[mitsu763]

Quote:

Are retailers receiving units prior to all pre-orders being satisfied?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CEntrance-HiFi-M8-LX-4XL-Portable-DAC-headphone-Amp-HiFiM8LX4XL-/130960689146

 
I wondered this as well and spoke to Stacie yesterday. I noticed TTVJ is selling the LX as well. After a short conversation she stated my LX will be sent out right away. Should have it tomorrow. If you have pre-ordered and still don't have you're M8 LX I suggest you email Stacie.
 


Edit: check the hifi-m8 blog for more details. I ordered in October.

 

[DrSheep]

Quote:

 
I wondered this as well and spoke to Stacie yesterday. I noticed TTVJ is selling the LX as well. After a short conversation she stated my LX will be sent out right away. Should have it tomorrow. If you have pre-ordered and still don't have you're M8 LX I suggest you email Stacie.

Pre-order since when?  I ordered mine 2 weeks ago so I don't expect a fast turn around...

 

[revahi]

er... can somebody tell me why i'd connect an external DAC or headphone amp to the AK120?

 

[x838nwy]

er... can somebody tell me why i'd connect an external DAC or headphone amp to the AK120?

Not entirely sure why you'd use an external dac. Perhaps it's for those who'd want to play their music (stored on the dap) through their home system's dac, amp, speakers.

You may want to connect an external amp if the ak's on-board amp is inadequate for your application such as headphones that are hard to drive or if you want a 'better' amplification stage.

But imo, if these occasions arise often, may be it's best to not buy the ak120 in the first place.

 

[mikemercer]

Quote:

Please test it with your JH13, do you hear any noise (without connecting TRANSPORT)??

I have to unpack my JH-13's anyway (just moved into our new house) so I'll do that tonight for you.
I'm eager to hear that combo!!

 

[BitDepth]

Pre-order since when?  I ordered mine 2 weeks ago so I don't expect a fast turn around...

Say Late December early January for arguments sake

""Dear Evaluation Unit Customers,
I have received an overwhelming amount of inquiries regarding shipping dates for preordered units.
Please refer to the following dates to see where you are in the queue:
We are currently shipping units paid-for between October 1- October 31.
If you paid between November 1 – November 30, your unit will be shipped before Sept 16
If you paid between December 1- December 31, your unit will be shipping before Oct 7.
A more detailed shipping schedule for orders placed in early 2013 will be posted here on September 23, and the rate of production is expected to increase markedly at this time.
I appreciate your patience and continued support. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to email me [address removed to protect from spam bots - MG]"""

Does this schedule refer to both LX and iDevice units?

Did iDevice production stop 7/11/13 when the 24/96 "bug" was discovered? Or has there been continued 16/44,48 iDevice capable unit production?

 

[jacal01]

Quote:

er... can somebody tell me why i'd connect an external DAC or headphone amp to the AK120?

 
The assumption is that there is moar power for harder to drive over-ear headphones with the external HiFi-M8 DAC/amp.  One can probably assume an SQ upgrade over the AK120 as well, hopefully.
 
The main reason is that the AK120 and AK100 are the only DAP products along with the DX100 (all high-end DAPs) that can get you the 24/192 audio input data resolution via optical S/PDIF that the LX M8 is capable of processing.  At that point, you might as well get the best high-end DAP for SQ to complement the HiFi-M8 for those times when you want to be truly portable with a stand-alone pocket DAP and a pair of IEMs.  Lifestyle choices, y'know?
 
And the only other current DAPS with optical SPDIF output available to input into the LX are the iHiFi960 and the QLS QA350, but those are only good for S/PDIF output data resolution of 16/48 and 16/44.1, respectively.

 

[moodyrn]

The real question for me is m8/idevice vs ak120/m8. I've noticed that the m8 via USB from a pc sounds a little better than using either of my idevices via the idevice input. So will the same ring true from a high end portable via optical into the m8? I think right now only Jude can answer this since he has both versions.

 

[jacal01]

One would assume that would indeed be the case, up to if and when the iM8 can truly extract files out of the idevice at at least 24/96.
 
Having said that, most audio gear seem to favor one type of input port over the others available.

 

[Dan S]

Looks like a great product! I'm glad to see more advances in a portable DAC and amp.
 
Regarding the bass and treble boost switches, it would be nice if instead of two levels of boost, there was one level of boost and one level of reduction. Then you could do all the basic EQ curves with the switches.
 
So for example, if the treble switch was in the middle, it would be normal. Flick it to the left and it reduces the treble. Flick it all the way to the right and it boosts the treble.

 

[eron]

Quote:

The real question for me is m8/idevice vs ak120/m8. I've noticed that the m8 via USB from a pc sounds a little better than using either of my idevices via the idevice input. So will the same ring true from a high end portable via optical into the m8? I think right now only Jude can answer this since he has both versions.

iDevice plays at a lower resolution: http://centrance.com/products/new/blog/2013/08/12/update-on-2496/
Try a lower res file.

 

[moodyrn]

I'm speaking stricly of 16/44 files. It's been known for quiet sometime that the m8 isn't realy for highres files with idevices. Although it will playback  up to 24/96 but down convert them to 16/48(confirmed on my marantz sa8004 which displays the sampling rate). It won't however playback anything above that(ex 192khz). That's one thing I really like. Although it won't play them back at their native resolution "yet", but they are still playable and sound excellent. But nonetheless, I was referring to 16/44 only. There's a slight reduction in bass weight compared to usb from a pc, and a slightly decreased sound stage. But it still sounds excellent from the idevice input. And all of the praise I've been giving it, is concerning using my idevices. Usb from my pc is just a little better. 
 
I haven't extensively compared the different players I use on my idevices( I have a ton of them), and I am using jriver on my pc. So that may have a little to do with it.  So I will compare them against each other to see if one of them gets me the same sound I get using my pc/jriver.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Quote:

I'm speaking strictly of 16/44 files. It's been known for quite sometime that the m8 isn't really for highres files with idevices. Although it will playback  up to 24/96 but down convert them to 16/48(confirmed on my marantz sa8004 which displays the sampling rate). 

Thats great.
 
It means when we finally get the 24/96 update you can check/confirm the different sampling rates for the community.

 

[thegrobe]

Say Late December early January for arguments sake

""Dear Evaluation Unit Customers,
I have received an overwhelming amount of inquiries regarding shipping dates for preordered units.
Please refer to the following dates to see where you are in the queue:
We are currently shipping units paid-for between October 1- October 31.
If you paid between November 1 – November 30, your unit will be shipped before Sept 16
If you paid between December 1- December 31, your unit will be shipping before Oct 7.
A more detailed shipping schedule for orders placed in early 2013 will be posted here on September 23, and the rate of production is expected to increase markedly at this time.
I appreciate your patience and continued support. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to email me [address removed to protect from spam bots - MG]"""

Yikes. I thought things were ramping up and the pre-orders would be rushing out. I got myself all excited! Looks like it still could be quite a bit of a wait.

Upside? I've got ninja-like waiting skills at this point. I'm going to the DMV tomorrow without an appointment just to show those amateurs they can't break me.

 

[Trogdor]

Yikes. I thought things were ramping up and the pre-orders would be rushing out. I got myself all excited! Looks like it still could be quite a bit of a wait.

Upside? I've got ninja-like waiting skills at this point. I'm going to the DMV tomorrow without an appointment just to show those amateurs they can't break me.

I read this too and I'm perplexed? I thought preorder customers would have first crack even before dealers (or at least on par). Perhaps not.