So this is what we are doing right now. When R&D finalized their circuit design, supply chain will place order for the components and engineers will start to transfer the design to production, the process will take 2 months but the N8 is so complicated and involve a lot of new design and implementation, we expect the process will take a little bit longer then our average practice. We need to go through the finest details and optimize the design before we mass production.
Take the Nutube installation as example, we have to minimize the microphonics effect which is a common issue in tube amplification, It doesn't necessarily be an expensive procedure, but the implication to sound performance is noticeable. As you can see in these photos, Cayin didn't solved the problem by using expensive components, we rely on our know how and experience. The solutions probably looks boring or even disgusting to some, but it works effectively.
Another important optimization is to clean up the circuit layout, get rids of the ground loops and isolate the circuit into layers properly. We have issued a new PCB layout earlier this week, and hopefully the revised N8 engineering samples will just in time for the Toyko Portable Audio Festival (14-15 July 2018) and CanJam London (21-22 July 2018), so if you will attend one of these shows, please drop by Cayin booth and check out our N8 DAP.