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Cayin HA-1A vs Darkvoice 337

post #1 of 8
12/22/10 at 10:44pm
Thread Starter 

Hi just wondering if anyone has tried both these tube amps before to give a general impression about the sound qualities of both when compared to each other? Is there a clear difference in quality? Both the Cayin and the Darkvoice seem to be roughly in the same price range so was wondering whether one is clearly better than the other. 

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post #2 of 8
12/23/10 at 6:11am

I use the Cayin to drive the LCD2s and love it.  I thought it had a floppy sub bass...it turns out this thing was transparent enough to illustrate the floppy sub bass in my sources.  I can hear the effect of jitter with this tube amp.  Its quite resolving and controlled for a full tube design.  EL84 output tubes,  4 position headphone impedance matching switch, and SET or Ultralinear user selectable.  Unfortunately, I have no idea how it compares to the 337.

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post #3 of 8
12/23/10 at 7:44am

i am surprised that the the HA-1A isn't a popular amp around here.  excellent amp and one i would still own if i hadn't got into DIY.  built like a tank too.

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post #4 of 8
12/23/10 at 8:17am

fishski, i see your join day/year was 04 so i though you would know.  it was popular.  people loved/love it here.  for other guys, do a search(if you can, the search function suck).  it's very nice for the price.  i don't have it but i've listened to it many times and i thought it was wonderful.  and for 337, i though they sound very different, although both are tube amps.  

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post #5 of 8
12/23/10 at 11:11am
Thread Starter 

thanks for all your replies... fhuang which would you prefer if you had to choose one of them? 

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post #6 of 8
12/23/10 at 5:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fhuang View Post

fishski, i see your join day/year was 04 so i though you would know.  it was popular.  people loved/love it here.  for other guys, do a search(if you can, the search function suck).  it's very nice for the price.  i don't have it but i've listened to it many times and i thought it was wonderful.  and for 337, i though they sound very different, although both are tube amps.  


maybe my memory is failing.  all i read about is the Woo, LD, and DV these days.

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post #7 of 8
12/23/10 at 8:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by voodoohao View Post

thanks for all your replies... fhuang which would you prefer if you had to choose one of them? 



i would've chose both because they sound so different.  i really like it with k501.  not so much for dt990.  on the other hand i love my darkvoice 337 with dt990(pro and 600ohm).  too bad the local dealer doesn't carry ha-1a anymore.  they have a "replacement" for it named ha2 i think and it doesn't sound as good.  decent for not as good



Quote:
Originally Posted by fishski13 View Post



Quote:
Originally Posted by fhuang View Post

fishski, i see your join day/year was 04 so i though you would know.  it was popular.  people loved/love it here.  for other guys, do a search(if you can, the search function suck).  it's very nice for the price.  i don't have it but i've listened to it many times and i thought it was wonderful.  and for 337, i though they sound very different, although both are tube amps.  


maybe my memory is failing.  all i read about is the Woo, LD, and DV these days.

 

 

it was long time ago though.  ha-1a was the first quality Chinese made headphone amp(integrated amp too) and was before the darkvoice or little dot.  

 

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post #8 of 8
12/23/10 at 8:32pm

i thought it drove my then K701 very well.

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