[aamefford]

Regarding comments on the size - yup, bigger.  Here's how I use mine most of the time.  The longer standard 30 pin cable lets me use the ipod as a wired remote for music selection.  I like this configuration unless I'm actually mobile.
 

 

[FraGGleR]

How much of a gap beneath the player is there when rested on a flat surface?  Could I snake a thin cable underneath it?  I'd like to use the 3.5mm out as a permanently hooked up line out to powered speakers and trying to see if I can do it discreetly enough to not trigger my OCD.

 

[aamefford]

  Well, I'm still up cuz I'm hoping on a plane to LA in a couple hours!!
 
and I just checked Part-Time Audiophile,
they got the review up already!!
 
They're on the East Coast
 
I'm PUMPED to share this with you guys, as I said before - I poured
my heart and soul into this:
 

CEntrance HiFi-M8: An Evolution in Portable Fidelity

 
I can't get enough of it, and it's coming with me on the plane!
That and my Mad Dogs.
 
 
Yours in Sound,
 
Michael Mercer

Micheal, Nice review, and I'm only half way through it (got distracted, and ended up here... Squirrel!).  We hear the M8 the same - wonderful sound.  Portable (almost barely), desktop worthy - hell, it IS my desktop amp.  I sold my iBasso rig the day after I got the M8.  The sound quality of the M8 is in a different league than the iBasso rig was, and the PB2/DB2 stack was darned fine - for a portable.  The M8 doesn't (or shouldn't anyway) come with the "for a portable" qualifier.  I don't have gear on the level of yours, but I had a couple of fairly nice desktop rigs in the past.  I will be the first to admit that audio memory is fleeting, but I do not recall either of my "higher end" rigs besting the HIFI-M8.  This thing really is that good, at least to me.  For the record - they were a Headroom UDA with DPS, and a Cambridge Audio DacMagic paired with a MisterX built Dynalo.  Both very good systems.  I just don't recall them being "better;" though in a side by side they may have been.  Or not.  Especially the Headroom unit.  It was really good, but seemed to be voiced a bit warm on purpose.

 

[aamefford]

  How much of a gap beneath the player is there when rested on a flat surface?  Could I snake a thin cable underneath it?  I'd like to use the 3.5mm out as a permanently hooked up line out to powered speakers and trying to see if I can do it discreetly enough to not trigger my OCD.

Yes, barely.  I'd put little plastic stick-on feet on it.  I leave the rubber bands on it, and they would get in the way of a cable.  I just don't want the case being the contact point to whatever I set it on.  So far, the rubber bands are fine, but I am thinking about putting on some sticky feet.
 
EDIT - looks like it will work:
 

 
That is the Apple issue USB to 30 pin, run underneath.  It works pretty well if it is run between the rubber band and the HIFI-M8.  HIFI-M8 is still pretty nice and solid on the surface.  A thinner cable would be slightly better, and nothing thicker would work well IMHO.

 

[FatmanSize48]

Is anyone using an analogue to digital converter to feed their M8? Or am I better off getting a BH Crack for listening to LPs with my HD800?

 

[aamefford]

Is anyone using an analogue to digital converter to feed their M8? Or am I better off getting a BH Crack for listening to LPs with my HD800?

 
I would not go analog to digital just to use a HIFI-M8 to go back again,  That seems backward.  If you have (or want to purchase) an inexpensive ADC, and own an M8, it might be worth a shot.  I think the better choice would be an amp  for LP's, especially if the cost of the ADC is close to the price of the amp.  Now if you want to start doing needle drops or something, then you have another use for the ADC, and it might make sense.  The HIFI-M8 is a fantastic piece of kit, but if my source material were already analog, I'd get an amp.  The big attraction for the HIFI-M8 is the fact that it is portable/transportable.  You can take fantastic sound wherever you are, even off grid.  Since you can't do that with a turntable, I think you would be better served with a dedicated amp.

 

[mikemercer]

  Micheal, Nice review, and I'm only half way through it (got distracted, and ended up here... Squirrel!).  We hear the M8 the same - wonderful sound.  Portable (almost barely), desktop worthy - hell, it IS my desktop amp.  I sold my iBasso rig the day after I got the M8.  The sound quality of the M8 is in a different league than the iBasso rig was, and the PB2/DB2 stack was darned fine - for a portable.  The M8 doesn't (or shouldn't anyway) come with the "for a portable" qualifier.  I don't have gear on the level of yours, but I had a couple of fairly nice desktop rigs in the past.  I will be the first to admit that audio memory is fleeting, but I do not recall either of my "higher end" rigs besting the HIFI-M8.  This thing really is that good, at least to me.  For the record - they were a Headroom UDA with DPS, and a Cambridge Audio DacMagic paired with a MisterX built Dynalo.  Both very good systems.  I just don't recall them being "better;" though in a side by side they may have been.  Or not.  Especially the Headroom unit.  It was really good, but seemed to be voiced a bit warm on purpose.

 
thanks bro!
Sold your iBasso?!?!
that's a ringin' endorsement itserlf!!

 

[mikemercer]

   
+1 Outstanding Mike!

Thank you!

  great review!

 
THANKS for the kind words
 
I appreciate ALL the support for this amazing product!
Sh--t I'm having FUN

 

[ExpatinJapan]

We had a lil` ol mini meet today in Tokyo.
 
A couple of tables at a cafe full of portable gear, hifiman-901, AK120, tera player, ALO amps, pico slim, vorzuge amp, the entire venturecraft range and others....Lots of universal and custom in ears - the latest Shure, several variations of fitears......an array of cables...and so on.
 
I found my Hifi-M8 held its own against the AK120 fairly well, but the Hifiman-901 nudged it out by a slim margin when used by more revealing in ears.
 
With my ATH-ESW11 (and their limitations as an over the ears and upper mid-fi product) it was a fairly even contest between the three.
 
All in all a satisfying day.

 

[georgelai57]

My M8 and iPod Classic both fell off the bed. No physical damage to both. Just my heart.

 

[hoichi]

My M8 and iPod Classic both fell off the bed.

They're pretty passionate about each other, aren't they?

 

[georgelai57]

 

[wormsdriver]

My M8 and iPod Classic both fell off the bed.   *snip

 
 

  They're pretty passionate about each other, aren't they?

hehehe, good one!

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Heh heh, Hifi-M8 threads are the best threads (and Head-fi community).

 

[wormsdriver]

  We had a lil` ol mini meet today in Tokyo.
 
A couple of tables at a cafe full of portable gear, hifiman-901, AK120, tera player, ALO amps, pico slim, vorzuge amp, the entire venturecraft range and others....Lots of universal and custom in ears - the latest Shure, several variations of fitears......an array of cables...and so on.
 
I found my Hifi-M8 held its own against the AK120 fairly well, but the Hifiman-901 nudged it out by a slim margin when used by more revealing in ears.
 
With my ATH-ESW11 (and their limitations as an over the ears and upper mid-fi product) it was a fairly even contest between the three.
 
All in all a satisfying day.

 
I suspect an "iron-lung modded"  M8 might of faired better with your comrades.