[Twizzleshnizzle]

Another quick question, has anyone tried replacing the 12DT5 tube, I wonder if that might be the culprit of some of the background noise?

 

[Lubak]

I guess I was too quick to say it was all good
Although I doubt my problem has anything to do with the failing LED's - I started the amp tonight after about a week since last listening session and I found a loud humming noise, not like the hissing high noise floor I used to have (and fixed by grounding the preamp RCA outs) but rather like the humming of a high voltage wire. I switched it off and when I started it back in about 30 min I had my headphones plugged in - so what happens is it produces a suuuper loud hum upon power on, like an electric motor, it's crazy, and then after a while it subsides. I guess it used to do that in the past but it subsided to inaudible levels. I mean the amp was super quiet for a while there. I guess not anymore though

 

[No Disc]

The little Dali is a very refined speaker, Hard rock will probably push it too hard. If you were to consider keeping the Dali and change the amplifier instead, consider a Cayin CS55A vs CS88A, you can use the amplifier at Triode mode for most genre, and use Ultralinear for Hard Rock, that will offer an extra push to your Dali Menuet when needed.

I was thinking the Cayin A-88T MK2 reference, is the same as the CS88A? I don't listen to Rock, but I do listen to Classical Symphonic. You think this would drive the Dali okay. It's a small near-field setup, you seen the photo a few days ago. So I think this would be enough considering small room, and near-field. You agree?

 

[Twizzleshnizzle]

Deleted

 

[Andykong]

I was thinking the Cayin A-88T MK2 reference, is the same as the CS88A? I don't listen to Rock, but I do listen to Classical Symphonic. You think this would drive the Dali okay. It's a small near-field setup, you seen the photo a few days ago. So I think this would be enough considering small room, and near-field. You agree?

A88 is our evergreen tree, it is a big product family, has many versions and span over 15+ years. I didn't cover speaker based amplifier so I am not familiar with the different between different version, your dealer probably is a better source for that. The CS88A should work fine with Dali mentor menuet even in mid-field 2 meters setup, so I am not too worry if you are having everything in a near field setup.

 

[Junkwisch]

Hi Guys, I have been having some problem with my Cayin HA-1A Mk2. I got a feeling that there might be something wrong with the 'input AUX R' occasionally there is a lot of noise and sometime the sound just get disconnected. I thought it was my 'ground loop isolator' at first, so I ordered a new one and the same problem persist. I switch to direct connection between my phone and the amp, and surprisingly to me it happened again. So I switch my cable (red to black, and black to red), and it is the same 'right headphone' that have this problem. It doesn't happen all the time, sometime it seems to work fine and then a few minutes later the sound got cut off (if not cut off, there is a lot of noises), it will usually fixed itself after a few minutes then the cycle repeat. Anyone has any ideas how to fix this problem?

 

[WaveTheory]

Hi Guys, I have been having some problem with my Cayin HA-1A Mk2. I got a feeling that there might be something wrong with the 'input AUX R' occasionally there is a lot of noise and sometime the sound just get disconnected. I thought it was my 'ground loop isolator' at first, so I ordered a new one and the same problem persist. I switch to direct connection between my phone and the amp, and surprisingly to me it happened again. So I switch my cable (red to black, and black to red), and it is the same 'right headphone' that have this problem. It doesn't happen all the time, sometime it seems to work fine and then a few minutes later the sound got cut off (if not cut off, there is a lot of noises), it will usually fixed itself after a few minutes then the cycle repeat. Anyone has any ideas how to fix this problem?

Is it just the Aux input, or does it happen with the "CD" input too?

 

[SolidSlug]

Thanks C3po for the prompt answer. On top of turning down the volume to zero before changing your headphone, it is important to insert the headphone jack firmly into the socket. Don't hesitate and stop in the middle. The socket is around 3cm long and if you stop at 2cm and leave 1cm uninserted, there is a risk that the right channel signal will overlap with the ground signal and caused serious interference or short circuit.

I can report the same thing on my HA-1A. One of the LEDs under one of the tubes turns off after a few minutes of the unit being powered on.
It's not tube-related.

The amp otherwise sounds fine. There is a definite noise floor, but not out of the ordinary for a tube amp.

I also have a low flutter noise in the left channel, it's obvious when no music is playing and can be heard during quiet tracks with some headphones.
It's not tube-related either.

 

[Junkwisch]

Is it just the Aux input, or does it happen with the "CD" input too?

Hi,

So I was running around looking for CD player which I don't have, a few google search enlighten me that I don't have to do that. So far, around 10 minutes, I have no problem with CD input at all, the headphones are working fine without any noise. I will be testing it a lot more tonight.

 

[martas38]

I'm the new happy Cayin HA-1A user. I must say that with Audeze LCD-X excellent pairing. No hum or hiss. The sound is absolutely excellent!

 

[Junkwisch]

Hi,

So I was running around looking for CD player which I don't have, a few google search enlighten me that I don't have to do that. So far, around 10 minutes, I have no problem with CD input at all, the headphones are working fine without any noise. I will be testing it a lot more tonight.

Yeah, pretty much I have no idea what happened to my AMP. I switch back to AUX, and it seems to be working fine without any problem....

 

[vlach]

Out of curiosity, are the front knobs metal or plastic?

 

[martas38]

Out of curiosity, are the front knobs metal or plastic?

Aluminium.

 

[petek]

Have had several headphones over the years and I will say I've liked them no where near as well as listening in my near field set up. This could be the lack of ever having tried a dedicated head phone amp. I have my eyes on either some Kennington or LSA HP Ultra 2 phones. 2 questions: 1) I am out of outputs on my McIntosh C2500 pre...however I do use a reel to reel and a cassette deck and have a Niles 3 deck switching box. Is it possible to take the out from say channel out 3 and use that as the source (Aux) in this Cayin? and 2) would the Cayin mate well to one of these 33 ohm impedance, 116 dB sensitivity phones---or would perhaps I be better served with the LSA Hyperdrive 2 headphone amp that is just recently released?

 

[Andykong]

Can you please verify the sensitivity rating again? There are two frequently used sensitivity measurements, dB/V SPL vs dB/mW, the later is more common in recent years, but some manufactures use dB/V instead.


33ohm 116dB/mW is very high sensitive for full size headphone, you probably will pick up some background noise if you use a tube amplifier like HA-1Amk2.

33ohm 116dB/V is equivalent to 101.2 db/mW, that is a fairly easy load, the HA1Amk2 should handle it very well.