Cayin N7…
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The N7 impressed me, I wasn’t really expecting that tbh much since I wasn’t super sold on a lot of cayin daps for the money anymore, but I really like what they’re doing with their new architecture and almost new sonic focuses/signature (same with the ru7). It’s honestly pretty neutral and organic, strong dac inside, very refined for what it is. It’s the class a/ab and dsd modes are more subtle but pretty nice still, personally liked class a + dsd256 for an overall good balance of performance
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I have also reviewed N7, is hefty price for a DAP. If it’s worth it depends who you are, I sit with some guilt. Knowing I also love music out from cheaper setups.
Let’s say its more difference to me changing from a DAP like this to ESS DAP, than changing cables. But still owning different IEMs and headphones give much more difference, then have one okay DAP instead.
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Interesting to hear the other side of the story! It was a major disappointed for my friend, he found it to be severely overpriced and certainly not a good purchase.
I can share my latest DX320MAX Ti review: Dx320Max Titanium - Reviews | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org
If anything, it should be a joyful read =)
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All depends on what hp/iems you use, and what you want out of it of course. If you’re looking for an entirely different experience, a different dap isn’t going to suddenly make an iem or headphone into something it’s not, really you’re getting a higher end dap to elevate what you already have rather than getting one to give the experience of a different iem/headphone. All depends on where the bottleneck in your system lies, if it lies closer to the transducer, a higher end dap is going to be more minimal in improvements, but the better the transducer, the more notable the improvement from upgrading source gear/dap would be. If you’re running sub1k/more midrange iems/headphones, likely not worth the cash. If you’re running some of the higher end stuff, can be more worthwhile, at least from my experience. Find one or a few higher end hp/iem you like, then going for a real solid source for them is personally what I’d say makes a higher end source/dap like this make sense, since it elevates what you already like to varying degrees depending on the transducer and offers more longer term satisfaction and performance rather than swapping around a bunch of different transducers with a lackluster or mismatched source, but that’s just me lol.
That’s interesting, I’ve sort of fell out of favor with a lot of cayin daps, didn’t really like the n8 for the money tbh, a bit gimmicky in feature set with all the different modes, and felt exaggerated with more character that I personally didn’t prefer (specifically treble which I think was somewhat forced feeling in general). Don’t think the n7 is entirely at the level of the n8ii in technical performance, but the gap isn’t as large as it should be for the price jump. The n6ii regardless of card has a bit of a similar problem in the treble but also is overall a bit mechanical feeling for the range as well which is somewhat offputting. The n7 to me is a fair bit improved in the treble in terms of organicness and technical performance, just more balanced and organic overall, and spatially more impressive than both personally. So at least in terms of other cayin daps, I think it’s more the standout in their lineup.
There’s probably one or two daps I’d rather have around that price range instead of the n7, but I think it’s a more compelling option than what cayin has released in the past imo, and it occupies a bit of a dap dead space in price point, previously I felt a lot of the daps in that 2k ish range weren’t worthwhile and it was just worth it to jump to the top stuff or stay around the 1k ish range instead, but I think the N7 is priced well/fairly, although I think if they knocked off a few hundred on it, esp if they hit 1.5k, would be a real solid value
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Fair points.
My friend is a Cayin N8ii owner, had the N7 on loan. Imo, the N8ii is worth the price. He’s also a former DX300 owner, but he used it with modified amp modules (don’t remember which ones). He had some LP DAPs, wasn’t too impressed with them. As a whole, the DX320MAX is leagues above anything he’s heard. There are still some things in the N8ii that he prefers over the DX320MAX. He also quite liked the DX300MAX, but it came down to some preferences that made him stick with his N8ii.
The IEM he uses is MMR’s Thummim.
The DX3xx (standard) line is still quite hard to beat in terms of value.
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With an mmr, can understand that, not the best synergy there personally (although adding on a cleaner amp like a mk424 to a p6p is a fantastic combo with the mmr). Although I think the only LP daps I really like are the p6p or the LP6, the latter of which is more suited toward the mmr, and I do feel that those are both a step ahead of the dx300 max with the lp6 being more of a full and a bit more step ahead and the p6p being a half step ahead, depending on pairings of course. Never really got the feeling that the n8ii played in the same league as the aforementioned, but I also never got extended time to play with it at home (and only really tried the infin mk2, traillii, sarda, and a few headphones on it).
Would def like to hear the dx320 max, the dx300 max and dx220 max are something special, I’m sure the 320 nicely iterates on that and gives it a nice performance boost. Will have to get one in eventually
I’d agree, if only you could easily find the max series since imo those are even better value lol
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Probably…
https://www.npaudio.uk/npaudio-modifications/ibasso
Thinking of sending off my amp 12 for the EXN-S + op amp upgrade 
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I think he got all his mods done by Vince (whitigir on Head-Fi). But yeah, you’d likely only do that if your’e really enthusiastic over it (UK->US). Otherwise, get one from NPAudio, even Vince himself respects the guy!
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Thank you for the thorough answer! He’s a metalhead listening at unbearably loud volumes—I’m talking maxing out the MAX series with the Thummim over a balanced cable type of loud.
I tried getting him to jump on the MassKobo wagon a bunch of times, but he’s skeptical, and he also thinks the amps are way too big. He’s on the edge of getting the portable amp from Aroma Audio, for some reason he really likes that one
Damn, that’s really quite loud lol
The MK amps really aren’t made for that level of pushing it, so perhaps that’s for the best lol. Didn’t know aroma made an amp
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I was shocked when I first met him. Turns out he’s been listening at this level since a really young age. Idk if he’s a biological miracle, but his hearing is perfectly fine according to him. He got a hearing check recently, and told me everything was fine. So idk, maybe he truly is ‘built different’.
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Oh yeah, and apparently it’s a major hit, people on Head-Fi are going crazy over it. It’s got quite the hype train behind it, at least on an underground level.
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Has anyone on here ever had their amp card modified/upgraded? Or heard one by NPaudio or similar, what would you expect sound wise from such an upgrade? not cheap at £320 if you want the op amps swooped out too
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I haven’t personally, but after owning a bunch of the iBasso amp modules, there is an audible difference between them. Both Vince and NPAudio use really high quality caps that make a difference, a significant difference. I’m always skeptical about anything in audio making an audible difference… until I actually spend enough time comparing the two and confirm that there is “genuinely” an audible difference. On Head-Fi there’s a lot of people who’ve had both Vince’s mods and NPAudio’s mods, so you’re probably going to have better luck there. I think most of these people are in the DX300 thread.
The caps that NPAudio is using on their AMP12EXN-S, that’s some serious components right there!
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Aye that’s just it isn’t…you send off your amp and 2 weeks later you get the upgraded one back but you only have memory to go off of, you’ve just spent £300 so I guess psychologically you’re bound to think it’s money well spent lol…but as you rightly said without both pre and post upgrade amps to spend time with it’s always gonna be a leap of faith 
Edit @M0N have ever tried modded DAP amps?
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Right on, and as we all know it, our auditory memory is as unreliable as it gets…
I never got any amps modded, and I don’t remember if my friend who got his AMP12 modded by Vince, compared it to the stock version. I think he went the next step by directly jumping to comparing it to the big boy, the DX300MAX (at the time).
Btw, this is one of the reasons I avoid any comparisons where I cannot give you a valid opinion. What’s the point of comparing if it will basically be talking out of my arse. If I cannot [quickly] A/B test something, there’s no point. For example, if I want to do a pad comparison with a pair of headphones, I need two pairs of the same headphone to do that.
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Way too many posts + unless search engine 
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… damn it, and Head-Fi’s search engine is quite a mess 
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