[mgoodman]

Some people don't know the difference between host and device, so it's an obscure reference
 
And yes, the cat is out of the bag, running around... Wait until we announce the price... It could very well be a herd of cats...
 
On XLR ins - that would belong at NAMM or NAB, which are very different shows for different customers.

 

[elnero]

Quote:

 
And yes, the cat is out of the bag, running around... Wait until we announce the price... It could very well be a herd of cats...
 

 
That looks to be the last bit of info that will be a deciding factor for me.
 
I can't remember if it's been mentioned or not, will you have special pre-order pricing like you have had in the past when introducing new products?

 

[firev1]

Quote:

 
That looks to be the last bit of info that will be a deciding factor for me.
 
I can't remember if it's been mentioned or not, will you have special pre-order pricing like you have had in the past when introducing new products?

He mentioned once that blog readers will have a special code

 

[mgoodman]

Yes, there will be a special code. We are still working out the schedule for product availability. Approvals are taking a long time right now. We don't know exactly how many units will be available at RMAF. Our goal is to ship in October, we will see how that progresses. In the midst of planning at the moment.

We want to offer an opportunity for customers to pre-order the product at a substantial discount. But we don't want to take your money and run We want to do this with integrity.
 
Once we have a solid feel for when we will be able to fulfill the pre-orders, we will open up the flood gates. One thing I can say right now is that there is nothing on the market that does what HiFi-M8 does at HiFi-M8's price. Actually, there is currently nothing on the market that does what HiFi-M8 does, period

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

> ...a 4 pin mini XLR and a mini 3.5mm would take up less space than one of the combo jacks.
With HiFi-M8 we decided to make a no-compromise, bullet-proof, "flagship" product. XLRs are very tough -- will work forever. Size reduction and moving to smaller connectors is possible in the future.
 

 
Since I imagine you deal with pro users quite a bit, they will likely be confused by dual-4-pin XLR headphone sockets, which are no different to XLR inputs. I strongly recommend changing it to 1x 4-pin XLR socket and 1x 1/4" TRS socket. Audeze, for example, now ship their headphones with a 4-pin XLR terminated cable. I can only think of one company that is well-known here that doesn't ship amps with a 4-pin XLR socket for balanced headphone output.

 

[elnero]

Quote:

> I do have a question about the high and low tone shaping switches, is it a three position switch with plus, flat and minus?
flat, +, ++

 
After reading the blog this morning I got thinking about this more and I'm curious, what was the reasoning for going with flat, +, ++ instead of -, flat, +?

 

[cansman]

Hello Michael,
 
Would there be an upsampling option to the data when the HiFi-M8 is connected to the phone / tablet device? Or even a minimum phase option for the DAC (unlikely, I think)?

 
Thanks!
cansman

 

[analogue 3]

It would be great if you can ensure that the device will be compatible with android devices like the Galaxy S3 (and therefore future devices like the Note 2 etc), S2 and whatever other android smartphones you have access to testing the HiFi M8 with. For example, I know people have been having problems getting the S3 to work with the FiiO E1. As you can see in the following thread, there is considerable interest in pairing Android devices with external DAC/Amps like the upcoming HiFi M8:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs
 
Incidentally, Android now holds a market share of 52.2% against Apple’s 33.4% as of an article on Sept 5th 2012. The figures come from comScore MobileLens service surveying more than 30,000 US mobile subscribers. I'm in the EU myself and have noticed more and more people switching to android smartphones since the iphone stagnated somewhat (relative to other smartphones from various other manufacturers) since the iphone 4 / 2008.
 
Creating a device which is compatible with both iphones and android phones (not that you've 'confirmed' the former

) could enable the HiFi M8 to be compatible with >85% of the smartphone market
 
Much obliged
 
Edit: this is probably an obvious question which anyone here can answer, however can I assume it's fine to connect the HiFi M8 to my desktop tube headphone amp using XLR to RCA cables for the times when I want to experience the distinctive sound signature of my tube amp?  I know it's balanced to unbalanced, however I picked up some modded Atlas cables with at a bargain price awhile back so it's what I happen to have to hand.

 

[tas236]

I'm wondering if the announcement of a new Apple dock connector will change any of the plans here at all...the fact that it's all-digital should make things easier for DAC manufacturers, right?

 

[eron]

Quote:

For now, let's just say that in addition to the regular USB input (24/192) there will be a smart phone input as well. We are not allowed to name the smart phone yet, but enough to say that it is very popular. We will stream digital music from this smartphone and will also accomodate its tablet cousins. When all the dots are connected, we will make the official announcement.
Michael

Waiting patiently. A lightning bolt logo will look cool at the back of it M8!

 

[eron]

Quote:

Waiting patiently. A lightning bolt logo will look cool at the back of it M8!

Hurray!

http://centrance.com/products/new/blog/

 

[elnero]

Quote:

Hurray!

http://centrance.com/products/new/blog/

 
I'm not sure if you guys are thinking the lightning bolt icon is related to Apples new lightning connecter but I'd say from the info given in the blog the icon is related to battery charging.

 

[shotgunshane]

So no 3.5mm headphone out?  Will this product be at all compatible with custom IEM's and universals that are relatively sensitive? Meaning is the noise floor quiet enough for no hiss and the gain structure such that the lowest gain allows for a wide band of volume control?

 

[firev1]

Level control I assume is gain control, I assume it will be great with IEMs as centrance's goal for this product is to be as flexible as possible. Centrance as you may have noticed from its previous products(dacport, micport) are very low noise products, I assume the new one will be the same or even better.
 
On another note, RMAF is coming soon, looking forward for coverage on it!

 

[mgoodman]

Hello everyone and thank you for your interest! I'm answering several posts at once:
 
> Since I imagine you deal with pro users quite a bit, they will likely be confused by dual-4-pin XLR headphone sockets, which are no different to XLR inputs.
Correct. The same XLR female jack is used for microphone input on recording gear. We made the call that the pro users will not be confused by HiFi-M8, since it's not really a product for them. We may be working on a piece for Pro users as well. This home/pro duality that we live with at CEntrance is the reason we decided to stay with the same jack for now. 
 
> I strongly recommend changing it to 1x 4-pin XLR socket and 1x 1/4" TRS socket. Audeze, for example, now ship their headphones with a 4-pin XLR terminated cable. I can only think of one company that is well-known here that doesn't ship amps with a 4-pin XLR socket for balanced headphone output.
This may need to be a running upgrade at this point. Not out of the shoot. I believe we should be able to do that in the future. I'm sorry that this would inconvenience you, Currawong and thank you for the feedback.
 
> After reading the blog this morning I got thinking about this more and I'm curious, what was the reasoning for going with flat, +, ++ instead of -, flat, +?
We felt that most headphones needed a slight boost at top or bottom of the frequency range. Listening tests with many headphones revealed where those "pain points" where on the spectrum. But, if we learn that this is not sufficient, we can change that to "-", flat, "+".
 
> Would there be an upsampling option to the data when the HiFi-M8 is connected to the phone / tablet device? Or even a minimum phase option for the DAC (unlikely, I think)? 

There is no need for upsampling -- the DAC will give you exactly what's coming off the laptop/phone/tablet. The DAC will always work in minimum phase delay mode.
 
> It would be great if you can ensure that the device will be compatible with android devices like the Galaxy S3 
This is a work in progress. What needs to happen, as you correctly point out, is Google needs to build digital audio functionality into Android and also ensure that device makers follow a particular standard in hardware. We are talking about bundling Android OS drivers for USB devices working in "device mode" (all standard USB DACs will be compatible) and/or supporting special hardware on the phone's circuit board to allow for "host operation" (only some DACs will be compatible). The latter is much more involved, so probably not as likely to happen in the near future. The former should be relatively easy, if Google gets their act together.
The difference between iPhones and Android phones is that every iPhone is built on the same hardware, which is, naturally, tightly controlled by Apple. With Android phones, every phone has different hardware, which is is why Android compatibility is such a moving target.
 
> I assume it's fine to connect the HiFi M8 to my desktop tube headphone amp using XLR to RCA cables for the times when I want to experience the distinctive sound signature of my tube amp?  I know it's balanced to unbalanced, however I picked up some modded Atlas cables with at a bargain price awhile back so it's what I happen to have to hand.
Yes, the outputs will support not only headphones but line output as well. Both in the balanced and unbalanced configurations.
 
> I'm wondering if the announcement of a new Apple dock connector will change any of the plans here at all...the fact that it's all-digital should make things easier for DAC manufacturers, right?
Not sure about other manufacturers, but we believe that HiFi-M8 would be compatible with "the shadow of the 5". More testing is necessary, since for now "the 5" is just that, a shadow. Oops... Did we inadvertently spill the beans? 
 
> So no 3.5mm headphone out?  Will this product be at all compatible with custom IEM's and universals that are relatively sensitive? Meaning is the noise floor quiet enough for no hiss and the gain structure such that the lowest gain allows for a wide band of volume control?
Yes, no 3.5mm out. But we will bundle a gold-plated adapter for headphones with the 3.5mm jack, so you would be able to use any headphones. HiFi-M8 has three position gain switch, with enough range to accommodate all headphones on the market.
 
 
> Level control I assume is gain control, I assume it will be great with IEMs as centrance's goal for this product is to be as flexible as possible. Centrance as you may have noticed from its previous products(dacport, micport) are very low noise products, I assume the new one will be the same or even better.
HiFi-M8 will have a 3-position gain (level) switch and a normal volume pot. You'd adjust the switch to match the sensitivity of your headphones (over the ear or IEM) and then use the volume knob normally.
 
 
Looking forward to more comments and to seeing some of you at RMAF! (there will be beer).