CAYIN HA-1A HEADPHONE AMP Owners

[Sheepadoodling]

Does anyone own this tube headphone amplifier. I saw this up on DROP and I read the review on the Darkvoice here and the fact that the circuitry doesn't agree with a lot of people on this forum, nor the fact that apparently it might actually be dangerous if you walk away from it. This Cayin HA-1A Headphone Tube Amp looks amazing but no review here yet and for the price of $400, it looks like a steal. However, I am an infant on this forum as i just joined and i only have a mediocre system consisting of the Schiit Saga+, Modius, Mani, Loki, and Audio-Technica LP 120. Just wanted to buy some nice headphones and a tube amp because the Modius through the Saga+ single tube actually sounds amazing to my puny insignificant ears. But hey, got a family, house payment, working fulltime, it's what i can afford at the moment; you know gotta think about college funds for the kids.

So, can anybody direct me to a headphone tube amp or have any thoughts on this one? I would appreciate any input, thanks for your time community!

 

[Jimbob54]

Does anyone own this tube headphone amplifier. I saw this up on DROP and I read the review on the Darkvoice here and the fact that the circuitry doesn't agree with a lot of people on this forum, nor the fact that apparently it might actually be dangerous if you walk away from it. This Cayin HA-1A Headphone Tube Amp looks amazing but no review here yet and for the price of $400, it looks like a steal. However, I am an infant on this forum as i just joined and i only have a mediocre system consisting of the Schiit Saga+, Modius, Mani, Loki, and Audio-Technica LP 120. Just wanted to buy some nice headphones and a tube amp because the Modius through the Saga+ single tube actually sounds amazing to my puny insignificant ears. But hey, got a family, house payment, working fulltime, it's what i can afford at the moment; you know gotta think about college funds for the kids.

So, can anybody direct me to a headphone tube amp or have any thoughts on this one? I would appreciate any input, thanks for your time community!

If you are not a headphone user and know what your existing cans play well with , or indeed some you have your heart set on, I wouldnt buy this.

Start simple and solid state with something that is more universal- look at the review charts here but $100-$200 is ample. This is more niche. Not a starter kit, I would argue.

 

[Sheepadoodling]

If you are not a headphone user and know what your existing cans play well with , or indeed some you have your heart set on, I wouldnt buy this.

Start simple and solid state with something that is more universal- look at the review charts here but $100-$200 is ample. This is more niche. Not a starter kit, I would argue.

But but but....ok, just got lost in the pretty colors of the tubes. I didn't realize this is a 15 or so year old amp but age doesn't speak to much or maybe it's a 15 year old design?!?! Anyways, so I need to start small, then how about the Drop THX AAA 789 Amp? Looks like amirm gave the amp a stellar review...

Wait, Seattle area, hey I live on the Eastside amirm. You must be doing fine bunkered up while COVID-19 sloshes through our State's 20-29 year old gathering in groups problem! Get to test out all that gear. Hope you aren't stuck in West Seattle, too bad for both those cracked bridges, my coworker lives in West Seattle, SOL for her but i'm getting way way off topic.

So I think I'll keep is simple and go small as advised, which means purchasing the THX amp and then the Drop 6XX Headphones to start off, if that is a good direction for me to go?

 

[Jimbob54]

But but but....ok, just got lost in the pretty colors of the tubes. I didn't realize this is a 15 or so year old amp but age doesn't speak to much or maybe it's a 15 year old design?!?! Anyways, so I need to start small, then how about the Drop THX AAA 789 Amp? Looks like amirm gave the amp a stellar review...

Wait, Seattle area, hey I live on the Eastside amirm. You must be doing fine bunkered up while COVID-19 sloshes through our State's 20-29 year old gathering in groups problem! Get to test out all that gear. Hope you aren't stuck in West Seattle, too bad for both those cracked bridges, my coworker lives in West Seattle, SOL for her but i'm getting way way off topic.

So I think I'll keep is simple and go small as advised, which means purchasing the THX amp and then the Drop 6XX Headphones to start off, if that is a good direction for me to go?

Fine cans to start. 789 more amp than you need but a good one. Look at the THX One they have at the preorder price, look at the JDS Atom, the Schiit Heresy. You are spoilt for choice with US made sub $200 quality headamps all enough to drive the 6XX well.

 

[raindance]

Cayin makes excellent, well built products. Is this the one using EL84 tubes? If so, it has a little hum that is correctable with some "surgery" to balance the heater supply. It sounds very nice. I used one with HD600's. It is transformer coupled, meaning it's one of the few that can drive low impedance 'phones.

Make sure it's a USA version, not 110 volts (115-120).

 

[kurosawa]

I am using a Cayin CS55A (both with EL34 or KT88 tubes) and I love it. I pair them with Focal JMLabs Electra 946 speakers and I also like using it with Grado PS1000e cans

 

[ZolaIII]

Take a look at Loxjie P20 if you insist on tube hedaphone Amp. It's hybrid design with digital volume control. Won't set you back more than 150$ with some good GE tubes.

 

[Foulchet]

I have bought the HA-1A Mk2 for 670 euros to use it with an AKG 712 Pro. As an highly skeptic guy, I did not expected something really different from even cheap sources. I previously used my headphones with a Marantz CD6006 but also with my (2012 high-end) motherboard or the Lightning->Jack adapter. Only the latter felt a bit short (just borderline too short, pushed it is loud enough but maybe a bit less cleaner…might be imaginary of course), the Marantz and the Motherboard sounding mostly the same (no AB since they are too far and I do not care) so if there are differences they must be low ( especially because you do not know to turn the volume very high).
Knowing that, I bought the Cayin for aesthetics (else I would have had bought an Atoll HD100 or 120 even if they were overkill probably) and curiosity towards « tube » sound.
Regarding that matter, I did not hear « tube » sound at all and the sound does not really seem that different from other amps. I use Lightning->Jack as DAC for the iPhone and my motherboard else (they sound the same from a direct AB, maybe there is a very subtle difference but overall quality is the same) It is just a lot more powerful. No audible noise, etc. The sound might sound less clean BUT I need to test that to be sure (it is not striking so if there is a difference, again it is really small).
The sound is certainly full as I did 4/6 on the NPR test and heard a difference for 5/6 of them (only one WAV sounded the same). I do not know if this is a proof, but that is better than previous testing.
The amp has actually been measured on a Russian (? I guess) website and of course it is worse that solid state but there is not really and audible difference in my case (if so, really marginal but my flawed comparison seems to be in favor of solid state from a technical point of view).