[FraGGleR]

Quote:

Yea, I will not be interested to buy if there are ANY compromises in sound quality. 

I trust that CEntrance will make the right decisions to make a fantastic device, particularly because they have sought advice from the likely purchasers of the product.  I didn't see any run times listed on the blog so I don't know what kind of performance we are talking about, but a portable device that only ran for a couple hours seems stupid to make, regardless of how it sounds.  I don't want to need another battery pack (defeating the purpose of an all in one portable device) just to make it from one coast to another.  If you they can clear 5 hours and give me the best available sound that they can for that amount of time, then I will consider it money well spent.

 

[jacal01]

Quote:

Yea, I will not be interested to buy if there are ANY compromises in sound quality. 

How are you gonna know?

 

[pspivak]

It's all about the sound for me.  If it has a shorter play time and it is rechargeable, than I am all for it.  Audio nirvana, that is what I want.  At CES once I heard a set of Hansen King's driven by Tenor electronics with a full dCS stack for a front end, best thing I have ever heard.  That experience in a portable set up is my goal.    
 
MGoodman et. al.: take your time and do it right.  I am more than willing to wait patiently.  It ships when it ships.    

 

[Armaegis]

I'm fearful he might cave in to the battery life first camp. He should go with the best sounding opamp first, and if battery life suffers so be it. There's already enough products out there that puts battery life over sound. I'm really concerned about the change in opamps to improve battery life idea as stated on their recent blog.

 

Yea, I will not be interested to buy if there are ANY compromises in sound quality. 
 

 
 
Geez guys, calm your horses. They've set the benchmark and are now looking to find alternatives that meet that mark but do better in battery life... Plus, y'know, there's more to sound quality than just the opamp. 
 
 
from the blog

Now we are looking for alternative op amps that offer the same high performance as the ones we’ve chosen, but don’t consume as much power. That’s just one strategy out of 4 strategies for optimization, which we identified and will be pursuing, more-or-less in parallel.

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

Pls let me know, Can I connect the dual XLR output from Hifi-M8 into XLR input of PowerAmp or IntegratedAmp for Home speakers (use Hifi-M8 like DAC) ???

Thanks.

 
Yes. The only thing to keep in mind is whether your poweramp has an input voltage limit, in which case you will have to adjust the output of the M8 as appropriate (essentially, if you hear clipping with the power amp at moderate volume, turn down the dac until you don't). 

 

[Saraguie]

Quote:

I'm fearful he might cave in to the battery life first camp. He should go with the best sounding opamp first, and if battery life suffers so be it. There's already enough products out there that puts battery life over sound. I'm really concerned about the change in opamps to improve battery life idea as stated on their recent blog.

It's a fine line. If the HIFI M8 cannot get 7-8 hours on a charge with typical IEMs and settings, then for me (and I think a lot of others) it looses much of its appeal. There are many transportable rigs available but we are looking at a portable rig meaning to me not  having to rely on recharging often. I'm using the Fostex HP-P1 as the closest comparison and it get's 7-8 hours.
 
Changed my tune

 

[moodyrn]

It's a fine line. If the HIFI M8 cannot get 7-8 hours on a charge with typical IEMs and settings, then for me (and I think a lot of others) it looses much of its appeal. There are many transportable rigs available but we are looking at a portable rig meaning to me not  having to rely on recharging often. I'm using the Fostex HP-P1 as the closest comparison and it get's 7-8 hours.

And hence the the deli-ma IMO. As many who feel having less than 7-8 hours of battery life will loose it's appeal, I can make the case there's more people who would say the same thing about compromising sound quality to get better battery life. Of course it's a given it will have more than 2-3 hours. But I would take 5 and better sound quality over 8 with reduced sound quality. I remember talking to another headfier about this product and he thought that in the end Michael will end up making this too complex and over thinking himself in order to satisfy everyone. I'm now starting to believe there's a chance he might be right. But I still have faith this will sound at least as good as the demo unit. There are a few who have heard it who can confirm once we get it. But for the most part, we might never know.

That said. It's impossible to satisfy everyone. There's going to be some disappointed people no matter how you slice it. But given the size, and what this actually is, I never saw this as being a portable device. Portable is something like a pico slim. Something you take with you anywhere with quick easy access. This isn't such a device. So given it's size and transportablility, the main priority should be sound, and whatever battery life we can get past 4-5 hours would be a bonus. There's are a slew of products that are portable that have several hours battery life. And many of them sound very good as well. But there are people who want it all, and I understand that. But getting desktop level performance and getting 8 hours of battery life isn't something that's easy to do. Getting 8 hours of life and very good portable performance is easy to do. But given the already massive size, I'm hoping for maximum performance.

 

[eron]

I think battery life would be longer with lower listening volumes and gain for sensitivity headphones and IEMs. Same for single ended use. So people that use it portable in public places need not worry.

 

[Saraguie]

Quote:

 But given the already massive size, I'm hoping for maximum performance.

 
Wow, I maybe am not thinking about the size correctly. What size is it? To me a Triad L3 connected to a DAC > DAP is massive.

 

[eron]

Quote:

But given the already massive size, I'm hoping for maximum performance.

 
At first, I was worried about the size of the M8 as well. Then I compared it to the Fostex HP-P1. In your words, the Fostex would be almost as massive.
 
 

Sponsors aren't suppose to compare products. I'm just referencing the size of the CEntrance HiFi M8 with similar portable devices so people can get an idea of the actual size.
 
[size=13.333333969116211px]80(W) x 30 (H) x [/size][size=13.63636302947998px]125 (D) mm[/size]

 
 
 
Fostex HP-P1 below.
 

75(W) x 25(H) x 130(D) mm
 

http://www.head-fi.org/gallery/image/view/album/120193/id/631050/sort/display_order
 

 

[moodyrn]

Yes, I do consider the fostex to be a very large portable and the hifi m8 is larger than it. But I'm not concerned about the size given its feature set. When I want to be portable, I"ll reach for my c421. Ironically, someone was calling the c421 large in another thread. So I guess everyone's definitition of portable can differ. But it don't change the fact the hifi m8 isn't something that can fit easily in your pocket. And will more than likely require a bag or some sort of carrying case to be mobile. Which is why I consider it to be more transportable than portable.

 

[eron]

Quote:

 But I'm not concerned about the size given its feature set. When I want to be portable, I"ll reach for my c421. Ironically, someone was calling the c421 large in another thread. So I guess everyone's definitition of portable can differ. But it don't change the fact the hifi m8 isn't something that can fit easily in your pocket. And will more than likely require a bag or some sort of carrying case to be mobile. 

True. Apple shrunk the laptop partly through the introduction of adaptors through the Thunderbolt connection. I'm looking forward to something similar in the audio domain. 
 
For portable nothing beats the iPod Shuffle! No, I don't have one.  We all live with compromises. There must be many thousands of LODs made and sold over the past few years.

Edit:
Apple must be thinking, what's wrong with the 3.5mm jack! It's tiny and light! 

 

[GarySaville]

Quote:

 
I second that! SQ > Battery Life....but I want it all!  I bet that Michael, Kenny, and crew will deliver on both counts. I'm really looking forward to it.

I third the vote for SQ. This device is about sound. What I would like is the ability to disable iDevice charging. Running audio out of the line out is not overly heavy on the iDevice's battery. Rather than constantly trickle-charging the iDevice, if I'm travelling I'd like the M8 to use its reserves for powering the amp, and not my music player.

 

[Akula1321]

I'm getting a really bad feeling about the direction it's going now. First it was people don't want to keep a little gold 1/8 adapter plugged in so kill the Line out. Now it's people want battery life w/o using an external battery when the device is already the size of a brick anyway. I thought we already crossed this bridge? So is the device meant to be the best sounding of its kind on the market or just another clone amongst the Fostexs and ALOs? Aren't there enough devices that battery life lovers can choose from already? This is a balanced headphone device meant to drive the most resolving phones like a HD800 yet also IEMs. There's plenty of mediocrity available to plug phones into already. Saying that the HO will sound 'just as good' as the LO does not inspire confidence to me that any new opamp will sound 'just as good' as what was originally selected. The O2 is already for those that believe in 'just as good' and costs much less.

I vote for optimizing the best opamp or offering rollable sockets for people to pick their poison. Then people that want battery life can ruin the sound of their new $700 device as much as they like. Just one person's opinion and perspective.

 

[Akula1321]

I third the vote for SQ. This device is about sound. What I would like is the ability to disable iDevice charging. Running audio out of the line out is not overly heavy on the iDevice's battery. Rather than constantly trickle-charging the iDevice, if I'm travelling I'd like the M8 to use its reserves for powering the amp, and not my music player.

x4! Agreed on both counts. This device should not be charging any devices, that makes no sense. You would have an idevice or Android device w/ tons of charge left after the amp is dead. An external battery pack powers the M8 and your source, you need one anyway when they finally run out if you travel. Most audiophiles that have been and continue to use bricks this size with this sort of power already use external battery packs.