[mgoodman]

Quote:

Mine charges the attached iDevice only if the M8 is plugged in and turned on. Running on battery and either off or on, or plugged in and off, it doesn't.

That's correct. We went back and forth A LOT on this.
We ended up with the point of view that M8 is a headphone amplifier, not a charging accessory for your phone or tablet. That's a very big philosophical difference.
 
If M8 was a charger, it would need to provide juice to the iPad while running itself. The problem is - in that case M8 will drain its battery in an effort to help out the iPad. And iPads are hungry! M8 doesn't stand a chance giving up all its available power to the iPad and still working for a long time.

So this is why we made the smart decision -- charge the iPad ONLY when we are connected to the wall. That's when plenty of power is available for all devices. We will gladly charge the iPad and our own battery when running off the wall. But M8 will NOT charge the iPad or iPhone when it is NOT connected to the wall (running off the battery).
 
We make the assumption that the user is smart and will have a freshly charged battery in the iDevice, such that M8 will not have to be the on-the-go charger.
 
We believe that this is a good compromise that will allow you to have true 6.5 hour play time on a flight from NY to LA, while each unit is running off of its own battery.

 

[aamefford]

Quote:

That's correct. We went back and forth A LOT on this.
We ended up with the point of view that M8 is a headphone amplifier, not a charging accessory for your phone or tablet. That's a very big philosophical difference.
 
If M8 was a charger, it would need to provide juice to the iPad while running itself. The problem is - in that case M8 will drain its battery in an effort to help out the iPad. And iPads are hungry! M8 doesn't stand a chance giving up all its available power to the iPad and still working for a long time.

So this is why we made the smart decision -- charge the iPad ONLY when we are connected to the wall. That's when plenty of power is available for all devices. We will gladly charge the iPad and our own battery when running off the wall. But M8 will NOT charge the iPad or iPhone when it is NOT connected to the wall (running off the battery).
 
We make the assumption that the user is smart and will have a freshly charged battery in the iDevice, such that M8 will not have to be the on-the-go charger.
 
We believe that this is a good compromise that will allow you to have true 6.5 hour play time on a flight from NY to LA, while each unit is running off of its own battery.

I very much prefer the above choice.  My idevice stays charged when I'm plugged into the wall, such as at work.  When I go off grid as it were, my HIFI-M8 will run out of battery before my idevice.  I could ask for longer battery life for the HIFI-M8, if I was willing to carry a backpack full of battery, but I'm not.  Such is the blessing/curse of class A.
 
Regarding today's blog post - I know you can count on at least several of the long suffering faithful (tongue in cheek - honest!) to keep the fires of anticipation burning among this community as we receive our HIFI-M8's and start reporting our impressions.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Quote:

 
Regarding today's blog post - I know you can count on at least several of the long suffering faithful (tongue in cheek - honest!) to keep the fires of anticipation burning among this community as we receive our HIFI-M8's and start reporting our impressions.

I am awaiting new opinions/impressions.
 
As a side note I did have a great time on the train yesterday with my Hifi-M8.
Its a great piece of gear and really is making me thinking about what headphones to pair with it, as it is fairly neutral in its delivery of sound.

 

[verber]

Quote:

I got mine balanced so I could plug them into the big jack on my M8. Seriously though, the jury is still out for me personally as to whether or not there are tangible (as in I can hear them) benefits to balanced over SE, all other stuff being equal. No real downside, save for the big plug and adapters to go SE.

 
I haven't noticed any difference SE -vs- balanced between the HiFi-M8 and my HD800.  On the other hand, I love a balanced plug on the HiFi-M8 because it means I don't need to have an adapter plug for my HD800 since they are wired balanced to use my my GS-X mk2.  A balanced plug was one of the reasons I ended up decided on the HiFi-M8 over Dragonfly + Pico Power.  With the Pico Power I was using two adapter cables: balanced to 1/4 in, and the 1/4 to 1/8 inch.
 
For context, In my experience (mostly with HD800) I have found running balanced -vs- single-ended has been somewhere between no and a modest improvement. The biggest different I have heard is with the GS-X mk2.  Several amplifiers I heard no real difference, so the no difference with the HiFi-M8 isn't surprising.
 
--Mark

 

[aamefford]

Quote:

I am awaiting new opinions/impressions.
 
As a side note I did have a great time on the train yesterday with my Hifi-M8.
Its a great piece of gear and really is making me thinking about what headphones to pair with it, as it is fairly neutral in its delivery of sound.

Well..... That would mean any headphone, wouldn't it?  The headphone would then sound like itself, instead of like the source and amp...  I am glad to hear from several reviewers that the HIFI-M8 is indeed pretty neutral sounding, for exactly this reason.  I like a neutral source and amp.  Oddly, I prefer a neutral to warmish headphone...

 

[aamefford]

Quote:

 
I haven't noticed any difference SE -vs- balanced between the HiFi-M8 and my HD800.  On the other hand, I love a balanced plug on the HiFi-M8 because it means I don't need to have an adapter plug for my HD800 since they are wired balanced to use my my GS-X mk2.  A balanced plug was one of the reasons I ended up decided on the HiFi-M8 over Dragonfly + Pico Power.  With the Pico Power I was using two adapter cables: balanced to 1/4 in, and the 1/4 to 1/8 inch.
 
For context, In my experience (mostly with HD800) I have found running balanced -vs- single-ended has been somewhere between no and a modest improvement. The biggest different I have heard is with the GS-X mk2.  Several amplifiers I heard no real difference, so the no difference with the HiFi-M8 isn't surprising.
 
--Mark

I kinda agree with your impressions of balanced, though I have never really been able to do a decent A/B, if the amp I tried had SE and balanced outs, the balanced outs were always better, but I think that is more amp configuration than headphone wiring.  If two different amps, well, most makers that offer a balanced amp offer it as a flagship, so it is generally the "better" amp, at least among the few I've heard.  I've heard some high end SE and balanced rigs, with the usual "meet conditions" caveat.  My rig is much more modest.  I went for the HIFI-M8 as I really liked my dacport, and I trusted Centrance to do a killer job on a device that pulled pure digital from idevices, and did the DA conversion and amplification.  Since it was balanced, I got an iBasso PB2 and balance wired my headphones while I waited for the M8.  The balanced out of the PB2 seems to be noticeably better than the SE out.  Either that, or balanced wired is noticeably better.  I struggle with the latter, because I've heard several really good SE setups over the years, and had a couple of pretty good ones myself.  It matters not - my headphones are balanced now, and the M8 is too, and by all reports, I'm gonna like it!
 
EDIT - two posts in a row - "step away from the keyboard, and keep your hands where I can see them...."

 

[Sopp]

My friend got an email from CEntrance yesterday. He was told that they are going to ship units ordered in Nov/Dac last year. It seems that the rest probably have to wait for October shipments. Mine was supposed to be shipped in this month, but most likes it will not happen.

 

[mgoodman]

We have a very large build planned for September. As soon as that is complete, we should be able satisfy everyone. SO right now we think that October is the latest when people will get their units. Right now, we are still fulfilling the original cue from the pilot run. This means that people who have waited the longest are getting their units. We should be done with that in a couple of weeks and then we wait for the September build and get busy again.

 

[Audiowood]

Quote:

Has someone tried the Translucent 1plus2 with the M8 ?   I am intrigued about this "special" IEM !  Might be my solution to my need for a "very good NON-leaking headphone"

 
Yes I did. I bought the M8 to pair with 1p2 for my office usage. Sound is heavenly good (esp with M8) and have not missed my home setup since (W4S DAC 2 & Zana Duex SE). I think if you like the TH900, SQ,  the 1p2 is the closest I can find. The treble goes all the way to the very top like TH900, Mid is a slightly U shape (again like TH900) and Bass is as textured, clean with just the right amount of impact (TH900 has slightly more impact).
 
Soundstage is one of 1p2 strength...like the TH900 being rated as having a very good soundstage for a close can, the 1p2 is rated by many experience headfiers as having one of the the best soundstage for any IEM. They have the unique ability to produce floor standing speaker like sound stage more than that of a typical IEM..
 
I don't think you can go wrong with 1p2 because up till today (and I have asked) none has regret his/her purchase and many came from customs IEM. But who knows you may be the first..

 

[DannyBai]

Any update on the the people waiting for 24/96 playback?

 

[eron]

On a few occasions, I have forgot to switch off the M8. Would an 'auto-off' or standby mode be possible?
--
Basically when input (USB or iDevice) is disconnected, M8 goes to standby.

 

[xinghui0711]

On a few occasions, I have forgot to switch off the M8. Would an 'auto-off' or standby mode be possible?

That's a difficult task, but great idea if it can be accomplished.

 

[Monsterzero]

Will the HiFi M8 be aavailable in Thailand?

Jaben Thailand has it listed on their website as "coming soon" but a call to the guy who runs the shop today he said they are no longer going to be stocking it.He didnt specify why....

Quite bummed as I was really looking forward to this product

 

[FatmanSize48]

That's a difficult task, but great idea if it can be accomplished.

How would the device tell if you just want to listen to your M8 for an extended period of time? Standby would probably involve another "level" on the power switch...

 

[xinghui0711]

How would the device tell if you just want to listen to your M8 for an extended period of time? Standby would probably involve another "level" on the power switch...

I thought of that and so said it is hard to do. Processors ain't that smart lol