (I've always turned off EQ anyway)
Digital filter can not only just pull the EQ curve in the process of digital audio conversion, but more consideration is given to the skill of audio algorithms in major scenes. However, the AK4490 standard four filter modes are actually similar to what I hear, although the points can be heard in the switching process, but what are the specific differences, please forgive my fungus and expression vocabulary!
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the N3 provides a balanced channel setting, which should be quite good for certain types of bass sound equipment or natural sounding fans... but I haven’t found any Which headphones have a bias, but also very glad that they do not partial ~!
For those friends who can patiently see the value here, I will use the summary as a reward!
Cayin's N3, as an entry-level audio playback device for the thousand yuan, is one aspect of its own, but I think the more recommendable place is its variable playability, whether it is two-way Bluetooth, two-way USB AUDIO, support DoP , support APT-X, support LO output, support OTG, support S/P DIF, support EQ, support digital filter... anyway, it is hard to imagine that there are so many possibilities in such a small machine. .
Of course, N3's medium and high-frequency qualities have maintained the consistent reputation of AK4490, and the sense of hearing is very flattering. For fans who are just getting started, it is definitely the “first national brick for young peopleâ€...!
However, there are some places in N3. I think it can be improved:
1, the front of the key logic is not enough humane, not only the left and right touch keys with the middle of the physical case in the hand feel there is a clear difference, and the lack of four touch keys backlight (actually backlight ... charge up and down keys between The two small bars will flash, but they will be easy to mistakenly connect in series;
2, the left and right buttons are too pursuing the appearance of the symmetry and aesthetics, but a single button feel fast identification is relatively weak, often in the pocket to touch for a long time to be able to determine in the end according to which side of the side key;
3, a little bit of accessories, at least should be matched with DoP and S/P DIF supporting cable!
Of course, the above are all details of nitpicking, and the difficulty of the improvement is not great, so it is hoped that Cayin can introduce better products sooner!
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