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Cayin HA-1AMK2 EL84EH Tube Headphone Amplifier
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Cayin HA-1AMK2 EL84EH Tube Headphone Amplifier
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Product Description
The Cayin HA-1AMK2 EL84EH Tube Headphone Amplifier is a warm-sounding (and looking) desktop headphone amp that delivers an impressive response for over-ear audio. Outfitted with five vacuum tubes—one 12DT5 for power regulation, two 12AU7 for signal handling, and two EL84 power tubes to push out the tone—the HA-1 mark 2 is truly well-rounded in the richness department Read More
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keyboard_arrow_downFayne
2587
Mar 28, 2023
Very nice headphone amplifier this, just be aware that the 12DT5 tube it eats as a power/voltage regulator is not overly easy to find. It is definitely not current production, and as it isn't a darling of the audiophile crowd, none of the usual stores tend to carry it. You're more or less stuck looking at places like eBay.
If you buy this amp, make sure to scrounge up enough of 12DT5 to last you the full expected life of the amplifier. Otherwise when it fails, you're absolutely screwed as the unit becomes a brick.
The other tubes it uses are common and easy to find both NOS and current production.
Fayne
2587
Mar 28, 2023
Minimum estimate at 3 hours a day usage is around 3 years before the tube starts to lose it's mojo. It might last much longer depending on how hard the amp is using it and the randomness of tubes just straight lasting longer.
I'd say get two or three. That should give you 6-9 years minimum. They aren't overly expensive, they're just not super easy to find. You absolutely want them tested and NOS (new old stock).
thestarbucksgrande
164
Feb 8, 2024
if you still have this amp, i have it too. i always get my tubes from tubedepot.com they always have options for all the slots on this amp & you can get the balanced n stuff too
TipsyMacScotchslurpen
379
Mar 30, 2023
I've had my eye on this amp for a few months, but at the same time I also want to try to build up a truly balanced setup. Having too many choices is both the greatest advantage and the most perplexing drawback of this (and many, many other) hobbies (and then, if I get this amp, there is all the tube rolling!). At some point I really need to win the lottery or something.
Pursewarden
0
Apr 1, 2023
I've had a Cayin CS-55A integrated amp for a couple years and I love it. I use it primarily for headphone listening - Focal Elear and Audeze LCD-2. If the HA-1AMK2 will be a significant improvement over the CS-55A headphone output, I will jump on this in a second. Cayin makes great products at a very reasonable price point. But I can't find specs for the headphone output of the CS-55A anywhere. Does anyone have a sense of how the HA-1AMK2 will compare to the headphone output on the CS-55A? Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Eridani
0
Jul 23, 2023
PursewardenIs the headphone jack on the CS-55A just for convenience? Does it go through the tubes at all?
(Edited)
tutetibiimperes
266
Jul 23, 2023
It would be interesting to see if it puts out full power through the headphone jack or if there’s an inline resistor or voltage dividing network.
Primaluna runs their headphone outs directly from the amp, but they unfortunately use a voltage divider so that you can’t get full amp power through the headphone jack.
tooitchy
309
Feb 23, 2024
I have this amp. I love this amp. Beware of placement however, I currently am unable to use it because I had to down size desks. I’ve no room, my current dac/amp (grace balanced dac and monoprice thx 888 AAA live on my sliding keyboard tray, to give an idea of just how limited my desk space is. I would love to use this amp but I just don’t have anywhere to put it right now, so it sits safely in storage. I truly love this amp, and this is a great price.
i swapped the 12au7’s for gold lion ecc82’s and goodness does it make a world of difference. The stock tubes don’t handle bass particularly well, it’s gross and distorted, but the gold lions are stellar, and really bring the amp to near perfection.
one thing of note, I’m not savvy when it comes to amp tech, but I think my gold lions are defective somehow. They bring the microphonics of the amp to crazy high levels, like to where it is scary. I had to completely isolate the feet with those crazy vibration isolating point things, and even that didn’t make it perfect. And by microphonics I don’t mean the sound just transfers I mean there is a potentially headphone killing crack that will scare the crap out of you if you bump it, BUT ONLY WITH THE GOLD LIONS INSTALLED, stock tubes do not have this behavior at all, there’s a tiny amount of actual microphonics if you tap the thing pretty hard with the stock tubes but never did it do the loud crack/pop sound that the gold lions exhibit. It’s very strange and unfortunately I didn’t get to get new gold lions to try before I moved and the amp couldn’t feasibly be used due to space.
that’s my little disclaimer, I genuinely don’t think it’s a problem with the amp, and rather the tubes, but I never bothered to get new ones to try because, well, I didn’t think it was the gold lions and thought it was the amp at first, so I blew my time load on isolating the amp itself from vibrations, which did work, I had that thing working perfectly without a heart attack “crack” for a year so I just kinda stopped messing with it, but before I moved i swapped back in the old tubes and found the problem was impossible to recreate, but putting the gold lions back in and one light tap of the tube caused it, leading me to settle it on it being the tubes, now I just gotta get new gold lions to test.
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
thestarbucksgrande
164
Feb 8, 2024
TCPMi have it & it does but with normal listening volume you done hear it
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