Cayin iHA-8: Fully Balanced "Hyper" Class-A Headphone Amplifier

[trilos1]

Well, yes, I could try listen to it.
I am not sure if I will sort it out exactly, as for a true comparison the volume output should be exactly the same.
And that seems to me quite difficult to quickly find the precise level at each switching of high-gain "on" to high-gain "off".

So I tried to get a maybe technical answer or an answer by someone who has greater -maybe professional- listening experience than I have.

A good friend of mine is amp and lousdpeaker manufacturer (in Germany: WBE Audio).
When he listens to speakers for the first time in his living room, he can say after a few minutes exactly where the problems lie.
Here at my home, some 25 years ago, he listend for the first time to a pair of TANNOY System 1200 speakers:
He said "great sound, but a little irregularity around 1.6 kHz".
We measured the speaker, and found at 1.65 kHz an imedance high.
After linearising this with an L-C-R the System 1200 sounded clearly better.

So I do hope to get a hint concerning the use of high-gain with the IHA-8....

 

[ShangriLa]

How does the iHA-8 work with IEMs, e.g. Hisenior Mega5Est?

 

[gahan]

I have used it in low gain with the Thieaudio Monarch MK3 or some DUNU x Gizaudio DaVinci and with both iems perfect, zero background noise and with ample volume to obtain the appropriate spl.

 

[NYer718]

How does the iHA-8 work with IEMs, e.g. Hisenior Mega5Est?

I happen to own both this amplifier and IEMs, and I gotta say, I love using my Mega5EST 7th Anniversary 5khz Revision over my HD650.

Volume sounds comfortable and loud enough with the knob at 11:00 on low gain mode with hyper mode turned on for more accurate timbre. Running everything balanced btw.

 

[taryaulx]

The maximum output of the iDAC-8 pre-amp output is 12V at balanced XLR, the iHA-8 works well with iDAC-8 when you connect them into a pre-power setup properly, we have tested this repeatedly,

However, this is completely different from feeding a fixed voltage 12V input to the iHA-8 at pre-input mode. This sounds incredible or even infeasible, but I must warn everyone upfront that this is not what we designed the amplifier for. In the past, balanced fixed voltage line-out were somewhere between 2V to 4V, but now we have DAC that deliver 6V or even 8V line-out, causing a lot of amplifiers to perform inadequately (lack of headroom, compressed dynamic, higher distortion, ....)

I am not sure if this is what you have in mind, I hope not and I am more than happy when I am proven wrong. I just want to steer the customers away if our product is not going to meet their needs/intended usage.

How much voltage should I use? rca v? xlr v ?

 

[Andykong]

How much voltage should I use? rca v? xlr v ?

If you are using regular line level input, RCA at 2V-2.5V, and XLR at 4V to 4.5V are considered optimum line input levels.

 

[taryaulx]

If you are using regular line level input, RCA at 2V-2.5V, and XLR at 4V to 4.5V are considered optimum line input levels.

ok

low gain thd+n ??

 

[Andykong]

ok
low gain thd+n ??

When we prepare a specification table for a product, we try to demonstrate the extremes and limitations of the product, that's why we picked High Gain as the measurement criteria here at THD+N. So what happens to the THD+N at Low Gain? the immediate answer is less than 0.0038% and less than 0.0040% respectively.

 

[taryaulx]

When we prepare a specification table for a product, we try to demonstrate the extremes and limitations of the product, that's why we picked High Gain as the measurement criteria here at THD+N. So what happens to the THD+N at Low Gain? the immediate answer is less than 0.0038% and less than 0.0040% respectively.

Thank you for your explanation. I'll let him operate for a few days and then report.

 

[taryaulx]

When we prepare a specification table for a product, we try to demonstrate the extremes and limitations of the product, that's why we picked High Gain as the measurement criteria here at THD+N. So what happens to the THD+N at Low Gain? the immediate answer is less than 0.0038% and less than 0.0040% respectively.

Hello, I just encountered some problems with use? I used the Pre-Amp Input mode, but the sound was very low! The reason? Is it because I didn't enable gain mode?

 

[leylandi]

 

[ThanatosVI]

Damn that looks good in black.
I don't need any more gear, but the Cayin Design is great

 

[NYer718]

iHA-8 comes in black now???

 

[Gold Fox]

So, I’m sure most of you already know, but I’d like to take this opportunity to officially announce it: Yes, we’ve launched the black version of the 888 suite!

---

The black version of the HA-2A was released couple of months ago, so you’ve probably been wondering: "Hey, what about the 888?"

Well, funny story: Along with the HA-2A black, we did a small production run of the black 888. But we ran into a little issue— as you know, our slogan is "Cayin, never be the same again."

The problem is——this batch of black 888 really lived up to that slogan... because every single one of them came out a different shade of black. It was like a 'rainbow of blacks'

Later we figured out why this happened: as you may know, the case of 888 goes through a process of sandblasting and anodizing to achieve their color. The color inconsistency in the black was due to some minor variations in the anodizing process, which led to the different shades.

Now we’ve solved the issue, and as you can see, we’re now presenting to you——the 888 (iDAP-8, iDAC-8, iHA-8) Dark Knight—the black version of the 888 suite.

Spoiler: Who am I

It seems I haven't introduced myself yet! My apologies

Hello there! This is Gold Fox speaking!

As a fresher of Cayin, I'll be assisting Andy in answering any questions you may have.

Any questions, suggestions, food recommendation when you're travelling to China, blah blah… feel free to @ me in post or PM me—I’m more than happy to help!

——Although, just like Andy, I'm not an engineer. So, if you ask me about how to fix this and that up—well, that’d a headache for me

For aftersales service, I’d strongly recommend reaching out to your local dealer /place of purchase at first place, they are responsible for assisting you with any issues you faced, and I’m quite convinced that our responsible dealer will be more than happy to help you resolve them; alternatively, you can reach out to our customer service team, our engineers are always a reliable choice.

Spoiler: A little more about me

Having my graduate certificate received at the beginning of this year, attended the graduate ceremony in the UK, throw the graduation cap to the sky and bid farewell to the ivory tower, bid farewell to the life that you’re familiar with for decade.

I was graduated, standing in front of the crossroad of my career.

Ever since graduating, I, have been pondering one question: ‘what kind of job should I pursue?’

It seems that the options are vast, but the ones that truly suit are always few and far between.

I thought to myself, ‘what if I could find a job that aligns with my interests? As an audiophile, is there a way to work in a field that connects with my passion?’

And that's how I ended up at Cayin, and that's also why you're seeing me here

Spoiler: A little little more about my alias

Honestly, this name came to mind while I was reading Goethe's Faust.

In Part I Scene V: Auerbach’s Cellar in Leipzig, it depicts:

(Friends happily drinking.)
Frosch
Will none of you laugh? Nobody drink?
I’ll have to teach you to smile, I think!
You’re all of you like wet straw today,
And usually you’re well away.
Brander
That’s up to you, you bring us nothing.
Nothing dumb, or dirty, nothing.
Frosch (Pouring a glass of wine over Brander’s head.)
You can have both!
Brander
Rotten swine!
Frosch
You wanted them both, so you got mine!

For those German readers, you may be quite familiar with the name "Brander," as it actually symbolizes a unique tradition of university naming culture. The record I found states the following:

The student receives different names, according to the duration of his abode at college. While he yet vegetated in the gymnasium he was a Frosch--a frog. In the vacation which lay between the time of his quitting the gymnasium and entering the university, he chrysalized himself into a mule, and on entering the university, he becomes a Kameel--Camel. This happy transition-state of a few weeks gone by, he comes forth finally, on entering a Chore, a Fox, and runs joyfully into the new Burschen life. During the first semester, or half-year, he is a gold fox, which means, that he has foxes, or rich gold in plenty yet; or he is a Crass-fuchs, or fat fox, meaning that he yet swells or puffs himself up with gold. In the second half-year he becomes a Brand-fuchs, or fox with a brand, after the foxes of Samson. The fox year is then over, and they wash the eyes of the new-baked Young Bursche, since during the fox-year he was held to be blind, the fox not being endued with reason. From Young Bursche he advances next to Old Bursche, and then to Bemossed Head, the highest state of honour to which man can attain.

Very interesting, very interesting! Since this is my first year at Cayin, why not call it ‘Gold Fox’!

 

[Todamm]

That black version is beautiful!
I just recently discovered the 888 stack... I want one.
I'll probably end up buying an iDAC first...