Cayin N7+

Cayin N7+

Pure 1-bit DAP with fully-balanced Class-A amplification

The Cayin N7+ is the reworked version of the award-winning N7 (Device of the Year, HiFi Test TV) and continues to build on a concept that remains an outlier in the DAP segment: a pure 1-bit resistor-network converter rather than a conventional multi-bit delta-sigma or R2R chip. Instead of an off-the-shelf DAC chip, Cayin builds its own fully-balanced network of precision resistors that converts each 1-bit sample directly into a voltage – an approach that sidesteps digital filter stages and the compromises that come with them. Compared to the original, the N7+ gains a titanium and aerospace-aluminium chassis along with finer refinements to circuit and build quality.

The fully-balanced Class-A headphone stage delivers roughly 330mW at 32 ohms through the 3.5mm output and about 690mW through the 4.4mm output – enough to drive even demanding headphones cleanly. In practice this shows up most in imaging and staging: the 1-bit approach is regarded as particularly strong on spatial depth and three-dimensionality, with clearly outlined instruments and a tangible sense of space between musical events. It plays back hi-res material up to 32-bit/768kHz and DSD512, controlled through Android 12 on a 5-inch Full HD touchscreen (1080x1920), with streaming-app support included.

The 9000mAh battery (3.8V, 34.2Wh) lasts around 11 hours on the single-ended output in Class-A operation, and about 9 hours on the balanced output. The chassis measures 142 x 77.8 x 22.2mm and weighs 370 grams – noticeably lighter than the larger N8iii flagship, but with comparable technical ambition.

In Cayin's line-up, the N7+ sits between the modular N6iii and the tube flagship N8iii: no swappable-board system, no vacuum tube, but a self-contained concept consistently tuned around the 1-bit converter, with very high output density. Anyone after flagship ambitions without a tube circuit will find the most single-minded Cayin DAP right here.

Bloom Audio

N7+ is a near perfect pick, with sound quality that punches above its price and a solid feature set to go with it.

Technical Specifications