Oh boy a lot of discussion on N8ii the past 48 hours. This is awesome.
I tried it for like 2 hours at Zep when it arrived earlier last week. When I tried it it was just unboxed, and only run in for a few hours, not fully burn in. I'm not good at explaning, but N8ii doesn't sound like C9. I would also say that N8ii SS mode doesn't sound as good/detail as SP2000. And I don't think it beats SP2000+C9 sound to me, but that's my preference. But if you take into account the size, portability, the flexibility, and the variety of options (P/P+, A or A/B, Tube vs SS), I think it's an amazing DAP.
I will probably go in to Zep again soon to try it after it's been run in a bit this past week. It is an excellent DAP imo.
In regards to Tube sound, it definitely sound tubey to me. If you switch between Tube or SS mode, you hear it immediately. I don't think it can be missed. Maybe not as tubey as N8, may not even be as tubey as C9, but variety is better no? This way N8ii doesn't replace SP2000+C9 (or gets ignored by those that already have SP2000+C9) but rather becomes another option, and a strong candidate at that. I have been looking for a DAP that can match/surpass my SP2000+C9, and several has come close in term of sound, (and far surpass it in other areas like streaming, UX, connectivity, etc.), N8ii is probably the closest to beating my love for SP2000+C9 combo, although I have yet to try piping N8ii through C9 yet to see if that create different magic. (I haven't tried Lotoo or L&P stuff though.)