[seanwee]

Found a really nice pic of the N8 circuitry

 

[chaiyuta]

Finally it is revealed.. That is Nutube. Nice~~

 

[Mimouille]

No, you didn't miss it, we haven't publish the power rating. We shall measure the engineering units later. The demo units will head to Bejing right after the High End 2018 for its debut in China (26-27 May), we should be able to provide more detail along this line by early June.

Incredible coincidence, this is where I live!

 

[Mimouille]

But why should we used the monthly salary of a low level factory worker in China as reference? The N8 is not the only DAP we make, it is targeted at a very niche market and Cayin has offered other affordable DAPs in our lineup.

I would like to quote a small section regarding the issue of affordability of flagship product from Headfonic's recent interview:

https://headfonics.com/2018/05/business-in-audio-cayin/2/

There is a different between afforfable and reasonable. Every since AK decided that people would pay more, they doubled the price for every new DAP and then realized that around 3k$ was certainly a ceiling that a large chunk of the well off audio enthusiasts were willing to pay.

And then other brands followed suit. If you feel 20k is what you should charge for it, based on costs and target clients, well it is your choice. And clients will buy it or not based on perceived value. Their choice. And I will judge if it is decent or not based on my own metrics as well...

Now the key question for all these products pushing the limit of pricing is : are makers really applying a reasonable margin to amortize production costs, marketing and R&D, or are just doing x3 or x4 because they know we will pay. We will never know in most cases. For cables and certain IEMs, we know it is often the latter. For DAPs it is less clear as production costs are higher. But could most high end DAPs not be sold at half price and still present good margins? For me it is an open question.

Edit : just to be fair, I am way more impressed by what you guys seems to be putting in this device technically than by anything AK has ever put out.

 

[alphanumerix1]

Found a really nice pic of the N8 circuitry

Is the left channel only mentioned because the right channel is exactly the same?

 

[seanwee]

Is the left channel only mentioned because the right channel is exactly the same?

Yes

 

[ExpatinJapan]

While we haven't publish the power rating and battery duration so far, but 1.5W rated output and 17 hours of battery duration? and this is kinda close?

i’m teh winner!

I take it ‘its in the mail!’ ?

 

[seanwee]

Something like the blend of colours on this iphone


Edit : Cayin could also have used the colour of this N6



I think he meant recording the signal directly from the 3.5mm jack. ie : 3.5mm tube output into 3.5mm mic input via a male to male cable.

something like this https://www.techhive.com/article/204664/how_to_record_streaming_audio.html

What do you guys think?

 

[470221]

If I were an Asian, it will be nice. Gold everywhere... But I'm not, so IMHO it looks strange. Display colors are a bit pale, or maybe it's only photo. As I see connection holes are cut without precision?

 

[alphanumerix1]

What do you guys think?

Better.

The more I look at it the more I think it would look better as a rectangle. Ergonomics wise it's probably easier to hold as is.

 

[seanwee]

If I were an Asian, it will be nice. Gold everywhere... But I'm not, so IMHO it looks strange. Display colors are a bit pale, or maybe it's only photo. As I see connection holes are cut without precision?

Oh that's just a render, not the actual thing. I posted actual shots of the N8 a few pages back so go check it out if you haven't.

 

[seanwee]

If I were an Asian, it will be nice. Gold everywhere... But I'm not, so IMHO it looks strange. Display colors are a bit pale, or maybe it's only photo. As I see connection holes are cut without precision?

Got some new photos

I really like how it looks from the back

 

[alphanumerix1]

Black would be definitely nicer (imo)

 

[captblaze]

N8 looks like a mash up of art deco meets steam punk meets industrial design. I would happily carry this (as long as the sound quality is TOTL), but it would definitely require a quality leather case

 

[seanwee]

N8 looks like a mash up of art deco meets steam punk meets industrial design. I would happily carry this (as long as the sound quality is TOTL), but it would definitely require a quality leather case

Which part is steam punk though?