[krude]

Ok, so a few months passed in my HA300MK2 journey ...

And boy am I glad I ended up buying and keeping this amp (I had it for sale for a while). The 6sn7 + 300B combination is not cheap to roll, but the sound you get from those tubes has a very high ceiling in terms of quality and is definitely TOTL endgame teritory. My experiences with TC, Utopia and running speakers is nothing short of spectacular, top class, *throws all TOTL audiophone terms here* ... space, tonality, layering. air between instrumets, stage, thundering bass, liquid mids, sweet detailed treble, you name it, this amp (provided with the right tubes) can deliver ... on all fronts.

I will add, that it is very well built, the form factor is great (it fits nicely in my rack), it's very quiet, looks great, feels great, great volume control ... and also importantly it is very good value all things considered. Stock tubes are ok, but as many tube aficionados here mentioned already, both drivers and power tubes scale a few levels up in terms of staging, imaging, dynamics, bass, effortlessness and pure class. It's pure joy to be able to run top level tubes in this amp. Pure class.

I was a big fan of my HA6a for the last 2 years, now I will be a raving fan of the HA300MK2. Cayin ... you've done it again.

Also I love my black finish with white / blueish lights. Looks awesome in my rack : > (actually all of my pieces at the moment look great )

ps. I just realised I said pure class way too many times, but I don't take it back, it's pure class xD
ps2. Pro tip : Just like my HA6a, HA300MK2 works great as a tube stage. At the moment I run it using 4.4 to 2xXLR going straight into Topping LA90 in power amp mode (don't judge, in power amp mode, fed with clean power it's a beast) and into speakers. I totally recommend running speakers straight from HA300MK2 or using transparent speaker power amp like I do to get tighter sound, but also have all of the traits HA300MK2 delivers (and you can use imedance switch to get even more dynamics and shape the sound).

 

[Andykong]

Ok, so a few months passed in my HA300MK2 journey ...

And boy am I glad I ended up buying and keeping this amp (I had it for sale for a while). The 6sn7 + 300B combination is not cheap to roll, but the sound you get from those tubes has a very high ceiling in terms of quality and is definitely TOTL endgame teritory. My experiences with TC, Utopia and running speakers is nothing short of spectacular, top class, *throws all TOTL audiophone terms here* ... space, tonality, layering. air between instrumets, stage, thundering bass, liquid mids, sweet detailed treble, you name it, this amp (provided with the right tubes) can deliver ... on all fronts.

I will add, that it is very well built, the form factor is great (it fits nicely in my rack), it's very quiet, looks great, feels great, great volume control ... and also importantly it is very good value all things considered. Stock tubes are ok, but as many tube aficionados here mentioned already, both drivers and power tubes scale a few levels up in terms of staging, imaging, dynamics, bass, effortlessness and pure class. It's pure joy to be able to run top level tubes in this amp. Pure class.

I was a big fan of my HA6a for the last 2 years, now I will be a raving fan of the HA300MK2. Cayin ... you've done it again.

Also I love my black finish with white / blueish lights. Looks awesome in my rack : > (actually all of my pieces at the moment look great )

ps. I just realised I said pure class way too many times, but I don't take it back, it's pure class xD
ps2. Pro tip : Just like my HA6a, HA300MK2 works great as a tube stage. At the moment I run it using 4.4 to 2xXLR going straight into Topping LA90 in power amp mode (don't judge, in power amp mode, fed with clean power it's a beast) and into speakers. I totally recommend running speakers straight from HA300MK2 or using transparent speaker power amp like I do to get tighter sound, but also have all of the traits HA300MK2 delivers (and you can use imedance switch to get even more dynamics and shape the sound).

This impression touches our hearts, since you are truly familiar with both HA-6A and HA-300MK2, your comment means a lot to us. Cayin is honored to have a group of dedicated users treat our amplifier as the centerpiece of their hobby, spending uncountable hours and resources to make the amplifier perfect for their sound system.

When we launched the original HA-300 all the way back in 2018 CanJam New York, we had a lot of doubt and hesitation. We jumped from $999 HA-1Amk2 to HA-300 AT $3999 and we were inevitably worried whether this was a good move. It turned out that the HA-300 was one of the cheapest if not the cheapest off-the-shelf 300B transformer-coupled headphone amplifier, and yet we offered a fully tube-rectified outboard power supply. I remember talking to Chris Martens (Chief Editor of HiFi+) after he auditioned for the HA-300 at that CanJam, at the end of our chat, I was saying "Glad you like our new amplifier, that's a lot of money for a headphone amplifier and we can only hope for the best". Chris tapped my shoulder, pointed to the HA-300 beside us, saying "There is nothing to worry about, that's a lot of amplifiers on your table"

The landscape of the TOTL headphone amplifiers segment has changed dramatically since 2018. The summit Headphone amplifier price range has moved up considerably and there are choices of ~$10K amplifiers in the market already. While Cayin has no plan to join the $10K club, we also don't have any new TOTL tube headphone amplifiers on our drawing board. The HA-300MK2 will remain our flagship tube headphone amplifier for quite a while. We sincerely hope the HA-300 and HA-300MK2 will continue to sing in your system for many years.

 

[jamato8]

This impression touches our hearts, since you are truly familiar with both HA-6A and HA-300MK2, your comment means a lot to us. Cayin is honored to have a group of dedicated users treat our amplifier as the centerpiece of their hobby, spending uncountable hours and resources to make the amplifier perfect for their sound system.

When we launched the original HA-300 all the way back in 2018 CanJam New York, we had a lot of doubt and hesitation. We jumped from $999 HA-1Amk2 to HA-300 AT $3999 and we were inevitably worried whether this was a good move. It turned out that the HA-300 was one of the cheapest if not the cheapest off-the-shelf 300B transformer-coupled headphone amplifier, and yet we offered a fully tube-rectified outboard power supply. I remember talking to Chris Martens (Chief Editor of HiFi+) after he auditioned for the HA-300 at that CanJam, at the end of our chat, I was saying "Glad you like our new amplifier, that's a lot of money for a headphone amplifier and we can only hope for the best". Chris tapped my shoulder, pointed to the HA-300 beside us, saying "There is nothing to worry about, that's a lot of amplifiers on your table"

The landscape of the TOTL headphone amplifiers segment has changed dramatically since 2018. The summit Headphone amplifier price range has moved up considerably and there are choices of ~$10K amplifiers in the market already. While Cayin has no plan to join the $10K club, we also don't have any new TOTL tube headphone amplifiers on our drawing board. The HA-300MK2 will remain our flagship tube headphone amplifier for quite a while. We sincerely hope the HA-300 and HA-300MK2 will continue to sing in your system for many years.

I have been into tubes for many, many years and heard many systems. I have built my own systems and what you have with the 300MK2 is an excellent piece of gear. It really checks all the boxes and that is a great accomplishment. I don't think much more would be achieved by moving into the 10,000 dollar range and if anything, it might waiver from what is already a superb piece. Someone mentioned a number of pages back that they were told that unless they had an over 10,000 dollar amp, the top of the line Elrog 300B, the MO, that they wouldn't hear a difference. What a sad arrogant statement by the manufacturer of the Elrog tubes.

I would see no reason the HA300 MK2 would not stay as a top of the line 300B amp for a long time. Music is music and if you are getting it with an amp, that is all there is.

 

[KrauserX91]

I think this amp is already in the league of 10k. Cayin just didn't overprice it.

 

[krude]

I have been into tubes for many, many years and heard many systems. I have built my own systems and what you have with the 300MK2 is an excellent piece of gear. It really checks all the boxes and that is a great accomplishment. I don't think much more would be achieved by moving into the 10,000 dollar range and if anything, it might waiver from what is already a superb piece. Someone mentioned a number of pages back that they were told that unless they had an over 10,000 dollar amp, the top of the line Elrog 300B, the MO, that they wouldn't hear a difference. What a sad arrogant statement by the manufacturer of the Elrog tubes.

I would see no reason the HA300 MK2 would not stay as a top of the line 300B amp for a long time. Music is music and if you are getting it with an amp, that is all there is.

Yeah that statement is bs. I've got an almost 10k legendary power amp on another shelf, and while it is amazingin in it's own right and has it's unique strengths (and weaknesses), its not an outright better amp, its a crossgrade if you will.

I have a tendency to have a few pieces in my system, and over time deciding what works and what doesn't by the amount of hours I want to put on each piece every month, and over the past 2 years I was coming back again and again to HA6a over many other pieces from many manufacturers. Now it's the same with HA300MK2, but on another level. I literally can't wait to go into my office and power up my stack every single day : > and it will stay like that for years

 

[krude]

This impression touches our hearts, since you are truly familiar with both HA-6A and HA-300MK2, your comment means a lot to us. Cayin is honored to have a group of dedicated users treat our amplifier as the centerpiece of their hobby, spending uncountable hours and resources to make the amplifier perfect for their sound system.

When we launched the original HA-300 all the way back in 2018 CanJam New York, we had a lot of doubt and hesitation. We jumped from $999 HA-1Amk2 to HA-300 AT $3999 and we were inevitably worried whether this was a good move. It turned out that the HA-300 was one of the cheapest if not the cheapest off-the-shelf 300B transformer-coupled headphone amplifier, and yet we offered a fully tube-rectified outboard power supply. I remember talking to Chris Martens (Chief Editor of HiFi+) after he auditioned for the HA-300 at that CanJam, at the end of our chat, I was saying "Glad you like our new amplifier, that's a lot of money for a headphone amplifier and we can only hope for the best". Chris tapped my shoulder, pointed to the HA-300 beside us, saying "There is nothing to worry about, that's a lot of amplifiers on your table"

The landscape of the TOTL headphone amplifiers segment has changed dramatically since 2018. The summit Headphone amplifier price range has moved up considerably and there are choices of ~$10K amplifiers in the market already. While Cayin has no plan to join the $10K club, we also don't have any new TOTL tube headphone amplifiers on our drawing board. The HA-300MK2 will remain our flagship tube headphone amplifier for quite a while. We sincerely hope the HA-300 and HA-300MK2 will continue to sing in your system for many years.

Thank you Andy. I think you (Cayin) really lifted the brand with this line from HA6a, HA300 and now HA300MK2 is a great refinement of those ideas.

I spent some time talking with very seasoned audiophiles who spent tens of thousands over decades building their systems, and all of them had Cayin at some point in their journey and all of them remember those pieces as solid and enjoyable ...

I've heard some world class systems this year, and let me tell you my system at the moment delivers everything and more, I'm sure of that. My journey is over (obv not fully over but there's nothing more to achieve for me). I don't think those guys are able to fathom what you've achieved with HA300MK2 (no one has auditioned my stack, I'm too young for my opinions to hold any value in those circles ). But I'm sure that this amp will speak for itself in the years to come and will become legendary. It is that good imo and it deserves it.

 

[Wes S]

I agree with everything said, and this amp truly is something special. It's been many early mornings, and many late nights since getting this amp, and I just can't get enough. Heck, it's been over a year of ownership and I still rush home from work everyday just to have more time to listen.

It looks as good as it sounds too!

Long live the HA300mk2!

 

[krude]

I was burning my Elrogs in, they were opening up and going from more mid centric, to a more open and extended sound. Sounded really really good ... but unfortunately after 20h one died (thankfully not damaging anything else in my chain ) ... those were issued as replacements in Jun and Sept 2022 as replacements, and aparently never used ... which I think is correct because I did experience the burn-in and it was pretty obvious they are changing characteristic in the way that owners here described before.

So, back to Psvane WE300B ... I will contect Elrog and ask if I have any options ...

 

[idairyou]

I was burning my Elrogs in, they were opening up and going from more mid centric, to a more open and extended sound. Sounded really really good ... but unfortunately after 20h one died (thankfully not damaging anything else in my chain ) ... those were issued as replacements in Jun and Sept 2022 as replacements, and aparently never used ... which I think is correct because I did experience the burn-in and it was pretty obvious they are changing characteristic in the way that owners here described before.

So, back to Psvane WE300B ... I will contect Elrog and ask if I have any options ...

I wish you luck on getting your Elrog issue taken care of. I've only dealt with Thomas once when I first purchased the Elrog's, and from a buyer perspective it was an easy no hassle transaction.

 

[dynamic headphones]

I was burning my Elrogs in, they were opening up and going from more mid centric, to a more open and extended sound. Sounded really really good ... but unfortunately after 20h one died (thankfully not damaging anything else in my chain ) ... those were issued as replacements in Jun and Sept 2022 as replacements, and aparently never used ... which I think is correct because I did experience the burn-in and it was pretty obvious they are changing characteristic in the way that owners here described before.

So, back to Psvane WE300B ... I will contect Elrog and ask if I have any options ...

that sucks man, update us on how elrog responds. sudden failures are what makes me anxious to roll 300b tubes much, any 300b is not really cheap and it worries me.

 

[krude]

Thomas reached out to me and was really helpful. He checked the sellers paperwork, checked the tube serial numbers and gave me some backstory of those tubes ... all on Saturday evening ...

So looks like either the seller made a mistake, or wasn't honest. I bought the tubes "as new" replacements, but turns out one is a replacement, but the one that died is from 2021 with an unspecified number of hours on it, and Thomas mentioned he remembers this seller, and he had some dodgy amplifiers, so he thinks the tube that died was probably already damaged by the amp the seller had ...

Anyway, a lesson learned ... I would buy new if I was buying again. The only options I have is to challenge the seller and ask for compensation, and / or order a new matching tube.

One thing I have to say, is that this time Elrogs sounded really great and kept getting better ...

 

[dynamic headphones]

Thomas reached out to me and was really helpful. He checked the sellers paperwork, checked the tube serial numbers and gave me some backstory of those tubes ... all on Saturday evening ...

So looks like either the seller made a mistake, or wasn't honest. I bought the tubes "as new" replacements, but turns out one is a replacement, but the one that died is from 2021 with an unspecified number of hours on it, and Thomas mentioned he remembers this seller, and he had some dodgy amplifiers, so he thinks the tube that died was probably already damaged by the amp the seller had ...

Anyway, a lesson learned ... I would buy new if I was buying again. The only options I have is to challenge the seller and ask for compensation, and / or order a new matching tube.

One thing I have to say, is that this time Elrogs sounded really great and kept getting better ...

you deserve a refund. did the seller provide you with the piece of paper that comes inside the box?

 

[krude]

you deserve a refund. did the seller provide you with the piece of paper that comes inside the box?

I only got invoices ... but I do have invoices

To get a matching tube I will send the ones I've got to Thomas. Thankfully I'm in EU so that's not a big problem.

 

[dynamic headphones]

I only got invoices ... but I do have invoices

that's weird that the seller didn't include the piece of paper, you could have just checked that to see if the serial numbers matched.

 

[idairyou]

Thomas reached out to me and was really helpful. He checked the sellers paperwork, checked the tube serial numbers and gave me some backstory of those tubes ... all on Saturday evening ...

So looks like either the seller made a mistake, or wasn't honest. I bought the tubes "as new" replacements, but turns out one is a replacement, but the one that died is from 2021 with an unspecified number of hours on it, and Thomas mentioned he remembers this seller, and he had some dodgy amplifiers, so he thinks the tube that died was probably already damaged by the amp the seller had ...

Anyway, a lesson learned ... I would buy new if I was buying again. The only options I have is to challenge the seller and ask for compensation, and / or order a new matching tube.

One thing I have to say, is that this time Elrogs sounded really great and kept getting better ...

I would reach out to the seller and try to work something out. I wouldn't call him dishonest right off the bat, but say his description was wrong and you know the correct history because you reached out to Thomas and looked it all up via the serial numbers.