[Andykong]

I really enjoyed listening to the iHA-8. I listened with the Caldera Closed and Open Bokeh. It has a lot of the same characteristics of the iHA-6 from my short impressions, other then the Hyper mode definitely gave more power.. just not sure in what way. Definitely need some time with it hopefully upon release.

I will say the stack together gets very hot to the touch.

Great, you have tried the iHA-8 at CanJam New York?

The iHA-8 operates in pure Class A, the circuit design sacrifices efficiency for audio performance, that's why it will run fairly hot when driven hard. The Hyper Mode will push the amplfiier to its limit and add around 5 degrees C to the operation temperature.
Attach files
Yes, it can feel hot to the touch.

 

[Andykong]

Would LOVE to know the specs. How much power available? The 3 piece set on my desk would be perfect. Silver works for me, the rest of you can wait for a black finish..

I probably need another week before I can gather all the information for the 3-piece suit, will share the details in this thread as soon as they are available.

 

[skeeb23]

Great, you have tried the iHA-8 at CanJam New York?

The iHA-8 operates in pure Class A, the circuit design sacrifices efficiency for audio performance, that's why it will run fairly hot when driven hard. The Hyper Mode will push the amplfiier to its limit and add around 5 degrees C to the operation temperature.
Attach files
Yes, it can feel hot to the touch.

Thank you for explaining this. It makes complete sense because upon listening the first time it was left in hyper mode. I don't care so much if a unit gets hot as long as it's meant that way and won't do any harm to the unit (which you explained will not).

Yes my impression was at Can Jam New York. I can't wait to see more pricing info as I believe it could be the amp to replace the iHA-6. Especially since it now has 4.4 out as well.

 

[Polky74]

Sorry, wrong post.

 

[Daiyama]

Cayin iHA-8 Fully Balanced "Hyper" Class-A Headphone Amplifier

The iHA-8 is a long overdue upgrade of our well-received iHA-6 headphone amplifier.

While Cayin is renowned for our innovation in product development and audio engineering, we are a fundamentalist under the hood. We believe proper engineering and implementation is the critical success factor of high-fidelity products, and it is under these directions that we developed the iHA-8, a compact yet extremely powerful solid-state headphone amplifier that proudly offers a pure Class A fully Balanced design. The iHA-8 is a high-quality solid-state alternative to our HA series vacuum tube headphone amplifier, and we are determined to make the iHA-8 a worthy candidate for all desktop Personal Audio enthusiasts.

We have migrated two extremely well-received features from our portable products to the iHA-8 headphone amplifier.

Dual input mode: LINE input and PRE-amp input

A headphone amplifier, portable or desktop, is an integrated amplifier for headphone applications, and from our previous experience in building speaker amplifiers, we know Pre/Power design is superior to an integrated amplifier, so we decided to implement a Pre/Power design in our Personal Audio products. This concept was first implemented in the C9 portable headphone amplifier, and we received enormously positive feedback, so we decided to do this again with iHA-8. By providing a PRE-amp input option, we configure the iHA-8 as a pure power amplifier, all amplification stages will be operated at full power, and the iHA-8 will offer significantly better control and transparency.

The Ultimate HYPER Mode

The concept of Hyper mode is to allow our engineers to prioritize audio output as the single most important factor, even when we have to sacrifice some practical constraints such as heat dissipation and power management efficiency. This function was first introduced in our N30LE 30th Anniversary DAP. We anticipated a divided opinion but to our surprise, this option was unanimously approved by audiophiles, so we decided to migrate this option to iHA-8 since the desktop amplifiers have fewer constraints than battery-powered portable DAP. When we engage Hyper mode in iHA-8, we'll boost the power supply voltage of the power transistors. The static working current will also increase, and we'll adjust the gain ratio of the circuitry as part of the system-level optimization.

Other Features and Design Considerations

1. Accept RCA single-ended and XLR balanced analog inputs (shared for LINE/PRE input modes)
2. Employs four-channel fully balanced circuit architecture from input to output stages
3. Four-channel discrete pure Class A input buffer amplification circuit, each channel consists of two audio grade JFET in parallel with constant current sources, resulting in lower noise and distortion, and stronger current driving capability
4. Three-level bias current pure Class A amplification circuit, with built-in DC offset voltage servo circuit to ensure stable output DC offset voltage at 0V for better performance and listening experience
5. Built-in adaptive power, gain, and static current switching circuit, even in HYPER mode, it can work in pure Class A state
6. The volume control system uses a pair of low distortion, high precision MUSES72320 electronically controlled analog volume ICs with ALPS potentiometer for knob position detection, providing excellent tactile feel and precise volume control.

The Cayin iHA-8 is a long overdue upgrade to our iHA-6 headphone amplifier. It shares the same footprint as our iDAP-8 Streamer, iDAC-8 DAC, and HA-2A vacuum tube headphone amplifier, which means you can stack them up as a compact and yet sophisticated Desk-Fi system that occupies less than an A4 sheet.

The iHA-8 will debut at the 2023 China Guangzhou International Headphone Expo (16-17 December 2023). We shall provide more information about the iHA-8 after the Guangzhou event.

Nice "news" for a happy iHA-6 user.
Question will the iHA-8 have XLR line out or pre out?
If yes, need to wait for the black version.

 

[Andykong]

Finally, I have the iHA-8 specification for your reference:

 

[Daiyama]

Pity, no line or pre outs.

 

[Andykong]

Nice "news" for a happy iHA-6 user.
Question will the iHA-8 have XLR line out or pre out?
If yes, need to wait for the black version.

IF iHA-8 is an All-in-one DAC/Amp, then having a set of line-level output makes a lot of sense. However, iHA-8 is a pure analog headphone amplifier, a line out from the amplifier would be equivalent to a by-pass output only, and the added value is minimum IMHO.

Since iHA-8 is part of a 3-piece suit, the line out is facilitated by the iDAC-8 instead of iHA-8.

 

[Daiyama]

Thanks Andy, I think as a system this makes sense.
However tube amp lovers and STAX headphones lovers face always the difficulty to connect 3 amps (ss, tube, STAX) to one DAC in a most efficient way.
Sure a switch box is a solution but it is another box in the rack.
But I understand that is maybe a to rare use case.

 

[Andykong]

Thanks Andy, I think as a system this makes sense.
However tube amp lovers and STAX headphones lovers face always the difficulty to connect 3 amps (ss, tube, STAX) to one DAC in a most efficient way.
Sure a switch box is a solution but it is another box in the rack.
But I understand that is maybe a to rare use case.

This is a very niche requirement, and from what I understand, if we only provide a passive line out from iHA-8 to another amplifier, it will affect the performance of the iHA-8 because the impedance and driving capability of the input audio signal will be affected. For example, when you feed 2V RCA input to iHA-8, the signal will be used to feed the iHA-8 circuit at 2V. If we need to provide a line out at 2V for another set of amplifiers, the 2V line-level signal will be feeding TWO sets of amplification circuits in parallel To maintain the driving capability of the input signal, we need to, at least, add an Op-Amp into the circuit, and the Op-Amp will also affect the quality of "Line Out" .

Maybe you can check out the audio switcher from professional/studio-grade equipment such as Extron, Creston or AMX.

 

[leylandi]

Finally, I have the iHA-8 specification for your reference:

price?

 

[HiFiWar]

Release date? Anyone have a set yet?

 

[leylandi]

https://zeppelinandco.com/collections/dac-amp/products/cayin-iha8

 

[HiFiWar]

https://zeppelinandco.com/collections/dac-amp/products/cayin-iha8

Well, I have an iHA-8 and an iDAC-8 on the way. I will post a review when I can. I always liked Cayin and was one of the first reviewers on the N7 and RU7. I'm already a bit disappointed to find that the iHA-8 doesn't have RCA outputs at least though on the rear - pretty common these days to connect speakers in addition to headphones. I'll see how the iDAC-8 outputs work with my KEF LSX.

 

[Erick Muller]

Well, I have an iHA-8 and an iDAC-8 on the way. I will post a review when I can. I always liked Cayin and was one of the first reviewers on the N7 and RU7. I'm already a bit disappointed to find that the iHA-8 doesn't have RCA outputs at least though on the rear - pretty common these days to connect speakers in addition to headphones. I'll see how the iDAC-8 outputs work with my KEF LSX.

Oooofff, disappointed, I was eyeing this amp as an upgrade to my Aune S17, but I do listen a lot on my active speakers and I need that output, if it doesn't have it, it's out of the question for me then.

Also I would like to know if this headphones it's capable of running ModHouse Tungsten and how well it does with it if you can plox!