[Andykong]

I am very glad to report that my dealer has now agreed to supply a brand new amp. I have had to pay an additional fee on the original demo price but this is ok with me if it means getting a brand new one. Still not sure if I will stay with tube long term yet, although I have found a local service engineer who works with tube amps, this is reassuring if I were to need out of warranty repairs.

I am pleased to say that my dealer has been very helpful following the need to return my amp for a second time & has now sent me the brand new amp. What I had not realised is even when the old amp appeared to be working fine it was not actually sounding as good as it should. The replacement (currently with stock power tubes & Gold Lion 12AU7) is clearly better, even without any burn in time. I was skeptical that I would keep the amp long term after the issues I had, but the first sessions with the new amp were really positive and hopefully reliability will not be an issue moving forward.

Glad to know you have sorted out a satisfactory arrangement with your dealer. As I mentioned previously, any hardware and repair-related issues must involve the dealer as early as possible, I can't provide better service in most cases. I'll become the bottleneck of the system if the HeadFi Forum users are waiting for me to get involved.

I sincerely hope you'll enjoy your new HA-3A from here on.

 

[mudguardiain]

Glad to know you have sorted out a satisfactory arrangement with your dealer. As I mentioned previously, any hardware and repair-related issues must involve the dealer as early as possible, I can't provide better service in most cases. I'll become the bottleneck of the system if the HeadFi Forum users are waiting for me to get involved.

I sincerely hope you'll enjoy your new HA-3A from here on.

Many thanks for your message. I hope the replacement amp works out. I guess I got a little unlucky with the first one, it was getting very frustrating as I could tell it was a great amp but could not get to enjoy it properly. The new one is definitely sounding better, even though the old one worked for short periods, the issue must have been affecting it, the replacement just seems to sound bigger somehow, more musically engaging, looking forward to some good sessions with it.

 

[mudguardiain]

It is tempting indeed. I didn't last more than 2 weeks before making my first order of NOS tubes! Not like the stock tubes were bad. They were actually quite good with my Hifiman headphones. Curiosity just got the best of me I guess. I avoided tube amps for years because of this very reason lol.

I think the stock EH 6V6 seem pretty good, although I not had much chance to run them for many hours. I am thinking of getting a spare rectifier but there doesn’t appear to be any UK stock, does anyone know a good source for these.

 

[grant0317]

I think the stock EH 6V6 seem pretty good, although I not had much chance to run them for many hours. I am thinking of getting a spare rectifier but there doesn’t appear to be any UK stock, does anyone know a good source for these.

Langrex is uk-based has been really solid for me, and I buy from them despite being located on the other side of the planet. You can email them directly about 25ax4gt; they didn't have any on their website but when I inquired them via email they had some for purchase. I've also had success buying 25ax4gt tubes from tubedepot and tube world express (though tubeworld took forever to ship). Also I recommend the mullard 6v6gt cv511 holland made. It extended the bass nicely and added some extra warmth vs stock EH.

 

[Dexterama]

Bought the Cayin HA-3A a few months ago. It is my first tube amp. My Gold Note DS-10 Plus feeds into it as the DAC. The HA-3A adds weight to the notes, and I enjoy that for instruments like the Chinese pipa (lute). I have yet to experiment with tube rolling, but I’m satisfied with the stock tubes. As always, a picture for the eyes to feast. Something this beautiful deserves to be housed in its own structure with mood lighting.

 

[WailingBanshee]

I think the stock EH 6V6 seem pretty good, although I not had much chance to run them for many hours. I am thinking of getting a spare rectifier but there doesn’t appear to be any UK stock, does anyone know a good source for these.

I hoarded a bunch from Ebay. The price was too good to pass, but your shipping might be more expensive as most sellers I've seen are from the USA.

I think you can also buy directly from Cayin but it's from their German site: https://cayin.com/produkt/rca-22d4-gleichrichterroehren-ersatzroehren/

You can always shoot an email to Cayin to see what can be arranged.

 

[mudguardiain]

Thanks for the replies. I didn’t realise Cayin had a German site. I have used Langrex once and they seem very good. Watford valves seem to have a good reputation also, I was recommended some Radio Technique 12AU7 half plate by the guy there, might be worth a shot.

 

[jay2406]

Does anyone one run any Abyss headphones off the 3A? How does it handle them? My shortlist currently is this, Woo WA22, Burson 3 Ref or Ragnarok V1.

Thanks

 

[Andykong]

Cayin Soul 170HA is around the corner, I promise this is something that will you'll WOW when you see this in person.

 

[TheAbyss2022]

Got the Focal Utopia 2022 in house for a few days and what a headphone! The HA-3A runs it perfectly using the XLR balanced cable and on high impedence. There is the dynamic driver background hissing issue but the issue goes away once music starts playing and you forget about.

 

[grant0317]

Got the Focal Utopia 2022 in house for a few days and what a headphone! The HA-3A runs it perfectly using the XLR balanced cable and on high impedence. There is the dynamic driver background hissing issue but the issue goes away once music starts playing and you forget about.

Saw your post on reddit. How do these with the ha-3a sound compared to your sennheiser he-1? Curious to know how the normal totl compares with the extreme end case.

 

[TheAbyss2022]

Saw your post on reddit. How do these with the ha-3a sound compared to your sennheiser he-1? Curious to know how the normal totl compares with the extreme end case.

The HE1 has the best natural instrumental timbre and vocals. It also has the best treble control and never gets bright. Other headphones such as the LCD 4 have fuller and sweeter vocals with richer instrumental tones alongside a bit harder hitting bass and sub bass extension. HEKSE has far better soundstage so the HE1 is a fantastic all round headphone but not worth the price if you are looking for outright performance. It's more about tonality, naturalness and treble control plus the bass is extremely good as it's basically a planar bass in an Estat.

 

[Renexx]

I think I didn't share a nice tube roll for longer time. I found some really nice and rare American or Japanese variants of 12au7 tubes.

Right now I have problems with the treble peak of the Fostex TH900. Some rolls really bring it forward and some cover it completely.

This would be a nice roll that is quite transparent and clean but also doesn't trigger the treble peak.

Raytheon CK5814A + Mazda 6V6G+ Japanese top getter 22DE4

Maybe it's the rectifier that works so well for the Fostex.