As stated before very few implementation of ROHM BD34301EKV DAC aside from the whoppingly priced Luxman SACD Player (16500$) as pointed out by Andy in the first post.
On pure spec alone it's a pretty impressive 32bit DAC with 130 dB SNR, 130dB dynamic range and -115dB THD+N so pretty much in the segment of the best in the market (check the full spec sheet) and I trust Cayin on implementation. It's nice to have new options and manufacturers
I bet N8ii is going to be a hallmark in DAPs in terms of SQ.
Exciting!
Just because it's delta/sigma, it doesn't have to be an AKM/ESS clone of some kind, with those stereotypes attached. Burr-brown has D/S chips that sound quite a bit more lifelike and closer to r-2r sound than the big boys do. ymmv
I personally am exited to have another dac "flavor" to chose from.
Maybe it fixes some of the inherent draw backs each of the technologies has, who knows? Specs to drool over AND musicality. We'll see...
Having a baby C9 in your pocket to power all those multi estat releases lately gets me pumped.
Just because it's delta/sigma, it doesn't have to be an AKM/ESS clone of some kind, with those stereotypes attached. Burr-brown has D/S chips that sound quite a bit more lifelike and closer to r-2r sound than the big boys do. ymmv
I personally am exited to have another dac "flavor" to chose from.
Maybe it fixes some of the inherent draw backs each of the technologies has, who knows? Specs to drool over AND musicality. We'll see...
Having a baby C9 in your pocket to power all those multi estat releases lately gets me pumped.
DAC is one thing, implementation is another and Cayin mastery will apply as usual, the raw material is as top spec'ed as any AKM or ESS and I am pretty sure it has been thoroughly vetted by Cayin so not just another DAC I am sure. You don't bet on your flagship DAP when you're Cayin, you know what you're doing
We'll see when I get it how it sounds but I expect great things!
Don't know if these articles have come up before... interesting reviews about the same Rohm chipset. Articles are in Japanese - use your favorite translator.
Proto board from back in 2018 - some interesting comments about general direction aimed by Rohm https://dime.jp/genre/582020/
You bet it is. Flagship daps will always be huge. And since this will have a balanced nutube design, it'll certainly be at least as big as the N8 if not bigger.
You bet it is. Flagship daps will always be huge. And since this will have a balanced nutube design, it'll certainly be at least as big as the N8 if not bigger.
I think your thoughts are misplaced. R2R daps have gained mainstream (if you call Headfi that) popularity in just last year or so (Since Cayin got R01 module and Hiby followed up with RS6)..
Cayin started working on N8ii R&D probably as early as COVID began or even before that (which is already 2 years) and they cannot just in the middle of the project jump to different objectives because R2R is popular. If you need a high end portable R2R DAP (with great driving ability of some of the least sensitive headphones.. Planars in particular), you need to wait for atleast 2 years.. My 2 cents.
Try to be in the shoes of a company that makes products. The planning that goes behind, R&D costs (technology, procurement, design, functionalities) and potential return on investment is something you would not know unless you are working in a company like that.
As a consumer, you have the right to ask, but as a company, they can only develop products which would fit their portfolio and mainstream appeal. Cayin has been pretty successful selling tube products for decades. Cayin N8 was the first ever portable tube DAP and they implemented those learnings into Cayin C9 (which is phenomenal btw with any source). Given Cayin C9's popularity, they are taking those learnings and implementing N8ii (Which I am sure would one of a kind) ...
I also bet that R01 learnings will be heavily utilized in the R&D for next generation R2R DAP which I hope Cayin will develop in next couple of years and it will be awesome.
That's exactly the point. In fact, I have stated in the opening post that we started N8ii project all the back from Q4 2019. The AKM fire on late 2020 had set back our project seriously and we need to changed our product development. This is what I have worte in the opening post:
To be honest, we didn't start the N8ii project with ROHM BD34301EKV. The AKM fire surprised us when are around 80% completed on the original N8ii development. Fortunately some of the R&D work can be adopted into the ROHM implementation, otherwise we couldn't have finalise our ROHM implementation within such a short period.
I spoke with a friend builder about rohm dac. It is just another delta sigma dac. Specs are impressive...right...but just another same dac
Was better from cayin imho in the top dap a r2r dac
Thank you for sharing your concern, but .... is it fair to make up your mind that ROHM DAC is inferior to R-2R before you heard the product in person?
We have listed our main product features on opening post already, that is as transparant as I would before we annouce
but to avoid further confusion, I have edited the thread title to make sure everyone are reminded when they read this thread. Yes, this is what N8ii will be, there is no point to aruge "why vacuum tube" or "why ROHM" at this point. If someone wants R-2R, there are lot of choice out there (well, definitely more choice than ROHM ). If someone don't like vacuum tube, there are lots of solid state choices out there. I can only wish you all the best to locate your next DAP, with your preferred choice of technologies.
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