The N8ii is designed around a pair of 32-bit ROHM BD34301EKV current mode ROHM DAC chipsets. The DAC chipset was announced in February 2021, a perfect time to rescue our AKM-based project. The AKM fire was one of the hardest hit by our industry and Cayin began looking for a new DAC solution almost immediately. At the time of this writing, this DAC chipset has never been used by any portable DAP, so the N8ii may well be the first modern DAP with the ROHM DAC chipset. We are aware of the LUXMAN SACD player project, but basically we are working in the same time frame, our engineers have spent a lot of resources to learn, experiment and find the support system setting of this new DAC chipset from scratch. We are really satisfied with the result so far and look forward to sharing our ROHM development with our users.
Our vacuum tube/solid-state dual-wood function shook the world in May 2018. We solved the microphonic problem with innovative techniques and, for the first time, it facilitates the choice of vacuum tube and solid-state ringing in a portable DAP. Unfortunately, we can only install a Nutube 6P1 in our N8, so the vacuum tube is only available for single-ended headphone output. We received many comments and requests to make the vacuum tube bell also available for balanced output, and we have repeatedly explained that the Nutube 6P1 is a dual triode tube by design, it can be used as both left and right channel stereo amplification, we cannot achieve true balanced amplification with only one Nutube 6P1.
Naturally, when we started our N8ii project, one of the priority requirements is to upgrade the Dual Timber feature to support balanced output. Implementing Dual Nutube in N8ii is even more challenging than C9 because we have to take care of a 5" OLED display at the same time, so we have to be very innovative in circuit and component placement to accommodate everything in a compact handheld. retained solution.
This is a unique feature that is only available in N8. We altered the operating voltage of the headphone amplification to increase the output power, driveability and sound signature of the circuit and allow users to choose between standard P mode and high performance P+ mode via a drop-down menu. We will keep this feature in N8ii and, better yet, we upgraded the headphone amplifier circuit to a completely discrete design. As a result, the P+ mode in N8ii will offer a more dramatic difference than the standard P mode.
N8ii is an amazing flagship digital audio player from Cayin. They have chosen the highest quality components, including a dual DAC chipset, two KORG NUTUBE, fully discrete audio circuitry and various other components that enhance the user experience. With the N8ii, get ready to experience the ultimate clarity and musical detail in your favorite music.
Cayin N8ii is equipped with a dual DAC chipset with two high-performance 32-bit ROHM BD34301 ROHM DAC chips. These are flagship grade DAC chips recently released by ROHM that are professionally tuned to deliver an authentic high-resolution experience for listeners. N8ii achieves ultra-low distortion and clean background with high-resolution signal decoding.
For the first time with the N8ii, Cayin has implemented fully balanced tube headphone amplification in a portable digital audio player. He obtains two high-quality KORG NUTUBE 6P1 tubes that are implemented in the fully discrete audio circuitry in the N8ii. The device has a balanced 4.4mm output that takes full advantage of the tubes, there is also a single-ended 3.5mm output on the N8ii.
The amplifier section of the Cayin N8ii has two operating modes, Class A and Class AB. It also has dual output modes, standard P mode and high power P+ mode. The high power P+ mode is ideally designed for headphones that require high power. Note that the High P+ gain mode in tube amplification is only available in Class AB mode.
Cayin has opted for Qualcomm's eight-core Snapdragon 660 SoC as the core for the N8ii. It offers a snappy user interface with no lag. The device also has 6GB of RAM that allows the user to use multiple apps at once.
Cayin has designed the N8ii system with an open Android 9 operating system. It comes preloaded with Google Playstore with support for streaming and other media applications out of the box.
