[Frankie D]

For discussion sake, can Chord build a portable DAC/Amp that is the equal or superior to their Dave? They have the Dave technologies on hand, industrial design for portable DAC/Amp like Hugo and Mojo, and world wide sales channel to support the product world-wide, so why don't they do that? Theoretically the Mojo+Poly is very close to a DAP in terms of form factor and features (not sure if you can accept its UI and method of operation), or the latest Hugo2+2Go? That is the latest Chord portable technologies, in the size and form factor of a super DAP. So how close is these when compare to the DAVE in terms of DAC technologies?

If someone can squeeze all the processing power, UI and performance of a Mac Pro into the format of an iPhone, how much would that cost? Half the price of Mac Pro? or double the price of Mac Pro? Can the TOTL mobile phone handle "mild' 3D games such as Final Fantasy XV or Crysis 3? If you compare the processing power of TOTL mobile phone vs notebook computer with comparable processing power, we should all realise that the cost of miniature is very high. From what I observed, if someone can squeeze the processing power of a $1000 notebook computer into a mobile phone, the phone will definitely sell for $2000 instead of $500.

As I said, if it were possible.

You could also make it a bit different. In home audio the power supply has a huge affect on the sound of the device you are listening to. What if you made the N8 successor as good as it can be in portable mode, and when attached to its cradle for home stereo duty a far superior outboard power supply is also engaged to get the most out of it. Anyway, just a thought.

 

[slumberman]

Did you get your 1AEM yet ?

unfortunately there were issues and when I sent it back to fix it it got lost in the mail. Still MIA. hopefully it'll come back.

 

[noplsestar]

The GUI is the big one. Cayin needs to get this to the quality of an iPhone in terms of the screen itself, interface, etc. For Sound Quality, can we take a next step? Would it be possible to use the DCS dac or a Cayin custom DAC instead of the DAC chips anyone else can implement. What I mean is can Cayin literally build an N8 that is the equal or superior to the DCS Vivaldi or at least the Bartok. I realize this would be game changing, but that would be awesome. Then have a snap in home interface and one could use the N8 for home stereo as well as mobile and have the best there is. This type of setup would also allow for S/W updates and potentially provide a lifespan of 10 years which is what DCS did with the Vivaldi. It would need to be very powerful so that it could stream on its own as well. This may be wishful thinking, but if something with better sound quality than the DCS can be done in this manner, your market would also open up to the home HiFi enthusiast vs just headphones and IEM’s. Obviously I also mean the amp section would have to be as good as the Bartok, or better, as well. The N8 would now cost more, but would be an awesome value as it is replacing items the DCS will charge 100k for today. Even the Bartok alone is $15k.

This Might be wishful thinking, but if it were possible, you would own the high end. Tks.

This is wishful thinking indeed. How would a small DAP outperform the DCS and Bartok for a few k? Dream on ...

 

[Doug2507]

N8 has gained lots of respect as being one of the main players, if not THE main player. N6ii in its own right must be taking a fair chunk of the market. I think you've probably built a strong customer base with these two products that you'll have higher sales on whatever is next.

The most off-putting thing without a doubt on the N8 is the GUI. Everyone's on a smart phone these days, everyone's used to android, apps etc etc. That has to be the No.1 thing against getting an N8. Luckily for me, I'll put up with the clunky interface in trade for the sq but if N8 was 500 quid more with android and maybe slightly improved amplification or higher spec DAC, I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

An N8 lite might be a nice to have but n6ii is it without tubes. Replacement N8 is flagship and should have all the bells and whistles with some innovation thrown into the design rather than just changing to the latest and greatest DAC. You've already done that with E01/E02.....

And no, I wouldn't personally pay for an 8k dap. If you can afford 10k on a DAP, you can afford a good desktop DAC AND a DAP.

 

[Andykong]

Whenever you can improve sq along side an improved GUI. Just being able to tap a letter on the right side of the artist/album/song list would be greatly welcomed instead of scrolling through it all! SQ you've pretty much nailed it, any improvement would be cranking the volume up to 11. Maybe change tubes for class A if chassis size allowed?

Whatever it would be, I'll be in the que for one.

Sorely tempted to send mine off to Romi for modding now things are starting to relax for shipping, purely for the curiosity if they'll eek every last drop out of my Ra's. Anyone here running a romi N8?

Thank you for your support and trust to Cayin, it is important to have users "waiting" for us, this is the biggest motivation to our Engineer and Managers.

The GUI is bottlenecked by the processing power of MCU Ingenic X1000, we have to wait for next generation product if we want a major upgrade on GUI. There are many options on audio improvement, but if we want to provide an upgrade on N8 rather then small improvement, that certainly involve time and innovations, and maybe requires user acceptance of chassis size and weight.

 

[Andykong]

I think another couple of years. People get annoyed that AK have be flagships every other year while Sony has had the wm1z as a flagship for many years. Also, with Covid 19 I think it’s going to take a while for people to have enough money to buy a flag ship. To be honest the n8 still sounds better than the others (I own Sp2k, wm1z, lpgt, n8 and N6ii). The only thing thing can be improved is the ui. Btw the N6ii with e02 gets close to the n8 but the n8 is still better.

Base on your DAP collection, I assume you are a very happy Cayin customer.

So when a brand roll out a new flagship every other year, customer get annoyed. When a brand didn't roll out any new flagship for many years (wm1z was Sept 2016?), new buyers will keep asking whether it worths to purchase a 4 years old DAP and worry that a new model will launch very soon, which means sales will slow down inevitably.

So either way, they brand is wrong.

 

[gazzington]

Base on your DAP collection, I assume you are a very happy Cayin customer.

So when a brand roll out a new flagship every other year, customer get annoyed. When a brand didn't roll out any new flagship for many years (wm1z was Sept 2016?), new buyers will keep asking whether it worths to purchase a 4 years old DAP and worry that a new model will launch very soon, which means sales will slow down inevitably.

So either way, they brand is wrong.

Yes I'm a very happy cayin customer. I started with the n3 and then the n5ii (under rated) before getting the ones I have now. I think its fine to release new daps in the up to £1000 regularly but the £2500 daps should be totl for a few years.

 

[Andykong]

That's one of the pros for N8, being able to pair your phone. Obviously res restricted but still good. The eq blows though. More freq adjustment and a baseline of the built in eq would be nice. Should be possible with a fw update...?

More freq adjustment and more pre-set EQ options is technically feasible, but we didn't receive any request along this line so far, The most frequently challenged issue about EQ in N8 is the res restriction and this is again limitation of the MCU, the resampling work will require too much processing power.

 

[Andykong]

N8 has gained lots of respect as being one of the main players, if not THE main player. N6ii in its own right must be taking a fair chunk of the market. I think you've probably built a strong customer base with these two products that you'll have higher sales on whatever is next.

The most off-putting thing without a doubt on the N8 is the GUI. Everyone's on a smart phone these days, everyone's used to android, apps etc etc. That has to be the No.1 thing against getting an N8. Luckily for me, I'll put up with the clunky interface in trade for the sq but if N8 was 500 quid more with android and maybe slightly improved amplification or higher spec DAC, I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

An N8 lite might be a nice to have but n6ii is it without tubes. Replacement N8 is flagship and should have all the bells and whistles with some innovation thrown into the design rather than just changing to the latest and greatest DAC. You've already done that with E01/E02.....

And no, I wouldn't personally pay for an 8k dap. If you can afford 10k on a DAP, you can afford a good desktop DAC AND a DAP.

Very well put and fair arguments. If someone want to try out new DAC chipset, our N6ii is a very ideal platform. The problem is, I don't have any excuse to develop a N6iii proposal.

8K DAP is not that as far away as you can imagine. the LP6 Ti is around $6000,

 

[Frankie D]

Base on your DAP collection, I assume you are a very happy Cayin customer.

So when a brand roll out a new flagship every other year, customer get annoyed. When a brand didn't roll out any new flagship for many years (wm1z was Sept 2016?), new buyers will keep asking whether it worths to purchase a 4 years old DAP and worry that a new model will launch very soon, which means sales will slow down inevitably.

So either way, they brand is wrong.

Unless you can come up with a way to build in upgrade ability. Software/microcode downloads to add function and sound quality. Maybe even the ability to upgrade the horsepower. The hardware swap out would have a cost associated with it and it would keep the device current allowing Cayin to always be able to sell their latest improvement when it is fully tested.

 

[Frankie D]

This is wishful thinking indeed. How would a small DAP outperform the DCS and Bartok for a few k? Dream on ...

Yes, I had said that earlier on, but why not try? What if the N8 contained all the horsepower needed but could not match the home systems due to power supply and maybe another outboard upsampling system ( just making up some things for purposes of discussion). The N8 could be made to be the best for mobility and then plug into the home base which integrated the large power supply and more advanced upsampling. These would also be separate cost items. So a modular approach to building the best DAC which also contains a DAP you can pop out to take on the road. I was just trying to think out of the box and see if Cayin can be inspired and have an even better idea.

 

[choisan]

is there a new firmware available? i just noticed my player was updating after i switched it on

 

[Andykong]

is there a new firmware available? i just noticed my player was updating after i switched it on

No, we didn't have any N8 firmware online recently, what version of firmware are you using on your N8?

 

[Doug2507]

is there a new firmware available? i just noticed my player was updating after i switched it on

Should be on 3.0....

 

[Andykong]

Should be on 3.0....

We didn't have any N8 firmware after v3.0, so that should be a false alarm.