[tinariwen]

I used medium or low all the time never needs on high impedance.

I used medium for the longest time, but high seems to give it a more dynamic sound. That’s purely my subjective experience though - I’ve no idea if that’s actually the case.

Another chap asked recently if high impedance increases the current and in turn gives it that increased sense of dynamics, but I don’t think they’ve had a response yet.

Any reason you prefer to use low or medium?

 

[Roybenz]

Im considering getting a ha300b mk2,never heard tubes before. I have a Moon 430had with susvara. What could i expect in sound change compared to my SS amp?

 

[krude]

I used medium for the longest time, but high seems to give it a more dynamic sound. That’s purely my subjective experience though - I’ve no idea if that’s actually the case.

Another chap asked recently if high impedance increases the current and in turn gives it that increased sense of dynamics, but I don’t think they’ve had a response yet.

Any reason you prefer to use low or medium?

Indeed, it would be amazing to get an answer at some point I have a very similar expeirence to your with output impedance.

 

[Skyediver]

I am not at liberty to, sadly.

Then why tease???

 

[paradoxper]

Then why tease???

It was addressing a price increase and notion demand can't be met.

 

[jamato8]

Parts Connexion will have more 300B in 2 or 3 days. I spoke with them yesterday. And the price of the Elrog hasn't gone up. There are two versions of the Elrog 300B.

 

[Wes S]

Parts Connexion will have more 300B in 2 or 3 days. I spoke with them yesterday. And the price of the Elrog hasn't gone up. There are two versions of the Elrog 300B.

Awesome to hear! I hope more HA300 owners will jump on them, as this tube really takes the amp to another level. In fact once I got the Elrog's in the amp, it scaled so much that pretty much every 6SN7 and 22DE4 I tried sounded amazing.

 

[JeffMann]

Awesome to hear! I hope more HA300 owners will jump on them, as this tube really takes the amp to another level. In fact once I got the Elrog's in the amp, it scaled so much that pretty much every 6SN7 and 22DE4 I tried sounded amazing.

How does the stock Tungsol 6sn7 tube sound in combination with the Elrog 300B tubes?

Is there a significant sound quality difference compared to NOS 6sn7 tubes in that Elrog-based scenario!

Jeff.

 

[tinariwen]

Indeed, it would be amazing to get an answer at some point I have a very similar expeirence to your with output impedance.

I would imagine someone will have the answer, as it’s a spec thing at the end of the day and (I’m assuming) current output is measured

 

[jamato8]

The 6SN7 will always have an effect on the sound. It normally has the most effect. Good power tubes and then you can change the sound with the input tube. That is true with any amp. The power tube is amplifying what it gets from the 1st tube.

 

[JeffMann]

The 6SN7 will always have an effect on the sound. It normally has the most effect. Good power tubes and then you can change the sound with the input tube. That is true with any amp. The power tube is amplifying what it gets from the 1st tube.

That is what I previously thought, but Wes is seemingly asserting that with the Elrog 300B tubes in place that all the 6sn7 tubes (that he tried) sound amazing.

Jeff.

 

[jamato8]

That is what I previously thought, but Wes is seemingly asserting that with the Elrog 300B tubes in place that all the 6sn7 tubes (that he tried) sound amazing.

Jeff.

I would imagine the system does sound better but that doesn't mean each tube won't have a sound of its own. Also, it all takes time to settle. A tube amp normally takes 100 to 200 hours of use to settle in, for the caps to form, even for the dielectric to form as it can have a tiny capacitive effect. Then all the wire in the transformers etc. And tubes take some time to settle.

 

[Skyediver]

Parts Connexion will have more 300B in 2 or 3 days. I spoke with them yesterday. And the price of the Elrog hasn't gone up. There are two versions of the Elrog 300B.

There must be a lot of us on the hunt! I just emailed them to make a request and response was 2-3 weeks. Either way, I could read the tea leaves; got my order in.

 

[jamato8]

There must be a lot of us on the hunt! I just emailed them to make a request and response was 2-3 weeks. Either way, I could read the tea leaves; got my order in.

It would seem there is a higher demand now. I put in a deposit a week ago. I think they had 4 sets left, that are the ones coming in. So the next ones in 2 to 3 weeks makes sense, since the ones coming in now, apparently are all sold.

-------

I notice more noise today. I use a very good filter for the AC but it is getting through. A lot of people home and using the AC so more junk gets in to the AC line.

 

[Andykong]

Topic: How to determine whether the 300B tubes are properly seated in a Cayin HA300 amplifier?

I received my Cayin HA300MK2 amplifier last week and the left channel failed after about two hours. See post #2331 to see my description of events. I now know that the cause of this failure was due to the fact that the 300B tubes were not properly seated in their tube sockets and I have acquired new insights into this problem of how to know whether the 300B tubes are properly seated.

This is the first time that I have purchased a tube headphone amplifier and I am therefore a novice. I noted that the 300B tubes could be easily moved side-to-side and back-and-forth by >10mm and I was worried if this was normal. I pushed down on the top of the tubes, but it didn't seem to affect the scenario and the 300B tubes still felt too wobbly and it felt as if there was nothing solidly gripping the 300B tube's pins. I wondered whether the problem was due to the tube socket's clamps being too loose to solidly hold the pins of the 300B tubes. I therefore decided to remove the bottom cover of the amp with the intention of using a pair of needle-nosed pliers to crimp the tube socket's 4 metal clamps closer together.

Here is a description of what happened.

When I looked at those 4 gold-plated clamps on each tube socket, they did not seem to be wide part. I also found that gentle crimping pressure with the needle-nosed pliers did not change anything. I therefore wondered if there was another problem causing the poor seating of the 300B tubes. So, while the amplifier was still lying on its side, I placed a 300B tube in its socket and pressed down firmly. I noted to my surprise that the tip ends of the 300B tubes's pins were only protruding about 2mm beyond the lower surface level of the ceramic tube socket and the tips were barely touching the top of the metal clamps. I then realised that the 300B tubes were not properly seated despite my having applied a lot of pressure to the top of the 300B tube's glass envelope. I then steadily increased the applied pressure to a degree that I thought that the 300B tube's glass envelope may shatter from the magnitude of the applied pressure. Suddenly, I felt a "sudden give" sensation and the 300B tube's pins went down an additional ~5mm. I then noted that the tube socket's metal clamps were firmly grasping the peripheral end of the pins by about 3mm. From my perspective, that represents a properly seated 300B tube.

I then decided to perform the same maneuver with the other 300B tube. However, I made an additional observation. When one looks into the 300B tube socket well from above one cannot see the bottom surface of the white base of the Gold Lion 300B tube because it is obscured by the black-holed mounting plate. However, when working from below, I could clearly see the bottom surface of the white base of the 300B tube. When I placed firm pressure to the top of the 300B tube as before, I noted that the bottom surface of the Gold Lion 300B tube's white tube base was still ~5mm away from the white top ceramic surface of the tube socket. I then applied further vertical preesure onto the top of the 300B tube's glass envelope until I felt that same "sudden give" sensation as previously described. Then, I noted that the bottom surface of the 300B tube's white base was tightly opposed against the top surface of the ceramic socket, and that is another second sign (indicator) that the 300B tube is properly seated.

Finally, I turned the amplifier to its normal upright position. I then tried to move the 300B tubes side-to-side and back-and-forth and I noted that I could only move it ~5mm in each direction, and not 10+mm. So, that's another useful third sign (indicator) that the 300B tube is properly seated.

How reliable are these 3 indicators that the 300B tube is properly seated? I believe that the 3rd indicator (tilting the tube from side-to-side) to assess how much it can tilt is a very unreliable (very subjective) indicator. I believe that the 2nd indicator (noting that the 300B tube's bottom surface is tightly opposed against the top surface of the ceramic tube socket) is impractical because it is only evident from below. One cannot see the bottom surface of the 300B tube's base when looking from above. That means that the only reliable indicator of a properly seated 300B tube in the Cayin HA300 amplifier is noting that the tube socket's 4 metal clamps are firmly grasping at least 3-4mm of the peripheral end of each pin. That is easy to see if one shines a flashlight through the grills of the bottom plate of the amplifier.

Because I am a novice when it comes to 300B tube amplifiers, you may not agree with my 3 described indicators of a properly seated 300B tube in a Cayin 300B headphone amplifier. Therefore, if you disagree, feel free to criticise my reasoning and feel free to educate me on the best method of determining that the 300B tube is properly seated.

However, if I am correct, then surely Cayin needs to provide this information in the user manual. If Cayin continues to ship the amplifier with the 300B tubes in situ, then it is very possible that the 300B tubes may become dislodged during the travel from China to an end-user's home. Then, if the 300B tube is improperly seated and if there is poor physical contact between the 300B tube's pins and the 300B tube socket's metal clamps, arcing may occur that can potentially damage the 300B tube and/or additional electronic circuitry. What do you think?

Jeff.

Andy,

Welcome back to this forum's thread. It is very useful to have a Cayin representative available to answer questions about the Cayin HA300 headphone amplifier.

I have a specific question based on my personal experience with my new Cayin HA300MK2 unit. It failed after a few hours use - see post #2331 on page 156 for a description of events.

As a neophyte tube amplifier owner, who had no previous experience with tube headphone amplifiers, I did not know what was the cause of my problem. In retrospect, I now believe that it was due to the fact that the 300B tubes became loose during shipment and there was no information in the Manual on how to check that the 300B tubes are properly seated. I thought deeply about this issue of "how to assess whether the 300B tubes are properly seated" and I expressed my opinions in post #2373 on page 159. I came to the conclusion that the only reliable way to determine that the 300B tubes are properly seated is to visually note that the 300B tube's pins are being firmly grasped by the tube socket's four clamps, and that requires one to turn the amplifier on its side and shine a flashlight through the bottom metal plate's grills. Do you agree/disagree with my opinion? Do you think that there is a better way of accurately determining whether the 300B tubes are properly seated and do you not think that this topic should be addressed in the Manual?

Jeff.

First of all, let me clarify that Cayin will install all vacuum tubes properly and test the amplifier individually before we ship it out. we don't leave a gap purposively for whatever reason. As @Yggy has pointed out, we have installed specially formed polystyrene packaging between the vacuum tube and the protective cage, so the tubes should remain at their designated location securely. This is how we ship all our vacuum tube amplifiers, including the HA-1Amk2, HA-3A, HA-6A, HA-300MK2, and all the speaker amplifiers we produced over the years. From what we observed, dislocated vacuum tube happens fairly infrequently.

There is an alternative practice in the tube audio industry: instead of installing the vacuum tubes into the amplifier before shipping to customers, we'll remove the vacuum tubes after the QA process, pack the vacuum tubes on their own, and place the vacuum tubes in a separate box and store them at one of the corners in the shipping package. In our experience, this approach is more efficient and logistic friendly but requires the users to install the vacuum tubes when they unbox the amplifier.

Cayin evaluated both options thoroughly and decided to adopt our current practice simply because we want our users to enjoy our amplifier immediately after they take out the amplifier from the packing box. Installing a vacuum tube might sound straightforward to average tube amplifier users, but it can be tedious and "worrying" for newcomers. I still remember the day I handle my first vacuum tube amplifier back in early 2000, I had a hard time trying to figure out the correct direction of each vacuum tube before I pushed them into the tube socket. As a result of our decision to pre-install the vacuum tubes, we need to design our packaging with more foam, more space (bigger in volume), and more rigorous packing procedures.

I read your request ( #2,373 and #2,535) and will suggest Cayin enhance their HA-300MK2 user guide. The User Guide has a "How to Install Vacuum Tubes" section at the end of the guide already, so all they need to do is to add a reminder to check whether the vacuum tubes are properly installed by shaking the tubes mildly. If a particular tube is not as secure (or tightly installed) as another tube, then the user should take the tube out and reinstall the vacuum tube according to the instructions at the end of the user guide.