[finepics]

So, M8 landed last night and I’ve spent the day getting to know it and trying it with a few IEM’s. I have to say, this is a fantastic sounding DAP and pairs up incredible well with most of the IEM’s I’ve tried so far.

Starting off with the Campfire Andromeda MW10, I can comfortably say that this is the best DAP I’ve ever heard with an Andromeda, period. Firstly, there is zero hiss, so it passes the main big hurdle when it comes to driving an Andromeda lol. Secondly, the bass. If you think an Andromeda can’t do good bass, well, you’ve obviously never heard it with an M8! I am hearing a fantastic sub bass leaning bass response with fast and clean mid-bass hits that are fully satisfying my inner basshead desires. The black background is helping the Andromeda show off it’s technical chops and imaging capabilities in all their glory. As usual with Andromeda, there’s loads of treble sparkle and air. Mids sound lush, full and detailed. If you own an Andromeda MW10, do yourself a favour and pick up an M8. You won’t be disappointed.

Moving to the Vision Ears Elysium, and now I fully understand why @Rockwell75 has been harping on about this pair up for the last few months. There is definitely some magic going on here. Like the Andromeda, the elevated bass response from M8 works wonders for Ely and I would be genuinely surprised if anyone thought Ely was bass light if they heard it driven with an M8. Now, I’ve heard Ely with even heavier bass from my Sony DMP-Z1, however the M8 is very close and I think in an overall sense, it sounds better with M8 than DMP-Z1. The added thickness and warmth in the mids from M8 brings out all that emotion that Ely is made to reproduce, and there’s enough treble excitement to keep the balance in check.

When I switched from MW10 to Ely, I thought it wouldn’t get better than this. But then I plugged in the Erlkonig, and hot damn, this M8 is now operating on a whole new level. The Erlkonig and M8 pair up is quite possibly one of the best synergies I’ve experienced in this hobby. I’ve mentioned this on the VE thread that I think Erlky really shines with a warm source (exception being the dx220 Max. No idea why that pair up was so good, but it was haha) and hearing it with M8 has doubled down on that impression. Vocals with Erlky and M8 are downright haunting and I’ve struggled to tear these away from my ears all day. Incredible.

Lastly I tried Traillii and I was expecting big things from this combo after reading a few other impressions, however I have to say that I wasn’t particularly impressed with this pair up. Don’t get me wrong, the bird sounds great out of basically anything, but I have heard the bird sing out of SP2000 and DMP-Z1 which sounds a fair bit better to my ears. The bass is very addictive, and the treble sounds fantastic, but the mids just don’t sound right to me with M8. I hear a bit of recession overall, and there’s a bit of dryness in the upper mids that loses a lot of the engagement factor that I’m used to with Traillii. I’ll try a couple of different cables and see if that helps at all. Oh well, can’t win them all I guess.

Overall, I am loving the M8 and it has made a hugely positive first impression on day 1. I’ll continue to try other IEM’s and report back over the next few weeks

And this is without the 100+ hours burn in!!

 

[Damz87]

And this is without the 100+ hours burn in!!

Does it change much after burn-in in your experience?

 

[ian91]

I think I appreciated some expansion in stage over the first 10-50 hours. Very hard to say though, given how awesome it sounded from the start.

 

[FooFighter]

I found it is opening up to get slightly more neutral, switching to Turbo is then also pushing forward before laid back frequencies like upper mids.
That's what I can clearly hear with the Trailliis

 

[finepics]

Does it change much after burn-in in your experience?

I was being a bit tongue in cheek - I switched to a different set of IEM's during my "burn in" phase so the sound changed completely purely because of that anyway.

 

[Damz87]

I was being a bit tongue in cheek - I switched to a different set of IEM's during my "burn in" phase so the sound changed completely purely because of that anyway.

I’ll let it burn in over the weekend and see if there’s any noticeable change

I have to amend something on my initial impression though. I am noticing a bit of hiss with the Andromeda during quieter passages of songs. Not a big deal, but it’s there.

 

[metaljem77]

I’m excited to hear what M8 has to offer when I receive a replacement from Andrew. A huge shout-out to his fantastic after-sales service! I didn’t quite like Traillii with DX300, preferred the pairing with LPGT. I’m quite sure M8 will be great

 

[Shanling]

I’ll let it burn in over the weekend and see if there’s any noticeable change

I have to amend something on my initial impression though. I am noticing a bit of hiss with the Andromeda during quieter passages of songs. Not a big deal, but it’s there.

For testing hiss, I always recommend to use custom file with just silence. Otherwise you might be just picking up hiss form the recording.

 

[Damz87]

For testing hiss, I always recommend to use custom file with just silence. Otherwise you might be just picking up hiss form the recording.

Okay cool, I’ll give that a try thanks

 

[Damz87]

Just tested it with this track on tidal. There is audible hiss, but again, not too bad overall.

For testing hiss, I always recommend to use custom file with just silence. Otherwise you might be just picking up hiss form the recording.

 

[blotmouse]

Just tested it with this track on tidal. There is audible hiss, but again, not too bad overall.

You need to test with the Master/MQA version.

 

[snapandslide]

So, M8 landed last night and I’ve spent the day getting to know it and trying it with a few IEM’s. I have to say, this is a fantastic sounding DAP and pairs up incredible well with most of the IEM’s I’ve tried so far.

Starting off with the Campfire Andromeda MW10, I can comfortably say that this is the best DAP I’ve ever heard with an Andromeda, period. Firstly, there is zero hiss, so it passes the main big hurdle when it comes to driving an Andromeda lol. Secondly, the bass. If you think an Andromeda can’t do good bass, well, you’ve obviously never heard it with an M8! I am hearing a fantastic sub bass leaning bass response with fast and clean mid-bass hits that are fully satisfying my inner basshead desires. The black background is helping the Andromeda show off it’s technical chops and imaging capabilities in all their glory. As usual with Andromeda, there’s loads of treble sparkle and air. Mids sound lush, full and detailed. If you own an Andromeda MW10, do yourself a favour and pick up an M8. You won’t be disappointed.

Moving to the Vision Ears Elysium, and now I fully understand why @Rockwell75 has been harping on about this pair up for the last few months. There is definitely some magic going on here. Like the Andromeda, the elevated bass response from M8 works wonders for Ely and I would be genuinely surprised if anyone thought Ely was bass light if they heard it driven with an M8. Now, I’ve heard Ely with even heavier bass from my Sony DMP-Z1, however the M8 is very close and I think in an overall sense, it sounds better with M8 than DMP-Z1. The added thickness and warmth in the mids from M8 brings out all that emotion that Ely is made to reproduce, and there’s enough treble excitement to keep the balance in check.

When I switched from MW10 to Ely, I thought it wouldn’t get better than this. But then I plugged in the Erlkonig, and hot damn, this M8 is now operating on a whole new level. The Erlkonig and M8 pair up is quite possibly one of the best synergies I’ve experienced in this hobby. I’ve mentioned this on the VE thread that I think Erlky really shines with a warm source (exception being the dx220 Max. No idea why that pair up was so good, but it was haha) and hearing it with M8 has doubled down on that impression. Vocals with Erlky and M8 are downright haunting and I’ve struggled to tear these away from my ears all day. Incredible.

Lastly I tried Traillii and I was expecting big things from this combo after reading a few other impressions, however I have to say that I wasn’t particularly impressed with this pair up. Don’t get me wrong, the bird sounds great out of basically anything, but I have heard the bird sing out of SP2000 and DMP-Z1 which sounds a fair bit better to my ears. The bass is very addictive, and the treble sounds fantastic, but the mids just don’t sound right to me with M8. I hear a bit of recession overall, and there’s a bit of dryness in the upper mids that loses a lot of the engagement factor that I’m used to with Traillii. I’ll try a couple of different cables and see if that helps at all. Oh well, can’t win them all I guess.

Overall, I am loving the M8 and it has made a hugely positive first impression on day 1. I’ll continue to try other IEM’s and report back over the next few weeks

Love the impressions - the one DAP I REALLY want to try! @Rockwell75 has said its a great combo with the Z1R and I'd have also thought gone well with the Odin, so it does indeed seem as if you have some experimenting to do!

 

[Rockwell75]

Love the impressions - the one DAP I REALLY want to try! @Rockwell75 has said its a great combo with the Z1R and I'd have also thought gone well with the Odin, so it does indeed seem as if you have some experimenting to do!

In terms of pure synergy it's probably my favourite pairup after M8/Ely...Z1R loves power and the M8 just lights up its highs and lows. That said it's still probably not as good as the DMP-Z1 but for a portable option it's amazing.

 

[Damz87]

M8 landed last night and I’ve spent the day getting acquainted with it and trying a few different IEM combos. I have to say, this is a fantastic sounding DAP right out of the box and pairs up incredibly well with most IEM’s I’ve tried so far. I love its warm, musical tonality, which somehow manages to maintain a great level of detail, clarity and separation.

Before I talk about sound in more detail, I’ll just touch on the very few non-audio related comments I have to make. The unboxing experience was great. The packaging and wooden box feels very premium. I was expecting the DAP to be a bit heavier if I’m honest. Perhaps I’m just used to heavier DAPs like SP2000 or WM1Z. However, the M8 feels very comfortable in hand and fits nicely in my pocket. Setup was simple; just the usual Android stuff. No issues with speed or crashes so far. The interchangeable port system feels pretty easy and straightforward, although I would obviously prefer just having all the ports there like on my DX300 or Kann Alpha.

As many folks have already mentioned, M8 does heat up quite a lot. It doesn’t bother me, as long as it isn’t negatively effecting its performance? We’ll see how that goes over time.

I started my listening with the Campfire Andromeda MW10, and I was immediately impressed with this pair up. Firstly, there is minimal hiss, so it passes the main big hurdle when it comes to driving an Andromeda. (Edit: after further listening, I did detect some hiss, but it’s barely perceptible) Secondly, the bass. If you think an Andromeda can’t produce good bass, well you’ve really gotta try it with an M8. I’m hearing a fantastic sub bass leaning bass response, with fast and clean mid-bass hits that satisfies my inner basshead. The mostly black background helps the Andromeda show off it’s technical chops and imaging capabilities in all their glory. As usual with Andromeda, there’s loads of treble sparkle and air. Mids sound lush, full and detailed. If you own an Andromeda MW10, I would highly recommend trying it with an M8, especially if you are a bit of a basshead

Moving to the Vision Ears Elysium, and now I understand why @Rockwell75 has been harping on about this pair up for the last few months There is definitely some magic in this combo. Similar to the Andromeda, the elevated bass M8 delivers works wonders for Ely. I would be surprised if anyone thought Ely was bass light if they heard it driven with an M8. I’ve heard Ely with even heavier bass from my Sony DMP-Z1, however the M8 is very close and I think in an overall sense, it sounds better with M8 than DMP-Z1. The added warmth in the mids from M8 brings out all that emotion that Ely is made to reproduce, and there’s enough treble excitement to keep the balance in check.

After Ely, I switched to it’s big brother Erlkonig, and I was absolutely floored by this one. The Erlkonig and M8 pair up became an instant favourite for me. I’ve mentioned on the VE thread that I think Erlky shines with warm sources and hearing it with M8 has doubled down on that impression. Vocals with Erlky and M8 are absolutely mesmerising and I struggled to tear these away from my ears all day. Incredible.

Lastly I tried Traillii, and I was expecting big things from this combo after reading a few other impressions. However, I wasn’t particularly impressed with this pair up unfortunately. Don’t get me wrong, it still sounds great, but I have heard the bird sing out of SP2000 and DMP-Z1 which simply sounds better to me. I guess my ears are a bit spoilt by those two pair ups. With that said. the bass is very addictive with Traillii + M8 and the treble sounds fantastic, but the mids just don’t sound correct to me. I hear a bit more lower midrange recession and some dryness in the upper mids that kills a lot of the engagement factor.

Overall, I am really enjoying the M8. It has made a very positive first impression on day 1. I’ll continue to try some other IEM’s and report back over the next few weeks

Added some photos and tidied up the initial impressions a tad. Today I’m testing with Empire Ears Legend X SE as requested by @gLer and also Empire Ears Odin

 

[Nacmy]

Does Apple Music delete downloaded tracks automatically? I quit Tidal because of this problem. I can't stand it. Rather buy mp3s and keep them.