[grizzlybeast]

.

 

[Andykong]

I was at NYC CaJam and did not know about this amp before.

I did not know about mostmost other new amps either,
And was quite surprised of all the new tube headphone amps there...

Yet only two amps stood out to me at this event.

The first was the Viva 845 amp there(forgot name),
And then this amp.

Visually it looks better than pics, so I was expecting a price like the Viva amp.

$4k may not be cheap, but for what I saw and heard I preferred it over all the other amps at Canjam.

The amp had no problem making the Susvara sound well balanced, which is usually not the case.
Weaker amps would make the Susvara sound a bit laid back.

Very important to me is the Soundstage as well,
Because other amps therr were also powerfull, but less "large" sounding.

This Cayin just had a wonderful Soundstage.
It just sounded right.

there were other resolving tube amps I heard, Wich did all have excellent resolution,
but had other issues which to me would not make them desirable for a keeper.
Issues like a bit too:
Slightly lean
Slightly Rich
Slightly dark
Slightly lifeless
Slightly forward

I fully believe in system synergy and that they all could have been matched better or used better tubes or different bias points in their design.

Anyways this Cayin really step up the headphone amp game, handling the Abyss Phi, Diana and Susvara really well with stock tubes and I was very impressed.

Last NY CanJam I thought the woo waa33 was most impressive, but this time around I have to say this Cayin HA-300 was the jewel of the show.

What's funny is that I would never have heard just how good this amp is if not for Canjam.

Mogwai is another incredible value, and the main difference I would say is the difference that is always said about DHT vs indirect heated tubes.

Between both amps,
Driver tube linearity is similar as they both having similar driver tubes.

It boils down to both output tube, and output transformer sound.

The 300b tube type sonic characteristics has always been a desirable one,
but the 6L6GC is also one of most desirable indirect tube types.

For you it would be incredibly difficult to decide, especially when you can perform upgrades on the Mogwai...

But in the long run in this hobby, it is usually DHT amps that are usually chosen as end game.

I have noticed that there has been a lacking market in tube headohone amps,
And these new amps are a breath of fresh air,
Because in the past you basically had to go DIY to have a great tube headphone amp.

I love tube amps and I think the Mogwai is really sweet.
Yet I could not imagine an amp like this Cayin for this price.
Hats off to them.

This is definitely the most detail impression of HA-300 in CanJam NYC 2018, thank you very much for visiting our demo room and writing up this informative sharing of our new headphone amplifier.

The Viva Egoista 845 is a gorgeous headphone amplifier and it sounds amazingly to my ears, it was my show stopper when I first come across it at Munich High-end show 2016. When you said the Viva Egoista 845 and Cayin HA-300 are the only two headphone amplifiers stood out in this event, we are truly flattered.

Some of the very difficult issues to use DHT in headphone application are noise and interference control. When DHT are used for speaker application, the amplifier and transducer (i,e, the speakers) are placed 2m to 3m away from the users, that means the user will not be able to touch the amplifier while listening to the playback, and the background noise from the filament of DHT is not audible unless the user deliberately place their ear at a few inches from the transducer. However, a DHT based headphone amplifier will need to tackle these problems seriously because the headphone transducer is so close to the ear that any low level noise will become audible, and the headphone amplifier is normally placed at arm-length from user only, so when users are touching or tab on the amplifier, the DHT will pick up the interference and amplified into the headphone directly.

That explained why DHT based headphone amplifier tends to over-build.

 

[Andykong]

will this be my endgame. I really like my Mogwai SE

Thanks. My Mogwai SE sounds even better than the Mogwai. Id love to hear this thing one day. It looks gorgeous as is to be expected.

I heard the Mogwai but not the SE in previous CanJam, they are best bang for the buck at their price range, and I love their retro design. There is not urgent upgrade need when you have a beautiful ampsandsound amp. on your table, but I certainly want to read the impression of HA-300 from a old friend who understand our house sound and headphone amplifiers inside out.

 

[Stereolab42]

Looks like a worthy WA5 competitor... but I'm not a fan of the reflective finish. Hopefully it can be offered with a matte or black finish instead.

 

[Maxx134]

This is definitely the most detail impression of HA-300 in CanJam NYC 2018, thank you very much for visiting our demo room and writing up this informative sharing of our new headphone amplifier.

Not really as I did not mention about the appearance.

Looks like a worthy WA5 competitor... but I'm not a fan of the reflective finish. Hopefully it can be offered with a matte or black finish instead.

You can see all the surfaces and the metal surface has like a glossy type coating or finish.

I am under-stating that this is the most expensive looking finish I have seen at the CanJam.

I have seen the other amps there with nice thick paint, or dry metal look, or thin looking metal, or aluminum look, or black look, or wood trim and even leather surfaces.

Hands down the fit and finish of this Cayin amp looks the most richly expensive and gorgeous.
You have to see it in person.

I realize this have nothing to do with sound, and why I didn't mention it,
But it is hands down a most luxurious and gorgeous finish compared to the rest.
Hats off to them.

 

[Maxx134]

The Viva Egoista 845 is a gorgeous headphone amplifier and it sounds amazingly to my ears, it was my show stopper when I first come across it at Munich High-end show 2016. When you said the Viva Egoista 845 and Cayin HA-300 are the only two headphone amplifiers stood out in this event, we are truly flattered.

Resolution was on par...

Egoista had more taught dynamic hit and airy treble while the HA-300 had a richer bass and more substantial sparkle,
so the Egoista was somewhat more lean and powerful in comparison.

Personally I don't think the 845 tube is as musical as the 300b tube,
so maybe why I preferred the HA-300,
but thats a personal preference.

I did hear similar level of resolution with wa33 (which use ouput 2a3 tube) and also the modwright amp (which by coincidence has the same model number HA300) using 300b also but using different driver tube which you cannot roll.

I would say stock tube choice on the Cayin was very well done also so you don't feel a need to roll tubes.

 

[grizzlybeast]

I heard the Mogwai but not the SE in previous CanJam, they are best bang for the buck at their price range, and I love their retro design. There is not urgent upgrade need when you have a beautiful ampsandsound amp. on your table, but I certainly want to read the impression of HA-300 from a old friend who understand our house sound and headphone amplifiers inside out.

definitely, actually I am happy with my amp and do not have 4K right a way. But if I did have 4K right now of undedicated funds there is no question where it would be going to the HA300B

 

[fhuang]

Looks like a worthy WA5 competitor... but I'm not a fan of the reflective finish. Hopefully it can be offered with a matte or black finish instead.

my guess they would sound very different. different design and different rectifier.

 

[fhuang]

wonder if we can hear the amp at the cayin flagship shop here in hong kong

 

[SteveM324]

Will Cayin have this amp at Axpona? I see that they're listed as one of the exhibitors.

 

[Andykong]

Not really as I did not mention about the appearance.


You can see all the surfaces and the metal surface has like a glossy type coating or finish.

I am under-stating that this is the most expensive looking finish I have seen at the CanJam.

I have seen the other amps there with nice thick paint, or dry metal look, or thin looking metal, or aluminum look, or black look, or wood trim and even leather surfaces.

Hands down the fit and finish of this Cayin amp looks the most richly expensive and gorgeous.
You have to see it in person.

I realize this have nothing to do with sound, and why I didn't mention it,
But it is hands down a most luxurious and gorgeous finish compared to the rest.
Hats off to them.

You really know your preference, that's interesting.

Cayin opt for a professional grade industrial design with most, if not all, of our desktop audio product, we are not lifestyle or artistic according to some reviewer, but we spend a lot of effort to improve our craftsmanship on metal work and finishing, and a lot of users has comment that seeing the real thing is very different from looking at the picture of our product, they can't appreciate the finishing by looking at our product photo but once they laid their hand on our product, they'll have very different opinion.

However, the market preference is going to a different direction. Instead of the low-profile high quality approach that Cayin has rooted into, they prefer high-profile high quality approach as they draw more attention at show and social media. I would like to quote the Viva egoista 845 as an example of that. Every time I walk by the Viva booth, that really is a show stopper, and will draw a lot of "likes" if I post a picture of that amplifier on my social media. Although it all comes down to preference eventually, but the market norm is in flavor to the high profile option.

 

[Andykong]

Resolution was on par...

Egoista had more taught dynamic hit and airy treble while the HA-300 had a richer bass and more substantial sparkle,
so the Egoista was somewhat more lean and powerful in comparison.

Personally I don't think the 845 tube is as musical as the 300b tube,
so maybe why I preferred the HA-300,
but thats a personal preference.

I did hear similar level of resolution with wa33 (which use ouput 2a3 tube) and also the modwright amp (which by coincidence has the same model number HA300) using 300b also but using different driver tube which you cannot roll.

I would say stock tube choice on the Cayin was very well done also so you don't feel a need to roll tubes.

Among the popular Direct head tubes (45, 2A3, 300B, 845, 211), there is a common belief among the tube enthusiasts that tubes with smaller output tends to be more musical, but the 845 and 211 is more flexible with speaker application, hence more well-received by audiophiles in general. However, when we move into headphone application, even the 45 with 1wpc output is good enough for most headphones already (when implemented with a high quality output transformer). Cayin has developed a lot of 300B based amplifiers over the years but we has relatively little experience with 45 and 2A3, that's why we picked 300B instead. Our assessment also suggested that 300B, when implemented correctly, is strong enough to handle even the most difficult headphones, and that's why we selected the 300B as the base of our reference product.

We are most grateful to your comparison with HA-300 against other highly praised tube headphone amplifiers. We were quite concern that our customer will feel uncomfortable when we jump from $1000 to $4000 in our headphone amplifier lineup. Your comment has created more space for us to prepare for the launch of the HA-300, frankly we have to thank you for that as Cayin is probably a total blank to you before you walk into our demo room at Canjam NYC.

 

[Andykong]

Will Cayin have this amp at Axpona? I see that they're listed as one of the exhibitors.

Yes, the HA-300 will be displayed at AXPONA.

In fact, we are going to demo the HA-300 at CanJam Singapore and Munich High end show as well.

 

[Andykong]

Dave Hanson from Enjoythemusic.com has posted a fairly detail impression on HA-300 in his CanJam NYC show report.

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/CanJam_NYC_2018/CanJam_2018_page3.htm

In addition to this, Mr. Hanson's impression of Meze Emperyon at Page 1, and Kennerton Thror at page 2 of the show report is also based on Cayin HA-300.

 

[Maxx134]

Our assessment also suggested that 300B, when implemented correctly, is strong enough to handle even the most difficult headphones, and that's why we selected the 300B as the base of our reference product.

300b seems like a good choice,
as I felt it sounded a bit more musical over 2a3 (in my experience)..

Another area I was impressed here is with the Soundstage.
I find it varies in other amps, yet this one had great Soundstage.

I actually heard less soundstage on some other tube amps, (with a more closer presentation) at the canjam ( except for a few like the Viva amp.)

So thats why I mentioned about the HA-300 stock tube choice (& design) sounding great as is..
Not feel any need to roll tubes with it.