Cayin N7 | Digital Audio Player

Cayin N7 is a Discreet Powerhouse DAP with Impressive Layout and Features Galore

• Fully-discrete, fully-balanced design for superior performance
• Class A / AB dual-amplifier operation mode
• Dedicated 3.5mm and 4.4mm Balanced headphone out with shared line out/pre out
• USB-C, mini-HDMI, S/PDIF, and Bluetooth digital outputs
• Large 3.8V 9000mAH Lithium battery with carefully tuned power management
  

Discreet, Portable, Competent

The Cayin N7 DAP is a master quality portable music player with the world's first fully-discrete circuit in a fully-balanced design, and it comes packed with plenty of features. With its pure single-bit resistor DSD decoder, discrete LPF circuitry, and discrete headphone amp section and dual-amp modes, the N7 is the perfect portable player promising exceptional sound clarity for your favorite music!

Fully-discrete, Fully-balanced Unexplored Frontier

Going discrete is technically more demanding, but it allows more room to fine tune sound signature and deliver superior performance over op-amp based designs.

Regular stereo circuits compose of left (L) and right (R) channels with balanced circuits involving differential inputs and outputs, hence a required L+, L-, R+, and R-. Cayin makes its first attempt to use discrete circuits for DAC, LPF and headphone amp in the N7 DAP. It adopts a symmetrical double-side PCB layout to minimize interference and keep the layout and length of the signal path as uniform as possible.

Pure 1-Bit DSD DAC

The N7 features a purposely designed, micro-miniaturized 1-bit DAC circuit from fully discrete components:

Discrete 1-Bit DAC
Converts digital signals to analog through a resistor network composed of 128 pcs (4x32) high precision thin film resistors.

FPGA
Enhanced digital audio signal and output L+, L-, R+, R- digital bitstream for fully balanced decoding.

Audio Bridge
Pass-through DSD unaltered, converted PCM to 1-bit bitstream before transmitting to DAC circuit.

Power Supply
Sophisticated low-noise, highly-isolated supply circuit to support various functions of digital and analog processing separately.

Discrete LPF

N7 features a discrete components design for closed-loop gain, negative feedback, and circuit architecture of the LPF. After numerous attempts, Cayin developed a symmetric Class A push/pull amplification circuit based on dual NPN+PNP Bipolar transistors, delivering high performance, reduced board space, and low power consumption / heat dissipation.

Discrete Headphone Amp

Uncompromised Design
The N7 features a 4-channel discrete component-based circuit with a low-noise, audio-grade JFET (Junction-gate Field-Effect Transistor) serving the differential input stage and a BJT (Bipolar Junction Transistor) providing voltage amplification and final output stage. It delivers high-power, low-noise output that's optimized for low impedance IEMs and portable headphones.

Synchronized Accurately
Sophisticated resistor networks can efficiently decode when their algorithm can perfectly synchronize between varying sampling frequencies. N7 employs x2 Femtosecond Crystal Oscillators with extremely low phase noise (-100dBc) to
facilitate high-precision and low-jitter playback, minimizing digital artifacting while enhancing musicality.

Dual Amp Operation Mode
The Dual Amplifier Operation Mode allows you to switch between Class A and Class AB modes instantly through the pull down menu. Choose the sound signature to fit your personal preference of sound, genres, and/or pairing with different IEM/headphones:

• Class A Mode: Low distortion, optimum playback condition. Silky smooth, warm and lush. Best fit for sentimental music with lots of detail and macro dynamic.
• Class AB Mode: Higher efficiency and dynamic. Clean, tight, extended, and authoritative slam. Best fit for music with high dynamic range and liveliness.

The Devil in the Details
Class A amplification requires all channels to be aligned with near-identical gain. To achieve this, critical components must be manually matched and installed to the PCB before reflow soldering. Similarly, the static current must be controlled so that discrete components will maintain stable operation in saturation mode. Multiple adjustable resistors are installed so that the PCB can be fine-tuned manually to consistently match the reference design.

Perfect Portable Source

Shared Dual Line-Out and Pre-Out
Both 4.4mm Balanced and 3.5mm single-ended can be configured into Line-Out or Pre-Out. This allows listeners to connect the N7 to a vast array of portable, desktop, and home audio devices. Dedicated drivers handle Line-Out and Pre-Out signals independently, ensuring both outputs are optimized for their respective applications.

Clean Line Out
The N7's Line-Out is a fixed voltage line level output that bypasses volume control. this allows it to serve as a high-quality source for portable or desktop headphone amplification or as an integrated amp in your home audio system.

Unique Portable Pre-amp
Pre-Out on the N7 is a variable voltage line-level output with high-precision analog volume control allowing it to serve as a high quality pre-amplifier for portable or desktop power amps.

Specifications

• MCU: Snapdragon 660
• System: Customized Android 9.0 (Google Play preinstalled)
• Memory: 6GB LPDDR4X
• Storage: 128GB eMMC, TF (up to 1TB)
• Display: 5" (1280 × 720) OLED multi-point touch screen
• Physical Control: Volume knob, power on/off playback buttons
• USB-C: USB3.0, OTG, QC3.0, Digital Audio
• Chassis: Sandblasted CNC Aluminum
• Vacuum Tube: KORG Nutube 6P1 (x2)
• DAC: ROHM BD34301 (x2)
• Bluetooth: v5.0 | LDAC, UAT, AAC, SBC
• Wi-Fi: 2.4G/5G IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Headphone Out: 3.5mm SE, 4.4mm BAL
• Line Out: 3.5mm SE (dedicated), 4.4mm BAL (switch in OS menu)
• Digital Interface: I²S, SPDIF Coax (embedded), USB Audio (in / out)
• Battery: 3.8V 10000mAh (38Wh)
• Battery Charge Time: ~7 hours (5V-2A) | ~4.5 hours (QC3.0)
• Playback Time: ~9.5 hours
• Dimensions: 5.8" x 3.1" x 1"
• Net Weight: ~15.6 oz
  
• Cayin 1 Year Warranty
• Full N7 Audio Specs

In the Box

• N7 Player
• N7 Leather case
• 4.4mm to 2.5mm (F) adapter
• 3.5mm to 2.5mm (F) adapter
• USB-C cable
• Tempered glass screen protector
• User Manual