Maybe his secret is ‘Depends’…?
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I have the N6ii coming in the mail in the next few days and I’m wondering how close its sound will resemble the N8.
Since it’s a hands-free rig …
He uses the cover of “it is always raining in Seattle” to the people in the street below…
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Hard to say.
While the DAC chip is the same, the N8 runs a pair of them in dual-mono configuration, isn’t built to have it’s audio-board swapped (which may, or may not, have sonic consequences), looks like it has different output stages, and obviously has the tube-output option of (which is a good bit of it’s charm for me).
And, of course, the software/firmware is completely different.
So while the law of diminishing returns is inescapable, and I’ve no doubt the N6ii is excellent technically, I’d be surprised if they didn’t have notable differences overall - with different people prioritizing and preferring different things there.
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This will be a cross-post, but I’ve been using the Cayin N8 to drive the Rosson Audio RAD-0 for most of the afternoon, and it is doing a sterling job.
Using the single-ended tube output, with relatively bass-heavy music, and no breaks for several hours, in a 71℉ ambient environment, the N8 shows the following thermals:
Quite impressive, given these are 66mm planar cans.
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had heard the Meze Empyrean(and others) with the N8 in tube mode at munich high end this may - what a wonderful experiance! - even if anyone knows that a short listen at a noisy show is no reference
this could really be a one-tool-solution for people with no space for speakers or no possibilty playing them in the neighboorhood- thinking of budget for a dac, pre-outs, amps, speakers…
instead of these stationary components, you could use 1 or 2 pairs(open and closed) of headphones and a set iems with the n8
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As a bit of a diversion, as I contemplate further reductions in my headphone stable, I decided to pair up the Cayin N8 with the Audeze LCD-4.
If you’d asked me how that’d go, prior to listening, I’d probably have smirked a bit.
The LCD-4 are a bit too much for the N8 in tube-output mode, or single-ended solid-state mode, at least at my typical listening levels (85 dB average level, so ~105 dB peaks).
In solid-state balanced mode, on high-gain and P+ voltage output, they actually sound excellent. They’re still LCD-4’s … so the tonal response needs some EQ, but they’re doing WAY better than I would have expected.
This is where I wish the N8’s firmware could save multiple EQ profiles … but it can’t. It can store one, then turn it on, or off.
This creates a dilemma … as the RAD-0 are MUCH easier to drive (so you can also fully exploit the N8’s tube-mode) and don’t need the EQ, but the N8 can exploit the few, slight, technical advantages of the LCD-4 too … but then you’re fiddling with EQ that you can’t usefully pre-set …
Arrrrrgghhhhh!
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How is the quality of the EQ in general? Say, if I would want a bit more subbass with bass-shy headphones or more upper treble for a warmer sounding headphone. Does it work without messing with the overall tonal balance?
I’m not 100% sure what you’re asking, as the point of EQ is to shift the tonal balance.
If you mean does having EQ enabled cause tonal issues just by itself, then no. Nor does it seem to impact overall quality.
But the N8’s EQ is a graphic-style EQ not a parametric one, so you have much less precise control over the EQ profile as a whole. Which means you’re always going to be affecting a broader range of frequencies than you might want to.
Effectively you’re adjusting peaks on the center frequency for each band (3 Hz, 62 Hz, 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, 4 kHz, 8 kHz and 16 kHz) and getting a slightly-curved-but-mostly-linear ratio roll-off down to the center frequencies of the bands on either side. This is more of an issue for the 500 Hz to 8 kHz bands. So, if you bring, say, the 4 kHz band up, you’ll affect frequencies from 2 kHz to 8 kHz as well.
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Thanks! So if I would adjust a peak at 3 Hz, that would do what I want if I‘d need more subbass. And if I‘d need more „sparkle“ I‘d adjust the 16kHz for a few db. Of course I wouldn’t touch the mid frequencies 
It might do what you want in regards to sub-bass. To get much of an effect at 20 Hz to 60 Hz you’d either have to drag the 3 Hz slider all the way up (which will lower the overall signal level by the same amount; -12 dB results in less than half the perceived listening level) or you’d also have to bring the 62 Hz slider up as well, which then obviously affects non sub-bass frequencies.
It works, but it’s not very granular or precise.
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I missed this at the time, as I was in the last stages of getting ready for my vacation, but there is a new firmware (well, it’s a month old now) update for the Cayin N8 that adds MQA support, as well as a smattering of fixes/tweaks.
Latest version is 3.0.
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Listening with the N8 on the latest firmware (which I haven’t gotten to do much, but am currently comparing to the SP2000), it seems that 3.0 changed something with regards to album art.
Albums that were previously showing art correctly now show none. And while it may be that a fix was applied to try and address a different issue where some other albums weren’t showing their art, at least in this case I’m missing more than I was before.
All show up correctly in Audirvana, the SP2000 and the SP1000M …
I’m sure there’s a common factor among the art not showing now, and it won’t take long to track down, but it’d be nice if all these DAP vendors would get together and come up with some shared code for processing album art and library metadata.
Not a big factor, but irritating.
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It’s hard to know where to put this …
But driving my newly-arrived ZMF Vérité Closed … from the tube-output (3.5mm TRS) of the Cayin N8, medium gain, P+ (High2) mode), is bloody marvelous …
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Hello all.
First time poster and I’ve been looking into adding The N8 to my collection. I found a used one not too far from me but I have been told it has some odd screen tearing artifacts when scrolling artists/system menu/etc. Seller is saying is a common problem to all of them, but I wanted to make sure.
This is what it looks like:
Thank you in advance for your insight!
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If I were you I‘d throw it into a dustbin. This thing is useless with such a screen error. You could also send it to me. I would like that very much 
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I just tried it on my N8, and it is not doing any such thing. Not in any list, not in any direction, no matter how fast/slow I scroll.
It’ll take a moment for the album or artist art to pop up once scrolling stops, but while scrolling the screen isn’t tearing or corrupting like that seen in your video.
If it helps, I’m on the latest firmware (v3.0).
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Thank you!
I appreciate you testing it out for me.