[wazzupi]

Is it normal for the 300b tubes to sit loose like they kinda around if you move em slightly ?

 

[jambaj0e]

Congrats on your Amp! By the way, when I use RCA cables between the HUGO TT2 Dax and the ha-300, mine is dead silent even 100% volume. It's only when I switch to XLR Cables that I'd get the hum between 95-100%. But I get better dynamics, though, so it's worth keeping since I'll never listen to music at 95% volume.

I am curious to hear how those Takatsuky 300Bs sound, since I hear they're pretty analytical. I'd believe the Psvane ACME 300b that I own have similar characteristics, which is more neutral, fast,very good separation with large soundstage, and emphasis in the midrage.

I myself use the Sylvania 6SN7W Metal base tubes, and they also have a really great luscious mids and extended mid-bass and bass. With my Audeze LCD-3, it's a great combo!

New user of the cayin ha300 amp here. I have seen people in the forums worried that it might not be the appropriate amp for them because of the supposed humming the amp has. I've had this amp for maybe a month now, and tried different tubes in it. So far, it has been DEAD silent for me, even at 100% volume. And I'm pretty sure this amp is dead silent for many others as well. Anyway, I can understand why people are concerned. If you're gonna spend over $4,000 on a headphone amp, it has to be perfect. And to me, it really is the perfect amp. I have used many tube amplifiers in the past, and also many tubes. I've used 6DJ8, 5998, 274B, ECC35, 6SN7, 6F8G. So far, the cayin ha300 with the 300B and 6SN7 tubes is the best setup I've ever had. You really can't go wrong with a 300B amp. The 300B tubes compared to many great rectifiers I've heard in the past, really have a magical sound. It helps reveal things in music that couldn't be revealed properly before. I really noticed that. They are really sweet sounding tubes. The 300B sound is tough to beat. The stock 300B tubes that come with the amp are pretty good already, although I didn't have the time to use them much. I bought a pair of takatsuki 300B tubes, and I truly believe they are the best 300B tubes out there with the western electric's and perhaps the psvane's. I really recommend tube rolling with this amp, it really does improve the sound even further! As for the 6sn7's, once again the stock tubes are good for starters. I have used the tung sol 6f8g's with adapters and the 1578 Melz (russian tubes) in the cayin ha300. The tung sol's are great sounding tubes really, but their midrange doesn't quite compare to the midrange of the Melz. Many consider the Melz as the holy grail of 6SN7. And I completely understand why. The midrange of those tubes is legendary. It truly is. My pair was made in the 80's, and I have a pair from '63 coming my way. Apparently the '63 tubes are better than the '80. So I can't wait to give those tubes a good listen! Previously, before I decided to buy a cayin ha300, I had the woo audio WA22. Amazing amp, really. But once again I had to buy something even better than what I already had. I've done that only what, 5 or 6 times so far (sigh). The cayin ha300, compared to the wa22, has more slam. The snare drum hits harder. There's a bigger soundstage, more precise imaging. Also, in some tracks I felt like the cymbal was literally next to me. So the highs are better for sure. There's also more clarity in my songs now. The cayin ha300 isn't cheap, but if you have a $1000 - $2000 amp and you want to upgrade to something even better, I absolutely recommend the cayin ha300!!

 

[jambaj0e]

Is it normal for the 300b tubes to sit loose like they kinda around if you move em slightly ?

Mine does have a slight wiggle, but you do want to make sure you push them down hard to "click". I tend to keep my cage over my tubes that way nothing can accidentally bump into them.

 

[wazzupi]

Congrats on your Amp! By the way, when I use RCA cables between the HUGO TT2 Dax and the ha-300, mine is dead silent even 100% volume. It's only when I switch to XLR Cables that I'd get the hum between 95-100%. But I get better dynamics, though, so it's worth keeping since I'll never listen to music at 95% volume.

I am curious to hear how those Takatsuky 300Bs sound, since I hear they're pretty analytical. I'd believe the Psvane ACME 300b that I own have similar characteristics, which is more neutral, fast,very good separation with large soundstage, and emphasis in the midrage.

I myself use the Sylvania 6SN7W Metal base tubes, and they also have a really great luscious mids and extended mid-bass and bass. With my Audeze LCD-3, it's a great combo!

Have you tried xlr input only to se ?

 

[wazzupi]

Mine does have a slight wiggle, but you do want to make sure you push them down hard to "click". I tend to keep my cage over my tubes that way nothing can accidentally bump into them.

Would you say this click is light ?barely noticeable ?

 

[Andykong]

My room is 10 x 14 (I measured it)idk if that's enough ?!?

This is a much better room dimension when compare to 10 x 10 in general, and I hope your room height is not close to 10ft, otherwise the standing wave in a square room dilemma still applied.

 

[Andykong]

Hi, speaking of speaker taps, a question for @Andykong and anyone else who may have experience with this. I can already anticipate what kind of response this question could elicit, but let me ask it anyway:

What if any differences in sound quality might one expect by connecting headphones to the speaker taps (by using a speaker adapter cable) instead of the conventional 1/4" or XLR headphone outputs?

Also, is it okay to connect headphones using the speaker taps in the first place? There are no issues with doing so with solid state amps, but I know it can be a different question with it comes to tube amps...

There are anecdotal reports of a number of amps which have both headphone-outputs and speaker taps that actually sound better out of the speaker taps when using hard-to-drive headphones.

Though I'd be in agreement that since this is a headphone-first amplifer, it ought to sound best out of its headphone outputs. However, that's just an a priori assumption. It would be nice to be able to verify this through direct experience.

Would like to get confirmation first that there's no issues with doing so first, however...

Quick answer, better connect your headphone to the headphone output. The speaker output of HA-300 will drive your headphone, it won't blow up, but you'll bypass the impedance matched output of the HA-300 (i.e., the H/M/L impedance switch).

If you are using an amplifier that was designed primarily as integrated amplifier for speakers but with a headphone output bundled, then it is worth to give it a try, its likely that the speaker output and the headphone output are not coming from the same amplification circuit. HA-300, on the other hand, were designed primarily as headphone amp and we have provide an extra set of output for the speaker application. So they are the same set of output with different impedance loading in mind, the headphone output has provide full power from the amplification circuit already, you won't get any benefit by using the speaker output.

 

[llamaluv]

you won't get any benefit by using the speaker output

Thank you, makes sense!

 

[wazzupi]

https://upscaleaudio.com/collections/vacuum-tubes/products/tung-sol-6sn7gtb I bought a pair of these matched cryo and Kevin stash which is the best tube they have of these. Is it worth? Anyone have experience with these tubes?

 

[Andykong]

New user of the cayin ha300 amp here. I have seen people in the forums worried that it might not be the appropriate amp for them because of the supposed humming the amp has. I've had this amp for maybe a month now, and tried different tubes in it. So far, it has been DEAD silent for me, even at 100% volume. And I'm pretty sure this amp is dead silent for many others as well. Anyway, I can understand why people are concerned. If you're gonna spend over $4,000 on a headphone amp, it has to be perfect. And to me, it really is the perfect amp. I have used many tube amplifiers in the past, and also many tubes. I've used 6DJ8, 5998, 274B, ECC35, 6SN7, 6F8G. So far, the cayin ha300 with the 300B and 6SN7 tubes is the best setup I've ever had.

You really can't go wrong with a 300B amp. The 300B tubes compared to many great rectifiers I've heard in the past, really have a magical sound. It helps reveal things in music that couldn't be revealed properly before. I really noticed that. They are really sweet sounding tubes. The 300B sound is tough to beat. The stock 300B tubes that come with the amp are pretty good already, although I didn't have the time to use them much. I bought a pair of takatsuki 300B tubes, and I truly believe they are the best 300B tubes out there with the western electric's and perhaps the psvane's. I really recommend tube rolling with this amp, it really does improve the sound even further!

As for the 6sn7's, once again the stock tubes are good for starters. I have used the tung sol 6f8g's with adapters and the 1578 Melz (russian tubes) in the cayin ha300. The tung sol's are great sounding tubes really, but their midrange doesn't quite compare to the midrange of the Melz. Many consider the Melz as the holy grail of 6SN7. And I completely understand why. The midrange of those tubes is legendary. It truly is. My pair was made in the 80's, and I have a pair from '63 coming my way. Apparently the '63 tubes are better than the '80. So I can't wait to give those tubes a good listen!

Previously, before I decided to buy a cayin ha300, I had the woo audio WA22. Amazing amp, really. But once again I had to buy something even better than what I already had. I've done that only what, 5 or 6 times so far (sigh). The cayin ha300, compared to the wa22, has more slam. The snare drum hits harder. There's a bigger soundstage, more precise imaging. Also, in some tracks I felt like the cymbal was literally next to me. So the highs are better for sure. There's also more clarity in my songs now. The cayin ha300 isn't cheap, but if you have a $1000 - $2000 amp and you want to upgrade to something even better, I absolutely recommend the cayin ha300!!

Thank you so much, I hope your experience will clear the doubt of a lot of potential and new HA-300 users. The 300B is a legendary tube in audiophile history, unfortunately we can hardly experience the full potential of the this Direct Heated Triode with speakers. Its limited output power restricted the choice of speaker and music genre, so we tends to focus on the dreamy midrange and rich harmonic, But with headphones amplifier, we can hear the 300B with authoritative presentation, full scale orchestra with stella dynamic, and intense rock music with outstanding transient and detail, this is one of the scenario that put headphones in a "better" position over speaker setup, IMHO.

Unfortunately Direct Heated Triodes are very sensitive to vibration and interference. Making a dead silent headphone amplifier is 10 times more difficult than making a dead silent speaker amplifier, and setting up the amplifier plays a very important role in achieve dead silent as you described. Experience tube amp. user probably can get this right quickly, and sharing first hand experience will certainly help each other.

 

[dadracer2]

I meant to ask this before now, but has anyone tried the Audio Note 4300E valves as a replacement for their 300b? They are made by PSVANE specially for Audio Note and feature molybdenum anodes. It look like they will cost around the same as PSVANE WE replicas or their Acme 300b.

 

[wazzupi]

I meant to ask this before now, but has anyone tried the Audio Note 4300E valves as a replacement for their 300b? They are made by PSVANE specially for Audio Note and feature molybdenum anodes. It look like they will cost around the same as PSVANE WE replicas or their Acme 300b.

never heard of em, I'm intrigued XD

 

[koven]

I kind of want an HA300, it seems to be a comparable alternative to WA33 at lesser price. But the QC issues between this and smaller HA-6A thread makes me nervous.. I cannot tell if Cayin has addressed QC improvements in newer units or not.

 

[wazzupi]

I kind of want an HA300, it seems to be a comparable alternative to WA33 at lesser price. But the QC issues between this and smaller HA-6A thread makes me nervous.. I cannot tell if Cayin has addressed QC improvements in newer units or not.

I own the Cayin ha-300(about 2 weeks now) and I haven't had a single issue with it all stock it's the best Amp i've heard and or owned. I've owned the highest quality OTL Glenn amp, La Figaro 339 OTL tube amp, I've heard ampnsounds tube amps for extensive lengths of time, I've auditioned higher priced tube amps but I can't say I had enough time with them to be 100% confident.

PS I don't hear any tube sounds either, let alone a high noise floor and I'm using low ohm headphones. Dead Silent amp.

 

[llamaluv]

I kind of want an HA300, it seems to be a comparable alternative to WA33 at lesser price. But the QC issues between this and smaller HA-6A thread makes me nervous.. I cannot tell if Cayin has addressed QC improvements in newer units or not.

Oh nice, the HA300 is very much worth being interested in!

FWIW, my unit has been problem-free since I got it last fall (I sold my WA33 last summer). And no hums that I haven't been able to isolate to belonging to specific tubes (and even in those instances, intermittent and not much of it).