[Andrewteee]

Is MusicTeck the only Cayin dealer in the US?

 

[Andykong]

Just connected the N8ii with the Pegasus via i2s, but there's silence. The Pegasus works fine with the USB B to lighting.
Is there anything I need to activate on the N8ii?

If I remember it right, in Audio Setting, there is an item that specifies Digital Output, and you can select between I2S (IIS) and SPDIF

 

[Andykong]

Is MusicTeck the only Cayin dealer in the US?

For N8ii, MusicTeck is the only US dealer that works with us directly, but I am not 100% sure if MusicTeck has subs-sale to other US retail shop, you have to check with MusicTeck on that.

 

[Tom75]

If I remember it right, in Audio Setting, there is an item that specifies Digital Output, and you can select between I2S (IIS) and SPDIF

Yes. That's what I did.. but it's dead silence..

 

[Andykong]

Yes. That's what I did.. but it's dead silence..

Do you have a USB-C to B cable? Can you try USB Audio to Pegasus so that we can verify the N8ii + Pegasus is working, that will narrow down the problem to i2S connection.

I just checked the review on Headfonics, Marcus stated that he can connect Cayin iDAP-6 to Pegasus in I2S, that means N6ii and N8ii I2S should work with Pegasus.

 

[twister6]

Do you have a USB-C to B cable? Can you try USB Audio to Pegasus so that we can verify the N8ii + Pegasus is working, that will narrow down the problem to i2S connection.

I just checked the review on Headfonics, Marcus stated that he can connect Cayin iDAP-6 to Pegasus in I2S, that means N6ii and N8ii I2S should work with Pegasus.

Out of curiosity, Andy, what kind of cable do you need for I2S connection? That connector looks like one of those mini HDMI connector types. I actually had someone ask me about it, and wasn't sure what the answer. Maybe a link to a recommend cable or two would be great.

 

[Tom75]

Do you have a USB-C to B cable? Can you try USB Audio to Pegasus so that we can verify the N8ii + Pegasus is working, that will narrow down the problem to i2S connection.

I just checked the review on Headfonics, Marcus stated that he can connect Cayin iDAP-6 to Pegasus in I2S, that means N6ii and N8ii I2S should work with Pegasus.

I have a USB C connection from N8ii to the ferrum erco and it works perfectly well. The USB B to lightning with the Pegasus also works well. So, both, the USB C of the N8ii and USB B of the Pegasus seem to be ok.

I used a mini HDMI (N8ii) to HDMI (Pegasus) connection

 

[audionewbi]

I just wanted to express how much I look forward to listening to N8ii each night.

Sonically for me it is flawless. I look forward to upgrading my PC so I can enjoy on the fly DSD512 and 2xDXD.

 

[ECKHUAAA]

Amazing, I really didn't see this coming. Glad I learned a trick to help my users later on.

10+ hrs of constant listening from Seattle to Warsaw. I’m pairing with qdc anole V14 (thanks musicteck for both) and like an earlier commenter listening only to sacd iso extracts. Absolutely amazing…completely black sound floor, amazing detail, brilliant sound. I really feel like - at least for a short time - I’ve reached my audio end-game. Of course I’m waiting for my new wm1zm2 from Woo, so we’ll see

I finally bought 4 SACD-ISO from the link suggested on this thread, downloaded to my laptop and unzip the files copied them to my SanDisk 1TB SD card, put it back in my N8ii ran a scan for music files and started listening OMG this is truly very high fidelity, I believe they sound better than the DSD files I downloaded from nativeDSD and those were very expensive. For the SACD-ISO I paid average about $8 a piece while nativeDSD DSD512f run about $35 each !!!
In the spirit of sharing here are the albums that sounded really great via my Cayin N8ii +ARCTIC Cable INTEGRA + HIFIMAN HE-R10P , Sara K -Play on Words, Sara K -Hell or High Water, Natalie Ensemble's Mahler's 5th Symphony....these were wonderfully delicious recordings....
https://audiophilemusic.io/product/aya-authentic-audio-check-2011-sacd-stockfisch-records/

Thanks to the person who shared this originally

 

[AnalogandDigital]

I finally bought 4 SACD-ISO from the link suggested on this thread, downloaded to my laptop and unzip the files copied them to my SanDisk 1TB SD card, put it back in my N8ii ran a scan for music files and started listening OMG this is truly very high fidelity, I believe they sound better than the DSD files I downloaded from nativeDSD and those were very expensive. For the SACD-ISO I paid average about $8 a piece while nativeDSD DSD512f run about $35 each !!!
In the spirit of sharing here are the albums that sounded really great via my Cayin N8ii +ARCTIC Cable INTEGRA + HIFIMAN HE-R10P , Sara K -Play on Words, Sara K -Hell or High Water, Natalie Ensemble's Mahler's 5th Symphony....these were wonderfully delicious recordings....
https://audiophilemusic.io/product/aya-authentic-audio-check-2011-sacd-stockfisch-records/

Thanks to the person who shared this originally

I have a few tracks from NativeDSD
These sound better you say ... ?

 

[ECKHUAAA]

I have a few tracks from NativeDSD
These sound better you say ... ?

Yes, it may be my selections from nativeDSD but these SACD-ISO sounded better, they come alive more vividly from a cleaner black background, but they seem to have more samplers and fewer complete albums, nativeDSD has a lot more full albums but those guys are really expensive, I have bought over 5 albums from them too!

 

[AnalogandDigital]

Yes, it may be my selections from nativeDSD but these SACD-ISO sounded better, they come alive more vividly from a cleaner black background, but they seem to have more samplers and fewer complete albums, nativeDSD has a lot more full albums but those guys are really expensive, I have bought over 5 albums from them too!

Well need to try them and hear the difference ...

 

[WDitters]

Yes, it may be my selections from nativeDSD but these SACD-ISO sounded better, they come alive more vividly from a cleaner black background, but they seem to have more samplers and fewer complete albums, nativeDSD has a lot more full albums but those guys are really expensive, I have bought over 5 albums from them too!

What about their volume? DSD files typically have lower volume and some music players therefore add +6db gain to them...

 

[WDitters]

Just read @twister6 review.. Awesome.. But it also made me wonder about burn-in... (To the degree that ons believes in burn-in) would a Hybrid device such as the N8ii require burn-in on the Solid State output, on the Tube output or on both?

 

[Auricon]

Maybe the N8ii offers too many options and causing some confusion, I noticed several users asking for the best setting to burn in N8ii, and I have received several PM on this subject, so let me clarify this here.

The best setting to achieve maximum circuit coverge and longest duration per charging cyce is Tube+Class AB + standard P mode + Low Gain + 4.4mm phone out. If you want to burn in N8ii over night, this is the setting that woks effectively, and most likely won't trigger the high temperature protection mechanism if you charge and burn-in at the same time.

If you examine the functional diagram of N8ii, you'll notice:

• no need to burn-in solid state and Vacumme tube timbre seperately. Since the N8ii Timbre circuit is enable/disable Nutube Timbre circuit, when you use balanced nutube, you have used the complete analog circuit already.
• no need to burn in P/P seperately, they are different operaton condition of the same signal path. Standard P mode offer more hours per charge cycle, so this is prefer setting for burn in.
• no need to burn in Class A/AB seperately, they are different operaton condition of the same signal path, Class A will the involve FOUR adjustable resistors additionally but there is very insignificant when compare to the discrete components in the amplificaiton path.

PS.

Both Nutube and discrete components in N8ii headphone amplifier circuit requires more time when compare to regular op-amp circuit, but "so-called" 100 hour burn-in is not a black on white benchmark, your N8ii still sound very sweet before the 100 hours timestamp. Unless you plan to depart with N8ii very soon, otherwise there is no need to perform burn in like there is no tomorrow.

When I recevie my N8ii, I set the maximum charging to 95% and then listen to it at day time like any other DAP. If the DAP drop below 40% before I went to bed, I'll plug in the charger, use the burn-in setting to charge in unattended overnight, and then repeated the listening process the next day (without charging). If the DAP battery is above 40%, I'll just leave it and don't charge it for the night. In addition, I might charge the N8ii during lunch hour or diner time when I need to leave the N8ii alone, please be reminded swallon charge is recommended with Lithium battery.

I didn't count the hours exactly, but I guess my N8ii will gain 15-20 hours when I charge the N8ii unattended for one night plus all the listening in between, so I only performed 5-6 times unattended overnight charging. I set the maximum charge back to 80% and didn't borther with burn in ever since.

Just read @twister6 review.. Awesome.. But it also made me wonder about burn-in... (To the degree that ons believes in burn-in) would a Hybrid device such as the N8ii require burn-in on the Solid State output, on the Tube output or on both?

Andy covered this awhile back. See above.