I cannot speak about the WA7 but when I upgraded to the HA-3A from the Schiit Lyr 3 it was like a generational improvement in detail, soundstage and clarity.
Cayin HA-3A, a Compact 6V6s Transformer-coupled Tube Amplifier
- Thread starter Andykong
- Start date
Deleeh
Headphoneus Supremus
Hello,
Your Firevlies is a hybrid amplifier and the Ha 3A is a tube amplifier that is coupled via the transformers.
There are differences in sound.
Does it depend on what you intend to do with the Cayin?
Hybrid amplifiers are better for planar headphones in combination and perform better.
Tube amplifiers are better for dynamic headphones, which means that planar headphones don't sound bad, but the sound is different.
That's the difference,planar headphones sound good on tube amplifiers,but the power of the amplifier is important.
The Ha 3A should be good, but you will notice a difference and in the end it is a matter of taste tonally.
That's why it's hard to say which is better here, the rest of the chain such as the DAC or other source devices also determine something else.
borkenarrou
500+ Head-Fier
I always thought OTC (transformer coupled) tube amps (like HA-3A, Feliks Envy etc) are equally good with Planars like hybrid tube amps, it is only OTL (transformer less) tube amps which don't have enough current for Planars, correct me if I am wrong.
Correct. TC tube amps are good with planars, but some people still prefer them on SS amps. It is a matter of taste/system synergy/TC tube amp itself/tube set. I loved all the planars I tried on my HA-3A in my system.
Just from my modest experience. Only after purchasing the HA-3A I’ve started to like my HE-1000SE, although still prefer my speaker setup. My previous headphone amp (SMSL SP400) is retired.
Very well-put, with transformer-coupled tube amplifiers, planars, and low impedance dynamics are not a limitation technically. So SS or tube is a matter of personal preference instead of a constraint.
Just want to say I've read through the entirety of this thread and I appreciate everyone's impressions and recommendations and thoughts throughout. Many of the tube suggestions I'll need to revisit later.
I dabbled very briefly in tubes about a year back with a Feliks Echo but was quite early in the hobby and my expectations (and experience) I think were misaligned and it left me fairly underwhelmed. I think at this point I'm ready to give tubes another go and have decided to do so with the Cayin HA-3A. It seemed like the right combination of sound quality, price, size, versatility and quality of life. Also it looks $!@#in' awesome.
I put in an order today so hopefully I'll have it late this week or early next. My hope is that it will give me a different flavour alongside my Violectric and allow me to continue fiddling and tweaking that flavour over time to keep things fresh.
*edit - I'm also praying to the power gods it's quiet when I plug it in. I definitely had some buzz with the Echo, an Elise I tried briefly was pretty quiet*
I dabbled very briefly in tubes about a year back with a Feliks Echo but was quite early in the hobby and my expectations (and experience) I think were misaligned and it left me fairly underwhelmed. I think at this point I'm ready to give tubes another go and have decided to do so with the Cayin HA-3A. It seemed like the right combination of sound quality, price, size, versatility and quality of life. Also it looks $!@#in' awesome.
I put in an order today so hopefully I'll have it late this week or early next. My hope is that it will give me a different flavour alongside my Violectric and allow me to continue fiddling and tweaking that flavour over time to keep things fresh.
*edit - I'm also praying to the power gods it's quiet when I plug it in. I definitely had some buzz with the Echo, an Elise I tried briefly was pretty quiet*
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omni94
Head-Fier
I'm having some noise issues with mine, but its due to my setup 99% sure.
I've had USB noise coming from one of my DACS and could only hear it through the Cayin. Also had RF noise from my Access points. Quickly solved these issues, but I still have some noise coming from my power
As I've said, these are most likely all issues from my chain / setup, But only reveal themselves with this AMP. Other than that, I can say hands down that this AMP was one of the only upgrades , apart from headphones that impressed me. It trumps my solid states and I'm now seeing if I can find a similar 'big' sounding solid state
Goodluck and enjoy!
Termineyter
New Head-Fier
Anyone who has tried the HA-3A with the RCA connectors and then afterwards the XLR ? Any difference?
They've been connected through RCA for a while now. Got my d90 A90 combo connected through XLR.
D90 to ha3A with RCA. I'm not a big believer in any changes through cables, but who knows?
Any experiences?
They've been connected through RCA for a while now. Got my d90 A90 combo connected through XLR.
D90 to ha3A with RCA. I'm not a big believer in any changes through cables, but who knows?
Any experiences?
It is not necessarily about interconnect cables, but most DACs have a lot higher output voltage on XLR and if it is a balanced DAC, then they reach their peak performance on balanced out. This can affect sound by giving more headroom to your headphones, potentially increasing perceived clarity and dynamics. With my DAC I prefer balanced connection.Anyone who has tried the HA-3A with the RCA connectors and then afterwards the XLR ? Any difference?
They've been connected through RCA for a while now. Got my d90 A90 combo connected through XLR.
D90 to ha3A with RCA. I'm not a big believer in any changes through cables, but who knows?
Any experiences?
I am running the D90 as well.Anyone who has tried the HA-3A with the RCA connectors and then afterwards the XLR ? Any difference?
They've been connected through RCA for a while now. Got my d90 A90 combo connected through XLR.
D90 to ha3A with RCA. I'm not a big believer in any changes through cables, but who knows?
Any experiences?
You will get more power with XLR resulting in a higher volume output and the same volume level compared to RCA.
dynamic headphones
100+ Head-Fier
not relevant, deleted msg
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IMO if a dac has a balanced output, it usually means that the dac has been designed to run in balanced. And if you run a balanced dac through the single ended output (RCA) you are basically using only 50% of your dac.
dynamic headphones
100+ Head-Fier
i think a lot more than you would imagine include xlr just for the sake of convenience, companies such as chord and rme come to mind.
Nope, you have to look into outout stage of the DAC circuit, details such as VI or LPF network will review whether the DAC is a differential design. You can have single-ended output from balaned designed DAC, and balanced output from single-ended designed DAC, for the latter, all you need is to addan Op Amp. to perform single-ended to balance conversion before output to XLR outputs.
The difference is far less significant, 50% in terms of rated output level but they are normally fully compensated by the voltage gain stage of your amplifier. The most significant different is dynamic range (around 3dB +/-) and channel separation (10 dB), and only the latter is clearly audible in most systems.
However, if your amplifier is single-ended by design, the channel separation of DAC will be reduced after going through the amplifier, that's why I don't recommend using 4.4mm to RCA or XLR to RCA adapter cable "to get the best from DAC", it doesn't work that way IMHO
