Cayin N3 Ultra,Tube Amplifier Portable Digital Audio Player: Entry-Level DAP/Tube AMP (N3 Ultra)

N3Ultra: an Entry-level Portable DAP that Delivers a Complete Vacuum Tube Audio Experience

The N3Ultra is powered by a Snapdragon CPU and operated under Android 8.1. While the system hardware is capable of running common music-related applications, the JAN6418 vacuum tube is extremely sensitive to wireless interference. We can’t quantify the difference between JAN6418 and, for example, the KORG Nutube 6P1 scientifically, but saying the JAN6418 is 10 times more sensitive is a conservative guess in our experience, and yet Cayin is probably the most experienced team on this issue in the portable audio industry. As a result, we make the N3Ultra puritans DAP without Wi-Fi or Bluetooth capability.

Can we include a WiFi feature and direct our users to use Wi-Fi while the DAP is not playing back? Yes, been there, and done that with the original N8, we received lots of user complaints over the years, and occasionally returned machines for warranty and repair service simply because users forgot to turn off the WiFi after turning on the WiFi "accidentally" or after the OTA firmware update.

Can we remove the WiFi feature and keep Bluetooth for wireless DAC? Yes, been there, and done that with the N3Pro, and we received user complaints that their sensitive IEM can’t use the wireless DAC features because of Bluetooth interference, in their opinion, when we provide the feature, we have the responsibility to make it workable for everyone.

From a business perspective, we want to sell more N3Ultra, and adding streaming support is the way to go, especially when we have the hardware and operating system to do just that. This is a tough decision because we are limiting streaming support through USB DAC only, but this is our choice to become a responsible brand. If we can’t provide noise-free streaming, we better take that feature away and make sure the JAN6418 timber circuit is performing satisfactorily.