[dhc0329]

I just purchased Vanuys VD958 bag from zenmarket.jp. Looks like Zenmarket does the proxy buy for us consumers who want
buy the stuffs only sold in JP. It does make N8 bulkier but I could try out the neck strap.

 

[Frankie D]

Just arrive home and took a shower. my flight was delayed for 9 hours, so I arrived home at 5:30am, still debating whether I should get some sleep or just stay up to adjust jet lag.

The Vannuys bag is kind of like a mini carrying bag for N8, its beautiful and versatile, but kind of big because it takes N8 with its originsl carrying case together. The problem is Vannuys don't ship outside Japan and their international dealer network is limited to Singapore and Hong Kong, so getting it is kind of not a straight forward task.

The Dignis case is cleverly designed with first class workmanship. We received this sample two days before Canjam so I guess itlli be available in 4-6 weeks time. It's retail price is around US$200 but let's wait for Dignis announcement to be sure.

We don't have any plan to add streaming capability to N8. We decided to devote the resource to implement LDAC up to 24/96 instead. We are not confident that we can deliver a TOTL streaming experience on N8 hardware platform no matter how hard we tried. Let's put it this way, if we are struggling with streaming implement on Android-based DAP, we better think twice when we evaluate the risk of developing streaming capability of N8. From functional point of view, Hi-Res Wireless (Bluetooth) DAC combines both decent streaming quality and user exp, so please give LDAC a try if you want to listen to streaming music on N8.

Andy, I thought I read in the reviews that LDAC does not work on the iPhones (I have iPhone XS Max). My iPhone does support Blue Tooth 5 which supports a bandwidth up to 2tb (so roughly double LDAC). Do you have plans to support BT 5 and the iPhone so that it can then be used as the streaming device?

Streaming on the N8 would still be better because then I could use it even when on the go as my phone can be the hotspot and I could stream in full quality. MQA would be another feature that should be included in a 3300.00 DAP. Will you support MQA in the future? Thank you for your responsiveness.

 

[jmills8]

Hello, I bought my N8 in 2008 after demoing most of the top daps. My main focus was sound. This wasnt my first round of searching for "the dap", way back in 2006, I bought what was back then the top dap. I bought: Cowon, iAudio, Creative, Colorfly, Hifiman, and an Apple player. Then bought the iBasso DX100 , another Cowon , the the newer upgraded A&K daps like the 100 , 120 , and so on. Well since buying the N8 I bought daps that I demoed months before inorder to make sure Ill still like the N8. I bought a new A&K, a 3,000 USD dap, a new Colorfly dap, a new Cowon dap, a new dap that can play music from the internet etc. Well I ended up selling most of them. Why did I sell them ? Cause the N8 still sounds better to me. The N8 sounds better at home where its quiet and sounds great outside where its crowded and very loud. Interesting that I noticed many of the top daps do sounds great when the enviroment is quiet but stop sounding great when the enviroment gets noisy. I am curious if Cayin could make a top portable amp ? Im using headphones and I do enjoy using a portable amp.

 

[Frankie D]

Hello, I bought my N8 in 2008 after demoing most of the top daps. My main focus was sound. This wasnt my first round of searching for "the dap", way back in 2006, I bought what was back then the top dap. I bought: Cowon, iAudio, Creative, Colorfly, Hifiman, and an Apple player. Then bought the iBasso DX100 , another Cowon , the the newer upgraded A&K daps like the 100 , 120 , and so on. Well since buying the N8 I bought daps that I demoed months before inorder to make sure Ill still like the N8. I bought a new A&K, a 3,000 USD dap, a new Colorfly dap, a new Cowon dap, a new dap that can play music from the internet etc. Well I ended up selling most of them. Why did I sell them ? Cause the N8 still sounds better to me. The N8 sounds better at home where its quiet and sounds great outside where its crowded and very loud. Interesting that I noticed many of the top daps do sounds great when the enviroment is quiet but stop sounding great when the enviroment gets noisy. I am curious if Cayin could make a top portable amp ? Im using headphones and I do enjoy using a portable amp.

You meant that you bought the N8 in 2018, correct? Tks.

 

[jmills8]

You meant that you bought the N8 in 2018, correct? Tks.

Yes

 

[Dobrescu George]

Text version of my review: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/cayin-n8-dap.23470/reviews#review-21631​

Very nice review!

 

[Frankie D]

A question for Andy. Will the N8 support Blue Tooth 5 in the future and if so, is there a timeframe? Tks.

 

[CayinSupport]

A question for Andy. Will the N8 support Blue Tooth 5 in the future and if so, is there a timeframe? Tks.

Base on the limitations of RF chips，N8 will not support BT5.0.

 

[AnakChan]

Time to put a 1TB microSD in this awesome DAP!

https://twitter.com/pc_watch/status/1099962724442763264?s=21

 

[jmills8]

Time to put a 1TB microSD in this awesome DAP!

https://twitter.com/pc_watch/status/1099962724442763264?s=21

Will it work with that many folders and files ? 512 gigs working perfectly.

 

[Kiats]

Time to put a 1TB microSD in this awesome DAP!

https://twitter.com/pc_watch/status/1099962724442763264?s=21

Woah! So much music....

 

[Andykong]

Announcement of Cayin N8 firmware v2.2

We have received a lot of suggestion to the default background image after the v2.1 firmware, someone wants it black and simple, and someone want a bright sunny feel to light up their day, so we decided to make this user-definable. Here we go!

Firmware explained: https://en.cayin.cn/down1/show?id=13568

If you are familiar with N8 firmware update procedure, you can download the package from Google Drive here

OTA update will start tomorrow.

New Functions and System Optimization

1. Add new feature to enable user-defined background image. The new firmware will create a folder called “Picture” under Internal Storage. Users can store up to six photos as candidate of background image in this folder. These photos must be smaller than 1024x1024 in BMP, PNG or JPG forma, and they must be named as pic1, pic2, pic3, … pic6 respectively. The “Background image” setting is available under System setting menu and there are two options available: Default and Custom. When Default is selected, N8 will display the system default background image when no album art is detected during playback. When custom is selected, N8 will pop up the Background Image picture list, and user can choose one of the picture in the list as user-defined background image, N8 will display this photo when no album art is detected during playback.
2. Modify Multi-color smart glowing LED (at Home button) to indicate sampling rate during playback at Single-end Vacuum Tube amplification.
3. Modify UI layout, relocate “Replay Gain” to Music Setting menu, and add “Bluetooth” control (click to turn on or off, press and hold to activate Bluetooth setup menu) to the Pulldown menu.
4. Bug fixed: click at the empty space of pull down menu underneath “About” will activate System setting or Music Setting.
5. Other Bug fix and optimizations

Firmware upgrades procedure

Cayin will release firmware upgrade to enhance and optimize N8 as deem required, the new firmware can be acquired through OTA or manual download, since the content of these firmware are identical, you can select whichever upgrade option that fit your needs.

Please make sure the device has sufficient battery power before you proceed. Please confirm the device has not less than 50% battery power; otherwise please charge up the player before you proceed to firmware upgrade.

Option 1: Local Upgrade Procedures

1. Download the latest firmware upgrade package from Cayin website (www.cayin.cn). We have provided two download links, you can either download the package from our website or through our Google Drive.
2. You should receive a compressed document N8 firmware XXXX.zip, decompress the zip file and extract the N8 firmware file (u8.upt)
3. Copy N8 firmware file into the root directory of N8 internal memory or TF card, insert the TF card into N8 before you proceed to next step.
4. Select System upgrade from System Setup menu, when prompted by the system, select “update via micro SD card”. You will be asked to confirm your selection, select OK to proceed.
5. The system will start the firmware upgrade immediately, you can monitor the process through the Updater progress bar.
6. The player will reboot into main menu when the firmware upgrade is completed. Please verify the firmware version number which is displayed under “About” option of pull down menu.

Option 2: OTA Upgrade Procedure

1. Connect N8 to an Internet ready WiFi connection
2. Make sure your N8 internal memory has at least 100MB available storage
3. Select System upgrade from System Setup menu, when prompted by the system, select “OTA upgrade”. The player will detect if there is a new firmware available.
4. If a new firmware is available, the player will display “Found new firmware XXX” at the top of the screen, select Download to proceed.
5. At the end of the download process, the system will prompt you to confirm “Update firmware now?” Selecting “OK ” to proceed.
6. The system will start the firmware upgrade immediately, you can monitor the process through the Updater progress bar.
7. The player will reboot into main menu when the firmware upgrade is completed. Please verify the firmware version number which is displayed under “About” option of pull down menu.

Attention

• N8 can support FAT/FAT32/exFAT/NTFS formatted TF card during the firmware upgrade process.
• Do not operate the machine during firmware upgrade
• Please delete/remove the firmware file from the TF card after firmware upgrade
• Please scan your Music Library again after firmware upgrade
• If N8 is in charging status, the player will not reboot to main menu after firmware upgrade. It will stop at the battery charging page, you need to disconnect the USB charger to complete the firmware upgrade process.

 

[Andykong]

At CanJam I saw a case for it made by Dignis. It covered the whole unit, had slits in the back for cooling they looked cool, and it even covered the buttons, yet allowed them to be operated. It looked beautiful. I do not know the the price and I do not see it on the Dignis website. I sent them a question. You may want to look into this case.

We provide a set of dummy chassis to Dignis when they develop this protective case, I must say we are all very impressed, Dignis has developed a set of metal guard based specifically for N8, this will protect the two round dials from mis-operated when put into backpack. Only black will be available initially but they are considering other colour option. I believe the retail price will be around US$200 and expected launch date is early April 2019. Please check out Dignis website for confirmed date and price.

 

[Andykong]

Has anyone tried this with the CA Solaris? Any issues with Hiss at all?

By the way, I have the honor to borrow the CA Solaris from Ken during the CanJam NYC. I tested it with N8 and find them not only sound amazing good as a pair, but also extremely quiet (at Low Gain, P mode, 3.5 Tube). I tried this on Sunday morning when our Private room is very quiet. To be honest, I was skeptical about this as well because the Andromeda is not only one of our reference IEM, we use it as THE hissing detector on all our IEM related products, I am glad that N8 can pass the hissing test again.

 

[Andykong]

A bit of N8 and Dita Bumblebee magick.

N8 notes: No hiss, super clarity, resolving, reference sound and smooth without warmth.

well, I received the demo on 16th afternoon, the first day of CanJam NYC, like it so much that I am begging Shirley from Dita to find me a pair for my personal collection. I think the P71 has sold our in many countries already, my dealer friend in Hong Kong told me that they only received 10 sets and they have quite a long waiting list already, so I hope I'll get my pair at CanJam Singapore, finger crossed.