[milesjunkie]

This is one of the few places people can make their voices heard. With any luck Cayin will take some of the negative comments about the price and bring some of the features into a cheaper model in the future. One that is more in line with what most people can afford. If all you do is gush over this $3000.00 bling thing then it might give the impression we are all okey with. I appreciate high quality sound but there is no reason it has to cost this much to get it. Hopefully Cayin can strap on their R&D caps and make a great sounding much less expensive DAP for those of us without unlimited financial resources.

That is the kind of manufacturer I want to buy from now and in the future. Anyone can make a insanely expensive DAP but the great companies make great sounding DAP's regular people can afford. I am looking forward for example to comparing the N8 to the Shanling M5S to see how much more you really get for 6 x the price and half the battery life.

Cayin already has a player competing at the price point you mention - the N5iiS.

I’m curious whether you take exception to other firms pricing of TOTL (AK, Sony, Lotoo, hifiman) in their forums, or is it just Cayin that draws your ire?

I have no dog in the fight, I won’t buy a player at this price point but am interested as the design tech does tend to filter down.

Is it the idea of Cayin pursuing a “price no object” player that bothers you or the actual price of that player, or both?

 

[Andykong]

Announcement of Cayin N8 firmware v2.0

This is a very special firmware update to n8. After a long authentication process, we finally can support LDAC in both transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) mode. While there is not a lot of Bluetooth headphone supports LDAC right at this moment, all Android 8.1 mobile phone can, theoretically, serve at a LDAC transmitter. In other word, you can stream your Tidal, Qobuz or Spotify from appropriate mobile devices to N8 at Hi-Res (up to 96kHz) and use N8 as a wireless DAD. This is a reliable and convenient route to enjoy your streaming service through your beloved N8 Digital Audio Player.



http://en.cayin.cn/down1/show?id=13561

New Functions and System Optimization

1. Add new duplex LDAC Bluetooth codec, support up to 96kHz in both Tx and Rx mode, maximum transmission rate up to 990kbps.
2. Optimize Key Lock settings screen, user can enable multiple options in one attempt
3. Optimize the volume control interface, the volume can now only be adjusted through sliding action only.
4. Bug Fix: the maximum volume setting is invalid when adjusting volume through touch screen of volume control interface
5. Bug Fix: N8 will occasionally lag behind user control when the player has remained in screen lock mode for a long time
6. Bug Fix: N8 will activate factory reset occasionally and displayed the language selection screen after start up
7. Bug Fix: the pull-down menu can be activated when the player is in screen lock mode
8. Extend the idle time of volume control interface to 3 second, the player will resume to previous screen after the predefined idle time.
9. Extend the maximum indexable entries in Music Library to 20,000.
10. Edit English interface
11. 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.

 

[twister6]

Confirmed! Pairs up with my Galaxy S9 and works as Wireless BT DAC using LDAC protocol streaming/playing audio from my phone.

 

[fish1050]

Аnyone?((((

Which manufacturers don't make uber expensive DAP's?

Shanling is about the only well know DAP maker that doesn't right now. Cayin, Sony, A&K, and several others whose names are meaningless to me as they aren't available in Canada.

All you need is a decent R&D budget, the ability to source high end components and not give a damn about decent battery life. Given the price of these DAP's selling price doesn't seem to be a consideration so go crazy. The hard part is designing an affordable DAP and still producing high quality sound at a given price point.

 

[milesjunkie]

Which manufacturers don't make uber expensive DAP's?

Shanling is about the only well know DAP maker that doesn't right now. Cayin, Sony, A&K, and several others whose names are meaningless to me as they aren't available in Canada.

All you need is a decent R&D budget, the ability to source high end components and not give a damn about decent battery life. Given the price of these DAP's selling price doesn't seem to be a consideration so go crazy. The hard part is designing an affordable DAP and still producing high quality sound at a given price point.

For around the price of the Shanling M5s which seems to be your benchmark for “affordable”, I could name a slew of available players with tremendous sound, from a bunch of manufacturers including the names you’ve mentioned.

So given that they do produce lower priced players with amazing sound, why is it not permissible for the same manufacturers to also produce higher end models? I really don’t see how anyone misses out. At every conceivable price point nowadays, fantastic sound is available.

 

[CayinSupport]

2018 is a special year to Cayin because this is our 25th Anniversary, we have delivered several milestone products that summarized our effort in past three four years. We are fortunate to have customers who take us seriously and valued our contribution. Our highest gratitude and appreciation on this special day – we are so grateful for your support and we are looking forward to a fruitful and exciting 2019, and we hope you'll be there with us. Happy Thanksgiving Day!

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

2018 is a special year to Cayin because this is our 25th Anniversary, we have delivered several milestone products that summarized our effort in past three four years. We are fortunate to have customers who take us seriously and valued our contribution. Our highest gratitude and appreciation on this special day – we are so grateful for your support and we are looking forward to a fruitful and exciting 2019, and we hope you'll be there with us. Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Andy.

 

[WindowsX]

I was busy yesterday and forgot to inform Purist ROM update for firmware 2.0 was also released yesterday too.

http://www.fidelizer-audio.com/cayin-n8-purist-rom-version-2-0-released/

Regards,
Keetakawee

 

[dhc0329]

Can anyone who tried the purist rom on N8 share the opinion?

 

[CayinSupport]

LDAC: Experience your N8 through a wireless Hi-Res connection

(1) Introduction

Bluetooth has always been considered as a convenient but low quality option for audiophiles. The situation was changed dramatically in past few years when new codec such as AAC and aptX gained popularity, and the latest LDAC Bluetooth codec developed by Sony has added fuel to the fire. LDAC allows streaming audio up to 24Bit/96kHz over a Bluetooth connection, and it has made full use of the bandwidth, offering a connection speed up to 990 kbps.
LDAC employs a hybrid coding scheme to squeeze the Hi-Res audio data into the limited bandwidth. It comes with 3 connection modes: quality priority (990 kbps), normal (660 kbps), and connection priority (330 kbps) respectively. The playback quality will be compromised when only lower speed options are feasible (either hardware limitation of environment constraint).
LDAC is a lossy compression codec. At Quality Priority mode, Sony promised CD-quality playback at quality priority mode and from what has been announced, 16Bit/44.1kHz bitstream will be transmitted as-is without any compression.

LDAC is used across a wide range of Sony products, including headphones, speakers, mobile phones, portable player and home theater systems. When Google announced Android O (aka Android 8.0 Oreo) at Mar. 2017, the mobile industry was surprised that Sony has become an Android partner and played a key role to improve the wireless audio capability of Android devices. Among the features enhancements and bug fixes, LDAC will be available as a part of the core Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code, enabling OEMs to support this Sony codec in their Android 0 devices freely.

(2) N8 as wireless DAC (Rx mode)

If you want to listen to your music resource on your Android mobile phone through your N8 DAP, N8 will be connected in Receiver mode (Rx mode) through a pairing process and your mobile phone will take over the operation of the player once the pairing is completed.

1. Turn on the Bluetooth feature on your mobile phone.
2. Turn on the Bluetooth feature of your N8, and click the Bluetooth item on the System Setting menu to enter the Bluetooth control screen
3. Disable HiByLink because HiByLink connection will occupy the Bluetooth connection and stop you from using the LDAC feature.
4. Select “LDAC Quality Priority” mode under the Quality
5. 
   
6. If you cannot see your mobile phone on the Available Device list, scan Bluetooth Device. If you still can’t find the mobile phone after scanning, make sure you have set your mobile phone “discoverable” by other Bluetooth devices
7. Alternatively, you can search for N8 from the Bluetooth control screen of your mobile phone.
8. Click your mobile phone name on the N8 available device list, or click N8 on the mobile phone available device list to activate the pairing
9. When the pairing is completed, LDAC connection becomes available, and N8 will now display the Bluetooth connection screen. N8 will perform as a wireless DAC to your mobile phone from here on.
10. Start playing music on your mobile phone (streaming app such Tidal or locally stored songs from a Music Player app), you should be able to hear it from your N8 now.

(3) N8 as source (Tx Mode)

If you want to listen to your N8 music resource on a LDAC compatible output (Bluetooth speaker or headphone, N8 will be connected in Transmitter mode (Tx mode) through a pairing process. The following instruction assumes you’ll be using a Bluetooth headphone in the pairing process. Please be reminded that the procedure can be slightly different, and you have to consult the manual of your Bluetooth output device for details.

1. Turn on the Bluetooth of your headphone.
2. Turn on the Bluetooth feature of your N8, and click the Bluetooth item on the System Setting menu to enter the Bluetooth control screen
3. Disable HiByLink because HiByLink connection will occupy the Bluetooth connection and stop you from using the LDAC feature.
4. Select “LDAC Quality Priority” mode under the Quality item
5. If you cannot see your headphone on the Available Device list, scan Bluetooth Device.
6. Click the headphone name on the N8 “Available device” list
7. When the pairing is completed, LDAC connection becomes available, depends on the feature of your headphone, it might inform you the status of the LDAC connection through a LED indicator.
8. Start playing music on your N8, and you should be able to hear it from your headphone now.

(4) Additional information on LDAC and related N8 operation

1. Communicating with LDAC requires both transmitting and receiving devices support LDAC at the same time.
2. LDAC is not available to iOS device currently.
3. LDAC offers high quality audio playback at the expense of consuming more power than regular Bluetooth connection,
4. “LDAC Quality Priority” mode is prone to interference. If you experience audio drop of high background noise, please try to move away from routers, phones or RF wireless device or downgrade your connection to Standard mode.
5. LDAC is a lossy compression algorithm, so your N8 will not receive a bit-perfect copy of the music from your mobile phone. In addition, your mobile phone might implemented SRC (Sample Rate Conversion) on the Bluetooth output and always convert the audio output to a specific sampling frequency. That explained why the sampling rate will remain unchanged on your N8 LDAC connection screen when you playback different Hi-Res format on your mobile phone.
6. LDAC employs Bluetooth's Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) technology to squeeze Hi-Res audio data into the 990 kbps connection. EDR is an optional feature in Android system only, so it is possible that some Android 8 device has not implemented the EDR and therefore do not support the LDAC coded. If you are in doubt, please contact your mobile device manufacturer or more details.
7. EDR speeds allows up to 3 Mbps theoretically but in reality, most Android devices can only achieve 1.4 Mbps, with 1 Mbps being recommended as the minimum stable connection. That probably explained why Sony’s LDAC specification selected 990 kbps as the connection speed limit. In other word, new Bluetooth code in near future will not be able to exceed this threshold at 990 kbps
8. Once N8 is connected in Rx mode, the mobile phone become the “Master” and N8 will operate in “Slave” mode, that explained why you cannot manipulate the pull-down menu of N8 from there on. Any menu operation will terminate the Bluetooth connection. For this reason, please setup your N8 to intended settings (e.g., Gain setting, Tube/Solid State output, …) before you engage the LDAC connection.

 

[Decreate]

Can anyone who tried the purist rom on N8 share the opinion?

I gave it a go and quite liked what it did. Seemed to have tightened the bass a bit and things seemed to have sounded a little cleaner. This is from the 3.5mm using the tube amp, can't really compare the 4.4mm as I've pretty much been addicted to the tube amp.

 

[jmills8]

I gave it a go and quite liked what it did. Seemed to have tightened the bass a bit and things seemed to have sounded a little cleaner. This is from the 3.5mm using the tube amp, can't really compare the 4.4mm as I've pretty much been addicted to the tube amp.

You thought the bass was too strong ?

 

[Decreate]

You thought the bass was too strong ?

Not really, just sounded a bit flabby sometimes.

 

[jmills8]

Not really, just sounded a bit flabby sometimes.

On which iem/headphone ? Also what sort of music ?

 

[Decreate]

On which iem/headphone ? Also what sort of music ?

Empire Ears Phantom and metal mostly.