[seamon]

Amazing, you are so confident like saying 1+1=2 on the technical detail of Cayin C9.
Apparantly you know so much about C9, a lot more than I do. Do you have access to technical implementation of Single end to balanced coversion and balanced to single ended conversion of C9? Or you assume all conversions are the same? You know one, and you know it all?

You really are extraordinary.



Do you have any idea on the different between High gain and Low gain of C9? 6dB? 9dB? 12dB? 16dB?

lol calm down.

As you mentioned in a previous post somewhere, there seems to be a overwhelming belief in Headfi that Balanced is always almost twice as good as SE which is not always the case especially in 2-ch systems. Can't really change the belief overnight even if you release a product that has better SE than BAL(which I am not saying C9 is)

 

[seamon]

really excited about this Amp, have a few daps, "neutral" amps etc but would love to add an amp to the collection that offers "colored" sound option

Personally I am just excited to get a powerful Transportable Amp after getting heavily let down by the Woo Audio WA11

 

[Vitaly2017]

Well you got se and balanced so its all good you can play and decide wich one you like.

I personally like balanced in low gain as it sounds like Se hehe.
That's how it is on sony daps for me. On c9 it will.be something to test as well.

Se ussualy seems more natural and airy, while balanced has a blacker background and separation and imaging is better as the background is black

 

[seanwee]

Amazing, you are so confident like saying 1+1=2 on the technical detail of Cayin C9.
Apparantly you know so much about C9, a lot more than I do. Do you have access to technical implementation of Single end to balanced coversion and balanced to single ended conversion of C9? Or you assume all conversions are the same? You know one, and you know it all?

You really are extraordinary.

Jesus christ chill out Andy, that is just generally what balanced output does, and that has been true for Cayin's devices so far.

If I was wrong, then please, do feel free to correct me.

No need for snide comments.

Do you have any idea on the different between High gain and Low gain of C9? 6dB? 9dB? 12dB? 16dB?

You did say the C9 was meant for iems multiple times. Doesn't matter what the gain difference is between the two outputs, I trust Cayin will make the right decision.

 

[Andykong]

I can hear what you're describing (though not to the extent of something as power hungry as the HE6), so perhaps I can pose the question differently... what kinds of full-size or non-IEM headphones do you think work better in portable situations? Are there even any you would even consider?

Any headphones that claimed portable friendly should be within our reach and performed well, examples are Meze Empyrean, Focal Stella, Clear, Clear Professional, Audio Technica ATH-AP2000Ti, Denon 7200/9200, AKG K872, Dan Clark Aeon2, ...

We can keep expanding the potential list but it become less important as we dig deeper. To me, the real test are Abyss Diana V2 and HD800. If C9 perform reasonably well with these two headphones, that would clear the doubt of a lot of potential customers. The Diana is pretty compact by design, so make it portable physically but it is relatively power hungry, I personally are looking forward to a portable solution. On the other hand, the HD800 is one of the benchmarks, if not the benchmark. I hope C9 can pass these two tests.

I have tried HD800 briefly, with C9 Engineering Sample in 4.4mm power amp mode and N6ii balanced pre out as source. To be honest I have heard better HD800 in many occasions, even within $2000 DAC+Amp Solution (just a convenient amount, I have no intention to indicate the price of C9), but if I were to describe the problem of C9 Engineering Sample and N6ii combo with HD800, "not enough power" is not the number 1 or 2 concern.

 

[seamon]

Any headphones that claimed portable friendly should be within our reach and performed well, examples are Meze Empyrean, Focal Stella, Clear, Clear Professional, Audio Technica ATH-AP2000Ti, Denon 7200/9200, AKG K872, Dan Clark Aeon2, ...

We can keep expanding the potential list but it become less important as we dig deeper. To me, the real test are Abyss Diana V2 and HD800. If C9 perform reasonably well with these two headphones, that would clear the doubt of a lot of potential customers. The Diana is pretty compact by design, so make it portable physically but it is relatively power hungry, I personally are looking forward to a portable solution. On the other hand, the HD800 is one of the benchmarks, if not the benchmark. I hope C9 can pass these two tests.

I have tried HD800 briefly, with C9 Engineering Sample in 4.4mm power amp mode and N6ii balanced pre out as source. To be honest I have heard better HD800 in many occasions, even within $2000 DAC+Amp Solution (just a convenient amount, I have no intention to indicate the price of C9), but if I were to describe the problem of C9 Engineering Sample and N6ii combo, "not enough power" is not the number 1 or 2 concern.

Cayin C9 price $2000 confirmed.

 

[seanwee]

Cayin C9 price $2000 confirmed.

What a madlad

 

[noplsestar]

Any headphones that claimed portable friendly should be within our reach and performed well, examples are Meze Empyrean, Focal Stella, Clear, Clear Professional, Audio Technica ATH-AP2000Ti, Denon 7200/9200, AKG K872, Dan Clark Aeon2, ...

We can keep expanding the potential list but it become less important as we dig deeper. To me, the real test are Abyss Diana V2 and HD800. If C9 perform reasonably well with these two headphones, that would clear the doubt of a lot of potential customers. The Diana is pretty compact by design, so make it portable physically but it is relatively power hungry, I personally are looking forward to a portable solution. On the other hand, the HD800 is one of the benchmarks, if not the benchmark. I hope C9 can pass these two tests.

I have tried HD800 briefly, with C9 Engineering Sample in 4.4mm power amp mode and N6ii balanced pre out as source. To be honest I have heard better HD800 in many occasions, even within $2000 DAC+Amp Solution (just a convenient amount, I have no intention to indicate the price of C9), but if I were to describe the problem of C9 Engineering Sample and N6ii combo, "not enough power" is not the number 1 or 2 concern.

Man, I value your honesty very high. Not that often in your business. Also kind of liked how you lost a bit your nerve in an earlier post, that showed you‘re still a human like us and not a sales robot

 

[seamon]

Any headphones that claimed portable friendly should be within our reach and performed well, examples are Meze Empyrean, Focal Stella, Clear, Clear Professional, Audio Technica ATH-AP2000Ti, Denon 7200/9200, AKG K872, Dan Clark Aeon2, ...

We can keep expanding the potential list but it become less important as we dig deeper. To me, the real test are Abyss Diana V2 and HD800. If C9 perform reasonably well with these two headphones, that would clear the doubt of a lot of potential customers. The Diana is pretty compact by design, so make it portable physically but it is relatively power hungry, I personally are looking forward to a portable solution. On the other hand, the HD800 is one of the benchmarks, if not the benchmark. I hope C9 can pass these two tests.

I have tried HD800 briefly, with C9 Engineering Sample in 4.4mm power amp mode and N6ii balanced pre out as source. To be honest I have heard better HD800 in many occasions, even within $2000 DAC+Amp Solution (just a convenient amount, I have no intention to indicate the price of C9), but if I were to describe the problem of C9 Engineering Sample and N6ii combo, "not enough power" is not the number 1 or 2 concern.

On a serious note, here's my current transportable setup for the Diana V2:

Hoping C9 can surpass this especially in the transparency department.

 

[seanwee]

On a serious note, here's my current transportable setup for the Diana V2:

Hoping C9 can surpass this especially in the transparency department.

How about enjoyability?

 

[Jeffyue]

Cayin C9 price $2000 confirmed.

WA8 vs. C9 please?

 

[noplsestar]

WA8 vs. C9 please?

it isn’t released yet. But get your credit card ready. X-mas lies ahead anyways.

 

[PopZeus]

Any headphones that claimed portable friendly should be within our reach and performed well, examples are Meze Empyrean, Focal Stella, Clear, Clear Professional, Audio Technica ATH-AP2000Ti, Denon 7200/9200, AKG K872, Dan Clark Aeon2, ...

We can keep expanding the potential list but it become less important as we dig deeper. To me, the real test are Abyss Diana V2 and HD800. If C9 perform reasonably well with these two headphones, that would clear the doubt of a lot of potential customers. The Diana is pretty compact by design, so make it portable physically but it is relatively power hungry, I personally are looking forward to a portable solution. On the other hand, the HD800 is one of the benchmarks, if not the benchmark. I hope C9 can pass these two tests.

I have tried HD800 briefly, with C9 Engineering Sample in 4.4mm power amp mode and N6ii balanced pre out as source. To be honest I have heard better HD800 in many occasions, even within $2000 DAC+Amp Solution (just a convenient amount, I have no intention to indicate the price of C9), but if I were to describe the problem of C9 Engineering Sample and N6ii combo, "not enough power" is not the number 1 or 2 concern.

You're just trying to convince me to get the Empyrean! I know what you're up to! (Just kidding, I just really want to get the Empyrean eventually.) I am also waiting to see what Audeze does with the closed-back version of the LCD-1. That one could be a decent alternative to the AFC or Panda.

Thanks for the response!

 

[Andykong]

On a serious note, here's my current transportable setup for the Diana V2:

Hoping C9 can surpass this especially in the transparency department.

A great system but I believe the full setup is a 5 piece suit. You need a digital source to this transportable, you are using a phone for that? or a DAP?

 

[Andykong]

lol calm down.

As you mentioned in a previous post somewhere, there seems to be a overwhelming belief in Headfi that Balanced is always almost twice as good as SE which is not always the case especially in 2-ch systems. Can't really change the belief overnight even if you release a product that has better SE than BAL(which I am not saying C9 is)

A lot of these impressions were based on devices that has a significantly weaker single ended audio circuit or implementation when compare to the balanced output, like $50 spend to build the balanced amplication circuit, the single ended option probably cost $25 only. When you know your stuff and spend the same amount on both options, the impression can be very different.

The two major benefits of balanced driven is channel sepetation and more current, the former is preferred almost unanimously, but more current is not necessarily good, especially with highly sensitive BA IEMs.