[bluestorm1992]

LOL LOL LOL

May ask if you ever heard N8 in tube mode?

Cause I did and I also owned ba300 + wm1z as pairing and you know what I think?

Ba300 is poop man!
N8 sounded way better in tube mode and cleaner, no vibrations and noises where heard threw it. While the ba300 just a simple shake would translate the noise into your ears....

Haha no I have not, just quoting the impression from someone else.

 

[jmills8]

Then... I am even more worried about the performance of C9 since Marcus does not seem to find a huge difference in performance between them.

Well guess it is or he needs more time with both.

 

[arijitroy2]

I have the BA300SJP, dont use it much at all nowadays since I got R8. With DX228EX, that paired really well, gave a very lush sound to it, doesn't do much with R8. Hope C9 is way ahead of this since the price is 10x higher!!

 

[marcusd]

Actually DX220 might be a good choice to pair with something like C9. It is light small and has a very good DAC implementation.

I'm using the

Kudos on releasing a review so quickly Marcus!

Reading between the lines would I be right in surmising you weren't completely blown away by the C9's performance? You barely mentioned how it sounds in your Verdict and though you described it as being better across the board than the CDM & BA300S it doesn't sound like they were destroyed by comparison, as one would hope by such a comparatively expensive unit.

You did mention you now consider the C9 the best portable amp on the market (despite no comparisons with the WA8 or Phatlab Phantasy II for instance) and there will always be a market for any audio product offering incremental improvement over the previous "best" regardless of how many micrometers of superiority it offers, but given the rather lukewarm state of the portable amplifier market as I understand it, would it not be fair to suggest anything less than sonic stupendousness constitutes something of a missed opportunity for Cayin given the amount of eyebrows that've shot up over pricing?

I do not mean to be disrespect Cayin's commendable effort to bring a TOTL portable amp to market, in fact like many of us here I've been hoping it succeeds to help rejuvenate interest in portable amplification as I'm a big believer in more juice being required to drive earphones to their full potential. Perhaps its more fair to evaluate the C9 only as a product in its own right rather than one burdened with a greater role to play in the state of the portable, and yet I don't expect to be the only person tempted to do otherwise.

"Kudos on releasing a review so quickly Marcus!"

You are most welcome.

I am a fairly simple guy, no conspiracies, so no lines to read between, to be honest with you. We don't need to go into the sound in huge detail in a verdict because it's already described in detail on page 3. A verdict shouldn't need to repeat what is already said IMHO. Others may disagree.

"You did mention you now consider the C9 the best portable amp on the market (despite no comparisons with the WA8 or Phatlab Phantasy II for instance)"

I did not remember saying that, can you point to me where I said it is the best portable amp on the market? I would be happy to comment on that considering yes I do not have the WA8 or Phatlab to compare with but such is life, they might be great also. I do have about 40 other portable amps going back 12 years but none really compare or are long since discontinued.

"being better across the board than the CDM & BA300S it doesn't sound like they were destroyed by comparison"

Better across the board is fairly destructive to me.

"Reading between the lines would I be right in surmising you weren't completely blown away by the C9's performance?"

Here is my surmising: " Some of my best analog gear or amps are years old and still sounds excellent today if well looked after. I cannot see how the Cayin C9 will be any different."

"Perhaps its more fair to evaluate the C9 only as a product in its own right rather than one burdened with a greater role to play in the state of the portable, and yet I don't expect to be the only person tempted to do otherwise."

Good point.

 

[marcusd]

Then... I am even more worried about the performance of C9 since Marcus does not seem to find a huge difference in performance between them.

I did, audio timbre is not a performance issue for me, a preference issue. On everything else, slay on.

 

[marcusd]

Seems I have found somebody to share the same impression from the review...
Probably still need some time for the sound impression given the short time span on the review after the product release.

Thinking about it, I am actually good at doing similar talk... especially comes to the time when my wife asking me about the true cost of my toys... and I can talk for nights on the features, usage, pros and cons without touching on her core question...

I had it for much longer than the release date.

 

[marcusd]

I have the BA300SJP, dont use it much at all nowadays since I got R8. With DX228EX, that paired really well, gave a very lush sound to it, doesn't do much with R8. Hope C9 is way ahead of this since the price is 10x higher!!

I like lush also for vocals, but the C9 is way ahead.

 

[Zambu]

Cause I did and I also owned ba300 + wm1z as pairing and you know what I think?

Ba300 is poop man!
N8 sounded way better in tube mode and cleaner, no vibrations and noises where heard threw it. While the ba300 just a simple shake would translate the noise into your ears....

Not using the BA300S much at the moment since N3Pro is preferable (particularly in convenience) but I don't recognize the shaking noises you mention...I literally just made a quick check with stack of DX160 and BA300S (not even using those pads that attach them together), shaked (shook?) it basically as much as I could and can't recognize any effect in sound. Maybe I need to train my arm strength to shake harder but... can't compare to N8 in sound but I would hope that an 8-10 times more expensive device sounds way better.

 

[Andykong]

We have rolled out our first C9 shipment to local dealers in China already, and we'll start shipping to oversea dealers immediately. Please check with your local dealer for availability starting early next week.

 

[DarginMahkum]

We have rolled out our first C9 shipment to local dealers in China already, and we'll start shipping to oversea dealers immediately. Please check with your local dealer for availability starting early next week.

Great! Any plans to release a portable DAC only device to complement this?

 

[newworld666]

Not using the BA300S much at the moment since N3Pro is preferable (particularly in convenience) but I don't recognize the shaking noises you mention...I literally just made a quick check with stack of DX160 and BA300S (not even using those pads that attach them together), shaked (shook?) it basically as much as I could and can't recognize any effect in sound. Maybe I need to train my arm strength to shake harder but... can't compare to N8 in sound but I would hope that an 8-10 times more expensive device sounds way better.

+1 same here ..
I am using sometimes the BA300 (old one ) with my Sony WM1A to move a bit more and better the Sony Z7M2 or Ultrasone Ed15 Veritas when I am on the move ..
Till now, even in landing planes or trains => I have never caught any shaking noise.. I wonder how it can happen in real life.

I am looking for the Cayin C9 as I just hope to be free in my home and stay where I want to listen music. Till now, I couldn't get any DAP/Portable amps to move my HEDDphone as a simple THX887 of 400$ can do it, with real precise kicks in low and ultra low frequencies and ultra clear high frequencies too. My last item is the Kann Alpha which is the best portable item for my HEDDphone, but still quite far from the THX 887 when connected to the Alpha Kann or (WM1A, M11, R6pro, W10pro Sirius A).
I wonder if a 2K$ portable amp can do something without a "real" power supply. I am waiting these next days for a Centrance M8V2, but I doubt it will help even with 20V output peek power.

 

[Whitigir]

We have rolled out our first C9 shipment to local dealers in China already, and we'll start shipping to oversea dealers immediately. Please check with your local dealer for availability starting early next week.

Great!! Any ideas about silicone bands and leather case to carry it around in stackable style to a DAP?

 

[ahossam]

Great! Any plans to release a portable DAC only device to complement this?

Doubtful, Cayin released A02 module for N6II, I think this module is the only product meant to complement C9 from Cayin.

 

[Whitigir]

Doubtful, Cayin released A02 module for N6II, I think this module is the only product meant to complement C9 from Cayin.

May be N9? Hmm

 

[Adnan Firoze]

I am fairly new to topologies and this "pre" option kind of confuses me.

Anyway, I use a Hugo2 with an r6pro as a transport. Now, this is what I want to do. If I only use my Hugo2 DAC and feed the signal to the c9 (note that Hugo2 is single ended), so it makes sense to feed SE to the c9 here. But most of my gear are 4.4mm terminated. With this setup I mentioned, what comes out of the balanced phone out of the c9? Clearly, the input is not balanced, but can it output through the balanced socket to the headphone/IEM (I know theoretically it won't be balanced) but I am just doing my research before shelling out the money.