[zen87192]

Yeah, hopefully it ain’t $700

I ain't going to be impressed with Cayin if it costs anywhere near that! I would consider that 'milking' us just because the C9 is popular rather than thinking that the Battery Case is a necessity to its current and future owners.

 

[Levanter]

Anyone using the C9 with Auteur?

 

[bluestorm1992]

Anyone using the C9 with Auteur?

I have C9 with ZMF Verite Closed. Very enjoyable experience.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Yeah, hopefully it ain’t $700

If it's $700, some entrepreneur in Hong Kong will make it for $350.

 

[twister6]

If it's $700, some entrepreneur in Hong Kong will make it for $350.

Why stop at $700?

OK, let me do the fuzzy logic math. C9 is 160mm in length and cost $2k. The battery tray is 82mm in length, half of it, thus should be priced no less than $1k. Makes sense?

When C9 was announced, people were lowballing the price. With a charging battery tray, I think we are going in the opposite direction

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Why stop at $700?

OK, let me do the fuzzy logic math. C9 is 160mm in length and cost $2k. The battery tray is 82mm in length, half of it, thus should be priced no less than $1k. Makes sense?

When C9 was announced, people were lowballing the price. With a charging battery tray, I think we are going in the opposite direction

Not sure if we are talking about the same thing. I was commenting on a $700 battery module. There is no way that a battery module should cost $700 on a $2000 product. And, battery technology is sufficiently well understood that it can be made such that a nice profit is possible at a $350 price point. Even a Tesla replacement battery is $3000-7000 and that is on a car that costs in excess of $50000. You aren't going to be able to charge more than 10-15% of the product cost for a replacement battery. I would call that business math.

 

[bigbeans]

Crosspost from the Eletech thread, but I thought some of you would like to see my new arrangement. Thanks to the fellow C9 owner who posted the link to the rack.

 

[Andykong]

I am waiting for battery module LOL!!

Ready and waiting to 'lock 'n load' batteries. Looking forward to the battery modules as well Whitigir. I just hope they won't cost too much.

Yeah, hopefully it ain’t $700

Why stop at $700?

OK, let me do the fuzzy logic math. C9 is 160mm in length and cost $2k. The battery tray is 82mm in length, half of it, thus should be priced no less than $1k. Makes sense?

When C9 was announced, people were lowballing the price. With a charging battery tray, I think we are going in the opposite direction

Not sure if we are talking about the same thing. I was commenting on a $700 battery module. There is no way that a battery module should cost $700 on a $2000 product. And, battery technology is sufficiently well understood that it can be made such that a nice profit is possible at a $350 price point. Even a Tesla replacement battery is $3000-7000 and that is on a car that costs in excess of $50000. You aren't going to be able to charge more than 10-15% of the product cost for a replacement battery. I would call that business math.

I am sure Whitigir and Twister6 was trying to make a joke on me only, they enjoy doing that when I can't provide the details.

Anyway, the battery module will be around $100, I won't call it a low-cost item when compare to other 18650 chargers, but you need to have volume before you can drive the manufacturing cost down, and a custom-make HiFi accessories won't have the kind of volume when compare to standalone 18650 chargers.

We are building up our C9 battery module inventory and working on the packaging and user manual already, it will be available sometimes in April, hopefully sooner than I expect.

 

[Andykong]

Are the leather cases being shipped out as well?

The C9 leather cases is available, we shipped this to oversee dealers already, but I guess most over dealers will group the C9 leather cases and their next C9 order into one shipment to drive the logistic cost down.

 

[Andykong]

True, and I think these are not even enough for the 300 pre-order/back-ordered units. Cayin needs to make and stock more!!

Just saw this from Cayin: The second batch of C9 will start shipping tomorrow to pre-order customers!

Gosh! That's great news! I hope I'm one of the lucky ones on the list! I have everything ready but this.... Fingers crossed!

I would like to clarify our situation. We didn't ship to pre-order customers directly. The 300 back order units was orders placed by our dealers, they are not equivalent to 300 pre-order customers either. To illustrate my point, when dealer A received 6 reservations or pre-orders, he probably will place an order of 10 units with us (or more, depends on his promotion plan, logistic, cash flow and other administrative overhead), and then he starts to promote the unit to sell more before he receive the items. Besides that 300 back order number has been increased since bluestorm1992 last enquired. So our back order number is dynamic, and the availability (excluding pre-orders) of C9 is also a dynamic number that changed everyday.

The good news is, our current production batch will fulfil all dealer back orders (as of today), so if your dealer has placed an order, they'll receive their C9 for sure.

In a month. I do not want to pre-order but not being able to receive it while I am away. I won't be back until end of August.

MusicTeck is a reliable dealer, I have know Andrew since I join Cayin and he is trustworthy definitely. Looks like he'll receive his next batch of C9 before you start your journey. However if you haven't pre-order with him, then it will depends whether he has extra stock after he fulfilled all his pre-order customers.

 

[Andykong]

So can I just check... is there any issue using a c9 and a dx300 with a 4.4mm balanced line out connection?

I use this combo of C9 and dx300 from time to time and I am fine. There are others as well

Not, as long as you don't set dx300 line out to high gain; better keep it on low gain.

An amplifier cannot damage a source equipment unless there is a voltage level feedback loop from the amplifier to the source. This is a scientific observation that can't be disproved till now.

I can understand the convenient to NOT disabling the digital volume of DAC chipset with Line Out, but I can't understand the reason behind adding "Gain" or whatever amplification to line out. "Amplified" line out is a new idea to me, and it is dangerous if the "amplified" line output does not have adequate overload protection.

 

[zen87192]

Excellent!! Around $100 for the Battery Module! I was hoping for 'up to' $100 but I'm a bit happier now!

 

[Andykong]

When you used the V590 as a pre amp into the C9 did you have to change the gain settings?

Top review by the way

I assume the same would be true of the Max? Keep it low gain just to be safe.

I have used the DX220 Max - 4.4mm Line Out on High Gain (I am assuming the High Gain setting impacts the Line Out and the Phone Out, but not sure on this)...and also had the C9 set to High Gain...with no issues. I did have the DAC volume on the DX220 Max set to 135 (of 150), so 90% of the DAC volume.

That's what I do. For example, even for DAPs, N6ii with A02 has different line-out gain levels, and changing it will dramatically change how loud the gear sounds. I have always kept it in medium gain instead of high gain when listening with IEMs as it will otherwise get too loud.

Maybe it's easier to communicate when we quote the actual rated output level because the work High gain or High level can means different setting to different brands.

Take Cayin as example, our "High" level is basically the standard line out level while Mid and Low are attenuated output for amplifier with very high gain or speaker/earphone with very high sensitivity. The following line out specification will explain that in detail.

Therefore if you are using Cayin DAP line out as source, you should start at HIGH level and then work your way down for different presentation or if the loading light of your amplifier is flashing.

Other vendor might adopt a different approach, such as using Mid as standard and then step up the output voltage to 3V/6V for SE and BAL respectively. So the best practise is to check out the rated output level instead of comparing "Low" or "High" in line out across different brands.

For Pre-amp output, the variation is even bigger, so find out the rated output level is even more important. I have seen Balanced Pre-amp output from 4V max to 20V+ max, so the word "High" can means completely different things in pre-amp., better watch out for that.

 

[Andykong]

What happens when you add an N6ii with an E01 Motherboard with has Class A/AB to a C9 with Class A/AB?
Does this double up the A/AB sound?
If we set Class A on the N6ii and Class AB on the C9 what happens? Just asking so I know in advance when my C9 arrives what I could be listening to and why/how.

That can only be used as Pre-amp in. I don’t see it having line out.

If so, then yes, class A preamp into Class A power amp is a double class A system. It is pretty common on large speakers.

Quite true, when you use E01 with C9, you are using the E01 phone out as a Class A preamp, consider the E01 noise level is the lowest among all N6ii Audio Motherboards, this might worth trying, especially if you are using an single-ended IEM or headphone. Unfortunately I have borrowed my E01 to a friend before I receive my C9, so I haven't try this combination so far. If someone have this combination, please share your impression with us.

 

[Andykong]

Listening to T01 , C9, and telling myself

How did I became a Cayin believer ? Thank you C9!!!

I am never the same again, for the first time in a long time that I am eagerly awaiting Cayin new products announcements which never happened before. Also, I don’t care much for newer DAP anymore lol...except Cayin ? Wait....how ?

We are flattered, and we didn't expect C9 becomes so influential. N8 was a milestone in our portable audio technologies, C9 is the benchmark of our implementation, they are both TOTL products in our line up. We are glad that C9 has covered the unfinished business of N8 in terms of brand building and expanding our supporter community.