Box, Packaging & Usability
The Cayin HA-3A came packed in a double protective box with plenty of protective materials on the inside. Cayin is shipping these amplifiers with the tubes pre-installed, but that is no issue because there is a tube cage covering all the 5 tubes and the cage is tough (and pretty) as you can see in the pictures
Once the HA-3A is unpacked the only thing you need to do is make sure the tubes are still fully intact and in place and then you can power on the amplifier. You will notice that the volume dial will start blinking until the tubes have reached their working temperature. This takes about a minute. The tubes that get most warm are the 6V6 on the back, just so you know. But it’s not recommended to touch any tubes during operation. It’s also not smart to feel how warm tubes are, just don’t and save yourself a trip to the hospital.
Because of its small footprint, it’s easy to integrate this amplifier in your setup. I just moved the Auris HA2-SF to the upstairs storage to make some room for the HA-3A. It looks really small compared to the Headonia 2A3 it is sitting next, but don’t let its size fool you.
Using the amplifier is very easy: hook up the input cables of your choice, select the headphone output and correct impedance for your headphone and push play. Just make sure the volume dial is all the way down. The volume pot on the HA-3A (ALPS 50KA*2) is excellent. It’s smooth to turn, very precise, and without any channel imbalance. The amplifier no matter the headphone connected, and the impedance setting chosen, is dead silent. Only when you start to turn up the volume over 50% (12 o’clock), background noise will be audible. With all the headphones I used, I never ever went over 11 o’clock on the volume dial.
We’ll get back on driveability later in this review, but as Cayin said, it’s not a powerhouse for the most difficult to drive headphones. In general, I wouldn’t worry however what headphone you’re going to plug into it. With easier to drive headphones, note that the VU meters will not move a lot, unless you listen to your music loudly. There are 3 impedance settings: Low = 8~64Ω, Medium = 65~250Ω and high = 251~600Ω. You of course can’t listen to 2 headphones at the same time.
HA-3A – Design & Lay-Out
From a technical point of view, we have already established that the HA-3A isn’t a fully balanced design. Balanced input will go through a pair of input transformers, the + and – half cycle will merge to become a single-ended signal. The HA-3A does share the same design as the HA-6A and the HA-300MK2 however. The HA-3A inherited a lot of amplification technologies from its bigger brothers.
“The chassis and transformer pots are treated by our proprietary 14 rounds of crafting process composed of scratch, spray, sanding and baking. The high gloss final finishing endows a refined and delicate texture as well as protecting the amplifier during years of long service.”
From a visual aspect, the Cayin HA-3A is a very compact desktop amplifier with a footprint roughly the size of an A4 sheet. Compared to the HA-6A, the new HA-3A is tiny, even if you can clearly see the same house style in the design. I love the glossy paint finish of the amp, it’s so stylish end sexy. It’s very easy to like the HA-3A’s looks, it’s a sexy little tube amp! The HA-3A’s build quality is also superb. The case is perfectly finished and absolutely everything about the HA-3A screams quality. From the transformer cases to the tube protection, to the volume dial, it’s all perfect.
On the inside, which you probably will never see, we have point-to-point soldering/wiring (hand wired). Cayin always designs, winds, and uses in-house built, high inductance, high efficiency power transformers in their products. Reinforcing shielding design minimizes the interference and noise while ensuring the HA-3A to work in the best possible condition. The volume control used is a high performance 50KA*2 Dual Unit smooth potentiometer from ALPS. Cayin also states that they have implemented special shielding and an anti-shock design which remove microphonics.
My LaFigaro Dual Mono 339 amplifier also has a protective and removable tube cage, but the one of the HA-3A is a lot better designed and integrated. I think the HA-3A looks sexy both with and without the tube cage, but I have used it with the cage most of the time as I have 2 nosy cats who like warm things.
The HA-3A measures only 30.6cm (width) x 17cm (hight) x 26cm (depth) so it’s slightly bigger than an A4 paper, but it does weigh a mighty 11,6 kg. The amplifier’s lay-out is as follows: on top you find the 5 tubes, the power transformer and both output transformers, together with the (removable) tube cage. The front is a lot busier and it from left to right has the Power Switch, the 6.35,4.4, XLR output selector as well as the outputs, the impedance selector, two VU meters, the input selector, and the volume dial with LED. It’s a bust front, but it’s nicely done. On the back of the unit, you from left to right have the RCA inputs, the XLR inputs, the fuse and the power plug.
On the bottom of the amplifier, you have three aluminum shock-absorbers as “feet”, setting the HA-3A comfortably on your desk. The feet measure 39x18mm and you have 2 in the rear and one in the front.
Full Specifications
From Cayin: “As you will see in the specs, the 4.4mm headphone output has a lower power output than the XLR output, but with the same audio performance as the XLR output. In other words, the XLR output is a full-fetched output but the 4.4mm output is optimized for wider range of headphones, including high sensitivity portable headphones and IEMs.”
The part on sounds can be found on Page Three. Click here!
Page 1: Cayin, HA-3A intro, HA-3A Features, Tubes
Page 2: Box & Packaging & Usability, Design & Layout, Specifications
Page 3: Sound intro, Sound Original Tubes, Sound Aftermarket Tubes, Sound Headphones Pt. 1
Page 4: Sound Headphones Pt. 2, Comparisons, Conclusions
Mike
HA-3A vs C9 for driving LCD-5: Any advise? The price of both amps are in the same range.
Lieven
C9 is dead atm, batteries have given up
James
How’s the heat output? If I sit next to this amp, will I feel too warm?
Lieven
next to it no, on top of it, yes. At the back op the cage. In fact, it’s only the 6V6 that will make it hot, it’s a tube amp after all.
jaz
cmon, no shots of the rear ports? You gave me like 34 photos of the front…I want to know what Im working with if I am gonna integrate this into my system…
Lieven
Back image is on Page 3
Brendan
Thanks very much for the review. I have Sennheiser HD 800S headphones and am looking for my next amp. Currently using a Chord Mojo, however looking to upgrade to either this or a Woo Audio WA2. Looking at pairing it with a Denafrips Pontus II DAC. In your opinion for Classical, Jazz, some Rock and Electronic, which amp will perform better?
Lieven
It’s been a very long time since I listened to the WA2, so I couldn’t really say. sorry
Albert G
Thanks for the review. I’ve been looking at the HA-6A for some time now and looks this could be like a cheaper (and much smaller) alternative. Do you have any low impedance dynamic driver headphones like Fostex TH900/909? Those are really easy to drive but kinda amp picky…
MARC
“Last but not least is the 22DE4 rectifier tube. It’s a Half-Wave Rectifier Diode Tube of the glass-octal type and it is identical to 6DE4 and 17DE4”
May I know if that sentence implies that 6DE4 and 17DE4 are substitutes for 22DE4?
Lieven
The heater is different. So I would stick to the 22de4
Thomas
Hi
Have you tried hifiman ha-1000v2 with the ha-3a?
//Thomas
Hume
I’d like to know how the HE1000v2 work with this too.
Lieven
I will try the combo if I find some time
Hume
Much thanks! I’m on the “edge” (haha) of buying this for mainly IEM use, but it’d be nice to know if the HE1000v2 sounds at least good with it.
Hume
I’m going to reply to my own comment since I have now purchased the HA-3A and have had some time to listen to it.
To my surprise, this amp drives the HE1000v2 well, very well. In comparison to my Ferrum Oor, it gives the HE1000v2 an even bigger sound stage and gives it more body and bass punch/overall impact. The bass, and overall sound, might not be as tight and articulate as with the Oor, but it’s more vivid and realistic with a nice softness that takes off any edge (the HE1000v2 can be intense) even more than the Oor does. At the same time, the HA-3A is very revealing, resolving and has great technicalities so this is no overly warm/fuzzy tube amp. It’s powerful, lively, engaging and a pleasure to listen to. It really does rival my Oor: these are both top tier amps that have different strengths and will match better with different cans.
The HA-3A also makes my Odin IEMs sound fantastic, the best I’ve heard them yet, especially in terms of sound stage “bigness” since the HA-3A has a big, immersive sound stage. Using the low impedance setting on the 4.4 out I hear no noise with the Odins at normal listening volumes. It might not be the solid state black background, but it’s not far off: no nasty hiss or interference I can hear.
This is an fantastic amp and I’m glad I bought it. I will be keeping it for sure. All these impressions are with the stock tubes fwiw.
Célio
How does this amp compare to the Crack w/speedball with high impedance headphones?
Lieven
I don’t have a speedball mod, sorry
Dave
Any good with focal clear mg?
Kate Timmons
“The HA-3A was sent to me to be featured on Headfonia.com and doesn’t need to be returned as far as I know” …….. you hope 😉
Oscar
Thanks so much for this review. For the Meze Audio Elite with the Cayin HA3A, is it better the 4 pin XLR output or the 6.3mm? Or the difference is unsubstantial?
Thanks again
Lieven
You’re welcome. I always go for balanced but just try and see which you like most
Oscar
Thanks! I will try both since a 4 pin XLR is on the way
entiskg
Great written review!
I was wondering, how does the Cayin HA-3A pair with the Sennheiser HD 660S2?
Lieven
Thank you. Good combo, though it scales up even better with higher end amps. Do also try OTL for Sennheiser