New tube amp: the Cayin HA-1A MK2
Dec 10, 2020 at 8:26 PM Post #601 of 1,022
What is better for 12au7? Gold lion or Psvane? & How do they compare? Thanks!
Your also talking almost double the price when talking about Psvane. Gold Lion from what I understand is a ‘budget’ upgrade from the reviews, I went for Psvane for mine and I’m very pleased compared to stock and a set of EH’s I had tried out.
Upgrade 2021 will be the Psvane El-84
 
Dec 10, 2020 at 8:27 PM Post #602 of 1,022
Your also talking almost double the price when talking about Psvane. Gold Lion from what I understand is a ‘budget’ upgrade from the reviews, I went for Psvane for mine and I’m very pleased compared to stock and a set of EH’s I had tried out.
Upgrade 2021 will be the Psvane El-84
Thanks! How will you describe the psvanes? Will get that instead of gold lions
 
Dec 10, 2020 at 9:30 PM Post #603 of 1,022
Thanks! How will you describe the psvanes? Will get that instead of gold lions
Running in required, biggest change was in volume, I ended up dropping the voltage out my Ibasso dx160 to give me more headroom on amp. I’m running two headphones, Hifiman he400s for when I’m on my own and MH40 for when mrs is watching tv. Enjoyment increased for both headphones with a more natural wider sound
 
Dec 10, 2020 at 9:33 PM Post #604 of 1,022
Running in required, biggest change was in volume, I ended up dropping the voltage out my Ibasso dx160 to give me more headroom on amp. I’m running two headphones, Hifiman he400s for when I’m on my own and MH40 for when mrs is watching tv. Enjoyment increased for both headphones with a more natural wider sound
Thanks.. got me excited
 
Dec 11, 2020 at 12:37 AM Post #605 of 1,022
Hi andy
No other headphones.
Why is there so much noise and hissing?

As other users can point out, the reason can be complicated, it can be a bad contact, or a bad impedance matching, or interference that only show up at different condition. It is quite difficult to offer advice or diagnosis suggestion based on what you have described.

You PMed me regarding changing the tubes to Gold Lion, have you done that already? any different after you swapped the new tubes?

I suggest you start with cleaning up the impedance selection knob with WD-40 or similar lubrication spray.
 
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Cayin Stay updated on Cayin at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
http://en.cayin.cn/
Jan 17, 2021 at 7:54 AM Post #607 of 1,022
Hello to everyone! Sorry for my English, it's not my native language. I have Beyer T1 (1 gen), Fostex TH900MK2, Audio-Technica AD2000x, W1000x. Would be this Cayin a good choice for my headphones? Prefer to listen to metal music (death, technical death, doom, thrash).
 
Feb 2, 2021 at 9:38 PM Post #608 of 1,022
Hey, is there anybody who uses this amp as preamp? Please share your impressions

I have and it's amazing. Was feeding it with a Theta DS Pro Basic during lockdown last year and was amazed at how good of a pre-amp this unit is. R2R and tubes can be endgame
 

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Feb 2, 2021 at 9:40 PM Post #609 of 1,022
Hello to everyone! Sorry for my English, it's not my native language. I have Beyer T1 (1 gen), Fostex TH900MK2, Audio-Technica AD2000x, W1000x. Would be this Cayin a good choice for my headphones? Prefer to listen to metal music (death, technical death, doom, thrash).

You might hear some noise floor with any headphones that have very low impedance
 
Feb 3, 2021 at 9:26 AM Post #610 of 1,022
I have and it's amazing. Was feeding it with a Theta DS Pro Basic during lockdown last year and was amazed at how good of a pre-amp this unit is. R2R and tubes can be endgame
Thanks! Nice setup! I'm trying to compose something similar

You might hear some noise floor with any headphones that have very low impedance
guys who own this unit mentioned good "silent" and affordable tubes above in this topic.
 
Feb 3, 2021 at 10:04 AM Post #611 of 1,022
Thanks! Nice setup! I'm trying to compose something similar


guys who own this unit mentioned good "silent" and affordable tubes above in this topic.

It's not really the tubes fault. I can even use MEST with my unit. It's just some low impedance dynamic driver cans will show noise floor due to their low impedance. I had that happen with E-MU Teak and Elegia
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Feb 21, 2021 at 9:41 PM Post #612 of 1,022
Hey guys,
just wanna share my modded HA-1A MK2 with you all

@Andykong hopefully you get to see this. I call mine the MK3 :)
 

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Feb 22, 2021 at 1:31 AM Post #614 of 1,022
Really interested in this amp but I really wish it had a balanced option.

Does Cayin have any plans to release a balanced version of this amp in the near future?

@Andykong
 

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