[wj18]

Thank you. I'll just repost what I put in the other thread.

To please request that they make the tuning switches effects more substantial this time. A greater slam effect, or even having an FR related effect.

When I first bought my Cayin C9 years ago I was hoping for it to have a profile similar to the recently released Ibasso PB5 Osprey nutube portable amp. And I find the difference on the C9 available modes as being too subtle.

I still love the Cayin C9, because it is really an amazing desktop level transparent amp; does not compress the dynamics or staging at all!...But I would like a warmer (and possibly darker) profile option out of it.

Otherwise it'll be redundant alongside their being the availability of the C9. C9 really is so fleshed out and can see alot of people feeling they don't need to move on the the update model. They really made the original C9 that good.

"Otherwise it'll be redundant alongside there being the availability of the C9. C9 really is so fleshed out and can see alot of people feeling they don't need to move on the the update model. They really made the original C9 that good."

If this was true there would be very few new amplifiers/DAPs, there is always room for improvement in specific directions, that's progress, you even express a dissatisfaction with the C9 when you say "the difference on the C9 available modes as being too subtle" so Cayin may focus on a specific mode and bring it further, reach beyond what you can imagine, cross the bridge between dream and reality, also the price might be lower and what about all those people who haven't bought the C9 yet? So there's plenty of room for a C9ii and by no means do I think it will it be redundant, neither for those who have it nor for those who don't.

 

[eddie3vino]

I just purchased this to use with my Astell & Kern SE 300 and Meze Empyrean II headphones. It added much needed power to the headphones. Thus far I prefer the sound of the tube setting rather than solid state. Still needs to run in for a while for it to reach full protection but I am very pleased.

 

[lolhero]

Can the C9 be powered directly from the external power supply, or does leaving the charger connected work, for someone who would want to add it to a setup which would also be used in as a desktop?

 

[bukumurah]

Can the C9 be powered directly from the external power supply, or does leaving the charger connected work, for someone who would want to add it to a setup which would also be used in as a desktop?

It does work but I believe the circuit is designed to still charge and discharge the batteries at the same time for the C9 to operate instead of bypassing them completely..

But the AC noise that is present from running the amp this way is tooooo much.. but it may be better if your local electricity installation is grounded by standard (not here in Indonesia)

 

[mfgillia]

It does work but I believe the circuit is designed to still charge and discharge the batteries at the same time for the C9 to operate instead of bypassing them completely..

But the AC noise that is present from running the amp this way is tooooo much.. but it may be better if your local electricity installation is grounded by standard (not here in Indonesia)

Had heard can use the C9 without batteries inside plugged into an outlet. Is this not correct and it does require batteries to operate?

 

[jlemaster1957]

Can the C9 be powered directly from the external power supply, or does leaving the charger connected work, for someone who would want to add it to a setup which would also be used in as a desktop?

See earlier posts this thread on ‘protection circuit’. You must not play music from C9 while C9 and the DAC feeding C9 are powered by the same power source eg a common power block, as there is a common ground between the audio and charging circuits. It will create a short circuit and may damage the source. C9 will shut down and require to be disconnected from the power source and reconnected (without any other device on the circuit) for 10 secs to reset the protection circuit.

 

[senorx12562]

Had heard can use the C9 without batteries inside plugged into an outlet. Is this not correct and it does require batteries to operate?

I do not believe the C9 can be used without batteries, even if it is plugged in.

 

[WDitters]

I do not believe the C9 can be used without batteries, even if it is plugged in.

Correct ..

 

[Andykong]

Can the C9 be powered directly from the external power supply, or does leaving the charger connected work, for someone who would want to add it to a setup which would also be used in as a desktop?

Absolutely NOT. If you are looking for a small headphone amplifier that can be hooked to a wall AC outlet and operates as a desktop amplifier, C9 is not a good choice.

There isn't any external power supply that can support C9 directly without the batteries. When you connect the charger and playback simultaneously, C9 will drain the power from the batteries, not the charger directly. This will downgrade the performance of C9 because of the high temperature and excessive noise when the Lithium batteries are charging and decharging at the same time.

We designed C9 as a battery power amplifier device. If you need to use C9 for very long hours, we suggest you purchase an additional set of battery modules and extra sets of 18650 batteries. If you were to use the C9 in the desktop setting, you don't need to apply the screws to lock up the battery modules, so swapping battery modules can be done within seconds, and you can charge the batteries in the spare battery module directly. I have customers swap their battery modules every morning, or before every listening session. This is not 100% desktop style but close enough to a lot of users.

We have also discussed the possibility of a custom/DIY power supply for C9, you can refer to our discussion HERE and HERE. The power supply circuit (filters, capacitors, LDO, ... etc) is optimized for battery-powered, feeding a different power supply to the C9 will downgrade the amplifier even when you have the technical ability to build such an LPS device.

 

[lolhero]

Absolutely NOT. If you are looking for a small headphone amplifier that can be hooked to a wall AC outlet and operates as a desktop amplifier, C9 is not a good choice.

There isn't any external power supply that can support C9 directly without the batteries. When you connect the charger and playback simultaneously, C9 will drain the power from the batteries, not the charger directly. This will downgrade the performance of C9 because of the high temperature and excessive noise when the Lithium batteries are charging and decharging at the same time.

We designed C9 as a battery power amplifier device. If you need to use C9 for very long hours, we suggest you purchase an additional set of battery modules and extra sets of 18650 batteries. If you were to use the C9 in the desktop setting, you don't need to apply the screws to lock up the battery modules, so swapping battery modules can be done within seconds, and you can charge the batteries in the spare battery module directly. I have customers swap their battery modules every morning, or before every listening session. This is not 100% desktop style but close enough to a lot of users.

We have also discussed the possibility of a custom/DIY power supply for C9, you can refer to our discussion HERE and HERE. The power supply circuit (filters, capacitors, LDO, ... etc) is optimized for battery-powered, feeding a different power supply to the C9 will downgrade the amplifier even when you have the technical ability to build such an LPS device.

Thanks, yep unfortunately I have figure out that this is not the device for me.

 

[senorx12562]

Absolutely NOT. If you are looking for a small headphone amplifier that can be hooked to a wall AC outlet and operates as a desktop amplifier, C9 is not a good choice.

There isn't any external power supply that can support C9 directly without the batteries. When you connect the charger and playback simultaneously, C9 will drain the power from the batteries, not the charger directly. This will downgrade the performance of C9 because of the high temperature and excessive noise when the Lithium batteries are charging and decharging at the same time.

We designed C9 as a battery power amplifier device. If you need to use C9 for very long hours, we suggest you purchase an additional set of battery modules and extra sets of 18650 batteries. If you were to use the C9 in the desktop setting, you don't need to apply the screws to lock up the battery modules, so swapping battery modules can be done within seconds, and you can charge the batteries in the spare battery module directly. I have customers swap their battery modules every morning, or before every listening session. This is not 100% desktop style but close enough to a lot of users.

We have also discussed the possibility of a custom/DIY power supply for C9, you can refer to our discussion HERE and HERE. The power supply circuit (filters, capacitors, LDO, ... etc) is optimized for battery-powered, feeding a different power supply to the C9 will downgrade the amplifier even when you have the technical ability to build such an LPS device.

I see the fact that the device operates only on power from the batteries as a feature rather than a bug. I have an extra set of batteries and bought a charger (not the stock battery pack-$24 instead of $100. I'm poor because I buy $1600 headphone amps). So it takes minutes to switch instead of seconds. I think it works great in a desktop application. I get 7ish hours out of the batteries easy using balanced out, tube mode, class A, low gain. I never need high gain, even with 300 ohm dynamics and planar circumaural cans.

 

[WDitters]

I see the fact that the device operates only on power from the batteries as a feature rather than a bug. I have an extra set of batteries and bought a charger (not the stock battery pack-$24 instead of $100. I'm poor because I buy $1600 headphone amps). So it takes minutes to switch instead of seconds. I think it works great in a desktop application. I get 7ish hours out of the batteries easy using balanced out, tube mode, class A, low gain. I never need high gain, even with 300 ohm dynamics and planar circumaural cans.

Exactly. Operating from battery power instead of an LPS makes the C9 cleaner and more silent anyway. Having it depend on removable batteries instead of built-in batteries makes the C9 quite future proof. Form a performance perspective the C9 obviously cannot compare with a true desktop amplifier, but that's not what it was designed for anyway. In exchange you will get solid (trans)portability in a device that actually offers that successfully extracts that last bit of performance out of the likes of RS8, N8ii and other DAPs.

 

[Roland Maes]

Exactly. Operating from battery power instead of an LPS makes the C9 cleaner and more silent anyway. Having it depend on removable batteries instead of built-in batteries makes the C9 quite future proof. Form a performance perspective the C9 obviously cannot compare with a true desktop amplifier, but that's not what it was designed for anyway. In exchange you will get solid (trans)portability in a device that actually offers that successfully extracts that last bit of performance out of the likes of RS8, N8ii and other DAPs.

Wow that’s a big spoiler:my head fi you got there!
Question, what do you think about the ca1000t from astell?
I maybe want to buy it.
Now I use the onkyo dp-x1 with t5 3rd Beyers on balanced cable.

Kind regards.

 

[Andykong]

I see the fact that the device operates only on power from the batteries as a feature rather than a bug. I have an extra set of batteries and bought a charger (not the stock battery pack-$24 instead of $100. I'm poor because I buy $1600 headphone amps). So it takes minutes to switch instead of seconds. I think it works great in a desktop application. I get 7ish hours out of the batteries easy using balanced out, tube mode, class A, low gain. I never need high gain, even with 300 ohm dynamics and planar circumaural cans.

Exactly. Operating from battery power instead of an LPS makes the C9 cleaner and more silent anyway. Having it depend on removable batteries instead of built-in batteries makes the C9 quite future proof. Form a performance perspective the C9 obviously cannot compare with a true desktop amplifier, but that's not what it was designed for anyway. In exchange you will get solid (trans)portability in a device that actually offers that successfully extracts that last bit of performance out of the likes of RS8, N8ii and other DAPs.

Indeed, that's why I started with the qualifying statement that we "designed C9 as a battery power amplifier device", this is a very important criterion that we must clarify before we discuss the pros and cons of the product. With this in mind, this is a feature, not a b bug.

 

[gadus]

Can n7 work with an external power supply?
If so, does he gain anything from it?