[Benny-x]

The volume control function of HA-300MKII is purely analogy , but the UI involve electronic, a more commonly used description is electronic controlled analog volume. This is very different form digital volume control which manipulate the bitstream signal at digital level to achieve volume increase or decrease.

You can try to understand this concept with reference to drive by wire in automobile industry.

Coventional steering system converts the rotation of the steering wheel into a swivelling movement of the road wheels, When we move to a drive by wire system, the steering wheel become a "encoder" that record the steering movement of the driver, the movement will be transmitted electronically to a microprocessor that recover the steering movement from the electornic signal and than manipulate the road wheels accurately. In HA-300MKII, the ALPS volume knob is equivalent to the steering wheel which act as an encoder in the drive by wire system.

Whatever your relationship with Cayin, I hope they love you as much as we do. Thanks a lot for the answer and the analogy, I really appreciate it.

I probably don't have the whole picture, but I think I understood what you meant. It's very interesting sounding and it piques my imagination, wondering what the impact sounds like~

 

[Benny-x]

So is the mk 2 available now ?

How can I get in UK ?

No, probably 6 months delayed due to supply chain issues. Only several samples are around, not even enough for the review circuit.

 

[111MilesToGo]

I am posting here to get myself started on tube amps. Zero experience yet, so I‘d like to avoid an expensive trial and error procedure by drawing on the experience of all you folks here.

I have a Sennheiser HD 800 S and a Beyerdynamic T1 2nd gen (these hopefully are how their product names are spelled officially to facilitate searching). Currently, I am driving these let‘s say medium to high impedance full size cans off my Violectric HPA V281, mostly in balanced mode. My digital branch has the Chord Hugo 2 DAC and others (including the Cayin N6ii with various modules), my analogue branch with an old Linn LP12 hasn‘t settled on a ”final“ phono preamp yet. The V281 is well known as neutral solid state with a slight tendency towards the warmer side.

It seems to be common knowledge that these cans - in particular the HD 800 S - do gain considerably from a tube amp.

I‘d like to simply ask which tube amps you could really recommend for these cans from your experience. What tube amp principles - with transformers or OTL, single ended triode or others? I mean to ask for ideas and points / criteria to consider.

My ideal tube + headphones sound? Not much of an idea yet. Guess auditioning should develop a feeling. But I think I can ask here even before such rounds. When my searches will have settled, sound quality and immersion into the music will be the primary decision driver.

It might well be that sometimes I‘d like to also use my IEMs (Sennheiser IE 900, Beyerdynamic Xelento) with such tube amp.

In other words: A tube amp for me as a secondary requirement should provide some versatility. Regarding both the inputs (ideally several [say three] RCAs like a preamp, and outputs (6.3, 3.5, 4.4, XLR).

There’s no particular reason for posting here on the HA-300 Mk2 thread, except for having read about its sound quality and the a.m. versatility.

Comments and recommendations highly welcome! Thanks.

 

[Yggy]

Just bought a pair of AKG K1000s in lovely condition, 6XXX serial number, with a wired Stefan Audio XLR cable upgrade. I believe AndyKong had or has these? Apparently, they love Western Electric WE300b and Sylvania 6SN7 tubes so I can’t wait to have a listen.

Buying HE-6 headphones has taught me a headphone doesn’t have to be technically the best to be really enjoyable to listen to. I prefer listening to HE-6 to Susvaras even though I know Susvaras are by far the better headphone technically. HE-6 are more entertaining and fun.

 

[mfgillia]

Probably should of just read it the first time around idk…

IMHO didn't think he did anything wrong in asking that follow up question. He didn't attack anyone nor was his tone condescending - at least certainly not in comparison to the answer he received.

 

[Andykong]

Just bought a pair of AKG K1000s in lovely condition, 6XXX serial number, with a wired Stefan Audio XLR cable upgrade. I believe AndyKong had or has these? Apparently, they love Western Electric WE300b and Sylvania 6SN7 tubes so I can’t wait to have a listen.

Buying HE-6 headphones has taught me a headphone doesn’t have to be technically the best to be really enjoyable to listen to. I prefer listening to HE-6 to Susvaras even though I know Susvaras are by far the better headphone technically. HE-6 are more entertaining and fun.

Yes, I bought a pair of K1000 back in 2019. 22xx serial number. I was a bit skeptical about HA-300 with K1000 before that, I expect they need more power than HA-300 can deliver, but they turn out very OK. Not the best match when compare to speaker amplifier, but enjoyable among headphone amplifiers.

K1000 is not at the same level as H D800 and Utopia when come to resoluton, but these ear-speaker offer very unique experience because they can thrown the soundstage in front of you, instead of over your head like other headphones.

 

[Andykong]

I am posting here to get myself started on tube amps. Zero experience yet, so I‘d like to avoid an expensive trial and error procedure by drawing on the experience of all you folks here.

I have a Sennheiser HD 800 S and a Beyerdynamic T1 2nd gen (these hopefully are how their product names are spelled officially to facilitate searching). Currently, I am driving these let‘s say medium to high impedance full size cans off my Violectric HPA V281, mostly in balanced mode. My digital branch has the Chord Hugo 2 DAC and others (including the Cayin N6ii with various modules), my analogue branch with an old Linn LP12 hasn‘t settled on a ”final“ phono preamp yet. The V281 is well known as neutral solid state with a slight tendency towards the warmer side.

It seems to be common knowledge that these cans - in particular the HD 800 S - do gain considerably from a tube amp.

I‘d like to simply ask which tube amps you could really recommend for these cans from your experience. What tube amp principles - with transformers or OTL, single ended triode or others? I mean to ask for ideas and points / criteria to consider.

My ideal tube + headphones sound? Not much of an idea yet. Guess auditioning should develop a feeling. But I think I can ask here even before such rounds. When my searches will have settled, sound quality and immersion into the music will be the primary decision driver.

It might well be that sometimes I‘d like to also use my IEMs (Sennheiser IE 900, Beyerdynamic Xelento) with such tube amp.

In other words: A tube amp for me as a secondary requirement should provide some versatility. Regarding both the inputs (ideally several [say three] RCAs like a preamp, and outputs (6.3, 3.5, 4.4, XLR).

There’s no particular reason for posting here on the HA-300 Mk2 thread, except for having read about its sound quality and the a.m. versatility.

Comments and recommendations highly welcome! Thanks.

Someone asked similar questions in Liric thread, and I have provided a breif introduction to tube amplifiers in general HERE, maybe this is a good starting point of your searching.

 

[wazzupi]

IMHO didn't think he did anything wrong in asking that follow up question. He didn't attack anyone nor was his tone condescending - at least certainly not in comparison to the answer he received.

he didn't ask a question... he literally stated something, andy said I actually already explained this part if you had just read what I posted. who said he did anything wrong ?

 

[mfgillia]

he didn't ask a question... he literally stated something, andy said I actually already explained this part if you had just read what I posted. who said he did anything wrong ?

It's a forum. People make statements, engage in conversation and question / analyze posts to drill down further on various topics. This is how many of us learn.

IMHO Andy's tone came off as condescending with the intent to ridicule him then celebrated taking pleasure in hurting the guy's feelings.

No. It's not the biggest deal in the world.

Yes, it is unusal behavior in a rep for a popular line of audio equipment most of whom on other forums routinely answer the same or similar questions repeatedly and professionally as it's a normal part of the job.

 

[111MilesToGo]

Someone asked similar questions in Liric thread, and I have provided a breif introduction to tube amplifiers in general HERE, maybe this is a good starting point of your searching.

Thanks for pointing out your little intro, @Andykong. As I had asked the same question on the Sennheiser HD 800 S thread,
from https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sen...ost-for-summary.795365/page-473#post-16852786
to https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sen...ost-for-summary.795365/page-475#post-16855683,
a number of useful explanations, comments, recommendations and general food for thought has accumulated there, too.

 

[Yggy]

AndyKong, the AKG K1000 with hardwired Stefan Audio cable upgrade, HA-300, and WE300b tubes is more than “very OK”!

It’s to classical music and vocals what the HE-6 is to rap, R&B, and EDM. As you say, the soundstage is in front of you, the sound is delicate, light, detailed, sweet, and holographic.

I’m listening to Gabriel’s Oboe on Yo Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone in 24 Bit 88.2 kHz FLAC. It’s like listening to the music played live in a cathedral. There is no sensation of wearing headphones, it’s just your ears, air, and the most beautiful sound.

I thought I’d gone too far with the AKG K1000. How could something manufactured in the 1990s be relevant or listenable in 2022.

Thank you Heinz Renner. My flaps are open and my ears are amazed. I’ve heard Heinz listens to his K1000 with a subwoofer, I’ll have to give that a go. I have an old Denon AVC-A1HDA cinema amp, I might try the subwoofer out from that.

Obviously, you wouldn’t go out and buy the AKG K1000 as your only or primary headphone. The sound quality is audiophile quality but vintage. It’s not going to compete across music genres with modern headphones. It’s a collectors item you can still get a lot of pleasure from with the right set-up and music genre.

 

[dadracer2]

Just found this thread when searching around. I have the lead design engineer, Chen, from Cayin, who designed the HA-300 on my WeChat. So if there are intractable issues, can maybe refer him to you. He's quite friendly and helped resolve some issues on my HA-300.

Cheers.

Can you please ask Chen did they move to Gold Lion 300Bs on the mark 2 HA300 for sound quality reasons or because the TJ Full Music 300B was difficult to get or indeed for both reasons? I have a mk1 and I am interested to know before I start buying a pair

 

[ThanatosVI]

Can you please ask Chen did they move to Gold Lion 300Bs on the mark 2 HA300 for sound quality reasons or because the TJ Full Music 300B was difficult to get or indeed for both reasons? I have a mk1 and I am interested to know before I start buying a pair

TJ Fullmusic is no longer in production, therefore they "had to" switch for sustainability.

 

[dadracer2]

TJ Fullmusic is no longer in production, therefore they "had to" switch for sustainability.

Ah ha! Thanks that makes sense. I wonder why they also swapped to Tung Sol for the 6SN7 was it for a similar reason?

 

[Yggy]

If I was Cayin I’d have a standard and a premium tubed version of the Mk 2 HA-300. I’d also sell a no tubes version for customers who have rolled the tubes on their Mk 1 and don’t need tubes. Market segmentation and up-selling premium tubes would benefit margins. Selling a standard tubed version only contributes to reviewers not appreciating how brilliant the HA-300 is. Also, the Mk 3 needs to have more power. Even better, sell a premium version of the power supply and rectifier tubes for both the Mk 1 and Mk 2.