[blotmouse]

Even though its not r-2r, I am super-excited about it. It isn't the typical standard off the shelf fare.

 

[PACSman]

I hope we can stop here because:

• Choice of MCU is finalised at the very early stage of project development. Given the N8ii takes 2 years to complete R&D, this is a done deal at 12-18 month ago, We can't afford to change the MCU three month before product launch, or even 6 month before launch. Nobody can afford that.
• Please don't suggest as if we have freedom of choice but we denied because we want to cut cost or minimize work load. If you have experienced to approach Snapdragon or Samsung as a "new" customer and convince them DAP is an option that should consider, you'll know what I mean. The semi-conductor industry has a very tight entry barrier, we can only conduct business through sub-vendors, and availability of MCU to sub-vendors is a down-stream business model.
• Between sub-vendor and manufacturer such as Cayin, we have another layer of "solution provider". This is how we deliver important customisation such as DTA (Direct Transport Audi that allow us to bypass Android SRC with all third party applications), or to perform necessary DSP/DDA between MCU and DAC chipset, to enhance digital audio quality before decoding. The size of DAP industry is not attractive to Snapdragon and Samsung, they won't provide a solution to us. In fact, they don't even want to provide support to our solution provider directly, definitely not on the current models at the time of our development.
• Semiconductor business didn't look at the unit price of your product as a consider for business opportunity. They prefer lowend / lowbudget devices with a large quantity than high-end device with a low quantity. If they want to pick a client between a $99 budget mobile device with 10 million units over complete product life-time vs $1000 "high-end" device with 50K units over complete product life time, their preference is very straight forward.
• I believe Whitigir was making a joke with me only. For example, the One Plus 7T was announced all the way back in 2019 and the price was $599, but he use EOL discounted price of One Plus 7T to compare with SRP at time of launch of N8. He also 100K minimum quantity as a comparison benchmark, not the actual sales volume. Are we sure One Plus will commit to such a project if they can only sell 100K units, at $399 each? We have been teasing each other in many posts previously and had a lot of fun, so please don't take his conclusion seriously and develop more theory over that.

So lets leave this topic and continue to enjoy our music.

Andy, thank you for your poise and grace. I'm not interested in the OS, hardware, or the economics of sourcing parts. My perspective derives from my employment: if I start trying to tell other people how to run their business, things go down-hill immediately. Thank you for keeping things on the high road.

I'm excited about the new N8ii. I'm mostly interested in hearing great music detail. Network capability is what put me into an N6ii E02 (followed by the R01). I stream from my music server and roam my home-space all day long smiling. Onboard storage is great for when I'm traveling.

The N8ii will likely raise the bar for sound quality. I look forward to more information when it is ready. Reviews that focus on the sound quality and matching with various earphones and headphones will also be of interest to me.

Bottom line, keep up the great work!!

 

[Rozeqloud]

Great, just when i am researching a new big screen tv this announcement is made LOL

No way I can afford both

I personally think the N8 sounds perfect, and I am chuffed as heck to even imagine what the next level may be in sound

My only beef with n8, or things I would it would be, and I hope to see in N8ii

1. Dual micro/SD slots & larger local onboard storage

2. A much better search function. The search function is underwhelming on N8

3.I would love to add random tracks from random folders to the queue that is now playing and even organize the order of them

Numbers 2 & 3 seem possible even on the N8,so I cannot suss why we do not already have those?

i would imagine with android on N8ii those will be available?

@Andykong

Are any of these going to be available on N8ii?

PS I also noticed that scan music on N8 does not seem to scan/catalog the TF card or OTG

Is that so?

Cheers

 

[MarkParity]

Great, just when i am researching a new big screen tv this announcement is made LOL

No way I can afford both

I personally think the N8 sounds perfect, and I am chuffed as heck to even imagine what the next level may be in sound

My only beef with n8, or things I would it would be, and I hope to see in N8ii

1. Dual micro/SD slots & larger local onboard storage

2. A much better search function. The search function is underwhelming on N8

3.I would love to add random tracks from random folders to the queue that is now playing and even organize the order of them

Numbers 2 & 3 seem possible even on the N8,so I cannot suss why we do not already have those?

i would imagine with android on N8ii those will be available?

@Andykong

Are any of these going to be available on N8ii?

PS I also noticed that scan music on N8 does not seem to scan/catalog the TF card or OTG

Is that so?

Cheers

I know Andy would agree with me here too, get the big screen TV. If you have the N8 already you already have great sound in a portable player, near the pinnacle of what is achievable in a portable device. Stick with the N8 and enjoy your music instead of pursuing the last 1%.

 

[Hooga]

So lets leave this topic and continue to enjoy our music.

Topic surely closed for my part, thank you very much for then openness and integrity with which you exposed the situation.

Cheers
Alberto

 

[Rozeqloud]

I know Andy would agree with me here too, get the big screen TV. If you have the N8 already you already have great sound in a portable player, near the pinnacle of what is achievable in a portable device. Stick with the N8 and enjoy your music instead of pursuing the last 1%.

There is some wise advice

Cheers

 

[kleimart]

I know Andy would agree with me here too, get the big screen TV. If you have the N8 already you already have great sound in a portable player, near the pinnacle of what is achievable in a portable device. Stick with the N8 and enjoy your music instead of pursuing the last 1%.

I agree, too!

 

[SHOOTINGTECHIE]

@Andykong I am happy with N8ii as long its fast as 2year back old phones, great battery life and please don't forget to make it modular like N6ii and yes if possible removable batteries so I can just change it on the go if i want (minor requirement)..
Wonderful work as always and as @Skullar jokingly mentioned "Don't change from 1000$ "

 

[Whitigir]

LOL! I love you guys! Anyways, I am super excited to see Cayin next flagship. Regardless of MCU or DAC of choice, Cayin had proven to keep the flagship products for a solid few years, and also the performances to stay with it. It is amazing how N8 was the first with Korg tubes, and now someone else is following, but Cayin has it done again, except this time with Dual tubes!!

 

[Sigurhead]

reading you can appreciate the multiple needs of users, even some fall into the absurd hahahaha. Do your best and make it spectacular. Patience @Andykong

 

[kleimart]

I'm so excited to see Cayin suprising us again. The hardware doesn't matter...it's the symphony of implementation what makes the difference!

 

[brams]

I've had a great experience with Cayin product. I bought their CS-55a integrated on impulse a few years ago and was surprised at how good it is. Both the dac and headphone sections were much better than I expected and with tube rolling you can make it scale way beyond the stock tubes. I recommended to someone on another thread that they try it with an ifi Audio iESL to basically allow powering any headphone type and they were amazed at the performance and utility.

I've never tried any of their DAPs but would certainly love to do so.

 

[audionewbi]

Maybe N8ii

 

[Andykong]

We have completed N8ii trial production yesterday. We shall proceed to internal audit immediately. Some of the trail production units will be used for various license and safety regulation approval process.

I have added a N8ii rendering photo to the opening page already, but I guess you don't mind if I repeat the photo here.

 

[aaf evo]

Ugh, its beautiful.

Am I asking for too much if you have any dimensions or weight for us?