[ddriveman]

Andy,

I agree with you that HK is not conducive to Head-fi. I bought my HD600 in HK at one of the stores in Time Square. Price was reasonable (abut HK$2000). I bougt the AKG K1000 from Headroom. Its still the best price (other than Meir Audio) that I can find. I too would like to find the Beyer DT880. Let me know how it sounds once you get it.
The Cyber 30 is a little underpowered for the AKG K1000. But since I listen mostly to jazz, its OK, but volume is between half to 3/4. Cyber 30's strenght is in the mid and it matches the K1000 very nicely. Very transparent yet musical. I find the K1000 a little too bright in the highs and bass can be a little shy. So I do revert back to the HD600 from time to time. However, nothing can beat the K1000 for its soundstage, spaciouness and ease.
I am having a 300B amp built and this should be able to drive the K1000 better. Will let you know once it is done.
BTW, I do notice the hum on one channel (right) of my Cyber 30 is a little louder with most tubes. However, overall the noise is low and acceptable with HD600 and certainly with K1000. But with high sensitivity headphones like Senn PX200 and B&O A8, you can notice te hum quite clearly. AC heated tubes like Cyber 2A3 can be too noisy for headphones. have you tried tube rolling. My favourite now is the Sylvania 5751 black plate 3 mica driver tube with RCA Twin black plate 2A3 tubes.
Also, my Cyber 30 is the signature version (blackgate caps, jupiter caps and DACT step attenuator). Which is yours and where did you buy it.

 

[andy2667]

Hi ddriveman,

I bought my cyber 30 from Stanely's shop last year (sadly that he has passed away. I just met him onece & he was very nice). My Cyber 30 was the original version. It was dead silence without hum until recently. Recently, noise (not hum) generated in one channel. It may be caused by the aging hum pot or Cap/resistors around one of the 2A3 circuit. I need time to figure it out by swaping the components.

The Cyber 30 need a cosely matched 12Ax7 (or 5751) in order to minimize hum. I am a budget man and is still using the stock 2A3 (not bad). I have replaced the 12Ax7 by a Telefuken smooth plate (a used tube previously in my MG-head). It gives a better sounstage and smoother sound.

I just placed order for the DT880 (together with the HFI-650, Sennheiser PX200 & PX100) and will get it in 2 or three weeks time. I am now considering to order a pair of Etymotic ER4P in ebay (I need a good isolation headphone for use in my living room when my wife is watching TV or playing Piano). The AKG K1000 will be my next candidate.

You are now using the Cyber 30 sign version. I think you get it from DIYsupply. Are you assembling the Billie 300B? It is a target amp for my main system but is currently ouside my budget.

 

[ddriveman]

Andy,

Yes, I bought my Cyber 30 Signature from DIYHifi Supply. Brian Cherry is a good guy to deal with and he is now building for me the Billie 300B (new version)
I also have the Telefunken 12AX7 smooth plate but I found the Sylvania 5751 3 Mica black plate has better bass and more transparent. The Sylvania Gold Brand 5751 is too bright for the Cyber 30 though.

Joe Lau,

I would love to hear the OTL32 and Twinhead Mk II and I would buy them both ... if I can buy them in HK. Last I chcek, Audioway still do not have them in stock. Since i am building new 300B power amps, I could use a good preamp and so either OTL32 or Twinhead would be nice to have in my future system.

 

[camera]

Hi ddriveman,

How long ago did you buy your HD 600? and which shop in Times Square?

I checked the price last week in Mong Kok & the lowest quote I got was HKD 2,200.

Thx in advance!

 

[ddriveman]

Camera,

I bought my HD600's about 15 months ago and it costs me about HK$2300. I could not find any less than HK$2000.
There's a Sennheiser shop at Ocean building (3rd floor. I can't remember the name) and they have the HD600 also.
Good luck on your purchase

 

[ddriveman]

Camera,

I just checked and the store :

Standard Audio and Photo Supplies, #303, Ocean Centre, Canton Road, Tshim Sha Tsui

is selling the HD600 for HK$2100 and is negotiable. You should go and check it out.

Regards

 

[andy2667]

Hello Camera,

During my reent visit to the Yau Shing Building in Mong Kong for searching Sony MDR-CD3000, I noted that there were a few shops selling the HD600. You may have a visit there but be careful since most of the shops are not honest.

Good Luck.

 

[camera]

ddriveman & andy2667,

Thx a lot!

I'll go there this weekend!

 

[mkyy]

Quote:

Originally posted by andy2667 Hello Camera, During my reent visit to the Yau Shing Building in Mong Kong for searching Sony MDR-CD3000, I noted that there were a few shops selling the HD600. You may have a visit there but be careful since most of the shops are not honest. Good Luck.

Any hints for buying electronics in HK? I heard most of the shops in Yau Shing are controlled by several owners.

 

[Joe Lau]

I had buy a HA-1A to TOMCAT and open it up. I can not found anything is better than MG-Head OTLMark II !


Parts :

Resistors - 5% Carbon Film Resistor

Capacitor - Mark Nichicon and ELNA , Coupling Cap Xidak (China)

Transformers size - Same as MG-Head

Inside Chasssis - Iron with Powder paint.

Cover - Aluminum

Front panel : Aluminum

Design :

First stage - Ground cathode direct coupling to a Cathode Follower and Capacitor coupling to 6BQ5.
6BQ5 Connect in Ultra Linear , with nfb.

Output impedance - Multi tap transformers.

It design is more like a small power amplifiers rather than dedicate Headphone amps. It had enough power to drive high efficient and use in your bed room with reasonable level.


MG-Head OTL - First Stage is ground cathode and cap copling to 6BQ5 (Connect in Triode). It only had not more than 150mW. SO it is no possible to drive any speakers but it design is dedicate for Headphone only.

I will send it to TOMCAT next week.


To :TOM CAT

Send me a Email with Address Telephone no and your name.

 

[Tomcat]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Lau I will send it to TOMCAT next week.

Joe,

That's great. I don't know the MG Head OTL MarkII, but I am very curious how the Cayin amp's sound will compare to my Earmax Pro. We shall see.

I'll send you a Private Message concerning the details of payment and shipping. Thanks!

 

[Rameish]

I am happy to report that of the two Cayin HA-1A that I have listened to personally the build quality has been very good. A new version with Ultralinear/triode switch has come out about 2 months back. I listened to this new version (1 unit) and it's even better than the old in triode mode (stock tubes mind you). Also 2 persons in Brunei ordered this new versions and have reported no problems. So out of a total of 5 units, there seems to be no problems at all. At sgheadphones.com there was a power buy recently on this amp and a few people bought it. So far no reported issues with this model. The impedence matching (knob is located on the back) is quite useful for matching with several headphones. I tried the Sennheier HD-650, Beyer DT-931 and Grado SR-225 with this amp out of a Copland 289 CD player and the results were quite good. I then went to another shop and listened to the Cary SLI-80 (around USD$3,250) with an Audio Analogue CD player (around US$1,100) and the Cary of course was better than the Cayin HA-1A. However, the difference was about 10-15% better espcially in the texture and bass departments. The Cary was using Milliwatt 6SN7 tubes. The Cayin was using stock tubes.

All in all the Cayin amp performed extremely well with the HD-650 (with Equinox cable), the Grado was next best and the Beyer was third. But with different music - like rock - I suspect the order would change in favour of the Beyer/Grado.

It's a little unfair to compare a much older product like the MG Head to the Cayin HA-1A. I think the newer ASL headphone amps should fare better.

My 2¢ on the Cayin - I readily give it a 2 thumbs up espicially at that price. Other tube headphone amps do perform better - like the Cary but the price difference really does not justify the comparison to be a fair one.

I think its a much better amp than say the Musical Fidelity X-Can V2 or even the newer V3 (which I tried recently).

 

[N@Z]

I'm one who bought the newer (Ultralinear/Triode) version. I can't say about the differences between the original version as I've didn't get a chance to hear it. However, what impressed me most about this current version is that compared with my tuberolled MG Head OTL (pre extenal power supply) the Cayin sounded better even with stock tubes & no burn-in albeit with a slightly harsher sounding top end.

After the obligatory 100 hour burnin & a proper assessment of the differences. I noted that the Cayin indeed has a larger more airier 3D soundstage. I could also hear alot of little details in the music which I didn't notice before (even at lower volume). Instrument seperation is better defined. Vocals & acoustic instruments sound very crisp & clear. Bass goes really deep & is tight & well controlled. Being a tube amp it still errs towards warmth but the speed is pretty good. Rock music doesn't sound as slow as on the MG Head. That's still using the Triode mode which in theory should sound smoother than the more powerful outputting Ultralinear mode.

What I like best about this amp (besides the price, flexibility - Integrated/Pre & headphone amp functions) is, it pretty much can be used with a wide variety of headphones because of the impedance selector. It's powerful too. So far I've never needed more than 10 o'clock on the volume knob for really loud music. That was when I still had the AKG K501 which really needed me to crank up the volume on the MG Head OTL higher. HD600, DT150, DT250, ATH-W100 & even RS-1 never needs more than 9 o'clock. I wish I still had my AKG K1000 to hear what this baby can do for it.

 

[Counting Crows]

I know a canadian cayin distributor