Hi Everybody. I just got one cayin HA-1A mkII since about 3 weeks. I think I've read all this thread before buying one^^
First gorgeous piece of gear <3
Some trouble of noise floor that I almost solved :
- something looking like white noise => by plugging the pre-out to something (luna eclipse help a little, cayin C5 helps a lot..)
- Noise coming from my computer through the USB of my dac (Xonar essence STU) => using toslink and remove the USB cable from the dac. (other usb dac same problem ex dragonfly black)
I've still some low noise lookings like ground loop that are quite audible with HD800s and getting higher when rising the gain knob. I've tried to use a Furman AC210 and it doesn't change anything. still listenable... But a bit anoying^^.
Next step find some great 12au7, because I find some part of the sound too recessed ^^
Nice work, tube amplifier is relatively more prone to interference than solid state amplifier. The first trick you did is to remove "open loop" which is a problem that you won't find in solid state amplifiers. I always thought the switching power supply of the PC is evil and USB cable is a lesser problem. Did you use standard USB cable from computer accessories shops? If that is the case, maybe a not-so-expansive aftermarket USB cable can also solve the problem. I am not recommending anything exotic, only something like the Super USB cable. In my experience, some DACs didn't implements appropriate filters to eliminate the noise transmit from the digital source (especially computers), a well constructed USB cable with "One twisted pair for data and one twisted pair for power, individual screens for minimal interference" structure might solve the problem.
I agree with @Pictograms that the trouble shooting guide from PS Audio is one of the best publicly available tool to deal with ground hum, I have recommended that to several HA-1Amk2 and HA-300 customers having similar problems. Maybe you can start with a cheater plug, once you have confirmed the problem, you'll have a better idea on what should be done.
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