[EvenR]

I second that. I have the iHA-6 here and i'm interested in some impressions of the Jotunheim aswell.

 

[Andykong]

[COLOR=FF00AA]Happy Thanksgiving[/COLOR]
We are glad to have friends and customers like you.
Wish you all the best on this Special Day.
​

​

NOTE: If you can't see the embedded video above, please CLICK HERE to see the video.​

 

[elwappo99]

If anyone's got an eye out for this unit the prices seemed to have dropped quite heavily. Currently brand new on ebay for $580
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cayin-iDAC-6-32Bit-384kHz-DSD128-Audio-DA-Converter-Decoder-IHA6-/252678376388?var=&hash=item3ad4ce0bc4m9I_A1VNzJ4bifgmqtpZ87Q

 

[Maru10]

Hello, chiming in to share my experience with this jewel. After few years of happiness with driving HE560 with Gustard's exceptional H10 amp, feeding it by iRDAC, I've got an upgraditis gravis and ordered new almost everything. I am waiting for Gustard's new X20U-Pro dac, having balanced interconnection ready to pump it in into Cayin iHa-6. My balanced headphone cable being still on its way to me, I am driving Hifiman golden mid-class HE560 with Cayin via single ended cable, and I am hearing what I haven't heard before.
 
I am not very poetic in nature, never been good with the terms like warm, analytical, congested, etc. What I hear is clean, dynamic and energized, and I like it very much. I really enjoy that even without critical listening I can hear new details I havent heard on the same setup (Arcam iRDAC and Hifiman's HE560) before. I also found out that the music really plays around me for the first time. I am to lazy to imagine and pinpoint instruments in the space, however now I feel really surrounded by the music, not just feeling like being stereoed.
 
My only worry is occasional sibilance. Being in love with what I hear, I tend to blame the records, however in case of e.g. Queen's "Under pressure" from the 2012 SACD, where especially the first verses the "sss" are piercing my ears almost painfully, it is hard to blame poor mastering (at least I think so, please feel free to help me see the light ).
 
Otherwise, I am really enjoying this headamp, and looking forward to complement it with Gustard's new juggernaut DAC and fully balanced interconnect. And who knows, maybe I will help myself to an old set of HE-6, being able to finally power them properly...

 

[Andykong]

Hello, chiming in to share my experience with this jewel. After few years of happiness with driving HE560 with Gustard's exceptional H10 amp, feeding it by iRDAC, I've got an upgraditis gravis and ordered new almost everything. I am waiting for Gustard's new X20U-Pro dac, having balanced interconnection ready to pump it in into Cayin iHa-6. My balanced headphone cable being still on its way to me, I am driving Hifiman golden mid-class HE560 with Cayin via single ended cable, and I am hearing what I haven't heard before.

I am not very poetic in nature, never been good with the terms like warm, analytical, congested, etc. What I hear is clean, dynamic and energized, and I like it very much. I really enjoy that even without critical listening I can hear new details I havent heard on the same setup (Arcam iRDAC and Hifiman's HE560) before. I also found out that the music really plays around me for the first time. I am to lazy to imagine and pinpoint instruments in the space, however now I feel really surrounded by the music, not just feeling like being stereoed.

My only worry is occasional sibilance. Being in love with what I hear, I tend to blame the records, however in case of e.g. Queen's "Under pressure" from the 2012 SACD, where especially the first verses the "sss" are piercing my ears almost painfully, it is hard to blame poor mastering (at least I think so, please feel free to help me see the light ).

Otherwise, I am really enjoying this headamp, and looking forward to complement it with Gustard's new juggernaut DAC and fully balanced interconnect. And who knows, maybe I will help myself to an old set of HE-6, being able to finally power them properly...

Thank you very much for your impression on iHA-6. I am sure when you tried out the balanced output of iHA-6, you'll experience a significant improvement over to the single ended output, especially when you are using a planar headphone (remember to try out the high current mode as well).

If you can find a good deal on second handed HE6, go for it, it is a good can and iHA-6 is probably the most cost-effective headphone amplifier to drive the HE6 to full body with dynamic presentation.

 

[EvenR]

If anyone in Europe is interested in one, i've got one for sale currently.

 

[BALANCEATOR]

 
 
Unboxing amplifier Cayin IHA-6 
 
 
 

 

[Andykong]

Unboxing amplifier Cayin IHA-6 



 

While I can't understand the narrative, I have enjoyed the illustration of the open box process.

I hope you like the headphone amplifier so far. Among the headphones listed in your profile, I am particularly interested in the pairing with Grado RS1 and Fostex TH-X00, it would be most interesting if you can share your impression of iHA-6 with your headphones, and we are looking forward to that.

 

[Andrew Rieger]

I'm curious why this amp costs as much as it does. The Audio GD NFB-1 is like half the price for virtually the same amp. I would prefer the Cayin but at $1K, its a bit of a tough sell. If these were going for $750-$800, I think they would be a lot more popular. 
 
Does anyone know if Cayin will be at CanJam Socal in April and have a booth discount for the amp?

 

[Andykong]

[COLOR=FF00AA]Merry Christmas[/COLOR]​

On behalf of Cayin, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. I know we are always busy this holiday season, especially when Christmas is not a public holiday in Mainland China , but I want to take the time to wish you and yours, happy holidays. This is a special day for family and friends, there isn't anything can't wait until tomorrow, so relax and hug your beloveds around you, play some music, and enjoy the moment together.

I just had a wonderful Christmas dinner with my family. We were a bit late this year as my niece just arrived from LA this morning, but family is always worth waiting for, and good music will make the dinner ever more involving and pleasant. This is one of the playlist that I appreciated during the holiday season and I want to share this with you.

NOTE: If you can't see the embedded video above, please CLICK HERE to see the video.​

 

[project86]

I'm cross posting this here in case anyone is interested. My review of the Cayin HA-1A MKII is finally live. HERE is the link. 
 
Summary - very nice tube amp, and quite different sounding than the iHA-6. They compliment one another brilliantly!

 

[zeissiez]

I'm cross posting this here in case anyone is interested. My review of the Cayin HA-1A MKII is finally live. HERE is the link. 

Summary - very nice tube amp, and quite different sounding than the iHA-6. They compliment one another brilliantly!

A fantastic review, great work there John!

 

[exsomnis]

  I'm curious why this amp costs as much as it does. The Audio GD NFB-1 is like half the price for virtually the same amp. I would prefer the Cayin but at $1K, its a bit of a tough sell. If these were going for $750-$800, I think they would be a lot more popular. 
 
Does anyone know if Cayin will be at CanJam Socal in April and have a booth discount for the amp?

 
They would be a lot more popular if they sold direct, had an english-forum-active internal technical representative/designer and had more dealership presence, not because of any lack of sound quality. The iHA-6 that I have is fantastic. While it is being fed by an Audio-gd DAC-19 and not an iDAC-6, this is purely because my DAC-19 came first and I had no desire for a DAC upgrade.
 
I can't do a direct comparison to my Audio-gd Precision 1 because it's been out of commission for a while and I just sent it back for repair (4 years into a 10 year warranty, which is an amazing thing) - but I've found that the Audio-gd house sounds tends to veer towards the warm side and can be a bit shy with the high frequencies.
 
The iHA-6, OTOH, has gobs of clarity and finesse and isn't afraid of resolving that extra bit of detail. All without a hint of being overzealous with the treble and while providing more than enough power to drive my LCD3s with panache.
 
But in case you were looking for a bargain, I can tell you that I got mine for about $600 + shipping & agent fees off of taobao.com. Look for it there and pass that link to your regional taobao agent and they'll do the heavy lifting for you. Of course, warranty is out of the question but I guess that's what the extra $400 is for.

 

[rudra]

I got mine for about US$675 from a local dealer in Australia with warranty which I thought was a great deal. I have used 3 different HP and the Cayin controls them with authority

 

[tvnosaint]

I have had this amp for a week now. For months now I've spent most of my listening time with my home stereo with vinyl. Switching back to headphones with the iha6 , my first impression was it was too bright. Once it warmed up it became neutral and
Very resolving. It's running with a tubed dac, monarchy nm24 and the zmf omni/ori. Power is not an issue the hungry ori is satiated . The amp does high light the tubes in the dac. Ecc88 blackburns I put in the dac proved too dull for the amp. Russians, too brittle. I'm currently using miniwatts e88cc which seems to be the correct porridge.
Now I'm really, really enjoying this amp. My lyr, LC , and gustard sit quietly. It seems to me a shade brighter than neutral sometimes but I listen to a lot of 80s music. That stuff is bright on my vinyl rig too. I think it's a great amp and under valued so far,