[Andykong]

Tube rolling is part of the culture of tube amplifier. It is a norm that tube amplifier manufacturer will select a low-cost highly reliable tube as stock tube, and encourage users to enhance the audio performance and personalise the sound signature of the amplifier to meet their preference through tube rolling.

There are a few things that matters a lot to us when we select a stock tube. Cost is definitely a consideration, we have to keep the price competitive against other tube amplifier in China, not just the international market. For overall branding purpose, we prefer to work with tube manufacturers who can printed our logo on the tubes at their production line directly. With around 20 tube amplifiers in active production, amd around 100 models on our support list, we also need to control our supply chain, we can't afford to go for different tube supplier on each model. We also need to make sure steady long term supply and avoid changing of stock tube in the middle of production period. For instance, we have changed the 300B stock tube two years ago, we had issued world-wide notice to all dealers and posted a notification in this forum, but we still received inquiry frequently asking why their new amplifier has a different tube with compare to this or that reviews or show reports.

 

[Andykong]

I recommended using a source for the amp that has a volume control, set it very low and then when you have your IEM plugged into the HA1 you are able to decide if there is to much background noise, you will then be able to increase the volume to on the amp and the Dac until it is listenable.
If you don’t have a source you can decrease the volume with you may not be able to get past the tiny zone of channel imbalance the HA1 has.

I really like T90s on this amp but never have tried the T1s

Edit* the IFI IEMatch is also really worth looking into if you want to use the amp for sensitive stuff, even though it’s a headphone prefer the Cascades with The IEMatch, just that much more room to play with the volume.

While I have to state repeatedly that HA-1AMK2 is too powerful for IEM application, the IEMatch is definitely a recommended adapter for these scenarios. Most impedance adapter will offer similar function but change the sound signature of the IEM significantly, the IEMatch is the best we have tested so far on this regard.

 

[IPMano]

I understand cayin's policy and that's normal, I think that one of the tubes has a problem because it produced strange sounds (cracking, whistling, ...) and as soon as we touched it we heard noise.

 

[Facta]

On Drop:

https://drop.com/buy/cayin-ha-1a-he...ontent=1595417759304.310431632557528062094067

 

[iFi audio]

the IEMatch is definitely a recommended adapter for these scenarios. Most impedance adapter will offer similar function but change the sound signature of the IEM significantly, the IEMatch is the best we have tested so far on this regard.

Thanks a ton

 

[Zookie]

On Drop:

https://drop.com/buy/cayin-ha-1a-headphone-amp?utm_placement=0&referer=WWSNZ8&mode=guest_open&utm_campaign=Automated Daily Promotional 2020-07-22&utm_source=SparkPost&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily Promotional&utm_content=1595417759304.310431632557528062094067

This seems like a decent deal although the amp has been out for almost 15 years. Does anyone know if this is a worthwhile buy for 400$ if its going to be my first foray into tube amps? I was going to purchase a lyr3 or darkvoice.

 

[Facta]

This seems like a decent deal although the amp has been out for almost 15 years. Does anyone know if this is a worthwhile buy for 400$ if its going to be my first foray into tube amps? I was going to purchase a lyr3 or darkvoice.

Well said.

What might be the highest price/performance ratio tube amp under $1000?

 

[FanaticSankey]

Greetings fellas,

I just got a preowned HA1A MK2 for a steal price ($250) . It's on stock tubes. I had planned on upgrading the stock 12AU7 to Gold Lions but sadly they are unavailable in India. My only options are Mullard and Telefunken. Will there be a sonic difference if I upgrade the stock tubes to either the Mullard or Telefunken or would it be better sourcing the Gold Lions from overseas ?

Regards,
Sanket

 

[Zachik]

I just got a preowned HA1A MK2 for a steal price ($250)

Wow - amazing deal indeed!! For that price, I would grab one too. Congrats!

 

[FanaticSankey]

Wow - amazing deal indeed!! For that price, I would grab one too. Congrats!

Yup! couldn't resist. Pairing really well with the Focal Clears using the Bimby

 

[c3po]

loving My Cayin, next step tube rolling.

I wanted to build a system for when I can’t listen on my main setup (Moon + Sonus Faber) that gave me access to my music server and streaming apps plus I wanted to go Old School with Valves to warm up any ‘digital sound’. Solution was the Cayin Ha-1A MK2 linked to Ibasso Dx160( full MQA decoding, Twin Master Hifi Dac, DSD to 256).
I 3D printed a case to support it, 20000 mAh battery and a SSD drive I am loving the combination with my HiFi Man HE400i, just Saving for my Meze Empyrean.

 

[billyleungkt]

loving My Cayin, next step tube rolling.

I wanted to build a system for when I can’t listen on my main setup (Moon + Sonus Faber) that gave me access to my music server and streaming apps plus I wanted to go Old School with Valves to warm up any ‘digital sound’. Solution was the Cayin Ha-1A MK2 linked to Ibasso Dx160( full MQA decoding, Twin Master Hifi Dac, DSD to 256).
I 3D printed a case to support it, 20000 mAh battery and a SSD drive I am loving the combination with my HiFi Man HE400i, just Saving for my Meze Empyrean.

i have the same combo too. Do you connect your external SSD to DX160 with all your songs? I never thought can do this. So it can go over 1TB?

 

[c3po]

i have the same combo too. Do you connect your external SSD to DX160 with all your songs? I never thought can do this. So it can go over 1TB?

You can do this for all your songs inc Tidal but Amazon will only download to internal memory. It will also access my music server.
I have an early version of the Ibasso Dx160 so some buffering at start when streaming HiRes from Amazon but ok with Tidal Masters. I moved my DSD files to the SSD.
You got to run your SSD via a powered USB C hub or it will draw power from Ibasso ((Ibasso won’t charge like this, you need to connect power or battery only to Ibasso to charge)

 

[billyleungkt]

You can do this for all your songs inc Tidal but Amazon will only download to internal memory. It will also access my music server.
I have an early version of the Ibasso Dx160 so some buffering at start when streaming HiRes from Amazon but ok with Tidal Masters. I moved my DSD files to the SSD.
You got to run your SSD via a powered USB C hub or it will draw power from Ibasso ((Ibasso won’t charge like this, you need to connect power or battery only to Ibasso to charge)

Cool. Good tips. Thanks mate!

 

[c3po]

Cool. Good tips. Thanks mate!

Because the Dx160 is full android you can control it remotely using team viewer