[Doug2507]

But for the sake of discussion, I would like to hear from you (or fellow N8 users): what is the best timing to deliver a N8 successor?

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?

 

[noplsestar]

We'll support N8 for a very long time so you should feel good about that.

The fact is, even when we deliver a N8 successor "eventually", your N8 should sound as good as today: assuming your N8 remains in good operation condition.

But for the sake of discussion, I would like to hear from you (or fellow N8 users): what is the best timing to deliver a N8 successor?

I am not that interested in the timing but how the new flagship will be (or sound) like

What about a stripped down, smaller and lighter N8 with only tube output for less money?

 

[Audiosolace]

I am not that interested in the timing but how the new flagship will be (or sound) like

What about a stripped down, smaller and lighter N8 with only tube output for less money?

This is an interesting proposal - taking the N8 from the 'transportable' to 'portable' category would be welcoming

 

[slumberman]

This is an interesting proposal - taking the N8 from the 'transportable' to 'portable' category would be welcoming

It’s pretty portable In my opinion... I carry mine everywhere my WM1 series goes. A bit heavier but worth it sound wise.

 

[Audiosolace]

It’s pretty portable In my opinion... I carry mine everywhere my WM1 series goes. A bit heavier but worth it sound wise.

It is portable, you are right. I would mean a shift towards a 'lite' and cheaper version in much the same way as the Lotoo PAW 6K is to the Lotoo Paw Gold Touch, would cater to a far reaching audience. Having said that, it is impressive to see how much Cayin have packed in to the relatively small form factor of the Cayin N8!

 

[Doug2507]

Think they've got that but without the tubes... N6ii.

@Andykong off topic, what have you had done with your UE's? Rewire?

 

[Frankie D]

We'll support N8 for a very long time so you should feel good about that.

The fact is, even when we deliver a N8 successor "eventually", your N8 should sound as good as today: assuming your N8 remains in good operation condition.

But for the sake of discussion, I would like to hear from you (or fellow N8 users): what is the best timing to deliver a N8 successor?

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.

 

[jmills8]

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.

So make a 8,000 USD portable dap ?

 

[Nayparm]

N8 successor needs a PEQ, probably the only reason I haven't owned one. If you make it android then I'll be using Neutron

 

[Frankie D]

So make a 8,000 USD portable dap ?

If it could do all I said, yes it could sell for that. I was thinking more like $4k or $5k at the most and then Cayin could also sell the Home Stereo connections for a few bucks more to make it snap in and out in a few seconds. But if it did out perform a 100k dac, yes, $8k would work for me. And have a 10 year life span as I mentioned with S/W updates for functionality. I just think we are at that point of miniaturization and capability.

This window for what I explained might only be open now. As wireless capabilities increase along with their miniaturization all dac functionality will end up in the IEM. But for 10 years ( I am guessing ) that should not be the case. If they could do this, I would be salivating. I cannot afford a Vivaldi. But if Cayin could provide it a new N8, wow!

 

[Andykong]

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.

If it could do all I said, yes it could sell for that. I was thinking more like $4k or $5k at the most and then Cayin could also sell the Home Stereo connections for a few bucks more to make it snap in and out in a few seconds. But if it did out perform a 100k dac, yes, $8k would work for me. And have a 10 year life span as I mentioned with S/W updates for functionality. I just think we are at that point of miniaturization and capability.

This window for what I explained might only be open now. As wireless capabilities increase along with their miniaturization all dac functionality will end up in the IEM. But for 10 years ( I am guessing ) that should not be the case. If they could do this, I would be salivating. I cannot afford a Vivaldi. But if Cayin could provide it a new N8, wow!

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.

 

[Whitigir]

It’s pretty portable In my opinion... I carry mine everywhere my WM1 series goes. A bit heavier but worth it sound wise.

Did you get your 1AEM yet ?

 

[Andykong]

N8 successor needs a PEQ, probably the only reason I haven't owned one. If you make it android then I'll be using Neutron

Very good suggestion. I was under the impression that lack of streaming support is the deal breaker for a lot of headfier, I know PEQ is cool, but have not come to my mind that this is a deal breaker for a TOTL DAP. Will bear that in mind, thanks.

 

[Doug2507]

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...?

 

[Andykong]

I am not that interested in the timing but how the new flagship will be (or sound) like

What about a stripped down, smaller and lighter N8 with only tube output for less money?

This is an interesting proposal - taking the N8 from the 'transportable' to 'portable' category would be welcoming

It is portable, you are right. I would mean a shift towards a 'lite' and cheaper version in much the same way as the Lotoo PAW 6K is to the Lotoo Paw Gold Touch, would cater to a far reaching audience. Having said that, it is impressive to see how much Cayin have packed in to the relatively small form factor of the Cayin N8!

Think they've got that but without the tubes... N6ii.

@Andykong off topic, what have you had done with your UE's? Rewire?

The problem is, if Cayin were to develop a lite version of N8, I mean IF, a BIG if, in order to make is smaller and cheaper, the first thing we need to do is to remove the Nutube. Nutube is the most expensive, biggest, and most power consuming component in N8, if we didn't remove Nutube from the design, we can't reduce the width, we can't reduce the capacity of the battery, and there isn't a lot of room to reduce the length because Nutube has to sit below the screen, not behind it. Take a look at DX220 with Nutube, that's single-ended only, is it significantly smaller than N8 in terms of width and length?

The second most expensive component is the MUSE02 in LPF. We didn't really advertise it as a selling point but this is actually a very expensive components when compare to its replacement OPA1642 in N6ii.

The second most effective option to lower the cost of the DAP is NOT to reduce features like balanced headphone output but to increase the target sales volume. For example, if we increase the total product production from 1000 to 10,000, we can lower the price of material significantly because of quantity discount, the saving might be more substantial then cutting the balanced amplification features already. On the other hand, when we spread the cost of R&D overhead to the project, 1000 unit vs 10,000 units makes a lot of different too. So how can we increase the target sales volume? The golden rule is: Add More Features.

So remove Nubute and MUS02, add more features, class leading 3.5mm performance, ..... @Doug2507 is right, that is N6ii with E01.

PS. I didn't rewired my UERM (the Reference Monitor, not the Reference Remaster), I only change back to the original cable. the aftermarket cables sounds better but the 2-pins connector on the original cable provides a more secured connection.