Cayin iHA-8: Fully Balanced "Hyper" Class-A Headphone Amplifier
Dec 15, 2023 at 3:54 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 205
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Cayin iHA-8 Fully Balanced "Hyper" Class-A Headphone Amplifier

The iHA-8 is a long overdue upgrade of our well-received iHA-6 headphone amplifier.

While Cayin is renowned for our innovation in product development and audio engineering, we are a fundamentalist under the hood. We believe proper engineering and implementation is the critical success factor of high-fidelity products, and it is under these directions that we developed the iHA-8, a compact yet extremely powerful solid-state headphone amplifier that proudly offers a pure Class A fully Balanced design. The iHA-8 is a high-quality solid-state alternative to our HA series vacuum tube headphone amplifier, and we are determined to make the iHA-8 a worthy candidate for all desktop Personal Audio enthusiasts.

We have migrated two extremely well-received features from our portable products to the iHA-8 headphone amplifier.

Dual input mode: LINE input and PRE-amp input

A headphone amplifier, portable or desktop, is an integrated amplifier for headphone applications, and from our previous experience in building speaker amplifiers, we know Pre/Power design is superior to an integrated amplifier, so we decided to implement a Pre/Power design in our Personal Audio products. This concept was first implemented in the C9 portable headphone amplifier, and we received enormously positive feedback, so we decided to do this again with iHA-8. By providing a PRE-amp input option, we configure the iHA-8 as a pure power amplifier, all amplification stages will be operated at full power, and the iHA-8 will offer significantly better control and transparency.

The Ultimate HYPER Mode

The concept of Hyper mode is to allow our engineers to prioritize audio output as the single most important factor, even when we have to sacrifice some practical constraints such as heat dissipation and power management efficiency. This function was first introduced in our N30LE 30th Anniversary DAP. We anticipated a divided opinion but to our surprise, this option was unanimously approved by audiophiles, so we decided to migrate this option to iHA-8 since the desktop amplifiers have fewer constraints than battery-powered portable DAP. When we engage Hyper mode in iHA-8, we'll boost the power supply voltage of the power transistors. The static working current will also increase, and we'll adjust the gain ratio of the circuitry as part of the system-level optimization.

Other Features and Design Considerations

  1. Accept RCA single-ended and XLR balanced analog inputs (shared for LINE/PRE input modes)
  2. Employs four-channel fully balanced circuit architecture from input to output stages
  3. Four-channel discrete pure Class A input buffer amplification circuit, each channel consists of two audio grade JFET in parallel with constant current sources, resulting in lower noise and distortion, and stronger current driving capability
  4. Three-level bias current pure Class A amplification circuit, with built-in DC offset voltage servo circuit to ensure stable output DC offset voltage at 0V for better performance and listening experience
  5. Built-in adaptive power, gain, and static current switching circuit, even in HYPER mode, it can work in pure Class A state
  6. The volume control system uses a pair of low distortion, high precision MUSES72320 electronically controlled analog volume ICs with ALPS potentiometer for knob position detection, providing excellent tactile feel and precise volume control.

The Cayin iHA-8 is a long overdue upgrade to our iHA-6 headphone amplifier. It shares the same footprint as our iDAP-8 Streamer, iDAC-8 DAC, and HA-2A vacuum tube headphone amplifier, which means you can stack them up as a compact and yet sophisticated Desk-Fi system that occupies less than an A4 sheet.

The iHA-8 will debut at the 2023 China Guangzhou International Headphone Expo (16-17 December 2023). We shall provide more information about the iHA-8 after the Guangzhou event.

iHA8 Specification - Product.JPG

iHA8 Specification - Phone Out.JPG


888+HA2A Banner.jpg
 
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Dec 15, 2023 at 3:54 PM Post #2 of 205
Reserve for FAQ and Review Links
 
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Dec 15, 2023 at 3:55 PM Post #3 of 205
_DSC0942.JPG
 
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Dec 15, 2023 at 3:58 PM Post #4 of 205
Are the prices for these devices decided yet?
Also will they come in black at some point?
 
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Dec 15, 2023 at 5:33 PM Post #6 of 205
Are the prices for these devices decided yet?
Also will they come in black at some point?

We'll announce the price very soon, we normally do that after we conduct a small-scale pilot production.

We don't have any plans to offer a black finish at this point. we tried a couple of black finishings during the prototype stage, but we didn't like it so far. Maybe we'll revisit this option later but that's another chapter for another year.
 
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Dec 15, 2023 at 9:23 PM Post #7 of 205
Dec 18, 2023 at 9:39 AM Post #11 of 205
888 HA2A Four Piece on Rack.jpg


I just came back from Guangzhou after a busy and tiring trip, the traffic between Hong Kong and Shenzhen/Guangzhou was very crowded on Sunday evening, and I am glad that I can get a train ticket on time. Some of my media friends from Hong Kong need to stay for another night in Guangzhou to avoid the peak traffic.

I'll post a brief update to explain the timing and overall concept of the new "four-piece suit", and will follow up on each product gradually. Desktop products normally have a much longer shelf time when compared to portable products such as DAP or IEM, so I'll take it easy this round, and this will also reflected in our development timeline. Please be patient and stay tuned if you happen to look for mid-range products at this form factor. Cayin will always be transparent and detailed when we announce new products, we want to make sure our customers are well-informed before they commit to our product.

First of all, what are we up to at this point? What are the outstanding tasks before we can ship the products to our customers?

All four new products have completed the R&D process; the demo at the Guangzhou International Headphone Expo is our last attempt to collect user feedback before we move into production preparation. Glad to confirm that only a minor update is required with iHA-8, so we’ll move on as scheduled. Our Production Engineers will work out a list of modifications required to transfer the hand-made prototype into something that is “productionable”, the final BOM will then go to the supply chain for material preparation, and we shall work out a production plan to accommodate small-scale trial production and subsequent mass production. The supply chain will take 6-8 weeks so we are expecting the shipment of mass production by early March 2024.

We can’t accommodate all four products in the production line concurrently, the BOM of HA-2A is relatively simple when compared to the other streamer/DAC and solid-state headphone amp., so most likely HA-2A will be the first product available to the retail market. The sequence of the other three products, iDAP-8, iDAC-8, and iHA-8 will be determined by the response time of the supply chain.

We shall provide detailed product specifications after the small-scale trail production. We have a set of measurements based on the engineering sample, but we need a bigger sample before we can put down a reliable and accurate production specification. I’ll publish the data as soon as they are available, in their respective discussion thread, so please subscribe to the thread if you are interested in a particular product, you won’t miss anything
 
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Dec 18, 2023 at 9:42 AM Post #12 of 205
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Dec 19, 2023 at 4:05 AM Post #13 of 205
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Dec 19, 2023 at 4:09 AM Post #14 of 205
Really curious about IDAP 8, is it use android OS? Have Cast Screen feature? Roon Ready?

Yes, iDAP-8 is Android 9.0 based with Google Play preinstalled. Support both HiByCast and HiByLink.

We have submitted our license application, but given the current response time, probably a long wait ahead.


If you are interested in iDAP-8, please subscribe to the official thread of the stream/DAC, we shall share the latest information on iDAP-8 HERE.
 
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Dec 22, 2023 at 10:39 PM Post #15 of 205
As a happy owner of the iHA-6, this has me very very intrigued! I look forward to impressions, price and the possibility of a future...upgrade?? :)
 

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