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✒️ Author : Leong | 📷 Photo : Willy
▶️ Available for audition now!

Cayin has a strong following in the audiophile community and captures the heart of fellow audiophiles with magnificent products such as the iDAC-6 Mk2, iHA-6 amplifier, HA-1A and the HA-300. They are famous for their tube amplifiers and they have released the follow-up to the original HA-300: HA-300 Mk2, a Class A Transformer-coupled headphone amplifier and a speaker Single-ended Triode Amplifier (SETA).

With the matching of legendary 300B tube, it delivers a full, yet musical sounding experience no matter what your headphones are. It is a transformer coupled Class-A headphone amplifier and a Single-Ended Triode (SET) Amplifier for speakers. SET means a design in which the amplifier utilises a single-triode tube per channel which allows the signal to be amplified without splitting the signal's plus/minus parts in each channel. As opposed to Push/Pull amplifier, which uses a pair or more tube per channel, splits the plus/minus signal, amplifies it and merging back together to complete the sound wave. In the general consensus, SETA topology has a smoother sound signature but limited in terms of output power. Push/Pull design has a more powerful output as you can increase the number of tubes per channel for amplification but you lose the smoothness of the sound. It uses a matched pair of Gold Lion Genalex PX300B as output tube and a pair of Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB as driver tubes. The matching of both tubes has a highly linear, low noise and reliable performance which provides a natural sounding output.

The HA-300 Mk2 also comes with an independent power supply driven by a quad set of NOS RCA 22DE4 rectifier tubes which convert incoming power to DC current with minimal interference and clean power for the amplification stage. The rectifier tubes can easily last for 5-10 years with heavy usage and need no worry for the matching as they work independently from each other. The power supply linked from each other with a heavy duty aviator connectors to ensure secure connection.

HA-300 Mk2 features an impedance matching selector, from Low (8~64ohm), Mid (65~250ohm), High (251~600ohm). It optimises and delivers enough power and voltage to ensure the absolute best performance and natural sound via a selection of 6.3mm single ended output, 4.4mm balanced out (specialised for IEM) and 4pin XLR balanced out. The 4.4mm output albeit having a lesser power output in comparison with the 4pin XLR output, but it is plenty powerful (5.4W max!) to drive any IEM but with an extremely quiet background. For 4pin XLR balanced output, it provides 6W of maximum output on the high impedance setting and 5W on the single ended output. Speaker wise, it can deliver a reasonable 8W to both channels for speaker up to 8ohm impedance with the speaker binding posts located at the rear panel.

The Cayin HA-300 Mk2 packs smoothness and refinement into your music, with unforgettable holographic staging and intoxicating sound signature. The low end has a slight roll off near towards the very bottom end of bass, but still delivering a punchy mid-bass performance with plenty of control. The mids and vocals are the spotlight of the show: with sweet, euphoric sound and you can certainly feel the "tubey"-ness in the midrange and slight coloration in it(a welcoming one nonetheless). Vocals cast a liquid smooth experience, without the edgy sharpness in the treble or percussion. Overall the atmosphere of the music is much more emphasised rather than the dense delivery of other amplifiers.

Overall, this beautifully engineered TOTL tube headphone amplifier will provide you countless hours of sweet sweet music, combined with holographic staging and plenty of power reserve that you can enjoy on almost any headphones. The only downside of this probably comes down to the weight(10kg for the power supply unit and 19kg for the amplifier itself), so do make sure that you have enough space and support for the amplifier.
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✒️ Author : Leong | 📷 Photo : Willy
👉 More Stars Picker's In-House Review | starspickeraudio.net/blogs/blog
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■ Headphone output up to 6W(4pin XLR) / 5.4W(4.4mm Balanced Output) / 5W(6.3mm Single Ended)
■ Headphone impedance selector: L(8~64ohm), M(65~250ohm), H(251~600ohm)
■ Frequency range: 10Hz~45kHz
■ Speaker output: 8W + 8W (at 8ohm)
■ Inputs: 2 x XLR, 2 x RCA
■ Genalex PX300B Output Tubes x 2
■ Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB Driver Tubes x 2
■ RCA 22DE4 Rectifier Tubes x 4
■ Weight: 19kg (Amplifier), 10kg (Power Supply)
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⭐ Official Store | bit.ly/CayinHA300mk2 |
□ Retail : RM21500 | Promo : PM for best price⠀

⭐ BUNDLE DEAL : PSVANE clone Cossor 6SN7
□ Top up RM558 for a pair of Cossor 6SN7 vacuum tubes (PSVANE cloned, smoked glass, globular shape) worth RM620 / pair
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■ 8 years physical shop / audio specialist⁣
■ Directly imported from Cayin⁣
■ 100% genuine / warranty covered⁣
■ Malaysia first audio theme cafe / library